I would take basement laundry any day of the week. Sure, it's more convenient in a living area, but if the washer malfunctions, the last place you want that to happen is in the living spaces. I'd have my dishwasher down there, too, if I could, lol.

I'd also much prefer a pantry or mudroom entrance.

More work and storage space is also a huge plus.

Theoretically a good idea, but no thanks.

Your realtors are right. Get the stackables; they are wonderful.

If you are the only person that does the laundry and you are planning on staying in your house a long time AND you can keep the plumbing in the old area (just capped off so the room can become a laundry room again in the future) then do what you want. If you may move soon, do what the realtors tell you.

I would keep the plumbing, cap it off and move the washer and dryer to the basement, particularly if you could leave the room as a pantry but still convertible to a laundry room if you sell.

I have had three laundry situations, the first two were in apartments where the alternative was a public laundry room;

1) in large walk in closet off bedroom with plumbing coming from adjacent bathroom. Loved this but since the clothing was washed where it was stored things never got put away very well. (I was younger it might be different now)

2) stackable units in closet in kitchen. This was the best location in the apartment but it was not all that convenient since things still had to be taken upstairs to be folded and hung up

3) now I have it in the basement and it works pretty well. I could possibly put a stacking or combo unit in one of the closets upstairs but I am not sure if I would find this beneficial.

I'm no longer young, and carrying laundry up and down stairs would be a deal breaker, full stop.

Remember the "I've fallen and I can't get up" ads? Especially scary are the ones when the voice is from the bottom of stairs.

You like stair-climbing? Move the laundry to the basement. As suggested above, just leave the plumbing upstairs for the next owner. Now, I'm on the way two stories down for the 5th load of the day. Keeps the joints limber. (That's what you need when your children, including ex-step, range from 13-53.)

Thanks for the opinions everyone. The house has a walk-out basement, and the garage is off the basement, so I'd assume anyone living here after me would be okay with stairs at least sometimes.

I'm surprised so many are against moving the laundry. Maybe I just don't wash enough clothes.

Guess I'll leave it where it is.

I have 2 young children and wash a lot of clothes! I have my laundry room in the basement and it doesn't bother me at all. I like the fact that I don't hear it while it's running and that I can hang clothes everywhere around the room without it being in sight.

I would rather have a pantry or a bigger kitchen than a laundry room on the main floor.

Also, my parents just got rid of their main floor landry room to use the space to enlarge their kitchen and have a pantry (similar to you situation) but moved thit to the second floor instead of the basement.

As long as you're not having to go up and down rickety dark steep stairs, I'd definitely move the the washer and dryer to the basement. More space for both your laundry and your kitchen makes more sense than keeping it in the current location. Cap off the plumbing like others have said and enjoy the better space for both areas.

I'd personally hate to have the washer/dryer down any stairs. I have a split level and I HATE it and have to keep it there. Unless you can put in a laundry chute (that only solves going DOWN the steps but at least elderly people wouldn't fall down), then it's a deal breaker to a lot of buyers. Also depends on what the basement looks like too. Is it unfinished? Double deal breaker! What about the garage? Is there a garage to put them in? Might be cheaper to do plumbing there too instead of going into the slab!

You should do what makes your life better, not what you think a future unknown buyer will want. Move it to the basement, but keep the hookups available for future conversion for a future buyer.

We built a laundry room upstairs and turned the 1st floor pantry/laundry into a larger panty but with hookups remaining. When we sold our house, we had a small sign in the pantry pointing this out. Don't know that it made a difference.

I'd put that laundry room in the basement in a heartbeat. The fact that you have space for a hook-up on the main floor is awesome and you can certainly advertise that if/when it comes time to sell.

I had a connection hose come apart a few years ago, and the amount of water that spewed in just a few minutes was unbelievable. But it was spewing in the basement, and other than being annoying as heck, it didn't hurt a thing. If that hose had burst on my first floor, I shudder to think the damage that could have been done.

As long as I am physically-able, my laundry will be in the basement. But I too have hook-ups available on the first floor and could move the machines pretty easily if it ever becomes an issue.

Best of both worlds, in my opinion. :)

I've had it all, a laundry room upstairs by the bedrooms, on the main floor, and in the lower level of a split. We currently are in a two story, laundry on main floor. If it were in the basement, I wouldn't like it, that would be 2 flights each way. But when it was downstairs in the split level, was fine! Only half a flight from the kitchen, off the family room kith the TV.

Sounds like your basement is light and well-used, so why not? But I agree, keep the plumbing in the old laundry, you may even find it useful to have a sink or ice maker in there! And if you ever need to have laundry on the main floor again, you can put in a stackable.

Odd. -->I'm surprised so many are against moving the laundry. Guess I'll leave it where it is.

I have a main floor laundry, that is good sized. I have no basement here. If I had one, that laundry would go down there about as quick as I could call a plumber and have the plumbing pulled. I raised 4 kids in a house with a basement laundry, and loved it and I really dislike having a main floor laundry even if it is fairly large. By the way, I am not a young person, at almost 76 yrs.

I have a main floor laundry, that is good sized. I have no basement here. If I had one, that laundry would go down there about as quick as I could call a plumber and have the plumbing pulled. I raised 4 kids in a house with a basement laundry, and loved it and I really dislike having a main floor laundry even if it is fairly large. By the way, I am not a young person, at almost 76 yrs.

Cat ky, what about a main floor laundry do you dislike?

I guess we're all different. In my previous home, one of the best days of my life was when we added the laundry to the upstairs bathroom so we no longer had to carry the clothes up/down. Laundry got done much quicker, put away quicker, so much easier.

My current home has a a combination garage/dry basement with all the living spaces upstairs. And I have my laundry upstairs right next to the kitchen. Love it. Just a few steps from the bedrooms. Easy to know when the wash is done so I can move it to the dryer. Wouldn't move it to the basement if you paid me.

I also wouldn't want a plumbing problem to cause flooding anywhere in my house, even the basement. Regularly checking your hoses, buying hoses with the good steel mesh, and never doing laundry when you're not home all help with that. I wouldn't do laundry when not home even if it was in the basement. That's asking for trouble, imho.

We also have a stainless steel base that our washer sits in. It's hooked up to a pipe for drainage. If it's a minor leak or overflow, it should easily drain without flooding. So if something bad did happen and I didn't catch it right away, this does offer some protection.

We are presently trying to include an upstairs laundry room (or even just a laundry closet) when we remodel. I hate, hate, hate carrying baskets of laundry up and down the basement steps. We are approaching retirement age and feel that this is becoming a real safety issue.

When we bought our house two years ago, the laundry was in a small, narrow mudroom between the garage and the entry foyer. There was no room for piles, let alone for laying things flat to dry.

We were easily able to extend the existing laundry chute, which terminated in the first floor coat closet, to the basement. And given the location of existing utilities, were easily able to move the W/D downstairs.

So yeah, we still have to carry closing baskets up. But we have no worries about water damage and have a 20x20 space just for laundry and cleaning supplies.

It's been great. Works perfectly for my family.

sjhockeyfan, sorry, just got back to this post. Well, when I had mine in a basement, there was a floor drain right next. When my son got locked out, and came in the basement window, he accidently knocked the drain hose loose. I didnt notice, and started a load of laundry. I went back down when it was finished, and saw what had happened. Very minor cleanup, that took about 3 or 4 minutes, because, all the water had run down the floor drain. Forward, several years, and we moved to Kentucky, not many basements here, so had a main floor laundry. I started a load of clothes, and was unpacking boxes, and getting settled, when a grandchild came down the hall and wanted to know why everything was wet. I went running, and the drain hose hadnt been fastened correctly apparently by the installers. End result, in house for 1 wk, had to replace laundry room vinyl, where water ran under it, had to replace, hall carpet and padding, and that led to replacement of dining room, which had the same carpet. Fast forward a few years, and I started laundry, and went outside to do some gardening, and came in to flooding all the way to the kitchen. The valve on back of the machine had failed to close, and water kept on running. We were able to save the kitchen floor, but, dining room, and hallway, and one bathroom, needed several weeks of work, to get them done again. In 2009, we sold that house, and bought another. We looked really hard for one with a basement, but, couldnt find anything, so I still have a main floor laundry. Hubby has since passed away, and I have kind of thought about the idea of moving back north, and if I should decide to do that in the future, you can bet, there will be a basement laundry. :-)

We worried about the same thing when we moved our laundry room! In the end we realized we needed to do what worked for us, and make the space into something more useable for us!

https://www.thebrainandthebrawn.com/moving-the-laundry-room/

Not sure if that helps spark any ideas, but hope so! :)

Jess