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historian79

Ideas for Side Venting a Dryer (and Washer) Installed in a Kitchen

Danielle Gottwig
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago

We are switching to a compact w/d set, that will most likely be installed in our kitchen at or near existing plumbing and electrical connections for a washer/dryer. It would be best for us to buy a vented dryer, and to vent the dryer to the side to avoid having to push the units out past a standard cabinet / counter depth.

There will be cabinetry on one side of the machine, and a wall on the other.

Problem is, I'm not sure exactly where to place and how to hide the hookups and vent / vent tube (this runs straight up through the roof). Tuck them inside the drywall / widen the drywall to accommodate them? I'm equally unsure how to set this up so that installing and serving the machines is possible.

The wall to the back of the machines is brick, so I can't vent to the back and hide the connections inside a drywall cavity in that direction.

I can find innumerable pictures showing apparently seamless installations of washer and dryers within kitchens, but I can't tell where all the supporting structures are being hidden, or how connecting / disconecting the machines is accomplished.

Ideas? Experiences?

This is an image from my early planning showing where they would be in a side-by-side installation.

Comments (31)

  • rococogurl
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    A condenser dryer would work very well for the installation you have. I've never heard of anyone venting a dryer through the roof and, judging from the amount of lint I clean out of my dryer vent, I wouldn't want that falling back down with no way to remove it.

    Vented dryers have different vent configurations -- it's important to check the specification sheet for the appliance to see what clearance is required and where the hookup needs to be.

    I have a washer and dryer installed in a similar cabinet run but there's 1 inch on each side so there's a way to pull them out for service if need be.

  • practigal
    8 years ago

    The shorter the vent run the shorter the dry cycle. So if any of the walls back onto the outdoors, the dryer would work best there....not all dryers can be side vented or be vented to either side, read your mftr installation instructions carefully. The electric hook ups for the 240V dryer and the 120V washer are


    below counter level. In my locale the washer and dryer each requires its own circuit. Some locales seem to require an extra switch so that power can be cut from an unobstructed location, you'll need to understand what's up in your area. My water hook ups and drain are above counter height (the mftr instructions will tell you how high/low they must be, you need to make sure they are not exactly at counter height so that any subsequent plumbing job doesn't damage your counter). The cabinet guy built a box to cover them. If the dryer vent couldn't go straight back he would have run it through an adjacent cabinet and put a cover on it in the cabinet. Covering them will look better than having them in plain sight...the best is to get the W/D out of the kitchen but if you are like me it requires so much remodeling that it is cost prohibitive.

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  • practigal
    8 years ago

    In looking at your drawing, I would try to line up the edges of the upper and lower cabinets....

  • dadoes
    8 years ago

    Venting through a roof is reasonably common, particularly when the dryer is at an interior space with no access through an exterior wall ... although it certainly isn't the best route.

  • AvatarWalt
    8 years ago

    A timely topic for me too! I'm looking at heat pump dryers--reputedly more energy efficient and quicker than regular condensers, and no vent. Practigal raises another point of where to put the water shutoffs when the units are in a visible spot that you want looking nice. In OP's drawing, can they go at the back of a drawer to the left? or in the cabinet above? Or with woven stainless hoses and an automatic shutoff can they just go behind the washer and be forgotten?

  • kitasei
    8 years ago

    I have my second NON-vented dryer -- Bosch. The first was in a Manhattan apartment, the current one by my own choice in a stone house that I didn't feel like my hole in. I have loved both. They are energy efficient, quiet, and astoundingly WORK.

  • Danielle Gottwig
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Thanks for the comments so far.

    The current set up (in approx. the same place in the kitchen) -- a full size/wd sitting in the front of a 54" drywall cubby / closet - solves the water shut-off problem by placing the shutoff inside of the right wall. There's an access panel cut into the spot from the adjoining room, a bathroom. This solution seems workable.

    I'm less sure about how to hide and preserve access to all ugly venting structures, especially when they are sitting next to the side vented dryer.

    I'm a little short on elegant ideas, although I might have a clunky idea or two.

    Admittedly, a condensing dryer solves almost all the crazy by simply not venting. We'd ruled this out after reading many, many comments to the effect that these work poorly. There is a vent, why not use it? Hate to eliminate it, then realize this move was a huge mistake. Then again, it'd be much simpler not to have a vent, and it may save me a few valuable inches in the kitchen. I have also read comments like kitasei's, which suggest that they work reasonably well. I wish I had some direct experience with a nonvented dryer, but I've never owned one or seen one used.

    Kitasei, in your experience does a load of regular weight clothes dry all the way? Or do you dry part way and hang up the clothes? How's the dryer handle jeans and towels?

    AvatarWalt, now you've given me something new to hunt on google. Are you encouraged by what you having found so far on the heat-pump dryers?

    Rococogurl, your set up sounds nice and snug. Do you find the extra inch around the machines is sufficient to grab them and pull them in and out? Is your dryer ventless? If it vents, where does the venting live?

    Practigal, placing the vent to the right, in plain view, and then walling it up with a cabinet + door might make sense. I wonder if I could obscure the ugly venting with a single column wine rack or something. To service, pull put wine bottles, remove rack; do service (drink a wine); shove the wine rack back in the gap, replace the wine.

  • rococogurl
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    The extra inch is esssential. My washer & dryer had to be replaced and it would have been impossible to pull them out otherwise.

    Dryer in this house is vented. The vent is on the right and goes directly out through the wall -- dryer's on the end of the run as yours shows. There is a huge accumulation of lint that I need to clean from the other side, which is behind my foundation plant bed as it clogs the vents and keeps them open. Also the little vent louvers need to be oiled so they open and close. I can't imagine how this would work going up through a roof. I personally wouldn't do it unless the ducting was a solid piece as otherwise it is connected with tape and tape can loosen over time. Lint in any wall is a huge fire hazard.

    One thing I would check on is the position of the vent for any dryer I was getting as those can vary. The way the doors swing open also varies.

    Have you shopped for a pair yet? If they need to fit under a counter they will be compact/Euro size. Unclear to me which of those would, today, even have a vented dryer. Both Bosch and Miele have discontinued vented. I got mine just before they did. Likely couldn't replace with vented today though perhaps Whirlpool still makes one.

    I did have a Bosch AXXIS condenser dryer in our apartment. Used it for 2 years. The condenser filter does need to be removed and cleaned. The pair was in a closet and the door had to be left open as the dryer did generate a good deal of heat. Otherwise it did a fine job.

  • Danielle Gottwig
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Regarding the upwards vent: Picture a rigid tube that goes straight up. The flexible vent hookup connects the w/d to this tube. I think the rigid, vertical tube probably ensures that all the lint gets trapped in the flexible tubing - which can be cleaned, if you can access it. If.

    I'm a little paranoid about the access issue, as the current w/d cubby is a tight fit (right to left) for the current units, and provides no real access to the area behind the machines. It's been an ongoing problem, that culminated in the workcrew that tried to replace the inherited machines failing to install the dryer. I should probably try to get it installed again, but watching the previous group struggle with it, I think the better path is to remove the cubby and start over with something appropriate to the space we have.

    Regarding units - we're leaning toward the compact Asko washer dryer, "T754". I've also wondered about the compact, vented machines from Blomberg and GE (which is a slightly deeper than the Asko/Blomberg units). The Askos can side-vent from the back corner of the machine.

    Regarding the Bosch AXXIS - did it dry your clothes well? I'm now very curious. That's two positive comments this thread on the Bosch ventless machines. And not losing 3-6" of kitchen to the vent would be awfully nice.

  • rococogurl
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I have Miele machines currently. The tops of those are 23-1/4" w. My openings are 25" wide. This works. Previously I had an Asko pair (Swedish owned). That was a 240 v and the washer plugged into the dryer. Right side vent, which is where the vent was in the house to begin. Same space.

    I can picture a rigid vent. However, lint is heavy and tends to cling to the sides of vent pipes. If you have some type of space age vacuum or wanted to hire someone to professionally clean that vent once every 5 years then that's the only way I can think for it to get cleaned out unless you have the flexi vent from the dryer taped to the pipe and are able to pull out the machine and vacuum out the flexi area where it will accumulate. IME lint causes a vent pipe of any kind to narrow over a period of time unless it's cleaned out. In our apartment, before we reno'd, someone had installed a vented dryer without a vent. Fortunately, DH lived there alone for several years. When we opened the walls they were full of lint. The volume can be surprising.

    The Bosch condenser dryer I had was 5 years ago. It was great. I had 800 g Restoration Hardware towels at the time. No problem at all. I would say that a front loader is necessary with a condenser dryer. I can understand complaints about drying time if someone is using a top loader that doesn't have the high speed spin.

    Sounds like you already have a pair so that's not an issue.

  • AvatarWalt
    8 years ago

    Historian-- I'm intrigued by the heat pump dryers, which are, of course, "more common in Europe," and I'm trying to read whatever I can find online. It sounds like the technology is more complicated than your average heat-it-up-and-blow-it-out dryer, but it's basically the same mechanism as a refrigerator or air conditioner so it isn't exactly unheard of or inherently fragile and is nicely energy efficient.

    The appliance store suggested a Blomberg, which Reviewed.com really likes ("far more effective than any other compact ventless dryer we've tested") though the cycles are long and don't remove 100% of the moisture. We rented an Air BnB in London this summer that had a condensing dryer (much to my excitement!) and I thought it dried fine, so I'm not sure what to think about the moisture removal, and Rococogurl's experience is good. The store also carries an Asko heat pump model, but the salesman said the w/d pair is about $5,000 rather than the Blomberg's $2,450.

  • AvatarWalt
    8 years ago

    And for access, maybe we can all find giant-sized sliding appliance caddies that have been the talk of the countertop lately in Kitchens.

  • whirlpool_trainee
    8 years ago

    Millions and millions of condenser dryers are being used here in Europe - they work. Plus, since a condenser dryer dries the entire load at the same pace, you can dry thick and thin garments at the same time. I used a Speed Queen vented dryer in the UK and had to check the load continuously because some items were still wet, while others were crisp already. However, you have to rinse the condenser periodically; they do put out a good amount of warm air and don't work too well, if the ambient air is over 85F.

    Heat pump dryers are becoming the norm in Europe, while manufacturers like Bosch or Miele have almost stopped making residential vented dryers. Some places (Switzerland) only allow heat pump dryers to be sold and nothing else - commercial settings excluded. These dryers basically dehumidify the air and thus dry clothes without much heat - like drying clothes outside on a dry winter's day. They also give off less heat. But they take longer and need to be cleaned more frequently and carefully (the self-cleaning models aren't sold in the US yet). I think Arçelik, maker of Blomberg/Beko, recommends cleaning the filter every fifth cycle.

    Alex

  • whirlpool_trainee
    8 years ago

    Almost forgot: I cleaned the condenser of my Bosch today after probably around 50+ loads and got maybe a teaspoon of lint out of it.

  • practigal
    8 years ago

    I would put a large pullout pantry in front of the dryer vent, before I'd use a wine rack there...

    If you are going from normal to compact size, i'd try the compacts in the existing cubby first, you may have the space you need.

    I would build a shelf for the dryer to sit on so that the units can be separately serviced. You may even be able to find a very heavy duty slide out shelf that can be locked into place for the dryer. (You know that once you go to all the trouble to make servicing possible, it won't need servicing again...)

    You can try Blomberg, Asko, Electrolux, Miele, Bosch, etc so long as there is service for them in your area. Do not buy the brand if you cannot get it serviced, or if you do, expect to pay travel, hotel and board in addition to the cost to repair....you'll quickly see a new machine as cheaper...

    I think that a lot of the "problems" with compacts are probably overstated, especially that compacts are too small, they really have the normal capacity of the old machines less the giant agitator...it's today's new machines that are ginormous (giant + enormous) like most Americans are getting to be....totally OT I recommend "That Sugar Movie"

  • Danielle Gottwig
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Thanks so much for the comments.

    We're still brainstorming how to deal with the vent. And we're also encouraged by the positive reviews of the condensing dryers.

    I'm also very intrigued by the blomberg heat pump dryer. I'm about 90 percent of the way to deciding to order one and test it out.

    AvatarWalt, if I do order one, do you have questions about it? Maybe I can goof around with it for you.

  • AvatarWalt
    8 years ago

    Thought I'd check in with you, Historian, and see if you decided on the Blomberg. We've ordered one via an annual sale, but it won't be delivered for awhile and installed whenever the slow march of renovation allows (by which time it'll probably be obsolete), so I can't offer any opinions yet.

  • Danielle Gottwig
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Avatar Walt, I think we're going to pull the trigger, but we have not done it yet. I am trying to get a couple quotes in-hand for work on our kitchen renovation, which will tell me how much of it we are (or aren't) doing all at once. In all scenarios, we'll need a w/d set. But since I don't have the big picture, I haven't placed the order for anything.

    But I think we're going to buy a set soon, despite few reviews or first hand knowledge. Then we'll see what we think. I'm really, really curious to see how well it does.

  • AvatarWalt
    8 years ago

    Thanks Mikelock for a very informative post. I've wondered about the gap too--we have still-in-the-box Blombergs, and the specs say that the 33.5 inch tall dryer is supposed to go into a 36.14 inch opening, but I don't know if the gap is supposed to stay open for circulation or if you can put in something that closes it off. Irritatingly, the washer instructions say that a washer and dryer combo can go in a 34" opening, so their manuals are inconsistent.

    Also, your kitchen looks great, and vastly more user-friendly!

    Danielle Gottwig thanked AvatarWalt
  • mikelock
    8 years ago

    Thanks AvatarWalt, that was a project that I do not want to tackle again for a while, but the end result is great.

    I don't think the circulation matters on the Elux, the washer does get a little warm on sanitize cycle, but the manuals say they each require 0" of clearance all around. The dryer vents out of the bottom front, so there shouldn't be an issue there either. Don't know much about Blomberg, but that sucks that the manuals are like that.

    I may just leave the gap there anyway, it probably looks better than trying to put some kind of trim around both runs of cabinets.

    You must have incredible will power, because I could not leave anything like that in a box. It would definitely have to come out to play as soon as possible. Haha.



  • Chris Park
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    We recently remodeled our bathroom and had enough room in there to add in a stacked washer and dryer. Being in a condo, our choices were pretty limited due to space and decided to go with a ventless dryer. I've done about 50 loads so far and it works just great. Most normal loads including bath towels/jeans finish drying in about an hour. I too was skeptical at first only having experienced vented gas dryers but so for so good! With gas dryers my laundry always came out feeling fried but not so with these. It's more gentle on your clothes it seems. The clothes come out feeling like they've been hung out to dry. It's a little difficult to explain but I much prefer it "this" way.

  • Danielle Gottwig
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    We are on the cusp of placing orders for our appliances. So I wandered back by this thread and noticed the new responses.

    Mikelock, I love your "after" photo. We're about the finalize our layout, and I keep considering going under-counter instead of stacked. It's a lot of fun to see another real life installation. That extra run of counter must be so nice.

    Chris Park, thanks for your perspective on how the condensing dryer is performing for you. I was scared off initially by the many negative comments about condensing dryers, but I later became more hopeful when I noticed that many comments note that clothes come out with only an initial dampness - if that makes sense.

    We're finally going to place our order this week, after much heel dragging from me. The plan for a long time has been Blomberg units (the heat pump dryer sounds like a good idea), although in the 11th hour there is some temptation to order Asko units (condensing dryer) that would match the SS appliances. I guess we'll panic and select one soon!

  • Danielle Gottwig
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Avatar walt, thanks for this observation:

    "We have still-in-the-box Blombergs, and the specs say that the 33.5 inch tall dryer is supposed to go into a 36.14 inch opening, but I don't know if the gap is supposed to stay open for circulation or if you can put in something that closes it off. Irritatingly, the washer instructions say that a washer and dryer combo can go in a 34" opening, so their manuals are inconsistent."

    I hadn't noticed the discrepancy - probably because I only read one manual. This is scaring me a little bit. Pick the version I like? Pick the version I don't like? :p

  • practigal
    8 years ago

    Dryers usually have air ducts that should not be blocked. You can put the dryer behind a door that can stay closed when not in use but many code installations require that the door have ventilation so that there will be no fire if the door is accidentally shut while in use. The Blomberg manual has specific requirements for the door. Also I would not like to have my electric and water shut offs in locations where I could never reach them. The Blomberg washer manual says that the water supply is supposed to be turned off at the end of the washing day.

  • AvatarWalt
    8 years ago

    It was actually our contractor who noticed the discrepancy, Historian, so I can't claim credit as I too was only looking at the version I liked. :) I suppose I should call Blomberg to see if they'll clarify over the phone, but the larger clearance works OK for us so I haven't done it yet. I do want to ask about a trim piece though.

    I did see the zero-clearance spec on the Elux, mikelock, and that was appealing, but I thought I'd give the heat pump dryer technology a try with the Blomberg. It's still in the box not because of self restraint though--we bought early to get them on sale and the laundry is still a few months from completion. Can't wait!

  • Danielle Gottwig
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Well, we took the plunge after much delay. Blomberg units scheduled to arrive in January!

    I might find the 36 in requirement, if that is the true figure, troublesome if we elect under counter installation. However, we are close to certain now that we will stack the machines, in which case it wont matter to us.



  • AvatarWalt
    7 years ago

    Checking in again, Historian, to see how the Blombergs are working for you. Ours have finally been installed and I'm wondering if you have water left in your washer's soap dispenser when the load is finished. The water left after the last load even looked a little soapy. This is my first experience owning a front-loader, so I hope it's just part of the learning curve. The manuals aren't exactly a model of clarity.

  • practigal
    7 years ago

    My compact Electrolux washer definitely has water in the soap dispenser after each cycle. I had understood that this was true of ALL of the new frontload washers and that it was failing to except this reality that was causing so many people to have the mold problems.

  • mamapinky0
    7 years ago

    Water is always left in my soap dispenser. When I'm finished using the washer for the day I remove the tray and flush it out with my sink sprayer with hot wa ter, gently shake it out, and leave it out until I'm reafy to use it again.

  • larsi_gw
    7 years ago

    @mike lock... What you say:

    "The clothes feel slightly damp when you pull them out, but they actually aren't (hard to explain, but they are dry)."

    This is so true!! I am new to a condenser dryer, Miele Little Giant PT 7135C Vario. The first few times the cycle was over, I opened the door and the clothes felt slightly damp, and I was like...Oh man, this dryer does not work!! By the time I walked upstairs....everything was totally dry. I mean, it was probably dry when I opened the dryer door, but they felt wet. SO weird!!!

    Alex Chicago confirmed this too, he actually said something to me, before I mentioned it to him. Strange phenomenon!!