That is very narrow for a mudroom and might cause bottlenecks

Good idea CP, they should also provide space for recyclables too.

Think about what your individual family already uses. What do your kids take from and to the house on a weekly basis? Are you just storing backpacks and shoes or also sports bags. Most people would use the top (unreachable) shelf for out of season stuff like gloves and hats. You can also do just a decorative shelf there. 5'8 isn't real deep for a mudroom. Is this is the main walkway or a separate "room". Mine will be about 6' wide, except for an additional 2*3 closet that opens into it on one side. However, you have to turn from the main hallway into mine. The benches are great, but keep in mind that there will usually be something sitting on the bench, so not the easiest place to put on shoes! For the dogs and adults cubbies, I would consider more drawers than the same look of the shelf/cubbie/shelf of the kids. The dog stuff can all be put in a few drawers and you can use additional space for a mail dropzone/etc.

Also consider if you want some sort of charging station in the mudroom. My 11 year old now has a school issued ipad that comes home each day to complete homework and get charged. So even if you are a no electronics family for the kids, this is the direction schools are heading. (Our school just got an ipad for every K-5 kid, and every 6-12 has an ipad that can come home.)

By making a list of everything that will get stored in the mudroom, you can better decide how yours should be designed. If you have a lot of sports activities, maybe instead of doing a cubby for the dog, having that 20 inch space be a bunch of shelves to slide sports bags into.

I agree with the above recommendation to consider what will be stored in the mud room. Sports bags take up a lot of space, so that's something to consider. I also like the idea of 5 cubbies with the 6th turning into a drop desk for mail, keys, etc. You could put a few drawers for dog supplies under that drop desk.
Also, make sure the bench is deep enough to allow people to sit and put on shoes. The bottom should be tall enough to accommodate boots/ rubber boots, etc.
The top is probably more for decorative/ seasonal storage. I like the picture showing baskets - out of sight, but still available.

Consider your climate too, and where wet stuff goes -- I'd hate to have umbrellas and rain coats hanging over that wood bench, for example! Might prefer to have a wet zone for containment of rain and snow gear, with regular coats and backpacks going into the cubbies. I have to say, though, that mine and spouse's work bags are more briefcase style and would be hard to drop in such a cubby anywhere but on the seat, so I might want a little different arrangement for the adult slots. Also, will a niche like that hold the kids' shoes? one pair looks cute, but even my one kid always seems to have three pairs rolling around...

Could your 11 feet fit something like this, with some open bench to keep usable, some cubbies, and some shelves for other types of bags or overflow shoes? and a mat or tray to collect wet stuff?

Nest in the Trees · More Info

Rising Ridge · More Info

This one seems to incorporate the open wet zone underneath and some additional closed storage and possible charging station or drop zone at the end:

Minneapolis Charmer · More Info

You might get some efficiency by just putting a little name plaque over each hook rather than building in all the dividers, although that doesn't really account for bags as well.

Dunno. I've never known anybody who had one of these at home. Obviously, the kids get some cubby training at school, which helps them get in the habit of using this, and of course the chaos will leak out no matter what the plan. But the more you can account for current and possible future needs specific to your family, the more likely it is to work really well for you.

Our mudroom has a bench that just gets cluttered up with stuff, I'd love to take it out. We use a long row of hooks on the wall, and a long boot-tray below for shoes. We had a shoe cubby but it was just too slow, you had to stand right in front of it to place or retrieve your shows and since our mudroom is only about 4' wide, traffic jams are common especially in winter. With the open shoe storage, you can reach over someone or just put them in any open spot.

My favorite thing about our mudroom is the key hooks. Never lose keys, can hold a leash. A charging station for the school electronics is a great idea. My son lost two charging cords $ and could easily forget the Chromebook. Having it by the door and the cord staying right there would have been a much better idea.

Below is a picture of ours before we moved in. The space is of similar size to yours - 5'5" x 11' long. That width does lead to a bit of a bottleneck when someone is in there and someone else wants to pass but it hasn't been a big deal and I feel a long narrow space works better than something square since we don't waste much floor space.

We also have three kids and did five cubbies (we had a carpenter custom make this onsite). We keep shoes in big baskets we got for the bottom. It seems we have a ton of shoes in the baskets all the time - sandals, athletic shoes, work shoes etc. The top shelf we used for winter stuff and we also keep our dog food supply up there so they can't get it when we aren't home! It's pretty high up so doesn't get used for much right now. The door you can see goes into the garage and we have found the counter area right by the door is very helpful (we used a piece of the same granite as our kitchen to tie it together and for durability). We use that counter area for a lot of purposes - we hung a mail sorter, it functions as a charging station (make sure you install plenty of outlets at the right height) and holds stuff we don't want to forgot as we exit. Underneath the counter is where we keep our dogs water and food bowls. If I could build is again I would find a way to incorporate some drawers under some of the counter space and possibly have more counter space in favor of a bit less cubby space.

mud room addition · More Info

I search Houzz for pictures of charging stations and this picture appeared. Individual charging stations with cubby holes for individual use.

@mcg910, mudrooms are not part of my life experience, but I will say this. The picture you posted with the space for shoes and boots makes total sense because the bottom surface is the floor. I've seen so many mudroom pictures with the shoe space having a white painted bottom surface. For shoes? Even the other picture posted above with loose wire baskets inserted into the space doesn't make sense. Children won't lift the basket out; they will slide it and tilt it down over the edge, resulting in scratches. A white bench would also be problematic.

Unless, of course, your mud room and the children passing through it will never actually see any mud. Or you have a pre-mudroom to hose everything and everyone off before entering the mudroom.

Cubbies with floor for shoes is best in my experience as well. If kids (or adults getting older) have to open a low cabinet (our current setup) for shoes, they just don't. I would think the same goes for drawers, though I think drawers are better than door just as in a kitchen since you don't have to reach around front items to get to the back. Our new mudroom will be huge since we will be on a farm, and because we have had enough of our 5x6 mudroom now. We have a much better handle on what we want out of the space now. Listing all your uses and things to be stored is GREAT advice!!

I have two grown children and four grandchildren. While their parents are neat and orderly, this appears to have not been passed on to their progeny where mud rooms are concerned. They dump their stuff on the floor, shoes get kicked off and it's always a mess - all those sports bags take up an enormous space.

What is NEVER left in such places is electronic devices. They are always with the children and get charged at night somewhere in the house. Backpacks are always left by the front door, retrieved and then taken through the mud room on the way out of the house in the morning.

All this beautiful cabinetry is for a dream family, not a real one. Lots of hooks on a wall that will not be damaged by wet garments (now HERE is a place for shiplap!), a bench to sit on if ones area requires boots (do the children wear them or just the adults?), and a floor that can take mud and wet. The sports bags will be on the floor where they are dropped.

Our mudroom is also a long and narrow space....5'6" x 16'10". I don't have any definitive inspiration pics to show because I've found I want 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that' in my mind.

In my real life with two girls (ages 11 and 13), a messy husband and two large dogs and in reading a ton of information on useful mudrooms I will tell you that I will be designing the following for our family:

1) About 6' worth of hooks and a bench. I'm not saying 'cubbies' because I do NOT want them to be individually divided for each person. My real world experience is that stuff spills over. Not everyone's stuff will fit neatly into 18" of space. I might take up 6" for my small purse, but my sport playing 13 year old will need 24" or more for a school backpack, sports bag, and 4 pairs of shoes.

2) Shoes will rest on the floor. Not on a perfectly painted white shelf that will look disgusting in about 4 days. They will also not be in a basket. We have that system now and shoes are always spilling out of it. Or really never get put in it, but in front of it. A wide open space will at a minimum let my kids and husband simply kick their shoes under the bench to get them out of the walkway. Good enough for me.

3) Individual shelves about the hooks. I'll have baskets here for each person to store their winter hats, gloves, scarves, etc. We live in Texas so this category is small for us.

4) About 24" of a 'drop zone'.

- mail sorting section...'To Pay, To Mail, To File, To Sort, School Forms'.

- closed cabinet with outlet for a paper shredder and garbage can.

- One drawer for frequently used office items....pens, pencils, sharpener, envelopes, tape, scissors, etc....

- upper cabinet for other stuff that I don't want to see. Dog medicine/grooming supplies, key hooks or bowl, flashlights/extra candles and matches, extra batteries, etc.

5) 5-6' feet of 24" deep tall cabinets. I will use this for an overflow pantry. Small and infrequently used appliances, jumbo pack of paper towels, party size drink dispensers, extra step stool, paper plates/cups.

All of this will go on one side of the narrow mudroom, leaving 42-48" of walkway. Plenty wide for a pass through assuming things get put where they belong.

My mudroom is without a doubt the room I'm most excited about in the whole house. I've never had one with access to the backyard so this will be life changing!

Thanks everyone! I'll reread these suggestions a few times, I'm sure. Some great ideas here!

We'd love to have a wider space but I would have had to have sacrificed my pantry for it and that wasn't going to happen. We expect to deal with bottlenecks, unfortunately.

We are putting charging stations in because we don't allow devices in their bedrooms. We also have a small desk area off to the side of the mudroom for an adult drop zone (bills, mail, etc).

Key hooks are great and I'll give some more thought to not having dividers between spaces. I might get rid of the dog's space all together since she just has her leash. My three kids each play four sports (sigh) so the idea of having shelving for their sports back packs/baseball bags/soccer bags is great!

Please keep the ideas coming! I'm sure most of you will think I'm crazy but I never let the kids come into the house with shoes on (job hazard since I work in a hospital and hate the idea of bringing all of those "germs" through my front door). So we'll have a spot right outside of the garage door for shoes and wet items.

my son built his with between the studs 4" recess with hooks on the studs & slanted front flat file slots above for school papers. Not elegant, but does seem to considerably expand the space available, though they also have the usual cubies. Hard for me to believe how much stuff the kids have and actually need....multiple varieties of helmets! I would also advocate a space OUTSIDE the mudroom for filthy football clothes, etc. And I suggest you reserve one of those high up spots for additional or leftover school supplies....that stuff has a guppy-like reproduction rate.

Do you live in a wet or snowy area? We always found that wet boots/shoes left on the floor stayed wet. Even in boot trays, they didn't really dry. We added oh-so-attractive wire shelves to the boot trays (they fit perfectly inside) and the footwear dries completely. In winter, I also hang on a hook, a lingerie dryer that has little spring-/type clothespins for snowy gloves and mittens.

Laundry/Mudroom · More Info

This is an idea. Has a "wet" area for the shoes, a spot to drop keys/mail and you could put a charging station in the drawer.

I would add to what Anglo said about ipads staying with kids. School ipads/chromebooks are different. The kids aren't able to download the apps like minecraft on those...only apps the school approves. My kids usually have their ipads with them, but my daughter charges her school ipad on the kitchen counter as it is suppose to go to school each day with a full charge. This is our first year with this, so something to point out to families with younger children. There are also many times we ask the kids to bring their ipads to us at night because they were previously staying up late at night on them.

Even having the built in charging spot just for preparing for trips would be worth it!

My shredder was all the way in the other end of the house from the mud room. I don't know why I didn't think of this, but I just moved the shredder to the mud room. It makes so much sense. Thanks for the suggestions. I've got room for a trash can in the mud room, too. I'll have to get one.

You guys are brilliant! Adding to the list. Our plan for this is due mid next week so keep the ideas coming!