Hello everyone - I am an interior designer. I dislike long narrow “walk in” closets. Even if you have a designer create a beautiful, one sided narrow walk in - 2-3 feet of pathway is not enough. This will create a space that is not useable by people of all abilities, and wastes an entire wall. I believe a true walk in needs to have a 4-5 foot pathway. If you don’t have that much space, create a beautiful reach in closet. The options for reach in closets are endless. Keep in mind that a beautiful, well planned reach in closet will be an bigger selling point than a narrow walk in. I am very opinionated about good design, and my passion is promoting, creating and educating my clients about Universal Design.

I have stacked full size washer/dryer and I don't mind lifting the clothes from the washer to the dryer at all. I like having the dryer opening at eye level; makes it easy to find stray stuff in there. What I don't like is that the dryer controls are very hard to see. Mine has an LCD display for options and if I need to use it, I have to step back to see if I've chosen the right thing. If you are going to split the space, you most definitely will need two doors, otherwise you're in for a linty coat nightmare. Mine is in a closet in my master bath. It has an exterior door on it (ie sealed). One wall cavity is used for combustion air (vent at the bottom of the wall on the inside and at the top of the wall on the outside). That puppy is really quiet when in use; I can put jeans in the dryer just before bed. Now, with all that, I STILL get lint on stuff in my bathroom. I have a calacatta vanity (white) so you can tell. Well, you couldn't tell until our house cleaner retired :). Perhaps I should wipe down the counters more often. But this is the only room where my dust is blue or red.

Beachpea: A lot has changed in the washer world since your 25 year old Maytag was new. There are now government regulations that mandate the actual temperature range of what your Maytag calls hot, warm, and cold. The temperatures are not, for the most part, what your water heater is set to or the temperature at the tap. This was done in the name of energy efficiency. Depending on the manufacturer, "hot" can be anywhere from 100F to 120F. Cold water is added to the tap hot to meet the standards of the Automatic Temperature Control (ATC) set in the washer. All rinses are now cold. Water levels are much lower than your old Maytag. Some high effeciency (he) machines don't even have the agitator in the old school top loaders. Some machines have an onboard water heater to raise the temperature of the water for certain cycles for extra cleaning power and to kill certain types of bacteria that aren't killed by the cooler temperatures of the new "hot" water. It might be a good idea if you familiarize yourself with the changes before you get into serious washer shopping. It could have a great impact on your decisions. If you're washing slipcovers and blankets in a front loader I suggest you look at machines with at least 4.3 cu ft capacity (Miele and other European brands excepted) to get the tumbling action you need to get everything clean. The traditional toploaders can handle up to a thin queen sized blanket with relative ease. Given your information, a stacked full size laundry center is what you need. Good hunting.

You would need at least 55” I’d think. And that’s without the doors. I tried to do something similar and had to give it up because I didn’t have the space for the w/d I was planning to buy. I’d go to an appliance store with a tape measure and open the doors on some side by side units to be sure.