Is anyone else too short to reach upper cabinets in laundry room?
I am working on the laundry space in our cabin in the mountains. We plan to move there full time in the very near future. I am going from a large mud room to this much smaller space so I will need to maximize every inch of storage. My plan is to switch to front loading units in order to put a countertop over them and gain some space hopefully for folding for my husband to use. (I like to fold laundry on my bed, but he requested some space in the laundry room).
So in looking at decent sized front load units I see most of the run at least 32” deep which means I will probably have around 36” deep counter there. At 5’4” I’m thinking I may have trouble reaching over the w/d to access the upper cabinets. I will have a step stool nearby but don’t want to constantly be setting it up to get to things. I was thinking of building out the space behind the uppers to bring them closer. Plus I could lower them a bit as I don’t need the standard 18“ clearance below as it’s not a kitchen. Has anyone else run across this issue and what was your solution?
This is a pic of the actual space. The window with shutters on the right was fake and is gone.
Here is my layout so far, the laundry is the back part of the guest powder room so I’m also trying to make it attractive. The laundry portion is 68” on the w/d wall by 78” on the window wall.
Comments (14)
armchairshopper
5 years agoPossible solutions:
Deeper (custom) cabinets so that you don’t have to reach so far back
Buy detergent in larger bottles with a tap so that you no longer have to handle detergent. You just dispense what you need into the cup. The same applies for fabric softener.
PROJudyG Designs
5 years agoRelated Discussions
laundry room freakout! can anyone help?
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Comments (26)I'm in the design phase right now and I can't justify to myself the trade-off of prime living space, either on the main or on the second, for a laundry room when I have an empty basement, otherwise considered low priority space. If I take the square footage for a laundry and pose the following question: "Should I decrease the square footage of my kitchen or my master or my LR in order to have a laundry and thereby increase the square footage of space available in the basement or should I do the reverse, use up low priority space in the basement and increase the size of my kitchen or master or LR?" The answer for me is to put the laundry in the basement. I guess that we all have different laundry habits. I'm in my kitchen for large amounts of time every day, same with my LR, same with my bedroom, etc. I use a mudroom, and even some closets, more often than I use a laundry room. When I do use the laundry room it's for a specific task and I'm in and out in short order. If I have to fold the laundry I can do it in the room or haul it somewhere else so I can multi-task. The inconvenience of the momentary transport of laundry only happens occasionally while the use of the space I've freed up happens every single day and for many hours of the day. Who here uses their laundry room as frequently as they use their other rooms? Again, everyone has different lifestyles, but I've never seen a laundry room being a frequently used room. Sure, I understand the convenience that most everyone upthread is praising but I haven't seen anyone address the trade-off, and with space planning there is always a trade-off in play, and when I weigh the added convenience gained against the dead space produced, I can't justify it for my lifestyle. So, I'll be the lone voice in the wilderness and shout out "Shove it in the basement."...See MoreAnyone have pics of 10ft ceiling with 42in upper cabinets?
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Comments (17)How short on height for the Kitchen Aid are you? Is it a tilt head where you want to be able to tilt the head under the cabinet? It looks like the tilt head models are under 14" high but it doesn't say how high they are with the head tilted - it looks like that might be an extra 8 inches or so. Dropping the counter a few inches for the baking counter might not get you enough extra space. If your kitchen is short on storage, every inch you drop the counter loses you 24" deep storage - about twice as much as you lose when you make a 12" deep upper an inch less. If the issue is only when the mixer head is tilted, could you pull it out from under the cabinet when you are using it? We use our KA a lot so I'm glad it is on the counter ready to use. Ours is the stand model and we thought we had planned for enough space between the uppers and counter to accommodate its 16 1/2" height. Unfortunately, it turned out that our floor isn't flat and is at its highest point right where the dishwasher which meant that the counter top ended up an inch closer to the ceiling than we had planned. There wasn't enough height to allow the mixer to go under the light rail on the cabinet. We ended up going with a shorter under cabinet light in that spot and ending the light rail to make a spot for the mixer to go:...See MoreAnnette Holbrook(z7a)
5 years ago
drbevdc
5 years ago
partim
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
suzyq53
5 years ago
Sharyn
5 years agoAnnette Holbrook(z7a)
5 years agoThe space is only 68” wide. The most common width of the bigger front loaders is 27”, so that leaves me only 14” extra. I would estimate 12” because walls are never perfect. I could do one that narrow but that would eliminate the ability to have the shelf unit under the window. Not sure which is more useful in the long run. This is what it would look like with a tall cabinet on one end.
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5 years agodrbevdc
5 years agosuezbell
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoshivece
5 years ago
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