My vent is a rigid vent, not a telescoping one. It is 4" typical rigid duct work to the outside except for the flex aluminum stuff that is at the big box that I put in. I have never done any of this before, so I read and tried to figure it out as best I could. The box and flexible duct work I got online at an outfit called the Dryerbox. I linked it below. The box is put in upside down compared to their pictures because my vent goes into my basement and exits the side of the house. Be sure to calculate the duct run that is recommended by your dryer manufacturer. Each 90degree bend subtracts 5' of run you have available as recommended by the manufacturer. So you want to have the least amount of bends. I don't think the flex connection counts though, at least it doesn't for my dryer. You can get these flexable auger like brush for cleaning vents. They sell them at the website I linked below and at Lowes. I used it for my old dryer and it works. You are supposed to be able to run the brush using your drill to spin it, from your outside vent. When we cleaned ours it was beneficial to be able to get the brush right into the dryer itself, attaching a vacuum to pull out accumulated lint. There was plenty. Regarding the water, I think where ever you can reach it and get it turned off is the important thing. I plan on turning the water off between uses, now that I have the set in my living area. My old set is in the basement and I didn't give it a thought. This laundry project has taught me a lot about better management of my appliances. I installed Floodchek hoses on my basement set. http://www.floodchek.com/ I bought 2 sets and gave one set to my plumber. He thought they looked like high pressure hoses. He liked them. Regarding your pull out. Could you have a top and a bottom pull out, then a shelving area with door to hide and access the vent, electric, and water? Here is another drawing of my setup. It shows where the vent goes inside the wall and down to the basement. There will be a door on the shelving area where I can pull out the shelves to get to the vent exiting the dryer on the side. I bought a Miele set and there is the option for side venting. There is also my water connection on the right side that isn't shown on this drawing, but is seen in my picture. I also have and outlet near the front of this cabinet for an iron. The bottom area will be open for a laundry basket, though I will have shelving available if I want to use them. The bottom area is where my electric outlets for the W/D are. The one drawer shown will be one of those pull out ironing boards. I do very little ironing but thought it could be handy. My counter between the ironing drawer and the shelving above will not be exposed, instead hidden behind the door (door not indicated on this drawing) When the door is open there will be the vent box and water hoses visible I'm afraid. But it will be all accessible. Current design of my setup, showing vent that is inside the wall: Here is a link that might be useful: The Dryerbox online store.

I found a wonderful dual valve that has a short stem with a ball knob that you turn both hot and cold water lines on with at the same time. Mine is solid brass and I like the look and feel of it. It is easy enough for my wife to switch. I think stainless can be had for more money. A plumber installed it . Our stand pipe is behind a sheet rock wall, except for a very short pipe that Y's off at the top and protrudes out of the wall. We stick the drain hose into it. No problems with backup or smells.

chris8796: Yup, I think that is the route I'm going to have to take. (I'm just tired, that's all.) I've never done any plumbing because my dad never did any plumbing: he always figured the price of failure was too high to mess around with for that area of home improvement (and electricity, too). I don't doubt I can do this, though. It is just one more line item on my list of things to learn how to do because I can't find anyone to not rip me off. suburbanmd: Actually, we ponied up for the plumbers report for Washington Consumer Checkbook. I called the top fourteen on the list and only got two callbacks. One was the $580 quote (of the two quotes I got, it was indeed lower than the other by about $100), and the other never returned my follow-up call (I wasn't home when he first called me). And Angie's list is basically useless. I think we are small and plumbers either won't bother or they jack the price up high enough that it is "worth" their precious time. Fair enough but I'm sick of it, and at best, it is either rude or disingenuous. There is absolutely no way I think removing two stupid cut-off valves will take almost four hours by a licensed plumber (which is what the $580 implies, given what that company quoted as their time-and-materials per-hour rate). And yes, I do understand that when they give you a firm quote, they are supposed to be trying to factor in the "mystery" part where they don't actually know for sure what is inside your walls or what they might encounter. But we have no drywall and they can see everything.

I agree that it is bad design to install shutoff valves for toilets and wash sinks and not for the showers. Our house was built in 2005 in NJ, is this really the code these days? All the houses I've been in NYC had shower shutoff valves. It's very inconvenient as let's say you need water to the toilet or kitchen and the whole freaking house don't have water while you wait for a part to come in. My kitchen ceiling got soaked because of this. Bad, BAD, design. Let us know if there is some kind of plumbing code but if so, why do toilets and typical sinks have shutoff valves?