Is it for display or dish draining? If for draining wet dishes (that get later put away in cupboards) then I think that function would outweigh any drawback - assuming you had thought through any downsides to drips off the wet plates. (Some people would go nuts with dripping/spotting issues.) However if for display purposes I would think twice. I know at my sink I often have lots of steam (dumped pasta water, for example) and from daily hand dishwashing, a lot of potential for stray droplets of water/soap to fly around. (I use my hand sprayer for really hot rinses of stuff in the drainer rack fairly often and it splashes.) I also wash everything by hand not liking a DW, so YMMV. My final issue is that unless everything is used every day you are setting yourself up for having to re-wash each time before reuse. That's what happens in my house to open-stored stuff. It's one thing to have to rewash essentially display pieces every now and then. But for stuff I might use to get out a meal, I want to know it's ready for use before I reach for it. If it needs rewashing, again, sometimes I just feel like throwing it across the room instead! Maybe if I used a DW it wouldn't bug me so much - but one trip through the washing process per item per use is my hard limit. I have had open storage of dishes and cookware on shelves, plate racks (both over sink) and a pot hangar for a couple of decades and in my new kitchen there won't be any of it, if I can help it. I was beguiled by the look, but in practice I loathe it. And since I've been looking at it since the late 1980s, it looks pretty passe to me, despite it's current flash of popularity. (Probably seems trendy to all those people who have had -quite sensibly - closed or fitted kitchens up till now.) My kitchen is an historically unfitted one (same as it was in around the time of the Civil War). As for your question of depth. My own above-sink open shelves are 12" deep and while I don't find them troubling, my much-taller DH does. They are up about 24" (I'll be glad to measure if that's important) from the counter. Fifteen inches would seem to me to be encroaching and would be much more troubling to my DH; assuming I liked the look and function of the set-up I have now, I would be looking at making it narrower, not deeper. HTH, L.

Here are photos of my plate racks. I had to have my cabinetmaker make them over when I discovered that some of my plates wouldn't fit. The original racks would have only held salad plates and saucers--and this from an experienced cabinetmaker. The componets for the plate racks can be found online, but the spindles only come in a stock length and while this is big enough for the smaller rack, some of my plates required a taller opening. The brackets have holes to hold the spindles and are just nailed into the box. My dimensions are 20 inches wide by 13 high and 20 inches deep for the larger opening and 20 inches wide by 10.5 high and 20 inches deep for the smaller. I can hold 9 plates placed straight in or 8 angled (the way I like to put them). This accomodates an 11 inch plate. These dimensions are for the OPENING, not the spindles.

You get all of the residue off the plates before putting them into the dishwasher? That's the mistake, you must put dirty dishes into the dishwasher and then the soap can act on the dishes, otherwise nothing gets clean. You should also put the pots and the pans in the dishwasher and then you run the dishwasher every night. The only thing you cannot put in is aluminum and anything that is marked that it should not go into the dishwasher. I recommend that you read up on proper dishwasher use as you are really making a lot more work for yourself. The roll up over the sink rack is simply fabulous, provided that the bulk of your dishes are being done in the dishwasher. It does not hold plates.

I would try to frame it out and put a 36" door that swings into the laundry room. My laundry room has a 36" door and it wasn't a problem getting the washer/dryer in there. People who use the bathroom are going to feel more comfortable with a privacy option that they feel they can trust. Maybe put a locking privacy knob on the bathroom side of the door. Consider building code issues in case someone gets stuck in the laundry room. None of my bathrooms have natural light. I don't see a window as a requirement for a bathroom. It would be nice in the laundry room where you might spend some time. Another option is to enclose the washer/dryer in a closet and try to design the corridor to logically be part of the bathroom. I have a combo bathroom/laundry room. Guests hate using it. When I remodel it, I plan to stack the washer and dryer and enclose them in a closet. Then it will look like a normal bathroom with a linen closet. You might want to do something temporary until you can remodel both spaces in a way that makes sense. I have lived with my combo bath/laundry room for years, however it does not get a lot of use as a bathroom. I did buy a divider to visually separate the washer/dryer area.