Well obviously a front loadstackable would fix the door issue and you could have a clothes folding table and hanging rod and/or storage behind the door. If it is an airbnb sometimes then supplies could be kept there as well. I'd spring for a new stackable instead of wasting that space unnecessarily.

Pocket door into the laundry/bathroom instead of a swinging door?

It looks like it should be a mud and laundry room with a half bath attached. I would keep the washer and dryer in the mud room so you have a good space for sorting and folding laundry. Toilets are gross, and you don’t have room to do much in that space without being up against the toilet.

@Paul F. and @dadoes, I actually wasn't too concerned about the door swing direction. What I'm unsure of is the dual function room. I didn't know if I should try to figure on separate rooms or at least a separate WC.

@Paul F., you're saying stack the laundry where the dryer is shown? I kind of like it how it is because if you walk in with a basket of clothes you can set it on top of the dryer. If they're stacked then you'd have to close it to sit it on the clothes folding table. On storage, I'd go with 18" deep wall cabinets which should be sufficient.

@dadoes, I have two pocket doors that we design into out primary home that we moved into a couple years ago. They're both basically doors that get opened in the morning and closed at bedtime. They work well for that, but I don't know how I'd feel about one that you're operating with some frequency. I'd prefer a doorknob. I suppose there are locking pockets doors out there.

The house my parents built in 1964 had several locking pocket doors. I have one (house built in 2004/5) from the master BR to the master bath.

@ShadyWillowFarm, I like your thinking. Trying to execute that in the space is still a dilemma.

We had the approach in the attached image with a dedicated powder room, but you see the washer and dryer reall get squeezed. You'd almost definitely have to stack them because there's not a lot of room for the entry door even if you remove the sidelights.

With this layout, the washer and dryer aren't in a room anymore. Whereas a mudroom is fine being open to the hallway and thereby the rest of the living space, I feel like the laundry should be closed for both acoustic reasons and who wants to look at a basket of dirty laundry. I don't like the idea of the laundry behind closet doors because that seems to impair the functionality too much.

@dadoes, good to know on locking pocket doors. We'll consider putting one there. Once you enter that space, do you think the combo room works?

The machines in there seems OK to me. A pocket door will faciliate access to usage of the machines, and eventual servicing of the machines, without having to deal with the door.

I like your second option better

Dirty laundry could already be in a rolling hamper behind the door if you had a stackable. Who wants to see a dirty basket of dirty laundry? Either way the door will need to be closed to load the washer your old way or to roll out a hamper potentially saving space elsewhere. Ok, that's all I got. : )

Why not flip the w/d to the kitchen wall vs entry door wall? That provides you with a lot more space. I don't think there's much difference functionality-wise of putting your machines in a closet with a bi-fold door that can open completely when they are in use and conceal them when they aren't and putting them behind a powder room door (in a super confined space). My main issue would be cleaning my clothes where people do their business. Or sitting on the toilet staring at my dirty laundry.

@J Steel, here's the plan built out a little more. I agree that I like the powder room more, but there seem to me to be too many trade-offs.

In the revised plan you get the separate powder room, but I feel like you lose a lot. The cubbes measure 18" less at 5-1/2'. You lose 5' of 18" wall cabinets above laundry. The laundry area doesn't have easy access to the sink. There's no staging / folding area for doing laundry. You have to stack the laundry which we won't debate front vs. top load washers except to say we switched to top load two years ago and are very happy. You also wind up with a bit of encroachment on the walkway area from the main entry going down the hallway.

@JP L, is this what you're suggesting?

You maintain the wall cabinets above the laundry and get to stick with top load washer. Total length of the cubbies goes from 7' to just under 4'. It also seems to make the entryway a lot less open. Maybe it's worth it?

Maybe I just solved it?

I added a W.C. off the laundry room that is 36" wide and 66" deep. I think that's sufficient.

The space for the sink in the laundry room is 30" wide and now functions a little better as a dual laundry sink as it's immediately next to the washer and dryer. There's no lack of function as a bathroom sink as a separate W.C. is very common.

Through use of another pocket door (thanks @dadoes), the laundry room can be closed off to the common area of the house. In practice this door might remain open all the time as the washer and dryer are more contained in a room, thereby controlling the acoustics.

The size of the cubbies remains whole at 42" on either side for 7' total. That gives four total 21" wide cubbies. I had drawn the subbies before at 24" deep, but adjusted them to 18" in this drawing.

It still might make sense to eliminate the sidelights on the main entry doors, although I do like the aesthetic. Trying to squeeze a bench into that entry hallway maybe isn't the best idea and we should just leave it clear.

@JP L, @Paul F., @J Steel, @ShadyWillowFarm, thanks for engaging? What do you all think?

This is the main entry to the house? What is the rest of the floor plan? Is this a beach, ski, lake area or what kind of debris is being brought in? My thought was that maybe you can enter into the kitchen area and put the powder room and laundry elsewhere, but you’ve probably considered that. Your most recent floorplan seems the best, although you still don’t have a place to sort and fold laundry. I also don’t think you need a wall between the toilet and sink, since the sink separates the (gross😆) toilet from the laundry area. You may even be able to get a bigger vanity without the wall. We had a beach house, and had the washer and dryer in the hall behind sliding doors. We sorted and folded in our respective bedrooms since it was just casual vacation clothes and nothing that needed ironing or hanging.

The entry door and stairs have moved all over the house. This is the one and only entry, so it’s main entry and mudroom in one. There’s a slider out to a deck, but that doesn’t really count. Moving a major item like this turns into start from scratch, but I’m pretty. Lose and want to try to see this through.

The property is 80 wooded acres for hiking, trail riding, and has river access for kayaking. The use is similar to your beach house in that there won’t be any ironing, nor will there a high volume of clothes.

I like the wall and door by the toilet. I think kids will be more likely to close the door if it’s by the toilet!! And I really think the door into the laundry area will almost never be closed. But I’d still like having it there.

Thanks for the input!

I like it. Good job

I like all of the options except the water closet one. And I love having my laundry behind doors! I can throw a basket on top, close the doors, and have company over! Mine are bi-fold, in the powder room.

How about the original layout but add bifold doors for the W and D? Might need to widen the space a little.

@emilyam819, do you have a rough layout and dimensions of yours that you could sketch? Literally on the back of an envelope is okay! Wondering what the width of your opening is for the bi-fold doors.

I see your perspective that if the laundry is closed behind doors, then this functions just like a powder room and that when guests are over they won't see your laundry at all. In the water closet option, the laundry including a basket sitting on top won't be hidden from someone using that bathroom. That all makes sense.

I think the use / function of this overall house factors into things and also how we live. The house is a weekend / vacation home, so there won't be a high volume of clothing and a week's worth of kids school clothes, sports clothes, etc. piled up. It'd be a daily let's take off the clothes you went hiking in today and wash it, and do a tick check while you're at it! There won't be any company coming over in a sense. Yes, there will be friends and family who come over, but they'd be as likely to use the laundry as the owners. Because of that, I don't think the laundry needs to be out of view. Then there's how we'd live. I know if this were my primary home those doors would be open all the time. Having to allow space for the door jambs and trim effectively reduces the space that you have, not to mention the space that the door take up when open. My dad has a setup like this off a mudroom and you're opening the dryer door into the bi-fold doors. Maybe we would keep the doors closed and would mind it given the low frequency of wash we'd be doing here. That's something we'll think though.

Thanks for your perspective!

@KT Brown, that's what I'm wondering on width. See the last comment I posted with a diagram. How wide would that laundry closet need to be / opening for the bi-fold doors need to be to provide unencumbered access to the appliances? I said previously that I'd be okay losing the sidelights on my main entry door, but I feel like I'd need a whole foot to make this happen and that starts cramping that mudroom area. Everything is a tradeoff!

Still dreaming about this. I think it's the pocket doors that have been bothering me. I just don't like them for a frequently used door.

This version has a pocket door to the laundry, which will probably remain open a lot, especially when it's just our family in the house, but it gives you the option to close it. The door into the half bath is a traditional door. I did lose 20" of space for cubbies, but I could have squeezed that in immediately to the right of the main entry door. I felt it was better to shift the main entry door towards the bathroom and have it open more into the middle of the mudroom. This also allows us to keep the sidelights (not the most critical), and gives a little more room for navigating around the bench (which we may have otherwise removed). The main entry door could even be shifted even closer to the mudroom and add cubbies in place of the bench. We also are able to add windows into each of these rooms. This did come at the cost of taking six inches from the kitch to the left, but it was already more than sufficiently sized.

I think you're underestimating the space requirements of the washer and dryer. For example, the LG WM4000 front-load washer requires 59" (55" washer + 4" behind the washer) to accommodate the washer with its door open. Your space is only 66" deep.

• LG WM4000 Owners Manual (washer)
• LG DLEX4000 Owners Manual (dryer)

@wdccruise, appreciate the heads up. We have the exact Speed Queen units today that we're going to buy again, so we know where we are on dimensions and though we're planning for a smaller laundry room than we have in our primary home, we're able to simulate that space. Everything is a tradeoff and we know we're trading off being able to walk past the washer or dryer with the door open.

@BeverlyFLADeziner it's always helpful to have a diagram, thank you! I know I've shared thoughts across a variety of comments which you likely may not have seen. The cubbies being eliminated and stacking the washer/dryer are two non-starters for us. I know we're trying to pack a lot into a small space, but I think we've gotten there in a way that fits our use

"We have the exact Speed Queen units today that we're going to buy again, so we know where we are on dimensions"

This is a mistake. The drawing above -- assuming three squares = 1 foot -- allows W/D depth of only two feet and space in front of only three feet. The linked LG washer is 30" deep and requires 4" behind it...and this is when the door is closed. When it's open it's 59" and you're allowing only 66" total. You should gather the dimensions of, say, six, popular, front-load washer/dryer pairs and use those appliances' requirements...or find a authoritative source for the room dimensions.

@wdccruise, the linked LG washer is irrelevant to me. The washer and dryer are shown at 27" (yes, it is 3 squares = 1 foot, and they are shown at 7) which is exactly what my Speed Queen units are at home, and we'll be getting the same for this place. Yes, I should show with a few inches behind and update the plan to show that. To test if this would work, I have a 4x8 sheet of 1" rigid foam insulation and we held it up as a simuated wall in front of our current units to assess if we'd be okay with it. Also, I'd point out again that the dryer will have an open doorway aligned with it, so it's not constrained by the 5'-6" dimension. The washer is top load, so you don't need to consider door swing.

We're not going to be ironing in this laundry room, nor likely folding clothes either. At the end of the day this becomes a judgement call for us. Even if I'm pushing back on your comments, I really appreciate them. Maybe we'll wind up taking 2-4" more from the mudroom area. It's all about trade-offs between the two rooms.

Thank you for your feedback!

"I'd point out again that the dryer will have an open doorway aligned with it, so it's not constrained by the 5'-6" dimension. The washer is top load, so you don't need to consider door swing."

It's just poor planning to not plan for appliances someone, even you, might install in the future especially when you can easily consider them, especially since top-load, agitator washers are a dying breed due to their low capacity and relative inefficiency. The idea that someone might have to stand in the doorway -- or another room -- to unload a dryer...well, that's just funny.

Over and out.

@wdccruise, I had a front loader from 2008-2020 and I'm much happier with the top loader I've had for the last 2+ years. I'm also not espousing a fringe perspective as this article cites front-load washing machines accounted for 28 percent of all units 2020, a marked drop from the 38 percent shipped in 2009. There are also top-load high efficiency top loaders that don't have an agitator.

We are being planful in this design. We considered eschewing a door into the laundry room because we wouldn't use it, but it makes sense to do so. We considered bedrooms without closets because it's a weekend home, but we've added them in. We've now considered what it feels like to operate a washer with 36" from the front edge to the wall behind you. Maybe we end up going 39".

Unless I use my go-go-gadget arms, I don't think I'll be unloading the dryer from another room!!

According to the installation instructions, a Speed Queen dryer is 28" deep, requires 23-1/2" for the door and (recommended) 6" behind for a total of 57-1/2". Placing it in a room 66" deep, thereby allowing a generous 8.5" for the door swing makes perfect sense. Darn, my foot is 12" long.

@wdccruise, the diagram is updated to reflect at 24" dryer door and 6" behind the units. With proper planning, the entire 6" allowance won't be needed.

I haven't scoured the internet for clearance needed for a door (most US stuff references ADA), but the Scottish government had this document with the diagram below showing an 18" diameter circle is the space needed in a water closet for an inswing door. Europe is more used to smaller dimensions, so the green circle on my diagram measures 23". As for the "ouch my foot" comment. Keep in mind that this is a dryer door that's 15" off the ground. It'll never bang your foot and therefore would require less clearance than a standard door.

Then there's the best way to test this, build it and try it out. And it works! It doesn't have to work for you, but it works for us.

I'm happy to have a naysayer on this thread to help me pressure test the logic. I'm also comfortable because the plan as drawn might only error in favor of more space. A dryer vent box and planning for that location will reduce the 6" dead space behind the unit. The pocket door wall is drawn as a 2x6 wall but maybe my builder can do 2x4. Maybe we move the wall towards the mud room 2". If we get all of those done, we gain 6".

We'll go over this in more detail as the project progresses, but for now it was a validation of the floorplan. There's not a "death threat" to this layout. Will we make the mudroom 7'-0" and the laundry 5'-10"? I don't think that's a tradeoff that we want to make, but we'll see.