A laundry run is mostly arithmetic. Machines vibrate, hoses need room behind, and a counter that touches the appliances turns the whole wall into a speaker. Get the clearances right and the room disappears into the background, which is the point.
Leave at least an inch of air between the top of the machines and the underside of a counter. A front loader on a fast spin moves, and a counter resting on it passes that straight into the wall studs, which is why some laundry rooms are audible from the bedroom above.
Behind the machines, allow two to three inches for hoses, the vent and the power lead, and more if the taps sit proud. A washer pushed hard against the wall kinks its own hose, and the machine that will not go fully back is the one that ends up sticking out into the room.
Width wants around sixty inches for a standard pair, plus roughly half an inch of clearance either side so they slide out for servicing. Aisle in front, thirty six inches. See the rooms hub, custom cabinets and worktops.
Recent work
How it works
How a Laundry Run Is Set Out
Measure the machines you own
Not the catalogue average. Depth varies, and a machine with a bulky detergent drawer or a curved door needs the counter further forward than the carcass depth suggests.
Set the counter clear
An inch of air above the machines, minimum. This is the number that decides whether the room is quiet, and it costs nothing to get right at the drawing stage.
Allow the depth behind
Two to three inches for hoses, vent and power, more where the taps stand proud. Machines that cannot go fully back end up proud of the counter forever.
Plan the folding surface
Counter height for folding, wall cabinets about eighteen inches above it, and a short hanging rail. Those three turn a utility corner into a room that works.
Inside the run
A Laundry Wants Different Storage
The counter over the machines is the single most useful thing in the room, because folding on a flat surface at working height beats folding on a bed in another room. Above it, wall cabinets are usually set about eighteen inches off the counter so there is space to work underneath.
What goes in those cabinets is not kitchen storage. Detergent bottles are tall and heavy, so shelf spacing and a shelf that will carry the weight both matter. A narrow pull-out beside the machines takes an ironing board or a drying rack that has nowhere else to live.
A hanging rail matters more than people expect, because things come out of a dryer needing to hang immediately. A short rail under a wall cabinet costs almost nothing and saves the backs of dining chairs. See accessories and mudroom storage.
Planning it
Other rooms
Cabinetry in the Other Rooms
A laundry is mostly clearances. These rooms have their own numbers.
Clearances, vibration, storage and what the room actually needs.
No. Leave at least an inch of air. A front loader on a spin cycle moves, and a counter touching it transmits that into the wall studs, which is how a laundry becomes audible upstairs.
Two to three inches for hoses, the vent and the power lead, and more where taps stand proud of the wall. A machine pushed hard back kinks its own hose and never sits flush.
Around sixty inches for a standard washer and dryer pair, plus roughly half an inch each side so they slide out for servicing. Thirty six inches of aisle in front.
About eighteen inches, so there is room to work and fold underneath. Higher and the top shelf becomes unreachable; lower and you knock your knuckles folding.
It is usually the most used thing in the room. Folding at working height on a flat surface beats carrying a basket to a bed, and it costs very little to include.
Tall shelves that carry weight for detergent, a narrow pull-out for an ironing board or drying rack, and a short hanging rail. Kitchen-style shelving does not suit any of those.
Yes, and it often should where the rooms adjoin. Same doors and hardware, different internal layout, because what a laundry stores has nothing in common with what a kitchen stores.
Homeowner reviews
What Edmonton Homeowners Say About Their Laundries
