Laundry/utility room layout - maximum cupboard space or leave more open?

Jeepers_Creepers

pffftt - I think I've answered that one...

Think more 'ultimate storage facility design & culture...'

ChasingtheWelshdream

Jeepers_Creepers said:

A very comprehensive reply. Sooo, let's see - all you want is everything. And don't we all

Oh, and the moon on a stick as well please, if it's not too much trouble.  

I don't think you can get away from the simple fact that you are asking a LOT from this narrow room; it has the WM & TD in there (most folk have to stuff that into their kitchens), a F and a F (just about everyone else on the planet HAVE these in their kitchens!), and also you want to iron in there... Sheeesh. Then there's storage, a butler sink, a feeling of space, a...

 Don't judge - the fridge and freezer are the 'spares'...... but always full. My kids have hollow legs and I batch cook.

I know I can get everything in, as that's what we've had. It's just whether there are better ways of doing it. I must say I iron as little as possible and have no intention of spending any longer than necessary. But with a small flip/fold/mini board I find it better to iron anything as soon as it needs rather than languishing in a bottomless pile. And really, it's mostly shirts so not much. But I prefer to do it all in the same room rather than spreading out. I have a 'system'  that involves many washing baskets....  

Thankfully, the back door isn't in regular use.

Nope, it's the perfect dog escape route - learnt from bitter experience. 

Ok, my gut says that to have this room 'looking' real good is just a luxury. So, it'll likely 'feel' a bit narrow? Pffft. It'll be a tad 'claustrophobic'? Pah! It could be a bit 'closed in'? Piffle!

Well, yes it will - but that will be more than compensated for by the sheer pleasure of having all the stuff you can't bear the sight of being stuffed behind bespoke doors and quality units. It'll be a masterclass of efficient design! Folk will 'oooh' and 'aaaah' at the innovative design concepts, that maximising of wall space, the ruthless use of the whole ceiling height.

See, this is not our forever home but we'll likely be here for the next 10-15 years until everyone has flown the nest. So I know it needs to work for our lifestyle, but I do like to see if there's a consensus of what folk will hate and would put people off, should we unexpectedly move.  

This is a utility room, for utilitarian purposes. Every compromise you make towards 'space' will likely be a significant loss of actual storage space. Think more 'ultimate storage facility design' and less 'my ironing room'.

(On that last point, fold or hinge-away ironing boards are great. I made one out of chipboard for my first flat, and was so taken that I still do all the ironing to this day :-(  Ironing boards that you need to pull out of a cupboard and set up are just hellish. Choose a nice spot - perhaps with t'view out t'window - and fix it there. Upski and ready in 2 seconds. Then have your DAB radio set to either R4 or R6. Preferably both. Jobbie jobbed.)

I've had plans for something similar for ages, it's just where to site it. I am probably a bit too overexcited about it.

theoretica said:

My parents' dryer is on top of their washing machine - works very well.  If you had these on the outside wall would it make it easier to plumb in a vent for the dryer rather than needing a condensing dryer? 

I've had a good measure and it looks like anything larger than 450mm deep is a no-go on the window side without major work, so all appliances must stay on the far wall. 

If you go for narrower doors make sure you still have a route to get appliances in and out without taking doors off the hinges - the way the outside back door opens looks like it might get in the way?  Also where would you stand if opening the loo door if it isn't a sliding one?  You might also want to look at narrow double/bifold options. I have the feeling a sliding door would only have been put in if a normal hinged one had some disadvantage there.

I also wondered this, although there are no end of 'strange' things in this house. But, the sliding mechanism is broken so the door needs to come off for repair. It wouldn't be hard to have a play and see why. I did wonder if it had anything to do with the meter/consumer unit cupboard (just above the back door), but I don't think it would foul it. It will be interesting to see.

getmore4less said:

Do you want to listen to music or watch TV while doing the ironing?

Noooo! I just want to get the blasted shirts done as quick as possible whilst I'm sorting/folding clean clothes. As the washing machine is on every day, I'd just like it all to be in one place. 

Doozer: 
Nope, the door can't be moved. We've had a good look and it's just one job too far. Also, when our boiler eventually needs replacing, it will probably be moved into that space to free up a corner in the bathroom directly above.


Thank you all, really good food for thought. I'm going to play around with a kitchen planner. The sink unit will be ripped out soon so I can tee-off an outside tap easily, giving more of a blank canvas. I will  try stacking the washer/dryer and mocking up the feel of a bank of units by hanging some fabric in place, so I can see the difference.

As I said, it does need to work for us, but I've been waiting for sooo long to get this far that I'm open to all opinions before committing to anything. 

Very much appreciated! x

Doozergirl

I wasn't suggesting moving the door after my first post.  I was talking about making the door narrower within the same opening; partially infilling to make the wall bigger and enable a full height cabinet, with a depth somewhere between a wall and a base unit to fit in the space on the narrower side. 

It looks like you might have something as large as a 32 inch door there and a big architrave.  It could be brought down to 27 inches (still big enough for appliances to get in and out) and lose or reduce the architrave on the side of the long run to allow more depth of cabinetry.  At the moment it would provide loo roll depth of storage.  Still useful, but something more that could hold more pantry items or random small appliances might be more flexible.  

We do it a lot in London in the smaller rooms where it can make a lot of difference.  
 

ChasingtheWelshdream

Doozergirl said:

I wasn't suggesting moving the door after my first post.  I was talking about making the door narrower within the same opening; partially infilling to make the wall bigger and enable a full height cabinet, with a depth somewhere between a wall and a base unit to fit in the space on the narrower side. 

It looks like you might have something as large as a 32 inch door there and a big architrave.  It could be brought down to 27 inches (still big enough for appliances to get in and out) and lose or reduce the architrave on the side of the long run to allow more depth of cabinetry.  At the moment it would provide loo roll depth of storage.  Still useful, but something more that could hold more pantry items or random small appliances might be more flexible.  

We do it a lot in London in the smaller rooms where it can make a lot of difference.  
 

Ah, I see. Apologies, I hadn't quite made sense of it. Definitely food for thought, thank you. 

getmore4less

if you don't need instant access to the F&F and they can't go on the window side then how about.

Get rid of the sliding door(or just box it in)
washer and dryer on the ground  under the countertop much like they are now.
Fridge and freezer on top of those(could even put doors to hide them) might be room for storage above as well.
That uses up ~1.2m(+ a bit if you leave the slider) of the 3.2m run

Then a custom shape  full high cabinet/shelves  that tapers from ~600mm(or less) down to the door into the kitchen for storage.

That leaves you free to do what you like on the sink side
you can get 400mm deep butler style sinks if you don't have or want too much depth on that side,  put the tap(s) off to the side to keep it narrow. 
here is one under £100
https://www.tapsuk.com/medium-gloss-white-600x400x160-ceramic-belfast-butler-kitchen-sink-waste-p32345

Jeepers_Creepers

Ah. Good alternative call on the stacking front, GM4L - washing apps below, fridging above.

Again, detailed thoughts on what's important to you, CtWD. A 10-15 year life span would, I think, have me very much prioritising this rather than what the next occupant will want. And I'm not sure you can anticipate what the next occupant will prefer anyway!

You've had a range of advice on here, and it's all good stuff to help formulate your plan.

Since this is a utility room - a nice luxury to have - I'd still be for prioritising it as the best use of storage space over it looking 'accessible'. It would mean far less to me to walk in, spread my arms out and declare "Why, I cannae even touch both sides - ain't we a roomy little room, then?" than for having appliances and all the essential living clutter shut neatly out of view.

So what if you are left with just a 2" wide path; along the right will be a bank of high-quality storage units, shutting all the eyesores way out of site (see what I did there...cough). And these units would still look good.

Things I'd personally consider; if you made these units 700mm-deep, you'd not only maximise the available storage space, but the W/M and T/D could be hidden behind doors too. Let's face it - appliances are not pretty. With adequate ventilation (this would need confirming), so could the F's. Now look at what you've designed and built; super-utilitarianism.  A concept room that "tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness...to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered."

No pressure.

What else do you need to account for? Do you have a range of recycling bins for plastics, glass, tins etc? Where do you currently have these? How far do you need to walk to get to them? Do cans and jars build up - seeping and dripping and smelling - on the kitchen worktop until one person cracks and dumps them in the bins outside? No? That's just us then.

So, if it would help, you could build strong shelf racks on the end of that non-window run, facing the kitchen door, designed to hold each bin - all you'd then need to do is open t'kitchen door and chuck them straight in. What about the everyday kitchen bin? These are truly ugly and space-consuming essential items; is there any potential in shoving that into the UR too? How nice to get all that out of the kitchen.

getmore4less

Jeepers_Creepers said:

........

So what if you are left with just a 2" wide path; along the right will be a bank of high-quality storage units, shutting all the eyesores way out of site (see what I did there...cough). And these units would still look good.

even I would draw a line at  2" (inch) path to get to the WC and back door.
2' (foot) is still narrow if you want access to anything with a door.

Looking at it again and thinking about our situation we like a decent space in front of the washer and dryer to have a basket and still stand/stoop to load/empty,  that last unit on the window run looks like it could be in the way a bit any scope to make that run a bit shorter?

Slinky

In such a small space, doors on the fronts of appliances would be more of a curse than they are worth IMO, unless you could get something like roller shutters so they don't open outwards

Jeepers_Creepers

getmore4less said:

even I would draw a line at  2" (inch) path to get to the WC and back door.

2' (foot) is still narrow if you want access to anything with a door.

Looking at it again and thinking about our situation we like a decent space in front of the washer and dryer to have a basket and still stand/stoop to load/empty,  that last unit on the window run looks like it could be in the way a bit any scope to make that run a bit shorter?

If you could see me mince to the loo when bursting for a pee, you'd see that a 2" path is enough.

You're right, tho' - even 2' ain't enough, and if CtWD made one side 700mm deep and t'other 21", they'd have less than 2' left :-( 

ChasingtheWelshdream

Evening all. Just popping by to say thank you very much for all your help and suggestions.  They have given me a lot to think about and I'll let you know how I get on.

Jeepers - I wonder if you are a salesman? Your descriptions do make me laugh. 

For the record, recycling is indeed left to build up and it's always me that cracks. Each time the box nears capacity I have a vague hope that someone else may actually notice and sort it. But nope, never works. I just end up all huffy that nobody cares about the pigsty state of everything. They indeed do not care and I am soundly ignored. Sigh....

It is fun planning everything though and all ideas have been taken on board.