Laundry area brainstorming

[Cochese]

A cabinet in our laundry area got damaged by a leaking bottle of bleach, so before we replace it we were looking at ideas of how to improve on it.

If you were looking at the room from the kitchen, it's a doorway, the washer and dryer on either side of the opening and immediately the back door. In other words, its an extremely small space. The depth is between 38-42" on either side, and the width is a solid 31". Very hard to reach the wall behind either unit, and if we put stuff high it doesn't get touched very often.

I was considering doing wire shelving along both left hand facing walls and deeper shelving at the back. Any better thoughts? I'll include a picture here shortly. I don't think just the cabs are the best solution.

Thanks.

[leehljp]

I don't know how large of machines you need or if you can afford to buy two new ones, but my suggestion would be to have a stacked washer/dryer to free up one side for better usage. A table to work on and sort, an under storage space and a space above for some hanging.


That said, I have often wondered about the older standard of putting the laundry room/units in the kitchen or other end of the house from where 90% of the laundry is accumulated, used and stored - back in the bed room areas. I know that in most cases it would entail more pipes but even $300.00 by todays standards for the extra pipe. But it would more than be worth it to have the washer dryer back where everything is used. I hate for myself or seeing LOML hauling dirty clothes through the kitchen area, dropping them in the floor and then hauling them folded again back to the bed rooms. That is VERY wasted motion, time consuming and embarrassing when you need to get something that was left in the laundry area just after you get out of the shower!

This is one of my pet peeves, as if you couldn't tell.

[Cochese]

Yeah, not in the budget for the foreseeable future. Which is why I was thinking those wire shelves, something that could be taken down easily in the event of that happening.

Still looking for ideas. Google Images is great at a time like this.

[LCHIEN]

I don't know how large of machines you need or if you can afford to buy two new ones, but my suggestion would be to have a stacked washer/dryer to free up one side for better usage. A table to work on and sort, an under storage space and a space above for some hanging.


...

that makes a lot of sense, but working on those stacked units for installation, hookup and service must be a pain.

[leehljp]

that makes a lot of sense, but working on those units for installation, hookup and service must be a pain.

That actually comes from being in so many space starved homes in Japan in which that was a standard - where there were combo Washers and Dryers. Most apartments and houses lately have changed to washers only with a dehumidifier in the ofuro (Japanese bath) that did great in drying clothes.

[cabinetman]

In other words, its an extremely small space. The depth is between 38-42" on either side, and the width is a solid 31". Very hard to reach the wall behind either unit, and if we put stuff high it doesn't get touched very often.

I was considering doing wire shelving along both left hand facing walls and deeper shelving at the back. Any better thoughts? I'll include a picture here shortly. I don't think just the cabs are the best solution.

Thanks.

With wire shelving you'll still have the height and depth problem. You would probably pick up more storage space. With a cabinet with doors your storage is covered...if that's important.

[JimD]

I'd just make a new melamine cabinet with overlay doors. The melamine particle board is pretty cheap and tough. Once the cabinet is done, you can put it up and then make the doors.

Jim

[LCHIEN]

Put a plastic tray in the bottom of the cabinets to catch any chemical (bleach, detergent) leaks so as not to damage the W/D below or the cabinets, next time.

[cabinetman]

Trays could overflow. Maybe find a container that doesn't leak, or find a different place to store chemicals like that.

.

[LCHIEN]

according to the OP, there's 31 inches wide and 40 inches deep available
.
Assuming we put a shelf in that space and make the tray 15 inches deep and 24 inches wide (which is way less than the space available), then a gallon of liquid (231 cu inches) leaked would be only .64 inches deep.

Gallon jugs in our utility room measured 8x3 to 6.5" round footprints so 24 to 43 square inches each loosely packed. So our pan could have 8-10 gallon jugs stored in it easily - way more than I have.

Likely a gallon jug leaking would have the leak not at the bottom and not necessarily be full so your typical leak would be less than that. There would be some loss of available volume with other jugs in the assumed pan but a 2" deep pan could be 2/3 full area-wise of other jugs and withstand a full gallon leak easily without overflowing.

Its rather impertinent to just bash someone's idea without any real good evidence. The OP did ASK for ways to improve his room. Seems quite practical to me and can easily be made not to overflow.

[cabinetman]

according to the OP, there's 31 inches wide and 40 inches deep available
.
Assuming we put a shelf in that space and make the tray 15 inches deep and 24 inches wide (which is way less than the space available), then a gallon of liquid (231 cu inches) leaked would be only .64 inches deep.

Gallon jugs in our utility room measured 8x3 to 6.5" round footprints so 24 to 43 square inches each loosely packed. So our pan could have 8-10 gallon jugs stored in it easily - way more than I have.

Likely a gallon jug leaking would have the leak not at the bottom and not necessarily be full so your typical leak would be less than that. There would be some loss of available volume with other jugs in the assumed pan but a 2" deep pan could be 2/3 full area-wise of other jugs and withstand a full gallon leak easily without overflowing.

Its rather impertinent to just bash someone's idea without any real good evidence. The OP did ASK for ways to improve his room. Seems quite practical to me and can easily be made not to overflow.

Not to sound argumentative, but suggesting that a tray could overflow doesn't sound to me like bashing your idea. When suggesting a 'tray' you didn't give dimensions. A tray could mean just slightly larger than the diameter of a round jug, or just a tad larger in the same shape as a jug (could be square). If those conditions were pertinent to the tray, the bottle/jug would displace a great percentage of the trays capacity.

Or, a tray could mean the size of the interior bottom of the cabinet or shelf, as in wall to wall. If the cabinet has doors, they would likely have to be configured to open with full straight in and out access, which would allow a 'tray' to be slid out that has fluid in it.

I have a bit of difficulty removing and handling 'trays' with relatively short sides with a quantity of fluid, and minimizing the amount of 'sloshing around'.

.

[jking]

What if you built a cabinet that was mounted to each side wall? That would allow for enclosed storage space (if that's important to you) and you could locate the cabinet closer to the front of the space. Then you could reach things easier.

[susan26]

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