Renovating European Laundry

tj117

Reaching out to the community for ideas and howtos..

Feeling the need to update this European laundry of mine. The internal measurements are

1.23m width

670mm deep (starting from within outer frame - the exposed plaster and tiles)

2.1m height (measured by outer frame)

The wall on left is part of cavity sliding door, closest stud is in the corner.

Im wanting to put a bench over the washer and dryer. Cabinetry above it with rails or something underneath them to hang dry some clothing.

Lastly, and this may be a bit of a stretch, I would like to put in some kind of doors on the front. There use to be bi-folding doors, but they were a nuisance as I couldn't open my washing machine drawer to put in laundry powder. Normal cabinetry doors that swing open wouldn't be ideal.

JacobZ

Hi @tj117,

That's a nice space to work with, and definitely a good candidate for an upgrade. You can get a lot of functionality into a European laundry like this with the right layout. There are a couple of things to keep in mind though.

You won’t be able to fix anything to the left wall, as that’s part of the cavity slider. Any screws or anchors into it will punch through in to the cavity which will interfere with the door's functionality.

If you’re adding a bench over the washer and dryer, you’ll need to support the left side independently. This is usually done with a vertical panel or legs that runs down to the floor. The right side can be fixed into studs using angle brackets, but the left can’t rely on the wall for support. It does look like you'd have enough room for a leg or panel, but it would definitely be tight.

How much of a gap do you have on that left side? You could reasonably get by with a minimum of about 16mm to allow for a chipboard panel, which could be fixed to the floor with a couple of angle brackets and then to the benchtop above with a few angle brackets.

For the cabinetry above, you can still make it work by fixing into the rear wall and right wall. Just keep in mind you’ll want to leave enough clearance underneath for hanging space if you’re planning to run a rail for drying clothes. You should be fine to use two 600mm wide cabinets, we just need to consider how much height there is above the washer and dryer to allow for hanging of clothes. There are slimline options such as these https://www.bunnings.com.au/kaboodle-600mm-slimline-wall-cabinet_p2662268 , as well as taller options like these https://www.bunnings.com.au/kaboodle-600mm-white-wall-cabinet_p2662262 if you have the height for them.

With your cabinets in place, you can then attach a curtain rod to the underside of those cabinets using top hung hardware such as these https://www.bunnings.com.au/sandleford-25mm-black-rod-fitting-pillar-end-2-pack_p0011381 to give you some hanging space.

On the doors, bifold is honestly still the most practical option for a space like this. Standard hinged doors will get in the way, and sliders don’t give you full access like bifolds do. To me, the simplest solution would be to have the doors bifold to the right of the laundry. As the washer and dryer both have drawers on the left, if the doors opened to the right of the opening, they wouldn't interfere with the functionality of either washer or dryer. Does this seem like a good solution to you?

Overall, it all seems very achievable, you just need a bit of planning around that cavity wall to ensure everything remains functional.

You might like to check out our Top 10 most popular laundry projects and some budget laundry makeovers for some further inspiration.

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/183537/top-10-most-popular-laundry-projects

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/297439/10-budget-laundry-makeovers

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob