Do you need a laundry room?

Hidden laundry in the kitchen area

When we renovated our 1950s house, we removed the laundry to give us a large open plan family room and added a European-style laundry inside some cupboards next to the kitchen.

A decade later we are more than happy with our decision, although we do sometimes wish our washing machine was quieter, and that we didn't have to fill the study with clothes horses in winter.

Do you need a dedicated laundry room?

Let us know your thoughts in the discussion below.

Jason

Find more posts tagged with

Renovation

Plumbing

Building and Construction

Accepted answers

All comments

BremerBabe

As a couple without kids we dont need a dedicated laundry but my sister with two small toddlers definitely does as washing is a daily task

DarrenS

We have two children under four and washing is a daily event in our house. Despite having a dryer and a clothesline outside, we still seem to have clothes horses everywhere, particularly in winter. Needless to say we're currently planning a dedicated laundry room!

Jason

Thanks for joining in the discussion and welcome to Workshop @BremerBabe. It's great to have you join the community. I hope you find plenty of new ideas, inspiration and information here. Please post again soon.

Jason

Alicia

I don't think they are necessary. I would much rather have more living room or a second bathroom than a room I am never going to spend time in. I would much rather have something compact and stylish like this:

Andadams

We personally prefer to have a dedicated laundry room. It’s not a large room by any means, and only holds a laundry sink, washing machine and full length cupboard. But it at least it offers an area to have clothes soaking and a sink to clean the grubby things.

When we were looking at houses there was a place we really liked but the deal breaker to us was the laundry was a cupboard with no sink. I guess it really comes down with what your preference and needs are.

KingStreetReno

I would LOVE a laundry room, but space is an issue in my narrow Victorian home.

Laundries need to be a minimum of around 1.6m wide and 3m long. Washing machines are 600mm - 700mm deep + you need walking space and room to open cupboard doors.

I am putting in a euro laundry (the same layout as @Alicia posted above).

Gordo

Laundry rooms are wonderful things to have. But you do not need them, especially if there's space for a clothes washer in the kitchen or bath. In the U.S., most homes have basements, which solves the laundry problem nicely. I've always wondered why Australians don't include basements in their homes. We're big on basement car parks in Oz, even in small town house developments, but we rarely build them for human use. I loved having a basement as a kid. It was like a giant in-house shed, with tonnes of storage, a workshop, spacious laundry, and even room for model railroading, table tennis and occasional Nerf gun wars.

Jason

Thanks for joining in the discussion @Gordo. Did you grow up in the States? Your old basement sounds like kid paradise!

Let me also extend a very warm welcome to Workshop. It's great to have you join the community. I trust you find the site to be informative and offer plenty of new ideas. Please let me know if you ever need a hand getting the most from the site.

Jason

Andy_Mann

I'm with Alicia on this, her pic is perfect, that is if you need a dryer, but doing away with one altogether would be a lot smarter.

We're deadset against dryers now, as we had a Miele condensor dryer, which suddenly decided not to start. A cheerful technician rocked up to check it out, said it was the logic board, the part cost $1400, then $300 for labour (with no guarantee that it would fix it). His advice was for us to trash it, & get a new one for $2000.

I grew up in a family of 3 kids, & Mum got by without a dryer, same goes for my wife, who was 1 of 4 kids, again no dryer.

Our advice would be to get a Hills FD45604 Narrow space folding clothesline, or similar, & fit a 3x5m all weather waterproof sail ($115 delivered on eBay) above it. I installed ours on our Western wall, which serves to also shade that (hottest) wall in summer.

BTW, front loading washers rule.

Learn from our mistakes/progress, save a lot of money, & the planet too.

Jason

Thanks for joining in the discussion @Andy_Mann. Let me also extend a very warm welcome to Workshop. I hope you find the site to offer plenty of ideas, information and good fun.

Jason

ProjectPete

I love space. I also love being practical and make use of things. But I still love space. So a dedicated laundry is important to me and my family.

@Jason I picked up a real nice and "whisper quiet" washer with the inverter technology. I got it to avoid waking my kids while they nap, and just to quiet things down generally. They're deadset as quiet as they say. I was surprised and impressed. Worth the investment when you're in the market.

Fran

I know my comment is a little late, but yes yes yes. A laundry room is a must. Somewhere to sort, and spray washing (stains). A place to fold washing, do the ironing and put the clothes horse/airer up. I have a dryer but I cannot remember the last time I used it. I live in a tiny unit so of course no special laundry room. The clothes horse is put up in the garage when it is wet out and I have a fan blowing on the clothes. I live in Toowoomba where the weather can be unpredicable.

Jason

A whopping 86 percent of Workshop members could live without a dedicated laundry room in their house according to our recent survey.

Thanks to all those who voted in the poll. Feel free to continue the discussion by replying below.

Jason

SuzieA

I do have a laundry with a long bench, appliances below the bench and a corner cupboard that I designed to hold all the usual laundry things plus multiple vases for flowers, held ready for use, in open niches on either side of the cupboard. So yes I am in favour of a dedicated laundry.

But I would like it bigger as a combined sewing room with more storage for all the fabrics and sewing in progress with a long cutting table in the middle of the room. In this way I would have a convenient area capable of many uses and still be close to the iron. Sewing and ironing go together, when sewing.

And one of the best laundries I ever saw was north facing with a wall of glass and a partial toughened glass ceiling so that the end of the room was able to be a drying area in inclement weather. I also think this sunny atrium/and drying area would be a good place to use when painting landscapes.

So rather than get rid of the laundry I'd advocate for a more multi-function place where the area would be a real utility/laundry/hobby room and storage for vases and maybe an area for messy garden boots and space for messy hobbies. But always with long bench for folding and sorting items washed and and dried earlier in the day.

A decent sized laundry helps to keep the rest of the house tidier. no laundry baskets in the living room. no sewing things

on the dining area table. no need to have clothes airing near the living area.

my friends with two beloved dogs went for a bigger laundry too.. They have an exceptionally large sink where they wash the dogs and carpet covered central bench in the middle of the room where they groom the dogs. Laundries are great !

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @SuzieA.

It's fantastic to have you join us and you've raised some great points about the versatility of rooms within a home. It certainly makes you think whether pre-designating a rooms specific purpose is paramount to a more functional home or perhaps it's limiting the over-all functionality more than we realise. I really like the idea of having multifunctional spaces where they are set up for a variety of activities, your laundry/sewing room is an amazing example of this.

We look forward to hearing more about any projects you have going on around your home and garden and trust you'll find loads of inspiration for them within the community. Please feel free to let us know anytime you need assistance with a project or have something to share with the community.

Mitchell

Child Item