Sometimes it feels like there are never-ending chores in keeping a home well run. Dishes to be washed, grass to be mowed, and especially laundry to be washed. Having a conveniently placed washer and dryer can not only make your life easier, but it can also boost your home’s value. So where exactly is the best place to put laundry in your home?
Best Places for Laundry
Laundry Room
The great thing about building a custom home is that you can design a dedicated laundry room. Having a functional and aesthetically pleasing laundry room can really make such a mundane chore easier. It’s a dedicated space to have everything you need for laundry, from the machines to the cleaning supplies. If you have the space, we highly recommend including a laundry room. A good tip is to place it near the bedrooms, as this is where most laundry accumulates.
Mudroom
Mudrooms and laundry rooms are two separate areas, but these days people are combining them to save on space. This puts the washer and dryer farther away from the bedrooms, but it combines all the messy stuff in your home in one spot which is great. A combined laundry and mudroom is great if you have kids into sports!
Bathroom
This is more debatable, but some people opt to have their washer machine right in their bathroom. Most often this is in the master bathroom as it’s the adults typically doing the laundry. The plus side is that right after you take off your clothes to bathe you can toss them in the machine. There are some downsides though, like the fact that it eats space in the bathroom, if someone is using the room you can’t do laundry, and it can be noisy.
Worst Places for Laundry
Kitchen
In Europe, it’s extremely common to find washers in kitchens. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find one not in a kitchen. While this is great in tight space, it’s not a well-received design in North America. People don’t want their clean clothes smelling like food. There’s also an increased risk of clean clothes getting stains. Plus, it can be noisy when running and it takes up precious kitchen space. If you do put your washer and dryer in the kitchen, try to hide it in a cabinet!
Basement
Historically, laundry machines were found in basements. This was the most common place for them early on, but these days’ people can’t stand such an inconvenient location. Lugging a heavy basket of laundry up and down basement steps isn’t fun, even if it is a finished basement. It’s best to aim for laundry on the main or second level.
Garage
In Toronto, garage laundry isn’t as common just because so few people have garages. However, this is a popular location in other areas of North America. It’s not a great one though. Garages aren’t insulated, so having to do laundry in a hot or cold room makes it even less fun. Garage areas are also dirty, which increases the risk that your clean laundry will get dirty as well. Outdoor laundry can also hurt your home’s value so it’s best to avoid it.
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