Laundry Room Cabinetry

The counter is the whole thing

If a laundry room gets one upgrade, it should be a folding surface. Without one, clothes come out of the dryer and go somewhere else to be sorted — a bed, a table, a sofa — and the laundry never actually finishes in the laundry room.

With side-by-side machines, a counter runs across the top of both at about 900mm. With a stacked pair, the counter goes alongside. Either way you want at least 900mm of length to work at, and 600mm of depth. It is a modest amount of millwork with an outsized effect on how the household runs.

The second most useful element is a hanging rod. A great deal of clothing should not go in a dryer, and in Calgary’s dry indoor air things air-dry quickly. A rod above the counter, or a pull-out valet rod, means wet items go straight onto hangers rather than draped over doors.

Laundry room elements worth including

Folding counter

Over the machines or alongside them. A durable surface — laminate, quartz or a sealed hardwood — since it gets damp and takes constant contact.

Hanging rod or drying rail

Fixed above the counter or on a pull-out. The single most-used feature after the counter itself.

Pull-out hampers

Two or three sorting bins on full-extension slides behind a cabinet door. Turns sorting from a chore into a habit.

Supply storage

Uppers or a tall cabinet for detergent, stain removers and everything that otherwise sits on top of the machines. Include a shelf tall enough for large jugs.

A sink, where plumbing allows

Genuinely useful for hand-washing and soaking. Adding one to a room that has no rough-in means a plumber and possibly a permit, so it is a scope decision.

A drying rack or pull-out shelf

For flat-drying knitwear. A pull-out mesh shelf takes little room and gets used constantly.

Laundry dimensions

Designing a laundry room around the machines you own

Laundry cabinetry has less freedom than any other room in the house, because the appliances set the dimensions and they are not negotiable. Front-loaders on pedestals sit considerably higher than the same machines on the floor, a top-loader needs clearance above the lid to open, and every machine needs space behind it for hoses and venting that the specification sheet understates. We work from the actual model numbers rather than from standard allowances, because a counter built to a nominal depth over machines that sit 40mm proud is a counter that has to be rebuilt.

The most valuable thing a laundry room can gain is a folding surface. A counter spanning the machines converts the room from a place clothes pass through to a place laundry is actually finished, and it is usually the difference between clothes being folded and clothes migrating to a bedroom chair. Where machines are stacked, that counter can run beside them instead.

Venting deserves attention in a Calgary home. A dryer vent run that is too long, has too many bends, or is crushed behind a machine pushed too far back is both an efficiency problem and a fire risk. Cabinetry that boxes in a machine needs to leave the vent path clear and accessible, not merely present.

What makes a laundry room work

A folding counter

The highest-value element in the room. Over the machines where they are side by side, beside them where they are stacked.

Hanging space

A rod or pull-out rail for items that come out of the dryer and go straight onto a hanger. Prevents the ironing pile from forming at all.

A sink where plumbing allows

For hand-washing, soaking and the household tasks that otherwise happen in a kitchen sink.

Drying rack for flat-dry items

A pull-out or drop-down rack. Calgary's dry air is genuinely good at this — flat-dry items finish quickly here.

Sorting storage

Built-in hampers or pull-out bins for separating loads, sized to fit the household rather than to fill the cabinet.

Detergent storage at hand height

Above or beside the machines, not in a base cabinet requiring a bend with a full basket in the other hand.

Clearances to design around