Pros Share 5 Laundry Room Features They Love
Consider these great features to boost your laundry room’s functionality, organization and storage
Doing laundry is a chore, but with the right features, it doesn’t have to feel like one. We asked established designers and remodelers to share which laundry room features they love to add to their projects and why. Read their recommendations and tips, then let us know in the Comments which one might make a splash in your next remodel.
Jennifer Cramer-Miller of L. Cramer Builders + Remodelers in Minneapolis agrees that a large sink is a great feature to add to a laundry room. “Laundry rooms can be so much more than cramped spaces with heaps of laundry piles. We encourage our clients to think of laundry spaces as working double duty for crafts, hobbies, homework, sewing, planting, gift wrapping — you name it,” she says. “A large sink is just the thing to accommodate versatile uses.”
Cramer-Miller and her team added a new enameled cast iron sink to this remodeled laundry room. “We love how this classically inspired sink enhances this room,” she says. “Whether it be school or craft projects underway, or loads of laundry to be tackled, this large sink with dual faucets offers ample workspace.”
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Cramer-Miller and her team added a new enameled cast iron sink to this remodeled laundry room. “We love how this classically inspired sink enhances this room,” she says. “Whether it be school or craft projects underway, or loads of laundry to be tackled, this large sink with dual faucets offers ample workspace.”
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2. Drying Drawers and Cabinets
Pros also highly recommend adding custom drying drawers or cabinets. Designer Emily Pinney of Pinney Designs in Boston added custom drying drawers with mesh bottoms to this remodeled laundry room.
“So many items need to be dried flat and not go in a dryer,” Pinney says. “These drawers allow space for that. And by stacking these shelves and building them into the design, they’re not taking up precious floor space with free-standing drying racks.”
Pros also highly recommend adding custom drying drawers or cabinets. Designer Emily Pinney of Pinney Designs in Boston added custom drying drawers with mesh bottoms to this remodeled laundry room.
“So many items need to be dried flat and not go in a dryer,” Pinney says. “These drawers allow space for that. And by stacking these shelves and building them into the design, they’re not taking up precious floor space with free-standing drying racks.”
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A drying cabinet is another useful way to integrate a drying area into a laundry room. Timberline Contracting in Denver added wire mesh door fronts to some of the built-in cabinets in this recently remodeled laundry room.
The mesh doors allow air to circulate through the cabinet, enabling one to hang clothes that are still damp to dry over time without shrinking or wrinkling in a dryer.
The mesh doors allow air to circulate through the cabinet, enabling one to hang clothes that are still damp to dry over time without shrinking or wrinkling in a dryer.
3. Elevated Machines
Adding a custom built-in that elevates laundry machines can save one’s back from the wear and tear of having to stoop down or bend over when changing laundry.
Amy Hendel of Hendel Homes in Minneapolis added beautiful built-in cabinetry to house elevated machines in this remodeled laundry room. “Having elevated machines makes laundry so much easier to perform,” she says. “You do need extra support to house these machines, and the pre-planning for this definitely takes additional work and thought.”
Adding a custom built-in that elevates laundry machines can save one’s back from the wear and tear of having to stoop down or bend over when changing laundry.
Amy Hendel of Hendel Homes in Minneapolis added beautiful built-in cabinetry to house elevated machines in this remodeled laundry room. “Having elevated machines makes laundry so much easier to perform,” she says. “You do need extra support to house these machines, and the pre-planning for this definitely takes additional work and thought.”
This new laundry room in Houston by LBJ Construction also features custom cabinetry to house elevated laundry machines. The design features a trio of drawers underneath the machines, providing extra storage and lots of visual appeal.
5 Creative and Compact Laundry Areas
5 Creative and Compact Laundry Areas
4. Built-in Hamper Storage
Built-in hamper storage can free up floor space and provide a convenient spot to place a hamper when not in use.
Designer Kayla Chriss of Tidal Interiors in San Diego added hamper storage to this remodeled laundry area. “When designing a laundry room, it’s important to create a space that allows optimal functionality and organization,” she says. “We love to include built-in hamper storage because it allows for easy transportation and organization.”
Built-in hamper storage can free up floor space and provide a convenient spot to place a hamper when not in use.
Designer Kayla Chriss of Tidal Interiors in San Diego added hamper storage to this remodeled laundry area. “When designing a laundry room, it’s important to create a space that allows optimal functionality and organization,” she says. “We love to include built-in hamper storage because it allows for easy transportation and organization.”
Sneller Custom Homes & Remodeling added a built-in area for hamper storage to this Houston laundry room. The floor runs directly underneath the storage area, allowing residents to park wheeled hampers there without having to lift them over a lip.
5 Stylish Laundry Rooms With Great Storage Ideas
5 Stylish Laundry Rooms With Great Storage Ideas
5. Gift Wrap Center
Laundry rooms can be more than just a place to wash and dry clothes. A gift wrap center is another feature pros recommend. Designer Mallory Huether of Evalutions by Aubuchon in Cape Coral, Florida, added a gift wrap center to this remodeled laundry room that features multiple rods to hold wrapping paper, a countertop for wrapping and drawers for storing tape, ribbons and bows.
“Gift wrapping is often one of those activities that happens to have a place in everyone’s life but is never really planned for,” Huether says. “Why not create a space for this activity so it allows people to express their creative side and be gracious at the same time?”
Laundry rooms can be more than just a place to wash and dry clothes. A gift wrap center is another feature pros recommend. Designer Mallory Huether of Evalutions by Aubuchon in Cape Coral, Florida, added a gift wrap center to this remodeled laundry room that features multiple rods to hold wrapping paper, a countertop for wrapping and drawers for storing tape, ribbons and bows.
“Gift wrapping is often one of those activities that happens to have a place in everyone’s life but is never really planned for,” Huether says. “Why not create a space for this activity so it allows people to express their creative side and be gracious at the same time?”
This Brooklyn, New York, laundry room by Chango & Co. features a floor-to-ceiling built-in cabinet with the top half dedicated to gift wrapping. There are multiple rods for storing wrapping paper and smaller rods used to store ribbons. There’s even a small counter at waist level that’s ideal for wrapping presents.
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More on Houzz
Read more laundry room stories
Browse photos of newly featured laundry rooms
Shop for laundry room products
Since laundry rooms are often used for more than just washing clothes, a large sink can be a handy feature. It can be used to hand-scrub stubborn stains, pot indoor plants and clean up any number of messes one doesn’t want to drag into a kitchen or bath.
Architect Karen Soorikian of Soorikian Architecture in Atlanta relocated an original sink from another area of the 1914 home to the remodeled laundry room. “The large sink is perfect in this laundry room, as it can be used for hand-washing clothing, soaking items and flower arranging,” she says. “It’s so nice to have a piece of the history of the home serve such a useful purpose more than 100 years after it was originally installed.”
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