Comfortable width for mudroom 'hall'

15 years ago

Hi everyone,

We are building a room addition that will contain our new kitchen, eating area/ seating/tv area and also a mudroom. Right now, our mudroom is 9 feet wide by 18 feet long - more like a long hallway - which we can enter from the outside and then will have doors to both the new kitchen and garage. It will contain our washer/dryer and storage cabinets for shoes,boots, coveralls, dog crates, etc. We live on a farm and constantly are bringing the outdoors in with us :) The problem that we are having is if we keep the width of the mudroom at 9 feet - we are losing 2-3 feet in the kitchen/sunroom area and we are having difficulty placing a dining table anywhere.

How wide is wide enough for the mudroom? Is 6 or 7 feet wide enough to also put cabinets and the washer/dryer and not feel cramped to walk through?

Any opinions appreciated!!!!

Featured Answer

User

15 years ago

Washers and dryers will need about 36" of depth. A major cargo type passageway should be a ninimum of 4' with 5' being better. If you have all of the cabinets and the laundry one one side, then you could make it 7'-8' wide. The 8' would give you enough room for someone to stand at the laundry while someone passed behind them with a grocery sack. I'd also plan on at least a 42" for any doorways into the kitchen or whatever path someone will need to haul laundry baskets. It's one of my biggest complaints about most houses that I've lived. I'm always banging my elbows or knuckles with a basket.

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Comments (9)

andi_k
15 years ago
I would think that might work...if you allow 24" for cabinet depth and then 42" for walkway, you should be okay. I don't know how large dog crates are though? Do you have a floor plan/diagram you can share?
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lkgarn
Original Author
15 years ago
I am getting a floor plan picture together that I can post. The dog crates that we have are 24 wide so they wont be any wider than the cabinets.

Do you think 6 foot wide minimum? or would 7 be the minimum?
andi_k
15 years ago
I would do 7' at a minimum....I wasn't even thinking about w/d depth being different, so if that's 3ft, and you allow 4ft for the hall/pass by (which I think would be needed for this space), then I'd go with at least 7.
athensmomof3
15 years ago
6 feet is too skinny. We have a mudroom in our new build and it is 5 1/2 feet wide with lockers on one side. The lockers will be less than cabinet depth and I would consider this the minimum after being in the room after framing. The laundry is what causes the problem. You need 36" for the machines and then you must allow an additional area to stand in front of the machines and allow for a door (if they are front loaders). We leave the door to our front loader open often (otherwise you get smell issues - we have never had this but those who close their washer door do!) I would think 8 feet would be better - 7 sounds too skinny too as it would leave a 4' wide hall, max, which is not that wide (sort of standard).
sllsfoster_rogers_com
15 years ago
athensmomof3,

Is the 5 1/2 feet wall to wall and then lockers stick out from there? We have 5 1/2 x 20 as a long mudroom for storage (no laundry) in our plans, and it might be too narrow. Widening will take space from the garage.
athensmomof3
15 years ago
Yes, the 5 1/2 feet is wall to wall. It is not too narrow but it could not be any narrower I don't think. It will still be sort of traffic jam-y but if we made it wider it threw off the back hall and the rooms upstairs. I certainly wouldn't want it any narrower.
athensmomof3
15 years ago
P.S. My mudroom is a separate room with one door so you don't walk through it. If it was a hallway/passageway I would think the 5 1/2 feet would be too small for sure.
bethohio3
15 years ago
Our mudroom is not a hallway--it is 7'2" wide. The door from the garage enters the mudroom at one long end, and then there's another door to the kitchen.

I still feel it is too narrow--there's the washer/dryer which we need access to, a cabinet/utility sink, the freezer (which really doesn't fit well) and then shelves for shoes and hooks for coats.

I'd definitely want the room to be a foot or two wider--and we don't use it as a hallway.

If you don't plan on space for hooks/shoes/etc, 7' might be wide enough--but mark it out on a floor with boxes that go as high as shoulder height to get the "feel" and I suspect you'll want that hallway at least 8' wide.