cal- I love a deep counter. So what goes where?

Well...

The way it's set up is washer on the left and dryer on the right. But I hear that Miele's doors are backwards and it'll be better if they can go the opposite way. But I don't know if the cords, cables, hoses etc. will allow them to be switched. So they may be the way they've always been but with awkward door swings.

Luckily I have a nice counter above so I can offload stuff for the dryer down into the basket and put the stuff that doesn't dry up on the counter, then slide the basket over and open the awkwardly swinging door and put stuff in the dryer.

What's funny is that my inlaws took my old Samsung front loaders and their laundry room is set up the way that would be right for the Miele's so MIL is having to deal with the awkward doors too.

Yep, laundry is never a load of fun, no matter where you do it:-) But, I know you will appreciate that big folding space.

cal_quail:

Thanks for bringing up this important topic. As a contractor one of the first things I'm going to assess, right after I find out if you have any money and the willingness to spend it, is how easy you are to work with. I'm looking for customers with a general idea, but some flexibility on getting there.

A perfect example is my toughest customer, my wife. During our bath remodel I had to convince her that a small electrical chase would look just like a decorative pilaster and she agreed. Ten bucks worth of framing lumber sure beat paying an engineer for structural alteration drawings and all that work.

I can't imagine what a nightmare that would have been if she'd been a paying customer who couldn't tolerate a small deviation from the prints.

Cal
I dealt with backward door on my dryer for years and years. A significant pain because it blocked access to the washer. Then I noticed as I cleaned it one day that I could reverse the door. The hinge holes were already drilled in the door facing.

Well, duh! Ten minutes later the door swung the other way.

No idea if that is true of most dryers. I am pretty sure one couldn't reverse a washer door, though. Worth a check, though.

When you insert your washer and dryer, put flat straps behind each and mount them to the backs so they can't slip off position. Because someday when you want to pull a machine, perhaps in an emergency, you need some leverage to get it back out. When you push the machines back into their holes, keep the straps out on the sides/frontward and have at least two feet of strap on each side with loops for grabbing. Then after the machines are set properly, neatly put the straps in the side cracks, easily accessible.

What a beautiful spot to do the laundry. Your cabinets and granite are gorgeous together. Your kitchen is coming together nicely.

You are going to love that laundry space, good job and kudos for your great attitude!

I just did something similar in my laundry room i.e. putting granite over the W/D and I just love it! I really wish I had kept that cut out for the faucets like you did. I thought of it at the time and then forgot to ask for it. They cut it here out on the driveway so I could have gotten it, wah... What is your granite cutout piece resting on? I am also loving the depth of the counter as you are and the height is not too high for me at 43 inches. I think mine is higher than yours since I have GE W/D and I think Miele are lower in height. I hope your hook ups work out for you the way you want them so they won't be awkward. Seems like there would be a way even you had to put new longer hoses on.

"When you insert your washer and dryer, put flat straps behind each and mount them to the backs so they can't slip off position. Because someday when you want to pull a machine, perhaps in an emergency, you need some leverage to get it back out. When you push the machines back into their holes, keep the straps out on the sides/frontward and have at least two feet of strap on each side with loops for grabbing. Then after the machines are set properly, neatly put the straps in the side cracks, easily accessible."

Brilliant!!! As I am getting ready to enclose from the top my washer, dryer and 24" cab between the two I am going to keep this in mind.

I love this site!

Trebruchet-
I'm glad you don't have anything horrible to say about my granite. ;) I lost a LOT of sleep over it. It was probably the thing I was most worried about.

bellsmom-
I know that was the case on my old ones too, because when they were installed at the inlaws and they found they're backwards/awkward door swing, I looked because I was SURE they could be changed. I think it's common for US appliances to be able to change the dryer door, but not washer. However, the folks on the laundry forum (and I think my salesperson...but I just bought them over the phone after switching last minute) cautioned me about the backwards swing, so I'm betting they can't be changed.

beauty-
Great idea! But can you be more specific. (Pictures are great too.) Straps that are made for this purpose? Straps like tie downs for a truck? I wonder if there will be room in the cracks to tuck the ends...

countryatheart-
Thanks. I can't believe that I'm actually looking forward to doing laundry. Crazy.

gr8day-
Yeah, the Miele's are under regular counter height. The original plan was a long continuous counter run on that wall, but another happy roadblock led us to have to have the laundry out further (because of our surface mounted mechanicals on brick) and put the pantry between them (worked out well because to the left behind the range will have backsplash on drywall and to the right behind the laundry is brick).

And I think I will call Miele and ask the length of the hoses and cords on everything and ask about extending them if necessary. Thanks for the thought!

We do already have one ding in the side of the cabinet from pulling out the granite 'plug'. The granite guy left something here. I thought he said the sides of it would be polished and they're not. I'm fine with the sides that meet the granite not, but the side that hits the wood, seems like it'd be a good idea.

But overall...super.

Reading the manual, looks like I should be good to switch them.

Washer
Electrical:
The washing machine is supplied with a 5â 3" (1.6 m) long, 3 wire cord, ending in a NEMA 5-15P plug, ready for connection to a 120 V, 15 A, 60 Hz, AC power supply.

Plumbing:
Hose extensions with a length of
8â 2 7/16" to 13â 1 1âÂÂ2" (2.5 to 4 m) are available from Miele.
(haven't found what it comes with yet)

Drain:
The 5 ft (1.5 m) drain hose may be connected as follows:...If necessary, the drain hose may be extended to run a maximum of 16 ft (4.9 m), as long as the 4 ft (1.2 m) height is not exceeded. Hose extensions are available from Miele.

Dryer
Electrical:The dryer comes with a 5 ft long, 12/4 AWG cord and a NEMA 14-30 P plug.

Drain: (condenser dryer)
Drain hose length:. . . approx. 3 ft. (1 m)

Since the whole area is just 54"w, I should be good.

Gr8day and Cal-quail-I'm super jealous of both your beautiful laundry rooms as I have a laundry dungeon! Maybe someday when all the other projects are complete. I shall dream.

countryatheart, I'm betting if you have what you call a laundry dungeon that you have a basement, or at least a laundry room of some kind. That, I'm jealous of. Mine is just smack-dab in my kitchen.

This is so lovely! I too have a laundry dungeon but I'm working on it.

Oops, sorry thought it was a diff type thread. Reading too much GW.

This post was edited by Mags438 on Sun, Aug 10, 14 at 8:57

Oops forgot to tag for follow ups

We live in an old house and have had need to have access to that drain in the past, so we thought that would be prudent. Also, easy access to turn the water off should there be reason to need to turn it off quickly.

cal that's pretty nifty how they did that little ledge to set it on. The guys did polish the inside edges of our cutout. I was thrilled as I didn't expect them to do that. It must not be very hard for them because as I mentioned they cut it out while here and when they brought it back in it was all polished on the inside cutout. I don't think they are used to customers getting that excited over a little polishingâ¦.lol.. But I digressâ¦the reason I don't have a ledge for it to set on is because there is no sub straight under the granite. It has wide slats across in two places and it has four cabinet sides that are holding up the 3cm granite. That is why I was fascinated with how your cut out piece of granite was resting on. Ok, that was TMI but I was very curious about how yours was done. Thank you for the visual! Very kind of you.

Things are coming along and looking great! Pretty soon you'll be cooking up a storm.

Deleted

This post was edited by Mags438 on Sun, Aug 10, 14 at 9:00

No basement here, nor crawl space. Slab foundation.

DH wants my coffee stuff moved from where it is. I thought about the laundry area, but no water over there and also far from trash. I think he just needs to get over it.

No basement here, nor crawl space. Slab foundation.

DH wants my coffee stuff moved from where it is. I thought about the laundry area, but no water over there and also far from trash. I think he just needs to get over it.

Cal, it looks great! :)

The difference between your laundry in your kitchen and mine and Countryathearts, is that yours is pretty! Ours, likely, are not. At least mine isn't.

Hijack alert! Trebruchet: "a small electrical chase would look just like a decorative pilaster and she agreed. Ten bucks worth of framing lumber sure beat paying an engineer for structural alteration drawings and all that work."

Can you post a photo of this? I have a water pipe I need to enclose in my basement washroom and if it is easy to rig up, I'd like to do it. I also have an old non operational water meter in there!!! I can't get rid of that because it somehow wirelessly tells a meter somewhere else what my water consumption is. There's a kind of ugly table thing enclosing it, because you have to be able to access it because it's the main shutoff valve for the whole house. Thanks!!

I like that a lot! Are you keeping the yellow bricks? I love them!

(Really, what's so bad about laundry in the kitchen? That would be so much more convenient than any where I've ever had it before!)

Cal- great job and glad you can make the doors work!

"Can you post a photo of this?"

I'll take a look tomorrow. This was before my Mac, so finding a pic may take some time.

The bricks and other walls are SW Wheatgrass. Now that the granite is in, it's a whole lot of green. I can't decide yet if that's a good thing or not. it'll be that way for at least several months.

I grew up with the washer in the kitchen (NW corner of home) and dryer in the garage (SE corner). Not fun. A couple people proposed the garage now. No. Way.

This post was edited by cal_quail on Sun, Aug 10, 14 at 7:43

Here is the before picture. The space between the door casing and the window casing will become the home of a 4-gang electrical box. This is an exterior load bearing wall, so you canâÂÂt just chew up framing willy-nilly. If you canâÂÂt go in, youâÂÂve got to go out. How about that mauve tub? My nieces used it more when they came to visit than we did in a decade:

I couldnâÂÂt find a finished shot, but here is the 2x2 framing used to bring the wall out enough to accommodate the wiring:

Trebruchet - Thanks for the idea. I'm thinking that will be an option for future remodels in our house. With our brick walls, electrical on exterior walls is always a challenge.

cal_quail, that granite lift-out portion is very clever!

Thanks, Treb! Mine's interior but I need to cover that pipe somehow. I think there might be a shut off valve on it, so I'd need to sort out how to keep access to that section.

I would love to have laundry on the main floor. Those deep counters and uppers will work out great for not just laundry. Clever idea on the lift out.
We used to have a washer and dryer set up where the doors clashed. Such a pain. Move the machines if you can.