"A barn door going over the oven might work..."

That's a terrible idea, especially if you are planning to put the home on the market. Do you need a door on the laundry room at all? Remove it entirely and put your money into making the laundry room look amazing.

I have the exact same conditions with the garage door and kitchen door both opening into the laundry room. I'm sure lots of other homes have the same condition.

You cannot have a barn door slide over the double oven. Just leave it as is. I don't think many will consider this a problem. Likely most will be happy to just have a laundry room.

Paint the walls of the laundry to match the kitchen & Install a better light fixture in the laundry that coordinates with your kitchen.

There has to be a door there; the washing machine noise is too loud.

Our realtor told us when we bought the house that it was on the market so long partly because everyone hated the laundry room. It's mostly new construction around here with huge laundry rooms upstairs. So I was hoping to come up with a better solution.

Replacing the original door that opened into the laundry room with a storm door that opened into the garage helped, but a contractor told us it's technically a safety violation.

Yes, I believe you need a steel or some kind of metal (solid - not storm) door between a garage and a house, per fire code?

I am piping in because we have the exact same laundry room set up. Ours looks exactly like yours in terms of space and the door swings. It is really not a problem for us. We just replaced all the interior doors so the door from LR to kitchen is now solid as opposed to hollow core. It does help with the noise. Yours looks like a solid door?

I personally like having the laundry where it is, so close to kitchen, but do wish the room was bigger.

so I would not change it, but I understand the desire to do so. If you are worried about resale, every home will have some "flaw."

Can you post a pic of the laundry room so we can see the whole thing?

A nice, clean, well appointed laundry room will overcome the door issue in buyer's minds.

Quick fix:

A Mr. Clean Eraser to restore the White on the screen door and a fresh coat of paint to any worn trim.

@BeverlyFLADeziner also made a great suggestion to change the light fixture.

With intentions to sell in the near future, it's best to decide if the space in question is functional for its intended propose. In your case, it's an architectural awkwardness rather than a design dilemma.

Try to approach the space with the eye of a potential buyer. Are the washer and dryer units included in the sale of the house? Could the space use a face lift by upgrading storage space, wall paint and trim refresh?

Why not install the barn door on the inside of the laundry room between the kitchen?

I'd put a real door on the garage, and then get a bifold door or accordian door for the laundry room, which only needs to be closed when the machines are running.

If the concern is noise, a barn door won't do anything to help. They are pretty much decorative.

Since you are selling, I would just put things back the way they were when you bought it. If you wanted to solve the problem without the cost of a pocket door, you could think about a door like one half of a closet door that divides in half and folds on itself when opened.

I have the same setup off of my kitchen. I hated seeing the laundry room from the kitchen, I have no door. Try painting the laundry a shade or tow darker then the kitchen. I did that & now you really don't notice that it is even there. It made a huge difference.

Thanks, everyone. You've helped me to see that this might not be the big deal I thought it was. And that's a really good thing, because there are other issues (like bathroom remodels!) that definitely need to be addressed.

Painting in there and either replacing or cleaning up the existing door is definitely on the list, as is staging once we're at that point. And now I'll consider a new light fixture too.

That's a great idea, BeverlyFLADeziner. The stencil/wallpaper idea is really cute too!

if i were planning on staying in that house, i'd replace the machines with quiet ones. will the potential buyers actually run a load of wash to hear how loud the current machines are??

What is it about your machines that makes them so noisy? Is there a possible problem brewing? If you leave the machines with the home, you'll likely get dinged for their age and have to include them in your home warranty. I would list your home as not including the W&D and donate these to charity as your moving out.

MRB

The machines are old, and we will probably give them to our college-aged daughter when we sell this house. We're moving onto a boat so we won't need them.

I'm mulling the idea of just removing that door if I can make the laundry room cute enough. We'd have to replace the storm door with an insulated one but that might be the easiest solution all around.

I, too, was thinking to get rid if these Maytag Neptunes and either put something quieter (and maybe stackable?) in there or to let the next buyers buy a w/d set they like.

How about a bi-fold door with an etched glass insert?

MRB

Just remember that prospective buyers won't KNOW it's going to be loud if you put in a lesser door. :)