I like separate laundry and bath if you can. Seems you will have more room for folding and hanging clothing. Also, you might have room to keep out of season clothing and free up bedroom storage.

I agree, separate if you can.

A legal bedroom will need to have legal egress and I don't see that on your plan. Are there no windows at all in this basement?

There are lots of windows in the basement at legal egress height, they're just not in this model because they're not really relevant for deciding about the laundry/bathrooms. Sorry for confusion.

Plan 1 is better for doing laundry. Only one door to pass through while carrying baskets and there is more floor space. It is much better without the bathroom fixtures in the way.

I would definitely go with separate laundry.

I think I may just nix the shower to create more usable space all around.

Keep the shower!!! And separate laundry.

I'd keep the shower

6 ft just does not seem wide enough for a usable laundry room though. We marked off the floor for the separate laundry and bathroom with tape to see what the space would be like, In the top model, those two doors are 30" doors which would not realistically fit as there is only 60" along that wall. Could maybe do 2 28" doors but it'd be tight. This is why I went with the shared concept at first. I just can't figure out what to do with this weird space!

I have my w/d in my main floor bathroom. It works just fine for me. I have it nicely designed with the bathroom.

Why have a bedroom on a floor without a shower??? How unwelcoming is that???