The pro I think to having the drying bar over the sink is that if any water drips down it will land in the sink versus on the countertop. It's really a personal choice, I guess if I had to cast a vote it would be over the sink because folding might be difficult with clothing hanging there to dry and the water can drop into the sink.

The picture with the bar over the sink looks distorted so it's hard to tell if the bar is high enough above the sink to hang clothes from. I agree that it is a personal choice, you have to look at the overall design and symmetry. Personally, I would rather have more storage in my laundry room than space to hang clothes. there may be another solution for hanging clothes, behind the door, or back of the door perhaps?

I find the drying bar very helpful in drying clothing that can't go into the dryer. In that spot it becomes very handy.

Schoeman Construction: The picture with the bar over the sink looks too low in my opinion. The clothes would be in the sink! I suppose you could raise it higher. I would have cabinets over the sink. The area is 6 feet long and about 5 feet for the w/d counter.

Moscone: Do you prefer over the w/d? I think it would be handy to just take clothes out of washer or dryer and immediately hang right over the w/d.

I'm thinking that if I'm folding a load from the dryer, that I'm not going to be bending over 100 times to grab things. I'm going to unload the dryer to the top of the counter and fold them all from there at once. With that in mind, I think the bar over the sink makes more sense. You're technically not using that sink for much anyway, a stain or two here or there that you're trying to get out, so it really doesn't interfere with daily activities. I agree, though, that in the picture above, the bar looks really low. Second thing; while these countertop decorations look great in the inspiration pictures, they would have to be more minimal for me, not getting in the way of my dried load of clothes. I realize they're staged, but still.

I’ve spent a lot of my career worrying about operational efficiency, so I can’t imagine folding clothes in the laundry. Too much handling! I take it straight to the bedroom to fold and put away. So for me, a counter above the washer/dryer is not useful. I do enjoy my freestanding electric drying rack that has a little fan on it to speed the drying process.

Stephmpic: nice laundry room! How deep is your folding counter over w/d and the cabinets above it. You look like you have alot of room to fold.

Stephmpic: cool drying rack. Is it retractable?

I am going to me odd person out and say...whenever I see pictures of these bars over a counter or sink I don't understand practicality of them. It seems like you really need a large trough under the bar for it to work as intended.

If you hang over sink surely not ALL drips are going into sink unless you are drip drying one or two thing at a time. If not, you get water pooling at edge of counter/sink (if not undermount), on faucet (leaving water spots, etc). And if you have a stainless steel sink especially that dripping, if within earshot, may make you go mad (currently have a dripping kitchen sink so....maybe I am feeling personal about this!).

If you hang over counter, well, then you get standing water puddles on your counter, depending on size of counter and how level it is (to gravitational forces, not necessarily your floor!), and then those may just then migrate off side onto floor anyway.

Our new build has a 10x11...minus a bit of a cutout - laundry room right outside our master. It is on second floor, but we had them install a floor drain that goes direct to our basement utility room (where it runs to main drain). It is of course in case of a washer flood issue (tiled floor will slope toward drain) but the other advantage is I plan to set a foldable/stoway drying rack right out on the floor by the drain and hang the clothing I hang to dry (mostly work clothes). I do like those wall racks stephmpic posted though! We are putting stackables on main floor too so I might get one of those for that area for kitchen towels, etc.

Also did not put a counter over washer and dryer since I felt it limited us to front-loads, no pedestals, and when I looked at that design in several homes it always seemed too high for me to comfortably stand at and fold, etc (but to be fair, I am 5'4" on a tall day). Going to find a separate table, or even a drop down one that can stay out of way against wall when not in use.

Like baileysr I currently tend to just take it all to room to fold (or uh, leave in basket to take out as needed), but since new laundry room is right outside bedroom, instead of two floors away in a smaller cramped area, I anticipate being slightly more amenable to folding it in the laundry (or at least hiding the baskets of clean clothes behind its door!). Majority of my clothes end up hung up anyway.

cherieab : The countertop is 32in deep and the cabinets are 12in deep so there is a lot of space to fold in front of the cabinets. The cabinets sit 12in above the countertop (18in was recommended to me, but i'm short at 5'1" so I wanted them lower so they were easier to reach) I don't think the countertop feels to high to fold on, it feels very comfortable to me and I'm pretty short. I also have no problem reaching the cabinets above where we store detergent etc. The drying rack is retractable and when not in use is folded flat against the wall.