Can you stand shaking out dirty underwear, dirty towels, etc... in your kitchen. I could not!

I had never heard of laundry in the kitchen area until I read these forums. For me, it would be wonderful to have laundry in the kitchen. As a mom of 4, I spend a LOT of time in the kitchen.

With a big family, I wouldn't want it "upstairs" as many people like to do. I do way too many loads to want to trek up and down so many times a day.

I guess it's going to depend on how you live in your space.

Washer and dryer make a lot of noise. I would leave them where they are.

Kitchen! Mine are just off the kitchen. And yes, that seems to be the norm in Europe.

Building on a room is not an option? Could extending the end of the garage eight feet to enclose eight feet of the garage adjacent to the house as a mudroom/laundry be an option?

Can you stand shaking out dirty underwear, dirty towels, etc... in your kitchen.

I've read it's not a good idea to do this, regardless of location. (Read this last year, not sure if it's strictly pandemic related but I've since been more careful when placing clothes and linens in the washer.)

I would not want to cede space in my kitchen for washer and dryer. In addition, I need cabinets or shelves for all the laundry supplies. Detergent, fabric softener, bleach, stain remover-where will these go? “Heated garage” has a different meaning in northern Mississippi or Maine. Only you can decide if the noise from the washer and dryer will bother your family’s dinner, tv watching, homework time. We don’t know how open plan or traditional closed plan your house is. Is there a way to frame a small laundry room in the least important part of your kitchen? Then you could have cabinets over the side by side washer and dryer with cabinets for laundry supplies over them. A door to enclose the space for noise control will be helpful. In one of our houses, the laundry was a small closet off our entry on the way to the garage. It certainly was far from ideal, pretty, or spacious, but it kept all the clutter out of sight and we could fold laundry on top of the two appliances. Perhaps you could post a measured floor plan of your house and we can help find a good solution for you.

IMO we need to see a to scale floor plan of the kitchen and surrounding spaces . I will say I love my main floor laundry would never want one on the upper floor or in the basement again. I do'nt have an aversion to the W/D in the kitchen but thsy take up a lot of space . In Europe they often have the combo ones which I have used but they take forever to do a load so IMO not ideal for family laundry. I have my laundry in a closet it is great I am not understanding a huge laundry room so it works for me. I do not use a laundry sink and honestly I do laundry every day so the stuff needing folding is handled on top of the dryer . I do have sjelves on one side for all my linens . The closet is 8' wide with folding doors.

Of those two choices kitchen certainly- my parents washer dryer was in the kitchen growing up so that seems normal to me. Walking through a garage would be a complete turn off.

Given those 2 choices, I'd choose the kitchen. Laundry in the kitchen is very common in a lot of the world (because it's already plumbed for water), and I'd rather that than have to go through the garage.

If I had to choose it would be in the kitchen, you can sort your laundry into basket before taking it to the kitchen and you can do laundry at a time, when you are not cooking. I used to have a walking machine in the kitchen situated nearer to the door- it was in a good position so felt it was not a problem. If you have the space by go side by side ( not one above the other). I always use top loaders not front as they do have the issue of leaking water when problems crop up. Something to consider especially inside kitchen but doubt it will happen if there are no issues. I now have a dedicated laundry room after so many years , thank God.

I apparently do not agree with the norm here, but I NEVER understood or would want my dirty laundry IN my kitchen??!! That does not sound convenient nor appealing to me. I can’t imagine carrying laundry baskets full of dirty clothes into my kitchen to do laundry. How do you sort? At the very least, you need room for several baskets. I need a ”sorting” area - which takes quite a bit of space, a folding station, and some storage (or at least shelves) to hide laundry products. My “laundry room” is in our finished lower level (yes, I agree it would be more convenient on main level) but definitely not in the kitchen. AT LEAST near the bedrooms. We are very fortunate to have laundry chutes!!! Dumps clothes right in laundry room. (Not sure how I will survive if ever without them!) Again, I know that is not the norm either, or a possibility in your situation. I agree with others that the best solution would be to build out a separate laundry room, if at all possible.

Depends on your lifestyle...I personally would not mind your current location because I'm single with no kids so only do laundry about once per week. I have mine in my unfinished basement and while it's not glamorous, it doesn't take up space in my 950 SF shotgun home.

"That does not sound convenient nor appealing to me. I can’t imagine carrying laundry baskets full of dirty clothes into my kitchen to do laundry. How do you sort? At the very least, you need room for several baskets. I need a ”sorting” area"

Well.......you WANT a sorting area (like remodeling1840 wants separate storage areas for laundry products) , and it's fortunate that you have the money and the options to allow you to have one. Many families in wealthy countries have grown up in homes that don't have space for a separate location for laundry, and they've all managed to grow up without scars from a dirty sock in their kitchen. (It makes me laugh a little at how many people think that dirty towels are the worst things that would be in their kitchen, yet they have raw meat in their kitchen (and some feed raw meat to their pets).....way more dangerous to your health, frankly).

You'd sort the laundry in another room; you'd store your laundry cleaning products in the same place you sort your kitchen cleaning products (and perhaps discover you need less fewer of each); you'd find ways to manage because the pros of your home are more important than the con of having laundry machines in your kitchen.

I totally agree with Jamie on this one. I would prefer to have a separate space for the laundry. Not the kitchen.

WOW! Thank you all for your thoughtful input! This is the first time I have asked a question and was overwhelmed by the responses. What a great resource and houss community!

Now I know, I should have given a few more details...There's just 2 of us living in the house and it's located in the northeast. It's a 3BR/2BA, 1400 sq foot ranch with no hallways or basement. All rooms are off a central LR/DR living space. It's not feasible to sacrifice any other space in the house since rooms are small. The galley kitchen is 9.5' x 15'. I was thinking of wrapping the cabinets into the dining room to gain extra storage.

We're in a community with a lot of summer rentals so think that may have had something to do with the thought process for the garage laundry location by the previous owners.

The garage is sheet-rocked and we plan to paint and upgrade to a nice/neat standard (clutter in cabinets) and make laundry room as attractive as possible. Torn between sacrificing the kitchen space with the inconvenience of going thru the garage.

Thanks again!

It sounds perfectly fine where it is. So you have to walk thru a garage to do laundry. I have lived in places with no laundry and had to haul it all to laundromats and I've lived in apartments with stairs that I had to go up and down to apartment laundry facility, and I've had a laundry room in a basement All worse than walking across a garage. I had laundry in a kitchen in Italy and that was perfectly fine as well.. In your case with a galley kitchen, I'd leave it where it is. You can always heat your garage if those few steps are that bad in the winter. At least you're not going outside.

IF you can walk through the garage without "brushing against" the cars I would prefer your current set-up. My home had the W&D in the kitchen and I hated it - no place to hang things right out of the dryer.

Keeping it where it is also gives you the option to hang dry clothes, which you couldn't do in your kitchen. I'd choose to walk through a garage everytime.

My first home was a townhouse with the washer and dryer in the kitchen, but the house had been architecturally designed with that configuration. It was not ideal, but as was pointed out above having your own w/d beats going to a laundromat. My recommendation is to leave it where it is-save the money and reno time. BUT-what do you really want? If you truly believe you would be happier having it in the kitchen-then that is the answer. To make this efficient and cost effective, I would include in the decision making process how long you expect to be in the house, and if it is common in your area at resale time to have space in the kitchen dedicated to laundry and not a pantry or extra kitchen space.

We recently moved into a townhouse with a first floor master and the W/D in a closet in the kitchen eating area (there is also a separate dining room). This was not new construction to us. The thinking was that when the occupants of the home are older everything is very accessible. In the past I had laundry either in the basement or on the second floor near the bedrooms. Near the bedrooms is what I prefer. Off the kitchen like we have currently I find the noise to be an issue at times. We never want it to be running during mealtimes so I plan accordingly. However, I may appreciate the location more if I do become mobility impaired in the future.

I had a laundry room in a shed off my carport with our family of five until we closed the carport into a family room. It was a pain to go outside to get to it but I’d prefer that over having it in the kitchen which I had growing up.

Thanks all. Appreciate all the input, especially from those who had/have a kitchen laundry. I think keeping the current location may be the best option after considering all the excellent points brought up. Was worried that location may become a deal breaker when selling but given the split opinions I don't think it will become too much of an issue.

Unless the kitchen is small, I'd move it. I'd hate dragging things (and myself) through a cold or hot garage. I had a long galley-style kitchen with a half bath and W/D by the door that went to the garage. It was fine and actually pretty handy to have it there. You can also tuck these things in upstairs closets although that adds significantly to the cost of moving it.

My laundry is in a room right off the kitchen. It's an addition that used to be the back porch. It's now the rear entry and laundry room and it has an archway that enters into the kitchen. There's no door, so it's pretty much in the kitchen. I love it! it's so convenient having the laundry in the main living space. It's much easier to stay on top of it and it feels much less like a chore if I can move my laundry around without going into a dark basement or into a cold garage.

I currently have a front load washer in my kitchen and a dryer in an unheated attachment to the house. I don’t like the washer in the kitchen, but there is nowhere else to put it (unless we do a fairly big remodel). What I dislike is the problem of where to put laundry baskets and also the wet items (dishcloths, etc. which need to be washed but there is not a decently big load to wash). I would prefer the situation you currently have. Our kitchen is not very big so these monster washers take up a lot of room and I would rather have the space utilized for kitchen storage. The other advantage of having them somewhere else where they are not visible is that ”for looks” they do not ”need” to be a matched pair.

Too bad ya can't just knock a wall out and put in a door! Is this room sharing a wall with the house at all? This is very much an architectural/regional thing. When a girl we lived in a large ranch with the laundry an extension of a loooong galley kitchen. The utility room was accessed from the outside of the house. It was New Mexico, cold was not in issue. Here in the north we TRADTIONALLY, i.e. old school; tend to put such rooms in the basement. It's become vogue in recent years to build in a mud room (harkens back to the day when farmers needed a place to de-stink before joining the home) that is really a wide hall between the garage and the home...where laundry tucks in nicely. I watch all these make over shows spiffing up laundry rooms and I LAUGH. NEVER in my life have a seen anyone ready/willing/give a $hit enough to spend THOUSANDS to make a laundry room FEEEL more like a lounge. It's laundry people and who hangs out there! It's a messy/linty/splashy place. Keep it where it doesn't impose on the rest of the world.