apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Don't have a laundry in the kitchen now, but did when I lived in London. The unit there was a combination washer and dryer (didn't dry 100%, but to a damp-dry) and it was completely unobtrusive.

i don't have laundry, period. i'd take it any way i could get it!

When I was condo shopping, a lot of places had the "European washer" (washer/dryer combo in one) units in the kitchens. One place offered the buyer's incentive of either a washer/dryer OR a dishwasher, since their standard floor plan didn't allow space for both. The place I moved into has a combo in the sink area of the bathroom, which is really convenient!

Here's where a tip my mom taught me would come in really handy: if ever making a salad for a big group of people - best way to dry the leaves is to pop them in the dryer with the heat off (often called "fluff") and a few dry terrycloth towels. Run it for just a minute or two.

I have a stacking W/D in my kitchen now, and it's not a problem at all. It's standard in my neighborhood (1948 townhomes), because when the units were built, there were only communal laundry buildings, and no planned laundry space. We still have clothes lines all over the neighborhood - mostly a throwback to the 40s, but some get used.

I have a washer and dryer in my kitchen and I hate it. I miss having a laundry room. It seems I always have a laundry basket in the kitchen that either needs to be run or folded.

My brother and sister-in-law have an industrial washer and drying in their washroom and I think that would be a great place if it had to be in one of the main rooms of the house. If I had to the kitchen would be alright, but I prefer all my dirty clothes away from the food-prep area.

no... but I wish I did!!!

it's in the basement. the dark and creepy basement accessed by tight winding and steep stairs in a dark hallway.

My apartment has a small laundry "room" (more like a walk-in closet) off the kitchen. It also houses the hot water heater. The downside of the arrangement comes from the room's door, which is way too close to the refrigerator's door.

One of my old houses did, and it was better than no laundry at all... But it was loud and inconvenient, especially if my roommate was doing laundry while I wanted to cook! It was a big kitchen, at least, but there wasn't a lot of counter space so we often ended up using the top of the washer!

My washer and dryer are in my small kitchen, right next to the fridge. One of the first updates that I did to the house was to install kitchen upper cabinets on that entire wall. I don't like the idea of bringing dirty clothes into the kitchen (what if I drop dirty undies or socks on the floor and don't notice until company comes over?!). But one big plus is that when I do have company over, I drape a sheet or large tablecloth over the washer and dryer for an instant buffet table or extra counter space!

First time I saw a w/d in a kitchen at an open house I thought it was the weirdest thing ever. The place I wound up buying had no w/d at all, though, and a few years later I found myself eyeballing some of the underused space in my (thankfully huge) kitchen as potential laundry space.

Wound up selling it without a w/d, and the buyers installed laundry in the kitchen even before they moved in. :)

Laundry in the kitchen seems much more common in the UK than in North America.

Our w/d is in the basement, which makes it a hassle running up and down the stairs. I'd love to have a WD in the kitchen, but don't have the space.

I live in a 1300 SF townhouse and have a laundry setup in the kitchen built by the developers. The stacked washer drier is housed in a tall cupboard which when closed off looks like storage in the kitchen. It works out very well. As space is limited.

By the way I live in Jamaica West Indies.

One of the townhouses that I grew up in had a full sized washer and dryer in the kitchen. I never found it weird back then!

I have a washer/dryer in the kitchen. It is pretty much the norm in the UK. But it makes a lot of sense to have it elsewhere and I have plans/fantasies of moving it - though it is perfectly unobtrusive and functional where it is.

We built a laundry closet with shelves for linen in the hallway across from the master bedroom. It's great!

I had no choice in my first 570 sq ft condo. It was either put it in the kitchen, where a water hook-up could easily be made or walk 10 blocks to a laudromat. I absolutely loved having it in the kitchen. When I was cooking, it was out of the way and I hardly noticed it. When I was doing laundry I had a cabinet right there for all of the detergent and a counter top for folding clothes. It was way better than the 4bedrm house I grew-up in, which had the W/D in a closet.

I had a stacking W/D in the kitchen in my last apartment. It was fine--tucked away in a kitchen corner, which was pretty handy at times. I now have a shared laundry room with my neighbor, which is a little better. But I'd take a W/D in the kitchen than none at all.

I have a combo W/D unit in my kitchen. It hooks up to the sink for water, which is annoying when I want to do laundry and cook at the same time. However, it's really convenient to dump dirty dishtowels straight into the machine. And like another poster, I use the top for additional counter space -- my KitchenAid lives on it (weird, but it works).

Both of the places where I lived in England had washers in the kitchen. It was never a problem for me. Laundry was only brought into the kitchen when it was time to put it in the washer. From there, the clean, wet laundry would be taken to the bedroom to be hung on a drying rack. Oh, how I hated drying clothes on that rack! It would take days for a pair of jeans to dry. That was far more annoying than the washer's placement in the kitchen!

I ahve a washer and dryer in the kitchen, and I live in Alaska. Apparently the landlord took a stackable washer and dryer from a closet by the bathroom and punched the hookups through the wall into the kitchen. Not sure why. It doesn't get in the way, but I would have preferred the extra cupboard space.

Sara Kate......you're not serious about putting salad greens in the dryer, are you? I prefer sunflower seeds to lint, LOL

Whoever revamped my house in the 60's turned the pantry into a small laundry/mudroom, which is immediately off the kitchen with no door between rooms, and it leads to the back door. It works out very well - when do laundry, I'll end up doing something in the kitchen, and on those days when I'm in the kitchen all day, I can do tons of laundry - very easy to keep an eye on. Plus, it's faster since I already have to go from 2nd to 1st floor - if I had to go to the basement, I'd find an excuse not to bother (until I ran out of clothes, that is).

I have a long, narrow kitchen with the washer and dryer at the far end next to a small eat-in area. It's perfect for folding clothing. When I lived in Germany, we had a washer in the kitchen, which was never a problem.

I like doing laundry in a clean, well lit place, and my experience with designated laundry areas is that they are depressing and isolated.

Ours is in the pantry, which is just a glorified nook of the kitchen. We do laundry more often now since it's right there and I don't have to carry a heavy basket to a stinky basement.

The top of the washer and dryer also come in handy when we're prepping party food to come out at different times throughout the night, or to cool cookies and cupcakes when we bake.

I have a stackable W/D in the kitchen. It hasn't caused any problems having laundry in the kitchen, but as my kitchen is TINY I would much rather have more counter or cabinet space. When I have enough money to remodel my kitchen (i.e. when pigs fly), I am hoping to move them into a closet that's on the other side of the wall they're against.

I have stacked frontloaders in the kitchen, and it doesn't bother me at all. My kitchen is fairly large (three-decker in Boston, built in 1893), and the washer and dryer are over at one end of the kitchen, near our bedroom, which is off of the kitchen obviously. We keep the hamper in our bedroom, so there isn't "laundry stuff" in the kitchen other than the machines and the small caddy on top for the detergents.

As far as places go where laundry machines could be put in an old one-floor house, I think the kitchen makes more sense than the other common location, which is in a closet in a bedroom. At least any potential leaks or spills are on a tile floor in an easily cleanable room, rather than in a room with rugs and more fragile linens and whatnot. Also, it's in a public area of the house, so you're not going through anyone's room to do laundry and your guests feel like you're genuine in your offer to feel free to use the laundry at any time.