Where is your washer and dryer?

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MrsDangermouse said:
Yep..I don't think I've every heard a British person use the word "homey". "Homely" for me means cozy and welcoming.
:happy:
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What's even worse, "homely" is almost always used in conjunction with a person's (usually a woman's) physical appearance. It's not that typical to describe an inanimate object as homely, but to describe that girl your best friend tried to set you up with... :whistling:

See also the term "plain Jane."
 
My washer and dryer are in the guest bathroom. I'm happy with them there. They were originally going to be stacked in what became my pantry, which would be accessed through the kitchen. But the plumber talked me out of that.

The other option would have been down in the basement, which is how I had it at the old house. I hated that, taking the stairs all the time.

Of course, I ended up taking the stairs all the time anyway - the quail are in the basement, and use the walk-out feature to go down and do the chickens/coops.

Anyhow, when I can, I hang most clothing on the deck to dry. I plan to put in a line dryer outside with a pulley I can access from the deck.
 
Expanding it - when I first met MrsT, her folks lived in a somewhat upscale log home in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Huge basement, but the washer/dryer were in an arrangement like we had in our apartments - bi-fold doors in the hallway that opened to reveal the machines. You had to stand/block the hallway when loading/unloading the machines. I never liked that, when all that space was in the basement.

When they retired and moved to a 55+ community (much smaller home), they had stackable units in their master bathroom.

My folks closed in part of their front porch several years ago and moved the washer/dryer up there, to keep my aging mom from constantly trodding up and down the stairs. Now they have a huge basement that they rarely go down into.
 
Hemulen said:
I love the way you bring up all kinds of threads and essential everyday topics, mjd-lovescooking 😍. Background info: due to heavy taxation, high material and heating costs etc., houses in Finland tend to be small. In the cities, most people live in smallish blocks of flats. The price of lots and properties is insane. It's not unheard of to have a 200 sq m (2100 square feet) house on a 1000 sq m lot on sale for 2,5 M €/3 M $ in the capital (Helsinki area). Average wages (after taxes) are 2 500€/month.

Anyway, detached houses usually have a small separate washing or washing-utility-mud room with ironing stuff, coat racks, closets for clothes and possibly a hand shower for washing wellies/rubber boots and dirty pets (like in Love It or List It). I love those kinds of solutions but I've never experienced them at home.

I've always lived in an apartment (a family decision to avoid mowing the lawn and taking care of utilities everywhere) and spent most of my summers at the countryside. As a child in Helsinki we lived in a small two storey block of flats and had a separate own sauna downstairs with a dressing room. The washing machine was in the bathroom. No dryer.

Many blocks of houses have a large mutual washing room and sauna area in the basement or in the attick; sometimes with a pool. I've always had the washing machine in either the bathroom or in the kitchen. No dryer. Now our washing machine is in the bathroom with no dryer - I don't like the way dryers wear out delicate cottons. I don't like removing peachfuzz from the dryer either.

There is a mutual clothes hanging room (without machines) in the basement but we usually hang the clothes on folding plastic racks all over the place. It looks rather slovenly but homey: I love it; keeps things down-to-earth and reminds me of Italian narrow alleys with flagline-clothes hanging above. At the moment there is laundry hanging right in front of the main door in the corridor. The pizza delivery lady took a peak inside and probably thought that "oh, that's normal".

At the countriside we have no hot water plumbing - just cold water straight from the lake (as we use the place only in summer months). We heat water in a small electric kettle for washing up. My mom has a washing machine in her adjacent house but we usually take our laundry back to the city. There are just cords zig-zagging between the trees for hanging damp clothes.

Thanks to former activities in business we have another weekend home by the lake. It is better equipped but we don't like to spend time there as the milieu is more desiccated (mainly just pines), there are next door neighbors and occasional snakes (the only venomous snake in Finland: viper/adder). In that place, we have a washing machine-dryer tower but it's seldom in use.

It's a shame that only my in-laws use this modern villa, but one can't help taking emotional and tranquility issues into account when it comes to spending the summer with the family. We just love to stay in our non-equipped, old shack with an outhouse and my mom and stepfather in the neighbor. The nature and fishing grounds are much better there.

Here's a pic of the washer and dryer of the modern villa. The machines are behind sliding glass doors in the foyer - a bit like in TastyReuben's late apartment.

View attachment 49823
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Thanks Hemulen. I like this forum quite a bit and it's nice learning about other cultures all the while finding good recipes and tips!

I recall seeing a mud room in my grandparents' home but I think they went out of style here. Many people just have a coat rack and maybe a rubber boot tray and umbrella stand nearby but an actual utility sink can only be found in some garages.

I was surprised to hear that some people do not have dryers and use clotheslines or racks for drying. My parents did that to save on electricity during the Summer months (didn't want to run the dryer while the A/C is running). I have always had both a washer and dryer except now. There are four sets in my apartment building now. I really don't care for the laundromats around here so I just do my laundry overnight (my unit is right next to the laundry room so I'm not disturbing anybody).

Your countryside place sounds wonderful - kind of off the grid. It seems like the perfect set-up and it's so nice to visit with family for those of you with wonderful family. Those are the moments to be cherished.

Thanks so much for sharing a slice of your life. It was very interesting!
 
TastyReuben said:
Here's my set-up:


Utility Room

Utility Room


I'm going to play caseydog for a moment and point out another Old World/New World word difference: over here, if we want to say something gives us the warm feeling of snugness, the word would be "homey," as "homely," generally means ugly or unpleasant-looking.
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LOL

tp (8).jpg
 
MrsDangermouse said:
Our washing machine is under the worktop in the kitchen: its an integrated model so its nicely hidden behind a cupboard door. The tumble dryer is in the garage as there's no space for it in the kitchen (I dislike combination washer-dryers). But actually we try to line dry clothes as much as possible rather than using the dryer.

Some houses in the UK do have a utility room where the washing machine, dryer and boiler are fitted, but they tend to be the larger houses and are in the minority. Space is at a premium here ;-)

A quick Google says that the average house size in the UK is 85 sqm (915 sq ft) versus the US average of 2386 sq ft (221 sqm) - which probably explains why so many of our domestic appliances are designed to fit into small spaces.
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I have heard that people generally don't care for the combo units because the whole thing is useless if one of the machines break. I have never seen them in anybody's houses but they are sometimes used in businesses where uniforms and aprons and towels are usually washed.

I loved "Keeping Up Appearances" and it was often shown the refrigerator was small unit that fit under the counter. In the USA, that type of fridge is mostly used for dorm rooms or rec areas in the home with a standard sized fridge. I don't recall how their washer/dryer setup was though. That was really the first time that I realized the space difference between houses here and there. No wonder many people think Americans are spoiled. ;-(
 
TastyReuben said:
What's even worse, "homely" is almost always used in conjunction with a person's (usually a woman's) physical appearance. It's not that typical to describe an inanimate object as homely, but to describe that girl your best friend tried to set you up with... :whistling:

See also the term "plain Jane."
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I didn't know the terms are comparable. I always thought "homely" was negative and "plain Jane" was more neutral.
 
mjd-lovescooking said:
I didn't know the terms are comparable. I always thought "homely" was negative and "plain Jane" was more neutral.
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Like everything else these days, it's a spectrum. :).

When we lived in the U.K., both our houses came with fridges, but they were the standard under-counter ones - very small by American standards, so the Air Force had a policy of providing American-sized refrigerators to American families. To say our kitchen was crowded is an understatement!

The cooker/range in our first kitchen was tiny (by our standards) as well. We were fine with it until our first Thanksgiving. It didn't even occur to me that the stove might be too small for a big turkey, and sure enough, come the day, I tried to put an 18-lb or so turkey in it and...not even close to fitting. :laugh:
 
TastyReuben said:
Like everything else these days, it's a spectrum. :).

When we lived in the U.K., both our houses came with fridges, but they were the standard under-counter ones - very small by American standards, so the Air Force had a policy of providing American-sized refrigerators to American families. To say our kitchen was crowded is an understatement!

The cooker/range in our first kitchen was tiny (by our standards) as well. We were fine with it until our first Thanksgiving. It didn't even occur to me that the stove might be too small for a big turkey, and sure enough, come the day, I tried to put an 18-lb or so turkey in it and...not even close to fitting. :laugh:
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What did you do to save Thanksgiving that year? That kind of thing is exactly why I pre-plan for contingencies. I don't have OCD (not diagnosed anyway) but I often printed off recipes, double and triple checked ingredients and started early. There is one "nice" thing about having a not-so-lovely family. I never had to host anything! LOL
 
mjd-lovescooking said:
What did you do to save Thanksgiving that year? That kind of thing is exactly why I pre-plan for contingencies. I don't have OCD (not diagnosed anyway) but I often printed off recipes, double and triple checked ingredients and started early. There is one "nice" thing about having a not-so-lovely family. I never had to host anything! LOL
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Had I been a better cook, I would have said, "No worries, hand me that knife," cut it up, and roasted the pieces.

Instead, I said, "Fire up the barbecue," and attempted to roast it on a standard rectangular Meco charcoal grill. I got it done, but it took for-<bleeping>-ever. :laugh:
 
No dryer here and the washing machine is in my small galley kitchen. I hang washing on a foldable rack which goes up in the front room (the room with the dining table). I only wash once a fortnight these days so its not a big deal. When I had a house full of kids it was washing three times a week. Horrible.
 
Backbay said:
Mine are in a closet off the bathroom. No room to fold but I do have a small area to hang clothes for drying. Last week our washer bit the bit dust after 27 years of use and no previous breakdowns. I would say we got our use out of it.

When I bought a new set this week I was overwhelmed with all the options available. Who knew there were so many choices - thankfully the sales person knew the product and I was able to take what she advised and then do my own research before making a decision. The main surprise was the sales person told me average life expectancy of washers in the US is now 5-7 years!!
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Yes, planned obsolescence. I remember when houses were affordable (my parents' first house was about the price of a new SUV now) and appliances lasted forever. Marketing teams make ungodly amounts of money to make us think we have to have the "latest and greatest". It ensures job security for repair companies and manufacturers.
 
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