Where is your washer and dryer?

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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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I got about 15 years out of my last washer. I started a load one day, and took psycho-poodle for a walk. The washer filled with water, and kept filling. I had an inch of water in the kitchen.

My dryer died about six months later. I had a load drying on medium heat, and after a while, something smelled funny. I traced the smell to the dryer. When I put my hand on it, it was too hot to touch. The smell was my clothes toasting.

In both cases, I couldn't justify getting the machines repaired, because of their ages.

CD
 
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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My current house is 1,640 square feet. That's a small house in Texas. No room for a separate laundry room. My last house was just over 2,500 feet, and had a laundry room between the kitchen and garage.

My parent's house is just over 4,000 feet. There is a laundry room witha washer and dryer, a sink, a full-size refrigerator/freezer, and a full bathroom. You can come inside from the pool, and use the bathroom, or grab a cold beverage -- and change out of wet clothes after swimming. That bathroom is one of 5 bathrooms in the house. :o_o:

CD
 
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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TR your laundry room is huge. I want to get in there and add a folding table, hanging racks, drawers and bins. and lots of shelf space.
Basically organize and maximize the space.
I have a laundry room off of the kitchen. It is wide enough for a side by side washer and dryer. Cabinets overhead, Shelves on both sides. The laundry room stores paper towels, rolls of parchment paper, aluminum foil, plastid wrap, freezer paper. Laundry deterrent, household cleaners, light bulbs, yada, yada, yada. I would love to have a rod for hanging clothes, a folding table and room for my drying rack..
 
Mountain Cat said:
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.
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Our house in Cincinnati when I was a kid had a laundry chute to the basement. My mom loved it -- except when I dropped a basketball down it while she was doing laundry. :roflmao:

CD
 
mjd-lovescooking said:
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!
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If ElizabethB reads this, please tell us about using a clothes line in Southern Louisiana. :wink:

CD
 
I grew up with a very long 3 strand clothes line in the back yard. We did not have a dryer. Mother had 7 children in 13 years. There were always babies in diapers. I am the eldest of the 7 children. I learned to chant diapers at a young age. Diapers were cloth diapers. I remember winters when the diapers would freeze on the clothes line. Mother would run a rope down the hall. I would collect the frozen diapers from the clothes line. Mother would hang the frozen diapers on the rope in the hall to dry them.
I would like to have a clothes line to dry my sheets.
 
ElizabethB said:
I grew up with a very long 3 strand clothes line in the back yard. We did not have a dryer. Mother had 7 children in 13 years. There were always babies in diapers. I am the eldest of the 7 children. I learned to chant diapers at a young age. Diapers were cloth diapers. I remember winters when the diapers would freeze on the clothes line. Mother would run a rope down the hall. I would collect the frozen diapers from the clothes line. Mother would hang the frozen diapers on the rope in the hall to dry them.
I would like to have a clothes line to dry my sheets.
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I was referring to the humidity there. If you want to line dry outdoors, you better not be in any hurry. :laugh:

CD
 
ElizabethB said:
There is nothing to compare with the freshness of line dried sheets.
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My wife is in total agreement with you. In my eyes the sight of a skillfully loaded washing line fluttering in the breeze, evokes in me thoughts of rebirth. :roflmao: TWLSS The washing line summer solstice. The content of a good line is also a window to the soul.I only wear these on my birthday.
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ElizabethB said:
Actually not as bad as you may think. I grew up with line dried clothes. There is nothing to compare with the freshness of line dried sheets.
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When we moved to Port Arthur, my mom tried it, and the clothes never got dry. Of course, it is also a stretch to call the air in Port Arthur "fresh."

CD
 
LissaC said:
Houses in Portugal are usually much, much smaller than Canadian and American homes and laundry rooms are unheard of. I've seen the washer in the bathroom in extremely tiny houses, but that's usually something that signals a tiny, low income home and everyone thinks it's super odd.

Brazilian homes usually have a laundry room, even though most tend to be tiny.
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Exactly like in Italy, our houses in general are much smaller than the American/Canadian ones.
Southern Italy has houses much bigger than the Northern ones for a matter of climate.
However, we don’t have the laundry room, only washer in the bathroom - sometimes in the kitchen.
Mine is in the bathroom but I’ll move it to the kitchen as soon as it will be possible to.
Dryer is something still vey unused in Italy, I think that maybe 2 or 3 people got one.
 
Ours are in a small room adjacent to the kitchen. The tumble drier only gets used in the winter when the line outside is not practical. It is usual in the UK for washing machines to be located in the kitchen, which I have never really understood. A bathroom seems a far more logical place to put them. I grew up in an old farmhouse that didn't have central heating, and the only way to get clothes dry in winter was to use a pulley maid in front of the kitchen range. This fostered a strong dislike of clean clothes coming anywhere near cooking smells.
 
epicuric said:
I grew up in an old farmhouse that didn't have central heating, and the only way to get clothes dry in winter was to use a pulley maid in front of the kitchen range.
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Bloody luxury, To save time in the morning Mum used to dress us in damp clothes the night before and winch us up on the "maid" till the morning! was yours a 4 or 6 slat? I bet your range was like ours, a black Rayburn?
 
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