Laundry design - putting appliances mid height

emmanewman · Jun 14, 2012 10:20 am

We saw a fantastic laundry in the Summit Homes Seasons http://www.summitnewhomes.com.au/pages/4500/gallery (last photo in the gallery)

We are going to replicate it but wanted to know if anyone had any advice about whether to a) wall mount the appliances onto wooden supports or b) whether the units they sit on should be strong enough to stand the appliances on without being fixed in place. In the display home they are just sat on the units but then they aren't being used of course

Any thoughts fellow builders?

Lourance · Jun 14, 2012 10:43 am

The only problem I see is all washing machines vibrate some what and with about 40kgs+ of weight loaded it will need to be fix on a very solid point, if it is just resting on the bench you will prob find it will grind its way through the top of the cupboard . Also need to make sure the cupboard is strongly built and needs to be waterproof from constant water soaking. So in my opinion keep the washing machine on the floor.

Onebuild · Jun 14, 2012 11:04 am

I'm not sure on the mounting but if the appliances are to be mid height I would want a pull out shelf underneath the machine/benchtop at just the right height so a washing basket can sit on it while I can load/unload clothes from.

THE RISE · Jun 14, 2012 11:21 am

emmanewman

Beautiful Laundry, we are having our laundry only tiled and water provisions put in by the builder. I have been trying to design something to suit and this looks great, just what i have been looking for ... I am going to take this picture to a joiner and see what he thinks about the washing machine at that height and problems it may cause. Will let you know what I find out...
Hope you don't mind...

alt0160 · Jun 14, 2012 11:27 am

Oh I love that desing, its becomming more and more common. We are doing it, but in a basic/cheap way. The benchtop will run full length and each applaince will have a pidgeon hole made for it. Unfortunately the depth of the pidgeon holes is not as big as we would like, but our laundry is tiny - clicky for my plans.

I couldnt find anything in the manufacturer's details about minimum space around dryers etc for heat removal.

I think vibration may depend on brand, we have paired a bosch front loaders with a bosch condensor dryer, they just sit ontop of eachother with no need for a stacking kit.

I think if you provide a nice deep box for them, vibration should be ok. Below is a picture of a laundry I really wanted, but blew the budget. You will see how the washer and dryer are in pidgeon holes and the recesses are deeper than the standard width of the benchtop.

It may be a cheaper option than having to increase the depth cabinets and benchtops the whole way along.

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Its from the Ventura display home - shangri-la (the builder quoated us 10-15k to do this exact laundry)

emmanewman · Jun 14, 2012 11:29 am

THE RISE

emmanewman

Beautiful Laundry, we are having our laundry only tiled and water provisions put in by the builder. I have been trying to design something to suit and this looks great, just what i have been looking for ... I am going to take this picture to a joiner and see what he thinks about the washing machine at that height and problems it may cause. Will let you know what I find out...
Hope you don't mind...

Thanks everyone - Lourance - the issue of movement and weight is what I am trying to get sorted in my head - I am desperately keen to have it mid height as it's so much more practical but will have to see what people say!
Great suggestion Onebuild - hadn't thought of that ::lol::

And of course I don't mind The Rise! It's a great design! What the photo doesn't really show clearly - although it's there on the plans - is that opposite the benches is a sliding door storage cupboard with a broom / hoover space inside - very cleaver use of space and there is MASSES of storage - which is what I wanted!!

emmanewman · Jun 14, 2012 11:34 am

Wow Alt0160!! That's really nice! I can see why you liked it so much! I think you make a good point - theoretically, the better brand appliances whould vibrate less - so worth spending a bit more to make sure your laundry doesn't collapse!!
We have had a quote for $4000 for the laundry to be built in a similar (but not copied of course) way to the Summit design which I thought was quite reasonable considering the amount of storage!

sleven · Jun 14, 2012 6:19 pm

Wow this is fab! I am going to suss this out with a cabinet maker for my place too! (We just bought a front loader washing machine!!!)
What about a lip at the bottom of the pigeon hole so in the event that it did vibrate forward it wouldn't fall out!!?

tinkster · Jun 14, 2012 8:37 pm

That's gorgeous. It would be a hell of a task to get the front loader up there, they are heavy. The laundry is pretty similar to mine, I've just got a stand under my front loader and the dryer on top, the washer is not as high as that, but at least it's off the floor.

off2theburbs · Jun 15, 2012 1:43 am

I loved this when I saw it at the display, my only concern was after getting it up there, my front loader does occasionally talk a slight walk, and if this were to happen from a mid height shelf it would be a disaster. We asked about it price wise and through the builder it was going to be a little pricey, something about reinforced frames around the drawers due to the weight of the front loader and dryer. We didn't end up doing with it, but instill love it

Forg · Jun 15, 2012 7:27 am

off2theburbs

I loved this when I saw it at the display, my only concern was after getting it up there, my front loader does occasionally talk a slight walk, and if this were to happen from a mid height shelf it would be a disaster.

You'll find there're holes in the back of the machine, and the machine would've come with wall-brackets - they're usually attached to the wall, they're just big hooks & you hang your machine off them like it's a lovely piece of laundry-art.

If you don't still have them (I doubt we have ours), wonder if the manufacturer's parts department can get their hands on those brackets?
[This is largely out-loud musing ... we'll probably want to mount our machine up high, so we can use the floor-space

]

I find it rather odd that your builder would even consider mounting the machine on a cabinet of some sort rather than just fixing it to the wall.

emmanewman · Jun 15, 2012 10:25 am

Forg

off2theburbs

I loved this when I saw it at the display, my only concern was after getting it up there, my front loader does occasionally talk a slight walk, and if this were to happen from a mid height shelf it would be a disaster.

You'll find there're holes in the back of the machine, and the machine would've come with wall-brackets - they're usually attached to the wall, they're just big hooks & you hang your machine off them like it's a lovely piece of laundry-art.

If you don't still have them (I doubt we have ours), wonder if the manufacturer's parts department can get their hands on those brackets?
[This is largely out-loud musing ... we'll probably want to mount our machine up high, so we can use the floor-space

]

I find it rather odd that your builder would even consider mounting the machine on a cabinet of some sort rather than just fixing it to the wall.

Thanks Again everyone for your comments - our builders have priced the cabinets but I suspect they haven't considered the use / weight of the appliances and even so wouldn't be liable so perhaps they don't really care :-(

Forg - I didn't realise the bit about brackets - I am going to look at the back of our front loader this evening when I get home and see if there are holes (we definately didn't get brackets) and then if I can buy the brackets as you suggested.

Next quetsion then - as the wall the laundry backs onto is the wall in the theatre room where a wall mounted TV will be - what do you all think about a double thickness wall? Will a single brick wall be strong enough to support the appliances on one side and the TV on the other? ::wornout::