Plan around the machines in use
Plan a small laundry room layout around the machines as you use them: installed, with their doors or lids open and room to stand with a basket. Then add a counter, sink or storage one piece at a time, checking the floor in front of the machines after each.
Measure the machines, not just the boxes
Take the figures from the model's own dimension guide: the closed body, the gaps its installation needs behind and beside it, and how far the door reaches when open. One washer in our examples adds 20″ in front of its closed front with the door open, and the person loading needs about 24″ beyond that.
Stacking frees floor but changes the reach. In the same 7 × 8 ft room, a stack frees one 27″ width for a 30 × 24″ work surface, while side by side keeps both machines at one height.
Keep the route and the loading space apart
In a 6 × 8 ft room, an 18″-deep counter opposite the machines cuts the space in front of them from 65″ to 47″, and with an 18″ door open only 29″ is left. In a room with a door at each end, our 8 × 10 ft example has a 58″ aisle that shrinks to 14″ beside someone loading.
A laundry closet borrows the floor in front of it: in our example, an open door still reaches 16″ into a 48″ hall zone.
Start with your machines
Find the row closest to your setup, then test what the last column names.
| Your setup | A useful starting point | What to test next |
|---|---|---|
| A washer and dryer side by side | Two 27″-wide machines along one wall, as in the planner's 6 × 8 ft example | Each door open with you standing in front, one machine at a time |
| A stacked pair | One 27 × 32″ footprint with a work surface beside it | The maker's approved stacking kit, the total height and the reach to the top machine |
| A top-loading washer | Nothing above it lower than the open lid | The lid's open height against the shelf or ceiling above |
| A narrow room | Compact 24 × 24″ machines along one long wall | Whether the open doors and your standing space fit across the room |
| A laundry closet | The closet and the floor in front of it planned together | The closet doors open and the space to stand outside it |
| A room you walk through | A route kept apart from the loading space | The route with a machine door open and someone loading |
Spaces to keep clear in a small laundry room
Our plans use these figures. They're planning targets for everyday use, not building-code or accessibility requirements, and each guide explains its assumptions.
| Space | In our plans | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| In front of the machines | 65″ to the opposite wall in a 6 × 8 ft room; 47″ once an 18″-deep counter goes in | Planning |
| Loading with a basket | An 82″ band from the back wall: 38″ to the machine fronts, a 20″ open door and 24″ to stand | Walk-through |
| Two machines side by side | 54″ of wall for two 27″ bodies | Stacked or side by side |
| A laundry closet | 48″ clear between open panels in a 60″ opening | Closets |
| Shelving opposite the machines | 46″ left in front of the machines with a 12″ shelf opposite | Storage |
| A clothes bar | 84½″ high over a 40½″ counter, for 42″ shirts | Organizing |
Try it in your own room
The planner below draws your room to scale, so you can check every machine and work area in use before you move or buy anything.
- Set the room. Start from one of the eight example layouts, from a side-by-side pair in 6 × 8 ft to a utility room you walk through in 9 × 12 ft, or enter your room's width and length in feet and inches or metric.
- Add the openings. Place the door with its width, hinge side and swing, the window, and a second opening if the room has one.
- Add the machines and work areas. Enter each machine's closed body, the gaps its installation instructions ask for, its open-door projection and the space to stand. The buttons add a stacked pair, a top-loader, a folding counter, a sink, storage or a through-route.
- Test it. Drag the pieces or try Explore arrangements. The planner checks a way to each machine and work area one at a time, with the other fronts closed, and a route through the room with the fronts closed or open, as you choose.
- Keep it. Save the plan on your device, download the drawing or an editable copy, or print it.
Before you buy:
- Check the model's dimensions, connections, venting, drainage and service access in its installation instructions, with an installer where needed.
- Measure the way in to the room, and tape out the machines, their open doors and the place you stand.
- Walk through carrying a full basket with one door open.
The planner treats a stacked pair as one footprint and draws appliance doors as rectangles. It doesn't design electrical, plumbing, gas or dryer venting.