Organize the Laundry Room with Cabinets

I tried to make some cabinets I already have fit into my laundry room and it just didn’t work. I did the math and by the time I bought enough additional cabinets to make it practical, I was over $5000. I used those cabinets in my office.

So I tried to use the metal shelves that I had in the attic at the other house. But, that didn’t work either. They were kinda triangular to fit under the roof in the attic, so they were not practical. They stuck out everywhere. At first they were wider at the bottom and I kept banging my shins. I bought more parts on eBay, since IKEA has discontinued the Broder series.  I could fit a lot of stuff into bins, but I could never find anything and it looked really messy.

Yesterday a light bulb burned out. I wanted to find one with the same Kelvin as the rest of the recessed lighting next to it and I had to pull down three bins to get to the bin labeled light bulbs, then dig through that bin, Tetris it all back into the bin and restack everything.

I need a different system.

Measuring and Planning

First I started on some of the cabinet planners. Unbelievably annoying! A lot of them won’t let you take out the fridge, stove and sink. And they were all just clunky to use. So I pulled out some graph paper,  measured the laundry room and figured out how much space I have.

The laundry room is bigger than this, but this won’t block any light switches and stays out of the walkway.

I started on Lowes website, but it was hard to sort so I went to Home Depot’s site to get some preliminary measurements and prices.

Hampton Bay in stock cabinets in Satin White seem to be the least expensive finished cabinets.

Our ceiling is 9’ and the Hampton Bay cabinets in Satin White is available up to 42” high.

I downloaded the brochure and it shows a laundry room with the white cabinets.

A New Spin

Laundry becomes less of a chore when everything is neatly and efficiently organized using Hampton Bay cabinets and shelves to create open storage cubbies.

The brochure is really useful. The section on Cabinet Selection gives all the widths and heights.

I had the cabinets at the log cabin go all the way to the ceiling. It gave me more storage and less horizontal space to collect dust. I have a 9’ ceiling in the new house, so I think the taller the better.

On the wall with the washer and dryer, I can put a 42” high corner wall on each side and two 36” wide 42” high cabinets between them.
On the floor, I can fit a blind base and a 15” base with one drawer. Possibly up to 18” might fit.

On the left side wall, the washer is about a foot or so from the wall. Right now I have some of the Broder steel shelves on that wall, leaving space to open the washer door. I hate it. It is just awkward.

But if I put upper type cabinets from the floor to the ceiling, I can have plenty of organized out-of-sight storage without blocking access to the washer and dryer at all.

I have 109″ from the floor to the ceiling. Theoretically I could put three 36″ high cabinets, but I think that wouldn’t really be practical. Even if we could wedge them in, I don’t think they would be very accessible.

Two 42″ high cabinets over each other. They would end 25″ from the floor.

The wall is 8′ 4″ from the back wall to the light switch. The corner cabinet is 24″ wide, that leaves 76″.
Two 36″ wide cabinets gives me 72″.
I don’t want to get too close to the washer, even with the 12″ wall cabinets.
So, four 30″ wide x 42″ high cabinets, with a12″ wide x 42″ high cabinet will work. Any smaller doesn’t come 42″ high.

Last, the wall by the back door. There is 90” to the switch. The base cabinet takes up 24” of that, so there is around 66” left.

I think a pantry would give the most storage. The 18″ ones come 84″, 90″ or 96″.
I like the one with a drawer in it is 24″ wide, and 84″ high. It would be great if the Deep Bridge wall cabinet, which is as deep as a floor cabinet and a pantry would fit over a pantry to go to the ceiling. But it won’t. It doesn’t come in the right width.

And there is no counter space on the other side of the room at all, so let’s stick with regular base and wall cabinets on this wall. There is plenty of room for a 30” and a 36”, but I think perhaps just two 30” so it doesn’t get as close to the door. Then I can put 30” wall shelves, too. I like those.

I wouldn’t want to have the cabinets too close to the countertop. The kitchen has 55” from the ceiling to the bottom of the wall cabinets. I like the idea of the 18” high shelves, so that leaves 36”. So that gives me two 30” wide base cabinets, with 30″ wide x 36” tall wall cabinets and 18” high open shelves . Maybe.

How Much Will Laundry Room Cabinets Cost?

So hear is the price with Home Depot Hampton Assembled Kitchen Cabinets in Satin White.

Pricing Unfinished Cabinets

The unfinished cabinets cost less. There is more labor, but I could paint them a pretty color.

The unfinished cabinets don’t come 42″ high. The highest is 36″

Wow! That is a big difference!

There are some compromises. There is no KW blind on the website. This price is for the Easthaven Shaker Assembled Frameless Blind Base Corner Cabinet in Unfinished Beech. Not sure about that. Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn’t. Or we could just buy the cabinet and remove one door and drawer. That’s what I did back in ancient history when I remodeled a kitchen using only cabinets that had been returned.

The Blind Base is 42″ to 45″ wide. That means that if you push it right up to the wall, it is 42″ wide, but you can pull it out a few inches to make things line up. It is next to cabinets on the other wall and had countertop over it, so you can’t tell. But no. The Hampton Bay base cabinets come up to 36″ wide, then jump to the 60″ sink base. Neither will work at all.

This might be an alternative. I think it would be easier to reach things in the corner, too. The product number is KBBC45-YY.

Also there are no open shelves, so I put in closed cabinets the same size. I can totally live with that.

In case there really is no blind in the Hampton unfinished cabinets, I went ahead and price the Easthaven Shaker unfinished cabinets.

Home Depot Easthaven Shaker Cabinets in Unfinished Beech

It is very nearly the same price. The cabinets aren’t as tall. Which is sad. There are still no open shelves, but really doors make the room less cluttered looking. I am not overly attached to either one.

I’m going to go ahead and compare prices with some other brands, but it is realistic to put cabinets in the laundry room. It’s not cheap, but it doesn’t have to be crazy expensive either if I stick with the in stock cabinets.