Space Age Closets & Custom Cabinetry designs and installs custom laundry room storage for homes across Toronto and the GTA, and after decades of building these rooms we can answer the title question in one breath: a laundry room needs a counter to fold on, a sink, a proper place for dirty clothes to wait their turn, closed storage to hide the supplies, and enough personality that you don’t dread walking in. Laundry may always be a chore, but a well-equipped room is the best cure for dreading it. Here is what belongs in the room, and why each piece earns its spot.
Start With the Machines, Then Put a Counter Over Them
The washer and dryer set the layout, so place them first. If the room allows, put them side by side and run a countertop across the top: instantly you have somewhere to fold, sort, and yes, iron, because people absolutely still iron. Front-load machines tuck neatly under a counter; if you’re stuck stacking, flank the stack with a tall cabinet so the room still gains a work surface beside it. That one counter is the difference between folding in the laundry room and folding on your bed three days later. It’s the first thing we sketch when planning laundry room cabinets in Toronto homes.
A Sink Is Almost a Necessity
If your laundry room has any space to spare, a sink is close to a must-have. Hand-washing delicates, soaking a stained soccer jersey, rinsing paint rollers, filling a mop bucket: all of it wants a basin that isn’t your kitchen sink. The plumbing is usually already in the wall for the washer, which makes the laundry room the cheapest place in the house to add one. Choose a deep utility-style basin over a shallow decorative one; this sink is for working, not for show.
A Sorting Station for the Dirty Stuff
Dirty laundry needs a home that isn’t the floor. One of our clients asked for pull-out hamper drawers, one for colours, one for whites, and told us afterward it was her favourite feature in the whole room: sorting happens all week as clothes come in, so wash day starts with the work already done. Built-in tilt-outs or pull-out bins keep the hampers hidden behind cabinet fronts, and sized right, they hold a family’s worth of waiting laundry without ever looking like it.
Closed Doors Beat Open Shelves
The saddest thing we see in laundry rooms is beautiful open shelving loaded with jugs of detergent and stain spray, because no matter how tidy the shelf, laundry products are simply not attractive. Cupboards with doors, or baskets that slide onto shelves, give the room the appearance of order and neatness; it’s amazing how clean everything looks behind a cabinet door. Save any open shelving for the few things that earn display, folded towels, a plant, a jar of clothespins, and put everything else away.
Room for More Than Laundry
Given the size of most Toronto homes and condos, a room that does only one job is a luxury few floor plans can afford. If you can put up with the hum of the machines, the laundry room is a natural double for a compact home office, a hobby and craft station, or a gift-wrapping counter, the same cabinetry that hides detergent hides ribbon and card stock just as well. Loads run while you work, and two chores share one trip downstairs. In smaller GTA homes this multi-tasking room is often the hardest-working space in the house.
Don’t Forget to Have Some Fun
Take care of the practical list, then give the room some personality. Most folks default to builder white, but the laundry room is a low-risk place for a splash of colour or pattern: one client of ours painted the entire room a soft teal, another chose a clear acrylic hanging rod just because she loved the look. You spend real hours in this room every week. However you organize it, make sure it’s not only practical but genuinely pleasant to stand in.
What Goes in a Laundry Room: Your Questions, Answered
Do I need a countertop in my laundry room?
If there’s any way to fit one, yes. A counter over side-by-side front-load machines gives you a folding and ironing surface exactly where clothes come out of the dryer, which is what keeps clean laundry from migrating to your bed or dining table. If your machines must stack, a counter beside them on a base cabinet does the same job.
Is a sink in the laundry room worth the plumbing?
Almost always, because the plumbing is largely there already, the washer’s supply and drain run through the same wall. A deep utility sink handles soaking, hand-washing, and every messy household job you’d rather keep out of the kitchen, and it’s far cheaper to add during a laundry room renovation than as a stand-alone project later.
What’s the best way to sort dirty laundry before wash day?
Built-in pull-out hamper drawers, one per category, colours and whites at minimum. Sorting then happens gradually as clothes come off, not in a pile on the floor before the first load. Because the bins sit behind cabinet fronts, a full week of family laundry stays completely out of sight.
Should laundry supplies go on open shelves or behind doors?
Behind doors. Detergent jugs and stain sprays make even a tidy shelf look cluttered, so closed cupboards or basket systems keep the room looking clean with zero daily effort. Reserve open shelving for the handful of items that actually look good on display, like folded towels.
Can my laundry room double as a home office or hobby room?
Yes, and in space-tight Toronto homes it’s one of the smartest combinations we build. The same custom cabinetry serves both jobs: counters work as desks or craft tables, and closed uppers hold supplies for each. The only real consideration is machine noise, so if you take calls for work, plan the desk for the wall farthest from the dryer.
Ready to give every part of laundry day a proper home? Call Space Age Closets & Custom Cabinetry at (647) 394-7557 or book a free in-home design consultation. We’ve designed and installed custom laundry room storage across Toronto and the GTA since 1989.
