Laundry Room Cabinets: Sizes, Heights and Priced Layouts

Laundry room cabinets are ordinary kitchen boxes hung to suit the machines: 12- or 24-inch-deep wall cabinets with their bottoms about 54 to 60 inches off the floor over front-loaders (about 65 inches over a full-size top-loader, set by its open lid), a 24-inch-deep tall cabinet for brooms and the vacuum, and a 24- or 30-inch sink base for a utility sink. The numbers that decide the order come from the washer and dryer, not from the cabinet catalog. This guide gives those numbers, prices three real layouts from SKUs we sell, and covers the moisture and garage questions most sizing charts skip.

We sell cabinets for a living, and laundry rooms are where cheap mistakes turn expensive. A buyer copies the kitchen rule, hangs the uppers at 54 inches over a top-loading washer, and finds out on the first load that the lid hits the cabinet. Or a folding counter gets drawn at 36 inches over front-loaders that stand 39 or 40 inches tall. Both are easy to catch on paper and hard to fix on the wall.

Table of Contents

• Laundry Cabinet Sizes at a Glance
• Measure the Machines First
• Cabinets Over the Washer and Dryer: Height and Depth
• Stacked Washer and Dryer: What Fits Above
• A Folding Counter Over Front-Loaders
• The Utility Sink Base
• Tall Utility Cabinets for Brooms and the Ironing Board
• Hanging Rod Options
• Moisture and Box Material, Line by Line
• Three Priced Layouts From Real SKUs
• Laundry Off the Garage or Mudroom
• Mistakes We Catch on Laundry Drawings
• Frequently Asked Questions

Laundry Cabinet Sizes at a Glance

No manufacturer we carry makes a separate "laundry" line. The cabinets that go into a laundry room are the same wall, tall and base boxes sold for kitchens, in every width in 3-inch steps, in the same finishes, on the same order. What changes is where they hang and which depth you choose. The table uses Fabuwood Allure Galaxy codes because that is the line we price later; the other framed lines we sell follow the same grid with their own prefixes.

Fabuwood's spec book lists 30-inch-wide wall cabinets at 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 36 and 42 inches high, and 24-inch-deep boxes at 30, 33 and 36 inches wide, up to 24 inches high. Fabuwood's live catalog also lists 39-inch-high walls, such as the 30-by-39-inch W3039 at $503.75 in Galaxy Frost, Dove, Indigo and Timber, which the older spec book we host doesn't show. Nickel, Linen and most other Galaxy finishes don't offer the 39-inch height. Every box type is covered in our wall and tall cabinet size guide and in types of base cabinets. This page is about fitting those boxes around a washer and dryer.

Measure the Machines First

Every cabinet height here is set by an appliance you may not have bought yet. Get the dimension guide for the exact washer and dryer before anyone draws a cabinet, and read four numbers off it: overall height, depth including hoses and the dryer vent, depth with the door open, and, on a top-loader, height with the lid open. Here is what two current full-size front-loaders publish:

Sources: LG's Measure First laundry installation guide and Samsung's WF53BB8700 specification sheet. LG's guide tells you to measure height "to the bottom of overhead cabinets," which is the manufacturer admitting that your cabinets and its machines share one number.

Three things fall out of those figures. A front-loading pair needs 57 to 60 inches of wall once the gaps are counted, not 54. The machines stand about 37 inches out from the wall with their hoses, while a standard wall cabinet is 12 inches deep, so reach matters more here than in a kitchen. And the open door takes the room to about 57 inches deep: LG's front-loader installation checklist asks for 19.6 to 23.6 inches in front of the washer for the door alone, so a base cabinet on the opposite wall of a narrow room can make it unusable.

Top-loaders are shorter at rest, but their lids swing up. Samsung's WA45N3050AW spec sheet gives that 4.5 cu. ft. top-loader as 44 inches tall and 58⅛ inches with the lid open, and for a closet or alcove it asks for 21 inches of clear space above the machine. That second figure is the one your wall cabinets have to respect, and it is the one people forget to look up.

Cabinets Over the Washer and Dryer: Height and Depth

Front-load machines with nothing on top

The kitchen convention of a 54-inch bottom works over most front-loaders. Over a 38¾-inch Samsung that leaves roughly 15 inches, and over a 40.8-inch LG about 13, which is room for a detergent jug on the dryer and a hand behind it. Pedestals break the math: LG's pair stands 54.7 inches on its pedestals, so uppers would start around 66 inches and most people would need a step stool for everything above the bottom shelf. Choose one or the other, or accept that the uppers become long-term storage.

Top-load washers

The lid hinges at the back, so when it is open it stands right under the wall cabinet. Take the lid-open height from the dimension guide and add about 6 inches for fingers and for pulling out a bulky comforter, then compare that with any overhead clearance the maker lists and use the higher number. For the Samsung above, 58⅛ plus 6 is about 64 inches and its 21-inch alcove clearance puts the limit at 65, so hang the bottom of the cabinet at 65 or 66. A W3024 ($318.50 in Galaxy's standard finishes) hung from 66 to 90 inches lines up with a 90-inch tall beside it. The other option is to hang uppers only over the dryer at the normal height and put a single shelf over the washer.

12-inch or 24-inch deep

This is where laundry rooms differ from kitchens. Over a bare pair of machines the fronts are 34 to 37 inches from the wall, so a standard 12-inch box leaves you reaching across two feet of appliance to open a door. A 24-inch-deep box, the kind kitchens use above a refrigerator, brings the doors forward to where your hands already are. In Galaxy the 30-inch-wide deep boxes run from W301524 (15 inches high) at $351.00 to W302424 (24 inches high) at $497.25. At the same heights that is $107.25 more than a 12-inch-deep W3015 ($243.75) and $178.75 more than a W3024. You pay for doors you can reach and for an interior that takes bulk boxes a 10⅝-inch wall shelf will not.

Over a folding counter the rule reverses. You stand close to a counter, and a 24-inch-deep box above it puts its bottom edge where your head goes when you lean in to fold. Use 12-inch boxes over any counter you work at. The deep family also stops at 24 inches high, so a taller upper has to be a 12-inch-deep box anyway.

Two 30-inch boxes cover a 60-inch pair; a 27 and a 33 work too if you want the door break over the gap between the machines. In a 61- to 63-inch alcove, rip a wall filler (WF330, $26.00) to close the gap at the wall rather than ordering odd widths.

Stacked Washer and Dryer: What Fits Above

A stacked pair turns the laundry into a closet, and the question becomes what fits between the top of the dryer and the ceiling. Samsung lists its WF53BB8700 pair at 77⅝ inches stacked and asks for 6 inches of clearance above it in a closet, so a cabinet over that stack starts at about 84 inches. Other brands ask for different gaps; the stacked-pair diagram in your installation guide gives the figure for yours.

On an 8-foot ceiling that leaves 12 inches, exactly one 12-inch-high wall box (W3012, $234.00 in Galaxy) with nothing to spare for an uneven ceiling. If the ceiling is not flat, a shelf is the honest answer. On a 9-foot ceiling the same start leaves 24 inches: an 18-inch box (W3018, $253.50) fits with room for a scribe strip. Either way it is step-stool storage; things you use every week belong in a tall cabinet beside the stack.

Two closet details catch people. Samsung's sheet says a closet holding the dryer needs unobstructed air openings in its front totalling at least 72 square inches, so cabinet-style doors across a stacked closet need louvers or a gap, not solid panels. And a 27-inch stack in a 30- to 32-inch closet leaves 1½ to 2½ inches a side, so order the box over it to the measured width between the walls, with a filler, not to the width of the machine.

A Folding Counter Over Front-Loaders

A counter over side-by-side front-loaders is the most requested laundry feature and the one most often drawn wrong. The standard kitchen height of 36 inches does not work over full-size machines that are 38 to 41 inches tall. Work it from the appliance up:

That is bar height, and it is fine for folding, which you do standing. If you want a 36-inch counter, look at compact 24-inch-wide machines; many are sold to fit under a standard counter, but confirm the height on the spec sheet first. A step from a 36-inch sink counter to a 42-inch folding counter on the same wall is normal. Put it at a cabinet side, not in the middle of a top.

Depth is the second surprise. With hoses and the vent behind them, the machine fronts sit 34 to 37 inches from the wall, and a standard countertop depth of about 25½ inches stops a foot short. Most people want the edge an inch or so behind the machine fronts, so the top is a custom piece, typically 30 to 36 inches deep. Laminate and butcher block cut to that easily; stone at that depth is heavy, and the fabricator should specify the support. Our guides to laminate and solid surface cover the lighter options.

Support the counter from the walls, never from the machines. A front-loader shakes on the spin cycle and has to slide out for a hose change. The usual build is a cleat screwed into the studs along the back and both side walls, with a hidden steel bracket or a narrow panel in the middle on a long span. A counter resting on the machine tops tends to crack or get walked off them. And keep the washer's shutoff valves reachable without unloading the room.

Flanking base cabinets make the counter easier to support and add sorting drawers. A B18 door base ($409.50 in Galaxy) or a DB18 three-drawer base ($646.75) at the end of the run carries a top on its own box, but at 34½ inches plus a top it finishes around 36, so a 42-inch counter needs a riser or a separate top.

The Utility Sink Base

A laundry sink sits on an ordinary kitchen sink base: 34½ inches tall, 24 inches deep, with a 6¾-inch false front across the top and open space behind the doors for the plumbing. The usual laundry widths are 24 and 30 inches. In Galaxy's standard finishes an SB24 is $403.00 and an SB30 is $461.50. The 24 takes a compact drop-in utility bowl, the 30 a full single bowl, and a large workstation-style sink may want the 33 ($468.00).

Size it from the sink's spec sheet, not the advertised bowl width. For an undermount, add about 3 inches to the sink's outside width. For a drop-in, the bowl under the rim has to clear the cabinet's inside opening, which the face frame makes narrower than the box.

Deep utility bowls change the plumbing: the deeper the bowl, the lower the drain outlet, and the trap still has to reach the wall drain. If the washer drains near the sink, the plumber works to the model code. In the 2015 through 2024 editions of the International Residential Code, section P2706.1.2 has a washer standpipe rise 18 to 42 inches above its trap weir, and where a laundry tray drains into that standpipe, P2706.1.2.1 raises the minimum to 30 inches and requires it to extend above the tray's rim (UpCodes reproduces the section text). States and cities adopt different editions and amend them, so your local code governs. Plumbing is licensed work in most places, and we sell the cabinet, not the rough-in.

This is the one box that sits under running water every day: line its floor with a sink mat, put a leak sensor under it, and buy it with a plywood box (see the moisture section).

Tall Utility Cabinets for Brooms and the Ironing Board

The broom closet in most laundry rooms is a pantry box with most of its shelves left in the carton. Fabuwood's single-door tall pantries come 15 or 18 inches wide, 12 or 24 inches deep and 84, 90 or 96 inches high, each with a 49¼-inch lower door and an upper door of 29½, 35½ or 41½ inches. The spec book says the shelves and clips "are shipped together loose": five on the 84-inch box, six on the taller ones. Set one or two up top for supplies, leave the lower section open for the broom, mop, vacuum and ironing board, and keep the rest for later. Our glossary's utility cabinet entry describes the same idea.

Read the depth column. Going from 12 to 24 inches deep on an 18-inch tower costs $32.50. A 12-inch box has about 11 inches inside, which takes brooms and a stick vacuum but not most uprights, so unless the room is too shallow, take the deep one. The step from 15 to 18 inches wide costs $149.50 at 84 inches, and it matters: Fabuwood's 1½-inch face-frame stiles make the door opening about 3 inches narrower than the box, so a 15-inch box opens to roughly 12. Measure the ironing board before you pick the narrow one.

Roll-out drawers can go into the lower section later, but on the 12-inch-deep boxes Fabuwood charges a CUT-ROD modification to shorten them. One more reason to buy the 24-inch depth now.

Hanging Rod Options

People search for laundry cabinets "with a hanging rod," and some find a Fabuwood code with ROD in it. That is a roll-out drawer (ROD-B15, ROD-B18 and so on), not a closet rod. None of the lines we sell ships a rod for hanging clothes; you buy a standard closet rod and brackets and plan the space for it.

A shirt on a hanger needs about 40 inches of drop below the rod, so a rod over a 42-inch folding counter would sit above 82 inches, out of reach. Hanging space goes where there is open floor or open wall below:

• Leave an 18- to 24-inch gap between the tall cabinet and the end of the upper run, and mount the rod there at 66 to 72 inches, with the tall's finished side as one bracket wall.
• At an end of the room with no counter, fix the rod under the upper run through a cleat screwed into studs, not into the ½-inch cabinet bottom.
• In a small room, a fold-down valet hook on the finished side of the tall cabinet holds the day's shirts without taking wall space.

Keep the rod clear of the dryer door swing and keep damp shirts off painted doors.

Moisture and Box Material, Line by Line

A laundry room is not a wet room most of the time. It is a room with two water lines, a drain, a drum of hot water and a dryer blowing warm air, and on a bad day it floods. The EPA's guide to mold and moisture at home sets the targets we plan around: indoor humidity below 60 percent, ideally 30 to 50, clothes dryers vented outside where possible, and wet materials dried within 24 to 48 hours.

Box material matters most where liquid can reach it: the sink base and any base cabinet beside the washer. Wall cabinets over the machines see warm, humid air but rarely water. Here is what the lines we sell use, from the manufacturers' spec books:

Plywood tolerates a wet day better than furniture board, which swells at raw edges and screw holes once water gets in. But furniture board with sealed edges makes a perfectly good upper, and no box survives a slow leak nobody notices. Our comparison of furniture board and plywood covers the grades and swelling, and the Diamond review explains the standard-versus-upgrade box.

Cheap protection beats expensive material. A washer drain pan, plumbed to a drain where possible, is inexpensive insurance on any floor above a finished room. State Farm, which reports paying nearly $30 million in 2020 on homeowner claims from failed washing machine hoses, advises replacing supply hoses every three to five years and considering steel-braided ones. A battery leak sensor under the sink base and one behind the washer will report a drip long before the cabinet floor does. And if the top of the dryer is hot to the touch after a cycle, have the vent run checked before blaming the finish on the doors above it.

Three Priced Layouts From Real SKUs

All three use Fabuwood Allure Galaxy in any of its twelve standard-priced finishes (Frost, Dove, Nickel, Indigo and the rest price identically; Linen is priced on request); Desert Oak and Natural Oak run about 20 percent higher on the same boxes. Prices are the displayed prices on our site at the time of writing and change with the price list. They cover cabinets and the listed trim only: no countertop, sink, faucet, hardware or installation; installation is priced separately, and we don't offer it (in New Jersey, installation is available through our sister company, Captivating Construction Group).

Layout A: the 60-inch alcove over bare front-loaders

The simplest laundry and the one we quote most: machines side by side with no counter, and 24-inch-deep uppers so the doors come forward to your hands, bottoms at 54 to 60 inches depending on the machines. Both ends of the pair die into the alcove walls, so no side of a deep box is left showing.

With a top-loader, raise the box over the washer to the clearance worked out above, or swap it for a shelf.

Layout B: a 10-foot wall with folding counter, tall and utility sink

From left to right: the washer and dryer (60 inches with gaps) under a folding counter at about 42 inches, an 18-inch tall utility cabinet, a 24-inch sink base and an 18-inch door base, which fills 120 inches exactly. The tall separates the 42-inch folding counter from the 36-inch sink counter, so the height change happens at a cabinet side, and the folding counter hangs on cleats at the left wall and the tall's side. Uppers run from 60 to 90 inches, 18 inches over the folding counter and flush with the top of the 90-inch tall.

The two skins are easy to forget. Allure boxes have natural plywood sides, and a tall standing between two counters shows both of them. Our guide to skin panels and gables explains when a skin is enough and when a thicker end panel looks better.

Layout C: a stacked closet beside a cleaning wall

For a 6-foot wall in a hallway or apartment: a stacked pair in a 30-inch space, an 18-inch tall utility cabinet next to it and a 24-inch sink base against the right wall. A 12-inch box over the stack holds overflow on an 8-foot ceiling, and a 30-inch-high upper over the sink lines up with the top of the 84-inch tall.

Per foot of wall, B works out to about $372 and C to about $408. The tall cabinet is the reason: at $1,108.25 in Layout B it costs more than the sink base and door base beside it put together. For the same arithmetic across a whole kitchen, see what Fabuwood cabinets cost. If you want the finish in hand first, Fabuwood door samples are the cheapest way to see it under your laundry room's light, which is often a single ceiling fixture and no window.

Laundry Off the Garage or Mudroom

Many laundries sit between the garage and the kitchen, and some sit in the garage itself. A laundry room inside the house, even one with a door to the garage, is a conditioned room, and any of the lines above will do. A laundry in an unheated garage is not, and Fabuwood's warranty is blunt about it: it "does not apply to products installed in locations that do not maintain year-round environmental controls," and it excludes damage from "exposure to moisture, humidity or excessive heat or cold." Other manufacturers' terms differ (KCD and Tribeca each publish a 5-year limited warranty for residential use), so read the terms before putting finished wood cabinets in a space that freezes in January and bakes in August.

A garage-side laundry that doubles as the family entry needs drawers, not doors, in the bases near the door, a 24-inch-deep tall for coats and the vacuum, and the sink where muddy hands reach it before the kitchen. A darker lower run under lighter uppers hides wear; our guide to two-tone cabinet pairings covers how to split the colors. If the wall to an attached garage is a fire-separation wall, screwing cabinets to it is routine, but cutting it for a recessed cabinet or a new dryer vent route is a question for your building department first.

On a budget, the laundry does not have to match the kitchen's line. Contractors often order a builder-grade tier for the laundry and garage on the same order as the kitchen; our KCD pricing guide describes doing that with Premier and Essential. Keep the moisture table in mind when choosing which boxes get the cheaper tier.

Mistakes We Catch on Laundry Drawings

• Uppers drawn at 54 inches over a top-loader. The lid wins. Look up the lid-open height and the overhead clearance first.
• A 36-inch counter over full-size front-loaders. The machines are taller than the counter. Go to about 42 inches or buy compact machines.
• A standard-depth counter over the machines. At 25½ inches it stops a foot short of the machine fronts. Plan a custom depth.
• No room behind the machines. LG asks for 5 inches for hoses and the vent. A run that pushes the machines back to the wall crushes the dryer duct.
• Cabinets hiding the shutoff valves. Do not bury the washer box behind a fixed panel.
• A 12-inch-deep tall for the vacuum. It holds brooms. Most uprights need the 24-inch box, which costs $32.50 more.
• Forgetting the door swing. A front-loader's open door needs close to 2 feet of floor.

Most of these come from drawing the cabinets first and the machines second. When you send us a laundry plan, send the washer and dryer model numbers with it. Our kitchen dimensions checklist covers the wall and ceiling measurements we ask for.

Frequently Asked Questions

How high should cabinets be above a washer and dryer?

Over front-loaders with nothing on top, put the bottom of the wall cabinets at 54 to 60 inches, which leaves 13 to 21 inches above most full-size machines. Over a folding counter, keep about 18 inches between counter and cabinets. Over a top-loader, take the lid-open height plus about 6 inches, or the maker's overhead clearance if higher; for Samsung's WA45N3050AW that means about 65 inches.

How deep should laundry room cabinets be?

Standard wall cabinets are 12 inches deep, and that is right over a counter you work at. Over bare machines, 24-inch-deep wall cabinets bring the doors within reach, because the machine fronts sit 34 to 37 inches from the wall. Tall and base cabinets are normally 24 inches deep; a 12-inch tall works for brooms in a shallow room.

Can I use kitchen cabinets in a laundry room?

Yes; that is what laundry cabinets are. The differences are placement, depth and a plywood box wherever water can reach.

What size cabinet goes over a stackable washer and dryer?

A full-size 27-inch stack is roughly 76 to 78 inches tall; Samsung lists one pair at 77⅝ inches and asks for 6 inches above it. On an 8-foot ceiling that leaves room for one 12-inch-high wall cabinet, 30 inches wide or sized to the closet, and only if the ceiling is flat. Treat it as step-stool storage.

How tall should a folding counter over a washer and dryer be?

Machine height plus about an inch plus the top's thickness, which usually means 41 to 43 inches over full-size front-loaders. A standard 36-inch counter needs compact machines built to fit under one.

What size sink base do I need for a laundry sink?

A 24-inch sink base takes a compact drop-in utility bowl and a 30-inch takes a full single bowl. Check the sink's minimum cabinet size on its spec sheet; for an undermount, add about 3 inches to the sink's outside width. In Galaxy's standard finishes an SB24 is $403.00 and an SB30 is $461.50.

Are RTA cabinets a good choice for a laundry room?

They can be. A laundry is a small, square room, which is where ready-to-assemble boxes save the most. J&K is a solid RTA choice we carry, sold RTA or assembled with a 5-year limited warranty, and our comparison of RTA and pre-assembled cabinets covers the trade-off. The same moisture rules apply: check the box material on the sink base.

What are the best cabinets for a laundry room?

A line with a plywood box, at least on the sink base, in a finish that handles scuffs and cleaning. Among ours, Fabuwood Allure, Diamond Edge, KCD Premier and Decorá are plywood as standard; Diamond Vibe and Distinction can be upgraded.

Do you install laundry cabinets?

No. We are builders who sell cabinets and ship nationwide, but we don't install; in New Jersey, installation is available through our sister company, Captivating Construction Group. We design, quote and ship, and a local installer or a handy owner hangs it.

Get the Laundry Drawn Around Your Machines

Send us the room's measurements, the ceiling height and the model numbers of your washer and dryer, and we will draw the cabinets around them. Our free 3D design service returns renderings and an itemized quote within 24–48 hours, with the wall heights set from your machines' published dimensions, not from a kitchen rule. Browse the 24-inch-deep Galaxy wall cabinets, the single-door tall cabinets or the Galaxy sink bases to see the boxes first, or compare lines on our Fabuwood brand page.

Questions about a tricky room, a stacked closet or a garage laundry? Reach us through the contact page or call 609-900-3358. Contractors fitting out laundries on several units can ask about Captivating Pro trade pricing.

Sources: Fabuwood Allure spec book V.01.20.25 (wall, tall pantry, sink base and construction pages, limited warranty); LG Measure First laundry installation guide; LG front-loader installation checklist; Samsung WF53BB8700 and WA45N3050AW specification sheets; EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home; State Farm newsroom, "A $30M Load of Laundry"; International Residential Code sections P2706.1.2 and P2706.1.2.1. Cabinet prices are our displayed Galaxy prices at the time of writing and change with the price list.