TL;DR: Where you put the washing machine, how big it is, and whether you even own a dryer are not universal constants. They vary enormously between countries, and that variation matters a great deal when you are designing a small home. I use 60cm x 66cm x 80cm approximate dimensions for a washing machine or combo washer-dryer.
Laundry is, it turns out, one of the most hotly contested topics between American and British tiny home enthusiasts. Which surprised me, the first time I encountered it. Then I thought about it for a moment, and it made complete sense.
How Big is a Washing Machine, Exactly?
This depends very much on where you are.
In the US, a standard washing machine is around 69cm wide, 99cm tall, and 81cm deep, and holds somewhere between 9 and 11kg of laundry. It sits in or near the bathroom, it top-loads, and it completes a wash cycle in under 90 minutes. Most households also have a dryer (sometimes because Home Owners’ Associations actually prohibit line-drying outside, on the grounds that it looks untidy. Make of that what you will). The washer and dryer typically sit side by side or stacked, and take up meaningful floor area.
When American tiny home builders talk about their “compact” washer-dryer combo, the dimensions they cite, around 60x86x66cm, are more or less exactly what we in Europe consider a standard-sized washing machine.
So that is the footprint I design to: approximately 60x66cm on the floor. It is the European norm, it is the sensible small-space choice, and it is what most of my clients will already be used to.
But Where Does It Go?
Here is where the cultural gap widens.
In the UK, the washing machine lives in the kitchen. It has done for the better part of a century, and there is a perfectly logical explanation for that.
The first commercial washing machine reached the domestic market in 1937. Nearly 40% of the current housing stock in the UK was built before that date. Those houses were not designed to accommodate a machine that takes up roughly a square metre of floor area and needs both a water connection and a power supply. The kitchen was the room that could most easily be adapted to take one. And so that is where it went.
The bathroom was never really an option. British bathrooms tend to be small (a lot of UK homes have a bathroom under 2.5m x 2.5m, which is perfectly normal here), and more to the point, British electrical regulations are strict about sockets and switches in rooms with water. A washing machine needs a switched socket. In a bathroom? Not permitted.
So. Kitchen it is.
Often at the expense of a dishwasher. We manage.
What About Drying?
Unless a design specifically calls for a separate dryer, I plan for one of two things: a washing machine only, with outdoor drying, or a combined washer-dryer in a single unit on a 60x66cm footprint, with under-counter height. The reason for the counter height is that it leaves the space above the appliance free for storage or worktop space, which is always worth having more of!
In practice this means: a clothes horse (Not a drying rack. We call it a clothes horse here, and apparently this needs saying), a washing line where the site allows, or a heated airer for the wetter months.
One more thing, since we are here. There is a correct way to hang laundry on a line, and it is this: tops from the bottom, bottoms from the top. You are welcome.
What This Means for My Designs
In my homes, unless noted otherwise, you will find:
- A space of approximately 60x66cm for either a washing machine or a combined washer-dryer unit
- No separate dryer or drying rack included in the plan (the outdoors handles that)
- Storage above the appliance, because of course there is
If you want something different (a larger machine, a stacked pair, a dedicated utility space) that is exactly the kind of thing to bring to a bespoke conversation. The design can follow the laundry. Just get in touch! 🙂
Next in the series: Midnight Snacks — The Fridge.
Mawer Spaces | Small & Tiny Home Design 
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