What will fit into this oddly shaped bathroom space?

February 10, 2013 6:50 PM

We're redoing a bathroom in a house we plan to sell. It's a very old house, so nothing is quite standard. Between the new sink cabinet and the stacked washer / dryer there is a space that's about 10 inches wide, 24 inches deep and 80 inches high. We'd like to make it functional in some way. It also should look nice.

The sink cabinet is a nicer dark wood Restoration Hardware piece with a Jacobean feel and a marble counter. The washer/dryer are a decent, new, front-loading Kenmore matched set. Floor is newly laid higher-end taupe porcelain tile.

There is not a lot of storage in the house (again, it's really old), so it would be nice to have something that could hold all the laundry stuff, towels for the shower, cleaning bits, etc.
Ikea cabinets don't work because the ones deep enough to be useful are too tall for the space. Does anyone have any killer ideas?

posted by heigh-hothederryo to home & garden (14 answers total)

I think shelves or a rolling pantry-type shelf would probably work best. Like this.
posted by GuyZero at 7:02 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

Honestly, I love my broom closet. A tall, skinny closet in my kitchen that fits my mop and bucket, broom and dustpan, and okay, a few Swiffer products. I have it fitted out with wire racks for holding other products, and it has a top shelf that is our medicine cabinet (and above that, a top cabinet that's our liquor cabinet). Yours could have a pull-out panel that things are clipped to, and some narrow pull-out shelves or baskets for cleaning products. Because those things are handy, I actually use them more often.
posted by peagood at 7:07 PM on February 10

Roll out shelving. Here's another one.
posted by raisingsand at 7:13 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]

Either something easily, easily removable, or something very securely merged with the floor; nothing halfway between those two as that's a nightmare to clean around.

I might want a little wall there and the washer and dryer in a mini-room of their own, if the room is large enough that having a door between the washer and dryer and the rest of the room wouldn't cramp things.
posted by kmennie at 7:14 PM on February 10

Toilet paper storage.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:47 PM on February 10

I know you said Ikea didn't work for you, but if you can get 2 more inches in width, we have one of these from IKEA and we topped it with a piece of hardwood (like a piece of wood countertop).
posted by biscuits at 7:47 PM on February 10

Why not get a carpenter in there to make a built-in cabinet or open shelving?
posted by scratch at 8:40 PM on February 10

2 of these stacked with a 3-4" toe kick, which will give you a little over a foot above it for open whatever on top. You could also build a third of the cabinet above and only make it 20" tall.
posted by rhizome at 12:34 AM on February 11

Or from Ikea, stack two of the 9 inch wide 39 inch high shelving units.
posted by plonkee at 1:10 AM on February 11

Find a solution you like and consult with a carpenter to see if he can adapt it to your space. I.e. could you not get the carpenter to cut your Ikea solution down to size?
posted by epo at 2:36 AM on February 11

It looks like an ideal space for a medicine cabinet. Whatever solution you come up with, make sure you retain access to the w/d wall hookups behind there. That could be a removable panel within some custom cabinetry.
posted by fancyoats at 4:51 AM on February 11

I would think a simple shelving unit, custom made for the space, floor to ceiling, would be nice (you'd have to have a cut out to accomodate those hoses) stained to match the sink cabinet.

Another option is unfinished cabinetry you can buy at Home Depot. We used these in our kitchen and painted them to match the existing cabinets.

You could do one at sink height and one overhead cabinet. You can stain them to match your other fixtures.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:08 AM on February 11

I would have something custom done. I am envisioning a two part solution: the bottom part would be a pull out accessible from the front. Inside it would be like that first link to the cart on rollers. It would be as tall as the sink counter. The upper part would be basic shelves, but they would face toward the sink area. Open or not, though I think open would be more easily accessible.

It doesn't have to be made out of anything more expensive than a paint grade pine if you're willing to have it painted instead of stained.
posted by wwartorff at 11:19 AM on February 11

I'd have a builder make a shelf unit with 1 shelf, for laundry detergent and stuff. Or a wine cabinet.
posted by theora55 at 8:01 PM on February 11