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The laundry room is ideal, homeowners are finding, for consolidating activities previously scattered throughout the house. In the Vero Beach, Fla., house that Barbara and Chester Irons are building, the laundry room will feature professional-grade fixtures, including two sinks, a drip-dry area, a rotary pressing machine, a pressure ironing board and a sewing table--not to mention stations for crafts, gift wrapping and potting plants. "I'm not trying to create a huge, superfluous room," says Barbara Irons. "When you look at historic houses, they had all sorts of rooms for maintaining the house--the mudroom, the butler's pantry. I'm trying to create one room to provide those functions and get them out of the kitchen."
Of course, the Ironses have the space. (Their laundry room will measure 12 ft. by 14 ft.) But homeowners with less room are finding inventive ways to make the most of it. Scott Cuming converted an oversize closet in his San Antonio, Texas, home into a laundry room--miniature kitchen--wine cellar. "Our kitchen's incredible, but people migrate into the laundry room," says Cuming. "You can go in there and make your own coffee with the push of a button. It's inviting."
Hanging out in the laundry room would sound about as pleasant as doing yoga in Times Square were it not for the dramatic upgrade in laundry machines, which operate not only more quietly but also more efficiently. Roused by the demand for German company Miele's $1,500-plus front-loading machines, American manufacturers like Maytag, Sears and Whirlpool are rushing to offer better-priced front loaders, which save space, conserve water and energy and hum instead of roar. Sales of front-loading machines have nearly doubled, from 6% of the U.S. market in 2000 to 11% in 2002, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
Some merchants take it still further. Whirlpool is so enthusiastic about the market that it unveiled a high-concept model laundry room in January called the Family Studio, packed with a whole line of fancy accessories like the Personal Valet, an appliance that simulates dry cleaning by misting a water-based solution on clothes to remove odors and wrinkles; a cabinet that circulates warm air to dry delicates; and a sink with three microjets that mimic a hand-washing motion. The Family Studio can cost $5,000, or more than five times as much as a plain-vanilla washer-dryer set. "The bottom line is that the average person spends 400 hours a year doing laundry, and we can offer some tools to make it easier," says brand manager Mara Villanueva. "We don't truly believe we're going to get people to love laundry."