Laundry room cabinets

Nightfly

We are buying a new home and the cabinets that are above the space where the washer and dryer is is 4 feet. The washer and dryer we want are 52 inches. We can't fit a front load washeror dryer on a pedestal. The builder says that a normal washer fits and he has no problem opening the door. My question is how high should cabinets be off the ground when they are above the washer/dryer?

joecaption

They can be any heigth you want them to be. Problum is the top of the cabinets will be usless if there set to high?
Any reason why you need cabinets and not just some simple wire shelving?

Nightfly

The builder put them in at 48". A front load dryer with pedestal is higher than that. Also, a door on a top of the top load version wil have a door that cannot open all the way. These are nice cabinets already in. Maybe he put in the wrong cabinets but he does not want to simply raise them as this will destroy the cabinets. He says they were $700 which I am not sure is correct.

oh'mike

Post a picture if you can--bottom of the cabinets 48" above the floor is very low----why the cabinets would be destroyed is also a mystery---unless they go all the way up to the ceiling.

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joecaption

Look inside the cabinets, are there screws inside going into the wall at the top? There should also be some on the sides in the face frames to pull them together.

Nightfly

They don't go all heavy up. The builder says they are nailed in so he would have to tear them out and lose money. I did not get a picture though. He makes it seem like he is moving heaven and earth to do this. I have some thoughts about where is he coming from and they are not very positive.

DannyT

i haven't seen anyone nail a cabinet up in at least forever. i think he just doesn't want to do it. even if they are nailed it shouldn't destroy them to take them down, they do make nail pullers.

Nightfly

I know he doesn't want to do jack. He probably thought we were a bunch of rubes and wants to not bother. I mean, the appliances need to fit. He says his washer/dryer fits fine with a 48" clearance. Its a great house but Inhope it does not come down to this

oh'mike

There are other carpenters and cabinet installers ---Might be time to call one and be shed of this lazy sloppy worker.

Some times you just have to say"Enough of this!!"

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notmrjohn

You haven't signed any final papers yet have you? Don't sign um untill the cabinets are moved. the man's an idiot if he thinks a top load washer will open under a 48" cabinet. The washer is 36" high, the lid is more than a foot wide. It won't take a half hour to raise that cabinet. Your contract with builder should say something about every thing being done to acceptable and/or standard practices. That cabinet aint standard or acceptable. Ask him when was the last time he did a load of laundry. Under a 48" high cabinet.

Nightfly

He says he has the same setup at home and it works fine.

bbo

still not standard.

mine are 56

GBrackins

I'd ask the builder, "if wall cabinets in kitchens are typically a minimum of 18" above the counter top, (industry standard) and if the average washing machine is 36" in height why weren't the bottom of the cabinets installed a minimum of 54" above the floor?"

if he wasn't sure what type of washer/dryer you had why did he not ask?

just my humble thoughts ....

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Gary

"You get what you pay for, and sometimes free costs more!"

wkearney99

Clearly the builder doesn't want to move the cabinets. If it's just a couple of cabinets along a wall it shouldn't be a problem to move them. But it will probably require some painting and other clean up work. The labor adds up and the builder's trying to weasel out of having that money spent on his dime.

notmrjohn

i don't care what he says, its still a load of...uh...dirty laundry. Next thing ya know he's gonna be sayin he has no trouble at all getting two cars into his one car garage.

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