A custom washer and dryer cabinet looks like a small line item on a villa or apartment schedule — until the appliance cannot be slid into its recess, the door swings into a doorway, or the finish does not match the joinery beside it. Because our WasherDryer Cabinets are made to measure rather than picked from a standard size grid, the points below are what we settle with buyers and contractors before production is confirmed.
1. The appliance decision comes first
Cabinet dimensions follow the machine, not the other way round. Before we cut anything, we need the brand and model of washer and dryer, or at least their external width, depth and height together with door type and the direction the door opens. Front-loaders, top-loaders and stacked pairs each take a different carcass layout.
Two figures matter as much as the appliance itself: the clearance needed to pull the machine forward for hose and filter access, and the depth of the finished wall face, not the structural wall. Tiles, waterproofing and render consume depth that a bare-wall drawing often ignores.
2. Site dimensions should be taken from the finished condition
We ask for width, height and depth measured at the completed surface level, plus the position of every fixed element in the zone: waste and standpipe, taps and stop valves, the power outlet, skirting, door reveals and any pipework that runs proud of the wall. A cabinet designed from a structural drawing will meet those items on site.
Where the laundry shares a wall with a bathroom or kitchen, confirm that waste heights and water points are already fixed. Moving plumbing after the cabinet design is signed off changes both the carcass and the cost.
3. Layout: side-by-side, stacked, or integrated with storage
Floor area and traffic routes decide the layout. A narrow laundry cupboard usually suits a vertical arrangement — our Stacked Laundry Units place the dryer above the washer inside one carcass, while a wider alcove allows the pair side by side with a worktop over them for folding.
Where the room has to do more than wash, we combine the appliance housing with storage. A Laundry & Storage Combo puts detergents, linen and cleaning equipment in the same run of cabinetry, and Pull Out Laundry Hampers on runners keep soiled linen out of sight yet reachable from the working face. For very tight bathrooms and service corners, Compact Laundry Solutions cover the minimum footprint that still allows the doors to open fully.
4. Ventilation and access provisions
Enclosing an appliance inside a carcass changes how it breathes and how it is serviced. Confirm with the appliance manufacturer what they require for a built-in installation, then agree with us where air reaches the machine and how the rear panel is handled — removable, hinged or simply left open to the wall cavity. The same applies to the waste connection: an enclosed box needs the trap reachable without unfastening the cabinet.
Decide early whether doors will hide the appliances completely or leave them visible, because concealed machines need hinges, runners and front openings sized for the door to clear both the machine and the doorway in front of it.
5. Material and finish for a damp room
Laundry cabinetry sits in a wet, humid zone next to water points. Tell us the exposure — an internal airing cupboard is not the same environment as a garage laundry or an outdoor utility area — and we ｓｅｌｅｃｔ board and finish accordingly from the material options listed on our Custom & OEM Service page.
Finish is a project-level decision rather than a product choice. We match the carcass fronts to the vanities, wardrobes and kitchen doors in the same dwelling so that one joinery language runs through the building, and we confirm the selected sample before production starts.
6. Countertops, splashbacks and adjoining joinery
If a worktop spans the appliance housing, confirm its material, thickness and edge detail at the same time as the cabinet, since the stone or engineered-stone top sets the finished height of the run and its cut-outs must match the machine positions. Where a splashback is specified behind the bench, hand over that dimension too — it changes the carcass depth allowance.
7. Quantities, unit counts and repeat layouts
For apartment blocks and multi-unit villas, send the room-by-room schedule with a typical layout repeated for each type. Identical dimensions across units keep the made-to-measure process efficient; where laundries differ between floors or aspects, mark those variations on the drawings rather than assuming one detail fits all.
8. Delivery route, packaging and handling
Confirm the delivery address, the floor the cabinetry lands on, lift and stair dimensions, and whether the site will receive a container or a boxed consignment. Our Logistics & Door-to-Door Delivery service covers freight forwarding, customs paperwork and packaging for the journey, but the last few metres — a basement laundry or a narrow stairwell — decide how panels are packed and whether they can be assembled on site instead of carried in whole.
9. Installation sequence and who does what
Agree the order of works on site before the cabinetry arrives: waterproofing, tiling, plumbing rough-in, electrical, then cabinet installation. Our Installation & After-sales Support covers fitting, inspection and snag resolution, so we also need the local trades' contact and the site programme to know when the room is ready for us.
10. Drawings, sign-off and spare parts
Production begins only after the shop drawing is approved. Check it against the appliance data sheet one final time — cut-out positions, hinge side, handle clearance — and keep a copy for the site team. For projects that will need matching panels or replacements later, note the finish code and hardware reference with the order record.
Before production is confirmed
- Appliance make, model and external dimensions, with door opening direction
- Finished-wall width, height and depth of the laundry zone, plus outlet, tap and waste positions
- Preferred layout — side by side, stacked, or combined with storage and hampers
- Room exposure and the finish of adjoining cabinetry to match
- Worktop and splashback specification, if any
- Unit quantities per layout type, with drawings marked for variations
- Delivery address, access route and the site programme for installation
Send those details with your drawings and we will return a made-to-measure layout for review before production starts. As an one-stop furniture and building materials supplier, SANTERSON produces the laundry cabinetry alongside the vanities, wardrobes, kitchen cabinets and wall finishes in the same project, so one set of dimensions and finish codes covers the whole fit-out.