Deeeeeeep upper cabinets in laundry room?

[Brad Ridgway]

Been a while as i've been working on some non-wood stuff lately... Back to the woodworking as i've got several projects on the honey-do list... (is this topic ok here or should it be in design forum?)


Project #Uno: Cabinets/Shelving for the Laundry room (serving as some practice for kitchen cabinets for a later project too)

We have the Kenmore front loaders to the right of wall in question with the bottom bases and 9' ceilings. My wife would like huge/deep cabinets hung above them. To the left, i will build a 24" base cabinet for a sink (she wants the utility sink out). And a 15" cabinet butted up to the deep ones above it (15 so as not to intrude on one trying to use the sink).

Room is 8' wide. For the big ones over the W/D, I'm looking at a span of ~64" wide, ~32" deep or so and depending how close i go to the tops of the machines, upwards of ~53" high... I was thinking of building two cases (32Wx32Dx48+H) with 2 15"x48+" doors on each? Am i nuts trying it that big? Doors would be frame and panel (panel being 1/4 or 1/2? ply i think)

In terms of the potential weight/ hanging, was thinking i could mount some 2x4s through the ceiling and brace to the rafters in the attic on the far left and in between the two cases, screwing the cabinets into those hanging supports, the truss above, and the studs in the wall behind / to the right. and mounting the face frame (wider than normal to cover). I could even take the left side down to the floor and put ply on both sides so you wouldn't see the side of the washer from the sink... I just don't think the large pieces top/back ply rabbeted to the sides will be good enough to hold that much forward weight.


For materials, thinking birch plywood (not baltic, but pretty nice stuff from my local lumber yard) construction with face frames out of the nicer pine you can get at lowes with a dark stain and maybe trying my hands at a wipe on finish this time rather than spraying. Would likely drill holes for adjustable shelves.


Any other thoughts/recommendations?

thx in advance
-brad

[Jim Becker]

It is my intention to do something similar in our new laundry room in the addition...also front-loaders on pedestals and the space above needs to be useful. Since I "can" do it, I'm putting some blocking above the space to provide for easier support of the larger cabinets. They will make the room seem smaller, but the storage will be welcome. I may not bring them out the full 30+" however; maybe only 24" as I also have an offset/clearance situation with the tankless water heater on the adjoining wall.

[Jamie Buxton]

Do you have space in the room for the stepladder? Or is it somewhere else, but close at hand? Getting to the rear of those deeeep shelves that high in the air is going to require climbing on something.

The installation of handing cabinets that big will be at least a two-man job. Think the installation through before you build the cabinets. You might choose to make the cabinets smaller to ease the installation.

[Jamie Buxton]

One more thought... Do you really have ceiling rafters? Or is the top of your house built with big roof trusses? When you say 9' ceilings, I'm thinking it is a newer house. Roof trusses are common in new houses. The reason I ask is that trusses are not designed to support the kind of load you're considering. If you have trusses, you should carry the cabinet load in the wall.

[Tom Hargrove]

In our kitchen, we have a 30" deep cabinet over our refrigerator. (The refrigerator is recessed to be flush with the adjoining cabinets.) Getting stuff from the back of the cabinet requires a ladder. We it anchored to the ceiling and the adjoining wall, and I am still concerned it might get overloaded and fall. I think I would go no more than 24" unless you have a big need to do otherwise.

[Brad Ridgway]

Thx to both of you...

1) well the kenmores are so deep, she'd require a stepladder even with standard depth to get 2feet back over the tops. But i did raise the issue and she says she'll put the rare stuff (Christmas, etc) in the back)

2) on the truss vs rafter - wrong terminology on my part i guess... i have a hip roof and don't remember exactly how they're built but the ones above this room go cross ways towards the back of the house (in direction of the long wall)... but i think you're right and they're probably pre-fabbed trusses. But there's only an 8' span between the block wall in back of the house (left of pic) and the wall underneath them on the right.

maybe along Jim's idea, i'm better off building a 2x4 or 2x6 on end support deck to bear the bulk of of the weight from underneath. Not sure how i would finish the underside of that, but i can figure something out...

load
-brad

[John Gornall]

I did 30 inch deep in parts of our laundry room - over the hot water tank, upright freeze and fridge. Hanging them was fine as its in the bottom floor and I got a few screws into the floor joits above. Over the washer and dryer I maxed them at about 19 inches deep so the washer lid will open. The storage space is great but a ladder is definitely needed. I keep a 4 foot fiberglass step ladder in a closet nearby.

[Jason Hanna]

Definitely don't hang from the roof joists. Tie into the wall behind, the ceiling joists, and the side walls and you should be ok.

Think of it this way: the walls are vertical and can support a second or third floor. The roof joists are at an angle and probably span some 30 ft. between the ridge beam and the wall plate. They are also subject to wind loads and snow loads depending on your location. They are engineered for the span/loads with a reasonable safety factor, but you do not need to add a large heavy cabinet from them. Tie into vertical 9' 2x's, not angled roof joists that span long distances.

[Jamie Buxton]

.... they're probably pre-fabbed trusses. But there's only an 8' span between the block wall in back of the house (left of pic) and the wall underneath them on the right.
...


Usually trusses don't bear on interior walls. That is, the weight of the roof is supported by the exterior walls. The truss bottom edges may move up and down a little over the year. There's a tricky way of hanging the ceiling drywall that involves screwing it firmly to the trusses in the middle of the room, and tieing it to the top of the wall's drywall, but allowing it to flex around the edge of the ceiling -- kinda like using a sliding joint between a solid-lumber table top and the base below.

I'd build the cabinets so that they can hang off the wall, and their whole weight is carried by the wall. Put a "nail rail" norizontally at the top of the rear wall of the cabinet, and fasten it firmly to the top of the cabinet. Put another rail at the bottom, either inside the cabinet or outside. I put "nail rail" in quotes because that is what it is generally called. However, you install the cabinets with screws -- as big and as many as you want. They're not going to pull out of the studs.

[Dennis Montgomery]

I do a lot of laundry rooms. Here are a couple of pictures with front loading systems.

The room was too small to get a full picture with this one, but there are shelves framing the washer/dryer on both sides. The shelves between the two were built as a 1 1/2" torsion box and covered with laminate. I routed a groove in the sides and back and attached wood strips to the left , right, and back wall. I then slid the whole thing onto the strips and attached screws from the under side. The top shelf was not as deep to accomodate a hanging rod.

73483

This one was a shoe horn in a 5 foot wide room with stacked washer/dryer. The wall cabinet is 16" deep. The base is a standard 24", but behind the large single door is a pull out hamper split into two equal sizes (one for darks and one for whites). There is a pull out ironing board behind the left drawer front.

7348473485