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Kitchen Beyond
Compact garage laundry with tall storage and a folding bench, Rotorua

Garage laundry ideas

Half the older homes around Rotorua and the Waikato do the washing in the garage. Here's how to turn that corner into a laundry that's actually good to use.

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A huge number of Kiwi homes built from the 1970s to the 90s put the laundry in the garage, usually a lone machine on bare concrete next to the gully trap. It doesn't have to stay that way. With sealed, moisture-tolerant cabinetry, a proper tub and bench, decent light and a bit of storage, a garage corner becomes a laundry that's genuinely nice to work in — without moving a single pipe.

Build for the garage environment

A garage is colder, damper and dustier than the rest of the house, so the cabinetry has to suit it. We build with moisture-tolerant board, seal the edges, and run a splashback behind the tub and machine to keep water off the carcass. The whole run sits up on a kickboard so nothing touches the slab. Soft-close doors and drawers are standard, so it feels like part of the home rather than a workshop bolt-on.

Get a proper tub and bench in

The single biggest upgrade is a deep laundry tub with a bench beside it. A big single tub handles soaking, hand-washing, bucket filling and the grubby garage jobs — rinsing boots, washing the dog, cleaning paint gear. The bench gives you somewhere to fold and sort instead of balancing the basket on the dryer. If the washer and dryer are front-loaders, a continuous bench straight over the top of them is the classic space-saver.

Light it so you can see

Most garages have one dim bulb in the middle of the ceiling, which leaves you folding in your own shadow. A couple of bright LED battens overhead, plus under-cabinet lighting on the bench, changes the room completely. It's a small cost that makes the laundry feel finished and makes sorting darks from navy actually possible on a winter evening.

Storage that clears the floor

  • A tall pull-out cupboard for detergents, cleaning gear and the vacuum.
  • Deep drawers for pegs, cloths and the odds and ends that breed in a garage.
  • A dedicated nook for two or three baskets so they're off the floor.
  • A wall-mounted drop-down or concertina rail for drying on wet days.
  • Overhead cupboards above the bench to use the full wall height.

Should you wall it off?

This is the big decision. Partitioning the laundry off with a stud wall and a door gives you a warmer, cleaner, quieter room and shuts the car, bikes and tools out of your washing. If you've got the space and you spend real time in there, it's worth it. If you need to keep parking a car, or the budget is tight, a well-built run of cabinetry with a benchtop and a tall cupboard tidies the zone beautifully without closing it in. If the garage is being reworked anyway, it's also a natural moment to look at borrowing that wall for a scullery on the kitchen side.

We'll measure up and quote it fixed

Every garage laundry is a bit different — where the machine point sits, how much wall you've got, whether you want to wall it in. We come and measure, show you the options in 3D, and give you a clear written price before anything starts. It's all designed, built and installed by our own team from our Rotorua factory, and we serve Rotorua and across the Waikato.

Frequently asked questions

Can you put a laundry in the garage?
Yes — and in a lot of Rotorua and Hamilton homes from the 1970s to 90s, that's exactly where it already is. The washing machine point and gully trap are usually in the garage, so it's the sensible spot. The trick is treating it as a proper laundry zone with sealed, moisture-tolerant cabinetry, a real tub, bench space and good light, rather than leaving the machine stranded on bare concrete.
What cabinetry suits a garage laundry?
Garages swing through big temperature and humidity ranges, so we build with moisture-tolerant board, sealed edges and a splashback behind the tub to keep water off the carcass. Soft-close doors and drawers come standard. We lift the cabinetry off the slab on a kickboard too, so nothing sits in the damp if the floor ever gets wet.
Should I wall off the laundry from the rest of the garage?
It depends on how you use the garage. A partition wall with a door gives you a warmer, cleaner, quieter laundry and hides the mess from the car and the tools — worth it if you spend real time in there. If budget is tight or you still need the full floor for parking, a run of cabinetry with a benchtop and a tall cupboard tidies the zone without closing it in. We'll talk through both.
Do I need a tub in a garage laundry?
A deep laundry tub earns its place — for soaking, hand-washing, filling buckets, rinsing boots and cleaning paint rollers, which is exactly the kind of mucky job a garage is good for. A single large tub is more useful than a double. We plumb it in beside the machine with a bench alongside so you've got somewhere to fold and set things down.

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Turn that garage corner into a real laundry

Book a free design consultation. We'll measure up, plan cabinetry built for the garage, and give you a clear fixed quote.

Request a Consultation 07 262 6056