Why do some houses have the laundry area inside the kitchen or in the basement?

Ideally, you want your laundry close to the bedrooms and bathrooms, since that is where most of the dirty laundry come from. In reality, homes are designed with cost in mind, so they put the laundry close to the other gas/water pipes.

They are starting to put them near the bedrooms in the homes in my area. I don’t think I like it near the bedrooms for the simple fact that is usually on the second floor and if something happens that the washer hose breakes, it floods the upstairs and ruins the ceiling for the main floor. Having my washer/dryer in the basement on a concrete slab makes it less likely to damage any other part of the house.

Definitely what @chyna said. I’ve known of too many hose-breakages for me to ever feel comfortable with the thought of them upstairs.

Also, unless you have some kind of extremely quiet washer and dryer, having them near the bedroom could keep you awake at night if you’re a medium-light sleeper.

Putting the laundry area near the bedrooms is actually a rather new design trend.

I’ve never heard of a laundry room being upstairs near the bedrooms, is this an American trend?

I lived in a house built in the early 60s with the laundry area in the hall by the bedrooms. Quite handy,

A lot of the placement has to do with making the plumbing installation easier, including the dryer venting. It does raise the humidity of the area, so it isn’t quite desirable in the summer to have them near the bedrooms.

@RareDenver It is a trend in newer American houses. Older ones tend to have them in the basement; some in the kitchen or just off it.

Most houses I’ve lived in have had the w/d in the garages or in an entry from the garage into the house. Where we live now, the w/d are in the kitchen which we’re coming to enjoy because we don’t notice the noise when we’re in our bedrooms and do laundry at night when the electricity is less expensive. It has also started the novelty of folding out of the dryer instead of hauling a pile to a bed and then leaving the mass there.