Kitchen-grade cabinetry and decorator touches make this laundry room in the Raleigh subdivision a destination. This model home in the Henrico area community was built by Orleans Homebuilders.

And "big" is the key term. The old 6-by-3 foot closet with a washer and dryer and a single shelf with a hanging rod has now expanded to a 13-by-7-foot (or larger) room with countertops, cabinets, desks, dry-cleaning equipment, specialty lighting and even tubs and showers to wash the family pet.

"It is an interesting transformation," said Lloyd Poe, president of Lifestyle Builders & Developers. The laundry room in his model home in Hawthorne Village in Chesterfield County was designed by his wife, Susan. It is 10 feet long and 6½ feet wide and, in addition to the washer and dryer, it has cabinets, a desk, a sink, ceramic tile flooring and a mural of a window painted on the wall.

Roxanne Rodill's laundry room features plenty of cabinets, a deep sink and room for a front-loading washer. Builder Bill Garrett, who built the home in Kinloch, says in larger homes people want more laundry-room space.

GOOD STORAGE SPACE Poe says two forces are driving the market demand for larger laundry rooms: storage and appliances.

"Market research shows that storage is a continuing problem in housing. And as houses have gotten more expensive, oftentimes builders are using more space for rooms. So the place to get the storage space is existing square footage," Poe said.

The result is finding storage space within the larger laundry room with kitchen-grade cabinets both above and below countertops.

The popularity of water-saving front-loading washers requires more space for the doors that open out into the space like their dryer counterparts. Home dry-cleaning equipment is also gaining in popularity.

"The price has come down so it is more affordable for the home-owner. So instead of paying two dollars for every pair of pants to go to the cleaner, they are steamed at home," said Poe.

This laundry room model in the Reico Kitchen & Bath showroom has plenty of storage space, a folding surface and pull-out racks for laundry baskets. Touchtronic washer and dryer by Miele, Inc. come in standard or large capacity. A time delay setting allows you to set the washer to begin a cycle up to 24 hours later.

SIZE MATTERS For Roxanne Rodill, the size of the laundry room was a deciding factor when she and her husband, Brian, chose a home design for their new house built by W.B. Garrett in the Kin-loch subdivision in Goochland County. The 7-by-3-foot laundry room was already in the house plan they chose.

"That was a big selling point to me," said Roxanne Rodill of the room on the first floor just off her kitchen. In her previous house, her front-loading washer and dryer were in a closet and she had to sort and fold laundry out in the hallway.

Reico Kitchen & Bath designed the Rodill laundry room, which now has plenty of room for her front-loading washer and dryer. White cabinets sit above and below silver laminate countertops for the storage of cleaning products and laundry detergent. The cabinets are even big enough to fit a laundry basket so dirty clothes stay hidden.

Two hanging bars provide room for hanging short items like shirts over the washer and dryer. On the opposite wall a chrome bar hangs higher for longer clothes like jeans. Items can be rinsed or soaked in the deep large utility sink. There is also a work station area for folding and sorting clothes and a fold-down ironing board.

SPACE ALLOWS EXPANSION Bill Garrett, owner of W.B. Garrett, who built the Rodill house in 2006, says that his company began expanding laundry rooms a couple of years ago from a closet into an actual room.

"As our houses have gotten larger we were able to design those in them," he said. "The more square footage you have to work with, the more opportunity you have to design a larger laundry room without giving up space in other areas.

This laundry room, built in a home by Lloyd Poe of Lifestyle Builders in the Villages at Hawthorne, features a desk opposite the washer/dryer. The work space can function as a home office, craft area or homework center for kids. A faux-painted window adds interest and makes the laundry room feel less closet-like.

Deborah Tomlin, branch manager for Reico Kitchen & Bath, says that busy families need a place to do their laundry in an efficient manner. Large laundry rooms with lots of counter and floor space provide that.

MULTI-USE SPACE Along with the increase in the size of laundry rooms has come an increase in the variety of their uses. Poe says homeowners are designing these rooms to make crafts, do scrapbooking, or as a place to propagate plants.

"It has grown up and gotten larger, and now more things are going on in there," he said, adding that the hobbies of the homeowners and their children drive what the laundry room is used for. That, in turn, drives the design and amenities in the room.

"As the room got larger it got more formal in its presentation. It is now a destination room."

Tomlin agrees and says they have requests to design the room to include a mud room area to hang coats and put dirty shoes, or a place to put an extra refrigerator or a space for a home office. "Depending on what their needs are, people are making the laundry much more than just a laundry room -- it is multi-purpose," she said.

"It is very exciting to have a room to sort and hang laundry, rinse things, hang things to dry and to iron," said Rodill. "I can do everything in there."