Pedestals for your washer and dryer, also called risers, can raise the utility of your laundry room by adding space and improving ergonomics
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For the sheer amount of exertion involved, laundry may be the hardest chore of your week. Clothes are heavy, and laundry spaces often involve steep stairs to basements, or cramming yourself and your family’s clothes into the smallest nook in the house. Anything you can do to save your back and make every inch of space count will add up to improving this process.
Designer Natalie Papier, the owner of the design firm Home Ec. and host of Artfully Designed on the Magnolia Network, has plenty of experience designing laundry rooms, including her own. “It’s the most used room in my house,” says Natalie, who has two kids, one in middle school and one in high school. “The laundry never goes away.”
To increase the utility of her clients’ laundry spaces, she’s a fan of washer and dryer pedestals. Also called laundry risers, these pedestals serve as platforms to lift up your washer and dryer. By raising the machines up, they make use of valuable vertical space in tight laundry spaces for storing detergent, fabric softeners and dryer sheets. And they can save your back and knees—particularly if you have front-load machines—by making the machines more accessible.
While most high-end washer and dryer brands feature matching pedestals you can buy separately, they’re usually pricey. EZ Laundry’s universal risers are designed to fit a wide variety of brands and are more economically priced, making them our top pick for best pedestal for washer and dryers. One of the first universal brands on the market, it’s been improved to have a sleeker look, as well as movable legs to provide more stability. The feet are also adjustable to reduce wobbles and vibration.
Royxen’s pedestal is reasonably priced with several features that are usually only available on more expensive models. Each pedestal holds up to 700 pounds and add 16 inches in height, providing a generous space underneath for organizing laundry products or storing small baskets. If you have two risers—under both a washer and a dryer, they can be attached to each other, providing more stability. Psst—If you like this, you might also be interested in our list of the best washer and dryer bundles under $1,500.
While The Elevation pedestal has an elevated price, it’s customized to fit under both a washer and a dryer, so you only have to buy one. The pedestal is made to order to fit your space—from 52 to 58 inches wide—and is designed to fit under a variety of washing machine or dryer brands, including Samsung, LG, Electrolux, GE, Whirlpool and Kenmore. Many reviewers touted the exceptional customer service, and ability to work directly with the owner to design a piece for their specific needs.
In a very small laundry room, a simple shelf under the pedestal is easy to reach. But if you have the extra space, a pedestal with a pull-out drawer can help organize your laundry products while also keeping them tucked away. This version from Samsung fits 27-inch front-loading washers and dryers and is available in five colors to match your machine set and laundry decor.
If you just want to raise your washer and dryer without adding storage, a simple set of pads may do the trick, particularly in laundry rooms where vibration noise or flooding may be an issue. While they wont lift your machine as high as other pedestal options, these pads still make it easy to clean underneath your machines. These pads fit all kinds of heavy appliances, from washers and dryers to refrigerators, and come in sizes ranging from 1.8 inches to 3.7 inches high.
Royxen also sells a taller version of their universal pedestal which will raise your washer and dryer up to 20 inches. Made from thickened steel plate, it has the same versatility as the regular-size, but can be raised much higher, providing height and much more laundry storage underneath. Two pedestals can be connected side by side for added stability.
By raising your appliances, creating space under them and putting them at a height that’s easier to reach, washer and dryer pedestals can increase storage and save your back and knees. Here’s what to look for:
It’s worth it to invest in sturdy pedestals, so there’s zero risk of slipping or collapse. Also, pedestals that are cheaply made or don’t match the size of your washer and dryer can produce more noise and vibration. Washing machines usually weigh between 100 to 300 pounds, and that’s before you fill them with clothes and water. Front-loading machines are usually about 10 percent heavier. Dryers don’t weigh quite as much, averaging 100 to 150 pounds, but add in wet clothes and they get even heavier.
While many makers of brand-name washers and dryers have their own pedestals, they usually cost more than universal pedestals that are designed to fit multiple brands. Whether you’re making your own pedestal or shopping for a universal version, pedestal designs that are 28 inches wide and deep will fit almost all brands. Most will raise the height of your washer and dryer from 12 to 14 inches, making it much easier to reach all the way to the back to retrieve your clothes.
While many laundry pedestals have an open space underneath to hold a laundry basket, Papier likes the pedestals that have a drawer for organizing cleaning products, particularly for a front-loading washer and dryer. It frees up the top of the machines, giving you more space for folding clean clothes. “That added storage is instrumental,” says Papier. “A lot of design is very practical.”
As an award-winning woodworker, I have experience with DIY and home decor. I’m also the owner of a one-woman woodworking shop where I’m slowly replacing out-of-the-box furniture with furniture made by hand. For this article, I also enlisted the expertise of Natalie Papier who specializes in interior design to help me identify products that merge design with function to help you optimize every space of your home.
As shopping experts, we studied more than 50 styles of washer and dryer pedestals, looking for versatility, the sturdiest materials and extras—like pads to reduce vibrations and rubber feet that keep machines from “walking” while they spin. We studied the comments from people who actually bought and used the pedestals we recommended, looking for ease of assembly, reliability and compatibility with a variety of brands and models.
Laundry pedestals come in all kinds of designs. Sizes, weight capacities and features—such as open spaces for laundry baskets vs. drawers for laundry products—vary widely. Which one is right for you depends on the size of the machine and how much room you have in your laundry room. For instance, in a small laundry room, it might be easier to have an open space to slide in a basket instead of the larger footprint needed to pull out a drawer.
No. Even though the measurements are close, there are design differences. The feet on LG and Samsung machines are in different places, so the Samsung pedestal won’t work with an LG washer or dryer. In addition, the LG pedestals only work with front-load machines.
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