I just found out today that many Europeans have their clothes washers in their kitchens... Why is that? Here in Quebec, we keep ours in the bathroom, in the basements, or in recesses behind closet doors in hallways.

The bathroom is the ideal place. That way, you can take off your clothes and stick them in the washer, get a shower, then reach into your dryer and pull out a fresh hot towel from the dryer. Europeans would have to get naked in the kitchen, while avoiding getting mustard on their genitals (that burns) go get their shower, come back to the kitchen dripping water all over the floor if they want a dryer fresh towel. I'm all for nudity, but function must be at the forefront.

So where is your washer and dryer?

Also, while I'm discussing appliances:

I've always thought about having two dishwashers(A and B) instead of cabinets. One dishwasher (A) contains your clean dishes. As you use dishes, you put them in dishwasher B. When it is full, you start a load and reverse the process. Gone would be the days of taking dishes from a place they will wind back up in anyways.

this is a brilliant plan, but I don't think many women would go for that, as then you could only own 1 dishwasher full of dishes, which wouldn't be a lot.

Anyways, I currently live in an apartment so I don't have a clothes washing machine, but when I get my house I plan on putting it in the basement. If I have enough money for it, I may even put a chute in from the 2nd floor to the basement, but it isn't a priority for me.

Well, many woman won't go for my firemen's poll that will go through my bedroom to my den and doubles as a stripper poll, but that won't stop me from trying. It's just a matter of building the home before you find the chick.

And my plan saves a bundle on cabinets. How people justify paying 10 000$+ on them boggles my mind.

EDIT: Work that pole!

in the basement...

i dont see anything wrong with it being in the kitchen (if youve got the space for it). most people dont put their clothes in the washer as soon as they take them off and dont store their towels in the drier.

When did you teach your dog to pole dance?

Dogs, when was the last time you visit appliances store?

We have a washer-drier, (except the drier part is broken but we can ignore that for this)

it is in the kitchen.

Why in hells name would you keep it in the bathroom, if you take a shower/bath then sure, the washer is right there to put clothes in, but generally people try not to wash things like whites and light colours and darks and delicates together, so what do you do then?
That however is beside the point, a bathroom can get steamy with all the hot water so an electrical appliance doesn't seem like a good idea to me, there is a reason you don't see many normal wall light switches in bathrooms (ours is outside the door, most people have a pull switch instead)

Same goes for keeping a drier in there.

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The reason people here in the UK have washing machines in the kitchen is because most homes don't have room for an additional utility room, nor have a cellar/basement.

But why would you want to be karting and sorting dirty clothes in the kitchen. I consider the kitchen to be a clean room and the bathroom to be a less clean room, perfect for doing laundry.

We've had washers and dryers die after their normal lifespan, mostly due to warn drive belts, never rust/electrical shorts problems.

I also just found out about your lack of basements in most European homes. I take them for granted.

In the room that was designed for the washer/dryer that's to your immediate right when you come inside through the garage.

I love your dishwasher idea. Brilliant. =D

Because most European homes were made before electrical driers.... so clothes are dried via a thin cord like thing that hangs between posts in the garden, called a washing line.

The kitchen is often one of the back rooms of the downstairs portion of the house, and is usually the nearest convenient room to the back door, and thus best access to the back garden where the washing line is. (our back door and that of most homes I know leads directly into/out from the kitchen)

In our house there is a clothes basket on the landing (top of the stairs, just outside our bathroom) which we put in dirty clothes, at the end of the week the clothes are taken downstairs to be sorted into whites, delicates, darks and lights. And put into the washing machine one load at a time. (usually dark colours make up 3 loads in my house.. the others usually fit into 1 load) then as each load finishes one of us takes the clothes out in a different washing basket (some might call it an ironing basket) to the washing-line outside to hang the clothes out to dry while the next load of washing goes in. The dried clothes are brought back in, some to be ironed if needed (given the lack of a utility room the best place to iron is in the living room, which is right next to the kitchen) then taken upstairs to wardrobes/cupboards and drawers.

Even when our drying part of our washer-drier still worked, not all clothes are suitable for tumble driers so some (about half of ours) would still need to be hung outside.

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Oh, and I am quite sure that the kitchen is the dirtiest room in your house purely because that is where food is prepared, so unless your family are vegitarians the worst of your houses germs and bacteria will be either on your worksurface or in your sink (especially if you ever leave dirty washing up water in your sink)