We put a curtain rack over the door to our washer/dryer. My M-I-L has bi-fold doors that attach to the outside of the door (so even though the machine protrudes into doorway, they should still close. Whatever you choose, it's a good idea to leave it open while you're using the machines, to ventilate the heat they create.

Fabric curtain if you want simple. Beaded curtain if you want to be funky.

I would build a low-profile soffit for above the door and either hang bamboo blinds like like your first inclination or hang a simple gathered curtain.

If you attach your blinds or rod to the front (on the inside) of the soffit it will allow you to bring what ever you end up hanging out a bit so it clears the protruding machines.

And wow - that is a red washer and dryer!

How about a curtain on a short rod mounted above the units? Alternately, you can also tell people that it's just your Iron Man armor being displayed incognito.

I kinda liked having the machines in the kitchen. I never found them to be any worse to see then any other appliance. I am assuming that you can see your stove fridge and dishwasher and you don't feel the need to hide those.

Just pretend you live in Europe. Why do we hide washers and dryers but we don't hide stoves and refrigerators? There is a reason why the photo used with this post looks sexy red - it is meant to be seen.

Ahahah @ PI, I think that is the best solution. I actually snorted

It's hard to see the whole set up, but a simple white curtain hung on a suspension rod is a quick and dirty fix that can do wonders. My basement closets were all doorless when we moved in and IKEA curtains have been a perfect solution.

Curtains all the way! Just pop a tension rod up and you're good as gold. I did this in my last rental.

Bamboo blinds could become cumbersome. With Ikeas DIGNITET cable system you can hang a curtain or any fabric. Mount it on the outside of the closet near the ceiling. Make sure the curtain hangs from ceiling to floor

Draw faces on the windows with dry erase markers!

Hang a nice folding table (30" door width x 84" door height?) over the door when the washer and dryer are not in use. When in use, take the table down and it becomes the work surface for laundry ironing, folding, and sorting. Think of it as a laundry version of the Murphy Bed. Table to match cabinets.

I wouldn't try to hide them at all. If red doesn't go with the rest of your decor, sell them on Craigslist and buy new ones in a finish that works better for you. Personally, I have boring white laundry appliances and would LOVE to have red!

i don't think you can hide them well without making it look awkward, so make it look like you've done it on purpose and coordinate with pops of red (and maybe ice blue? or pale turquoise?) throughout the rest of the room. That way it all flows together and I don't think they'd stand out too much. By the way, I'd love those red machines! Mine are a boring off-white. :)

You might want to go with a ceiling mounted sliding/barn door. That would give the necessary clearance and would be a "real" door instead of curtains (which look a little cheap to me). Also, you could do something funky with the front of the door such as applying chalkboard paint or some nice vinyl graphics.

You can see that there used to be double doors in that frame - do the machines stick out too much for louvered doors? If so, you could always build out the door frame so that it was thick enough to extend past the fronts of the machines, and then you could add on doors to hide. Louvered are the best for ventilation, and may even be required if the dryer is gas.

Keep in mind that this kind of washing machine ends up having the door at least slightly open most of the time to air out after you do a load. We do laundry often enough that the door is closed maybe 2 out of every 7 days. If you don't leave the door open you will get a bad, bad smell in there. This makes anything other than a soft cover, like a fabric curtain, impractical. I recommend getting a curtain rod that mounts on the outside of the closet and wraps around to touch the wall. That way your curtain won't have odd gaps on the side.

Or, just remove the ugly things up top from the old door and rock that awesome red.

I don't like to see laundry appliances in the kitchen either. If it were me, I would avoid the curtain, bifold doors, beads, or anything else that looks like you are trying to disguise it. Fix it so it looks intentional. I would hire a carpenter to rework the door frame (probably remove the trim), and install a new door over the entire opening with hidden hinges. The new door could be painted with an accent color or turned into a bulletin board. If you are handy, you could do the work yourself.

Kitchens are functional spaces. A curtain will only get dirty and be pushed to the side/in the way most of the time anyway. They look great leave as is. If anything, create some sort border around to hide hardware where door used to be.

I have to agree with some above - a kitchen is meant to be a functional space and fabric is only going to get greasy/oily and smelly from cooking. You'd be taking it down to wash it more often than it would even have a chance to have it up. Beads would just be in the way when you want to use the washer/dryer since they don't move as easily as a door. Just embrace the washer/dryer......too late since they are already purchased likely, but a better thought would have been to get them in white or something so they'd blend into the space better.

Honestly, I think most of the ideas here will make it obvious that you are hiding something. It doesn't look bad as it is and has the benefit of great color. I'd leave them open and add some cherry red accents to the kitchen. At least they aren't some boring white models...

Those are gorgeous! I wouldn't want to hide them at all!

I like @jphg's idea but i vote for a window blind of some kind that can be raised and lowered, if you wanna hide. or a folding screen for when company is over.

I have a similar washer/dryer in my kitchen and don't mind it. Mine is white and matches the other white appliances. If the red is too red, swap it out for something better. It's a beautiful set and shouldn't have an issue selling. :)

I too love the red and probably wouldn't hide them.

But if you do go with a curtain, I'd suggest using a fabric shower curtain that would be easy to throw in the washing machine (and no need to iron after it comes out of the dryer).

I agree with showing them off proudly. You own gorgeous machines -- show 'em off! If you are bound and determined, though, Zoecat's idea about using a fabric shower curtain is probably solid.

One kind of curtain that looks nice is the totally flat, panel type on a track that they have at IKEA, but you may not have enough wall space for the track. A friend of mine used multiple layers of those to hide something, and they kind of looked like artwork.

Personally, I would used a curved shower curtain rod so your curtains don't lie flat against the machines and you would have a bit of room to push them aside and out of the way.

@ Parnassus

I like that idea. I'd build out the opening a couple of inches so a bifold door could be hung without the machines pushing on it. I like the idea of making the door look purposeful. I think I'd paint it with magnet paint and/or chalkboard paint to make a message center. If you just cover the opening without building out the door the curtain or blind will bulge out when closed.

It's the unfinished nature of the space they're stuffed into that makes them look bad, I think. I agree with those who have said to work on the surround, to make it look less like a closet someone just ripped the doors off of and instead look intentional.

A fake bookcase.

This is a larger undertaking, but could the machines be turned 90-degrees clockwise with the kitchen opening covered over, but a new one cut in the hallway(?) Hard to know if that would help or hurt without seeing more of your space. And it might involve getting a gas line extension if the dryer is gas, and longer water hoses - though often there is plenty of play left in both these by plumbers. If it would work but the machines would also jut into the hallway, you could build narrow shelves with doors alongside them to hold laundry soaps and such, to make the entire wall thicker to allow for doors (or sliding barn doors?) Just an idea...

The obvious answer would be a curtain that suits your kitchen. But depending on how far the washer and dryer sticks out you could buy a painting/canvas and make sure it covers the entire area and screw hinges in the sides. If a canvas were to work you could paint it with chalkboard paint if that would work.

Good Luck!

Mine is like that, only in the bathroom and not red....if it were red I might not hide it. I get your desire to do so though. I made a curtain from some Marrimeko fabric & WonderUnder (I don't sew) and used a tension rod. I would have the left door on there but my machine sticks out 1/2 inche to far to allow the door to close. My bathroom is a tight fight so the door would have been cumbersome. The curtain is like a love art canvas and brings color into my bathroom.

Wow! If I had that washer and dryer, I'd be showcasing it in my living room!

Ok, it get why you want to cover it. At least first take the old magnet catches off of the top of the door frame.

With your fridge on one side, and a walkway on the other, you haven't room for sliding doors or panels. I'm guessing you will be using this a lot, a lot, a lot, so you need something that won't be in the way when it is opened because someone is doing a load of laundry, which will be often. I'm guessing you want to hide it for some times when you aren't using it, like when you have guests.

That leaves window treatments. I like the idea of a rod that curves around the edges, mounted above the door so it sticks out far enough, but agree that most fabric will get really tired looking soon there, so I'd only do that with a stiffer, synthetic fabric that won't mush up like regular cotton will - but not so stiff you can't push it all the way to one side when you want to wash. That seems like a tough order - to find a fabric like that.

I'd also go look at other window treatments - blind type, but not roll-up bamboo (yuck). Blinds are designed to pull up and not be in the way when you have them up. You can hang them to clear the front of the machines when you have them down by hanging them slightly outside of the door opening by installing a shelf-type thing above the door to attach them to, or just use brackets that add space between the window and the blind. A simple roll up blind would work - the kind with a plastic loop and clutch, not the old spring mechanism. In a fairly stiff fabric, but fabric. It won't curve around like the curtain on a rod would to cover the sides, but it will have the advantage of being out of the way completely when you want to use the machines - a big advantage. You could build out the door opening (even fairly temporarily if you don't own) to cover the side view problem, but I'm guessing that your kitchen continues across from these machines, and that you haven't a lot of room for a buildout. You could also do something like wood (or, better for a kitchen, fake wood) blinds. That would look nice when closed. Mount them many inches above the door frame to leave them room to stack up when you pull them up. Cords will be a mess though, unless you go with the motorized kind. Look at a window treatments catalog like smith and noble and get other ideas...I think that is what I'd do if I didn't want to build out the doorframe.