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Make Your Laundry Room Feel Bigger With One Quick Switch

Ashley Abramson
Ashley Abramson
Ashley Abramson is a writer-mom hybrid. Her work, mostly focused on health, psychology, and parenting, has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, Allure, and more. She lives in the Milwaukee suburbs with her husband and two young sons.
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published Nov 15, 2021
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The constant piles in my laundry room would probably convince you otherwise, but I actually don’t mind doing laundry. Until, that is, I got a new washer and dryer. 

You see, in my old house, the dryer door opened to the left and the washer door opened to the right, making it super easy to switch heavy, wet clothes over when I needed to. But in the new house with new machines, the process isn’t so simple. My new washer was delivered with the door opening to the left and the dryer opened to the right, so it felt like I was dancing around the washer door every time I wanted to dry my stuff. Not a major life problem, but definitely inconvenient. 

Still, I relegated my laundry issue to the back of my mind because I assumed I couldn’t change it. Then, I learned some laundry-altering news from this TikTok: It’s possible to flip your dryer door so it opens the other way!

How common, exactly, is this trick? Worth going to your laundry room with a screwdriver, for sure. Jordan Collins, an appliance repair pro at Two Lions 11 in the U.K., says most dryers make it possible to flip dryer doors — you may just not know about it, because the majority of appliances arrive pre-assembled with the door opening to the left or right. The good news is, if you’re one of those lucky appliance-owners, it’s relatively easy to make the switch. 

Every dryer is different, but in general, the process works the same. According to Collins, there should be four screws on the inside of the door opening. Take those out with a screwdriver, holding the dryer door in your hands so it doesn’t fall. (I used my husband’s help. Or wait. He used mine.) 

Then, flip the door (you’ll need to turn it upside down before screwing it, so it’s positioned correctly) and screw it in with the screws. On my dryer, there were a few extra screws and a hinge to move over, too. The idea is to replicate whatever you find fastening the door to the dryer on the other side. 

Whether your laundry space is small and you can’t fully open the dryer door as-is, or you’re simply annoyed with the flow of your laundry process like I am, you may benefit from flipping your appliance’s door, too! Whatever the process is, you should only need a screwdriver and a few minutes of your time.