Laundry Basket Dimensions (Best Sizes to Use)

Here’s our laundry basket dimensions guide including different designs, height & weight, and the best laundry basket sizes to use for your laundry room.
Doing laundry is one of the bigger household chores many of us do once or twice a week. Thankfully, there are washing machines and dryers to do the washing and drying for most of us, so the real work comes after when we are folding and sorting the clothes, and this task would call for various laundry baskets. 

There are many factors in deciding what laundry basket would work for your home. Factors such as available space, how many laundry baskets you would need, and how much you do your laundry in a week. Once all of these factors are considered, choosing the right one for you will be easy.

Standard Laundry Basket Size

Laundry baskets, which are also known as hampers, come in an array of shapes, styles, and sizes. A household would probably need more than one, especially for a home with many inhabitants. 

Most laundry baskets will come in the plastic-made variety, and for a standard plastic laundry basket, it would typically have these dimensions. It will be 23 inches or 58 centimeters in length; it will either be 17 to 19 inches or 43 to 48 centimeters wide, with a height of 10.5 inches or roughly 27 centimeters. 

There are more undersized and oversized laundry baskets available since there is no set size across each material used, whether you want a widely produced plastic laundry basket available in many stores or a more specialized woven rattan one. 

Tall Laundry Basket Dimensions

If the standard size for a laundry basket is not enough for your bigger household, opting for a taller one can be beneficial. There are extra-large ones available for your use.

Suppose most of the laundry baskets can only hold a dirty laundry capacity of 72 liters or about 2 bushels. In that case, larger ones will hold up to 96 liters or an estimated 3 bushels of dirty clothes. 

For extra tall laundry baskets, they will usually have a dimension of 24 inches or 61 centimeters in height from the floor up and be at least 18 inches wide or about 46 centimeters from side to side. 

Collapsible Laundry Basket Size 

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For smaller homes and apartments where every real estate space is valuable, opt for a collapsible laundry basket instead of a bulkier one. Collapsible laundry baskets are available in a wide variety of sizes, styles, and designs. 

The typical collapsible laundry basket will share the dimensions of a standard laundry basket when opened and expanded. Still, the difference will come when the basket is collapsed, and the regular height of 10.5 inches or estimated 27 centimeters is reduced to 2.7 inches or about 7 centimeters. 

With this height, it will be easy to store the laundry basket after every use, and hanging it on the walls or the backs of the doors will be possible. 

If you want a taller collapsible laundry basket for bigger homes, the wire-frame and fabric hybrid laundry baskets are the way. They will have a dimension of 13.7 inches or 35 centimeters in diameter with a height of 17.7 inches or about 45 centimeters. This size is known to hold much clothing and weigh even less than a pound. 

Rolling Laundry Basket Size

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An easy fix to the effort of carrying laundry during laundry days is acquiring a rolling laundry basket for your home to make the work easier and give you extra time to do other chores needed around the house. A rolling laundry basket would also take the strain out of your body from lugging heavy dirty clothes. 

A rolling laundry basket is made with wheels and a pull handle, just like suitcases, and they are best for larger loads of laundry and are typically seen in laundromats. 

The standard rolling laundry basket has dimensions of 22.5 inches or 57 centimeters for the height, a width of 21.5 or 55 centimeters, and a basket depth of 16.75 inches or about 43 centimeters. For this size, it can hold up to 1.75 bushels of laundry. 

Best Laundry Basket Size 

The best laundry basket size for your home will depend on what you need. A single-size laundry basket is the best fit for a single person who wouldn’t need a bigger laundry basket. For these, sizes will usually range from 12 to 18 inches or 30 to 46 centimeters in height and a width of 14 to 16 inches or 36 to 41 centimeters. 

If you are a part of a couple living together or a small family with a few children, the family-sized laundry basket is more appropriate for you. This laundry basket size will usually range from 20 to 24 inches or 51 to 61 centimeters in height, with a width of 18 inches or 46 centimeters. 

Using an industrial-size laundry basket for bigger families and even businesses like bed and breakfasts or small hotels or motels will be more efficient for easy hauling. This will range in heights from 20 to 28 inches or 51 to 71 centimeters and a width of 20 inches or about 51 centimeters. 

Laundry Basket Holder Dimensions

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A laundry basket holder can be anything from a full DIY-ed laundry basket cabinet to steel frames. They are utilized to organize dirty clothes for easy sorting during laundry time. Most of the laundry basket sorters will hold huge load capacity, so businesses and larger households will have a lot of use for them. 

You can sort whites, colored, or intimates for a three-section laundry sorter. It will usually have dimensions of 30 inches or 76 centimeters in length, with a width of 17 inches or 43 centimeters and a height of 32 inches or 81 centimeters. 

How Many Laundry Baskets Do You Need?

How many laundry baskets you will need will depend on how many times you do your laundry in a span of a week. Typically, most laundry baskets will hold 14 gallons to 20 gallons or 1.5 to 2.2 bushels of dirty clothes. However, if you are an average-sized adult living alone, 15 gallons or 1.6 bushels of laundry that are good for a couple of loads will be more than enough to hold a week’s worth of dirty clothes. 

If you do laundry every week, this size will be enough. Still, if you wear different clothes daily like uniforms, day clothes, and workout clothes in the afternoon, you need something more extensive than the 14 gallon or 1.5 bushels capacity. 

How Much Does A Basket Of Laundry Weigh?

A standard laundry basket filled to the brim with clothing will depend on the size of the laundry basket and the type of clothes you usually wear.

Of course, people who live in much colder places wear thicker clothes which are much heavier than thin clothes and pants for people living in more temperate and hot climates. However, a full laundry basket will more or less weigh at least 10 to 25 pounds or roughly 5 to 11 kilos. 

Why Are There Holes In Laundry Baskets?

Here is your answer if you have ever wondered why there are holes in a standard laundry basket. There are two reasons for this phenomenon. 

First, the holes in laundry baskets make the basket itself easier to carry. This would mean that a person can carry a basket full of clothes with less strain on their body. 

The last reason is that the holes prevent moisture from being trapped in the basket. Most dirty clothes tend to be moist because of sweat, and holes are there to air the clothes to prevent molds and mildew. 

Visit our laundry room essentials for more related content.