I was having a chat with some friends and we were talking about how, in the U.S. at least, washers are usually on the left and dryers on the right and why that might be. Someone pointed out that we wash first and then we dry. But then someone else pointed out that we are sort of primed to think in left-to-right terms already since that’s the direction in which we read. So here is my question:
Are washers usually on the right and dryers on the left in the Middle East?
I’d like to point out that a lot of the world doesn’t even have separate (or even any) devices for drying. Especially areas like the Middle east, Africa, and Asia. It’s still very common to hang dry clothes in many warmer climates. Japan for example doesn’t use them very much because electricity prices are so high and space is so limited. They may also just be a combined washer and dryer unit in one that does both functions due to a lack of space.
US, but my washer is on the right, dryer on the left. I’ve never questioned it, lol. Though they came with the house (hey, if they ain’t broke) and I didn’t move them from where the previous owner had them.
Are you talking about in people’s homes or in like laundromats? I’d be really curious to learn about a consistent placement in the middle east in particular, it never occured to me thinking this would be a thing anywhere in the world.
I live in Australia and have seen a lot of people’s homes for work reasons and can’t find a left/right pattern of dryer and washer placement. People just put them wherever they can, if anything dryers tend to be placed higher up (on the wall, at shoulder height) and washers are always on the ground but there is no left to right preference.
Some people even have the machines in different rooms, usually this is the washer in the laundry (or bathroom if no space for laundry) and the dryer in the garage or outside the house. As I already said these are just tendencies and you find plenty of people with different arrangements.
Interesting question. I wonder how common dryers are in the Middle East? It’s famously hot and dry there so a dryer seems a bit redundant.
Heat, alone, doesn’t dry your clothes. If you’ve ever had a blocked exhaust tube on your dryer, you’ll know that clothes can be hot and wet. You need the airflow to carry the evaporated water away.
Like what you might find in a hot, dry region?
It was frequently humid when I lived along the Persian Gulf. It’s not like the entire region is sand dunes in the middle of nowhere.
Awesome, which side was the dryer on where you lived?
