The Best Laundry Baskets for Families

When you’re doing laundry for more than just yourself, the only way to avoid being overwhelmed by all those piles of clothing and towels and sheets and blankies and — oh, yeah, precious stuffed animals! — is to stay organized. For families, a laundry basket is more than just a way to get those piles from point A to point B. It can be an essential tool in making a tedious chore easier for everyone.

While some people, particularly those of us who live in small apartments, might make do with hampers and bags like we did back in college, a separate laundry basket helps you keep clean clothes clean. “Baskets are great because you can see what’s in them and they breathe better, which helps prevent that ‘laundry funk,’” says Ashley Matuska Kidder, founder of Mountains of Laundry in Denver, Colorado. They’re also useful if you want to fold all your laundry in one location before taking it back to closets and drawers.

Having a lightweight, open basket has helped Lakeland, Florida, mom Gabrielle Drumheller delegate some of the laundry duties to her two kids, ages 9 and 12. “I say, ‘Grab the laundry basket and get all the dirty clothes from around the house,’” she says. And when the loads are done, they’re also in charge of taking the clean clothes back to where they belong. 

Size and Capacity: Every basket’s packaging should list its dimensions and capacity (in liters, gallons, or bushels). Before you pick the right one for you, ask yourself these questions to determine the size you need: Do you like to do many small loads, or do you cram as much as possible into your machine? (BTW, the latter is not a great way to get your clothes clean.) Do you want to use one basket to carry multiple loads, or one at a time? And will you be storing this basket in a laundry room with lots of space, or does it need to fit into a closet when not in use? 

Weight: “No one wants to haul a heavy basket and heavy laundry,” Kidder says. If you don’t see the basket’s weight listed online or on its packaging, make your best guess based on its material. Plastic will be lighter, while pretty rattan or wicker baskets often have metal or wooden frames that make them heavier, so choose accordingly. There are also baskets that come with wheels, making weight less of an issue.

Breathability: “I’m big on airflow — it keeps things so much fresher and makes laundry day feel less overwhelming,” Kidder says. If you’ll be using your basket for dirty clothes, you definitely want some airflow. But even for clean clothes, you don’t want any lingering dampness to affect the whole load, especially if you won’t be able to get around to putting it away immediately. Look for breathable materials or airflow holes in your basket. 

Ease of Carrying: “We live in a building that has a shared washer and dryer in the basement,” Brooklyn dad Ryo Kumazaki explains. “The main reason we use laundry baskets is to tote clothes and linens to the laundry room [and back].” If you’ll be taking stairs like he does, you may either want handles that feel good in your hands or something with straps you can toss over your shoulder. Some baskets are designed to lean against your hip and hold one-handed, so you can get through doors or hold detergent while carrying your load.

Ease of Cleaning: Standard plastic laundry baskets are big wins in this category, since you can wipe the whole thing down and there are fewer tiny crevices for gunk. But if you want a more aesthetically appealing basket made out of natural materials, Kumazaki has a solution: “I like the one that has a washable liner.”

Durability: Life’s too short to deal with half-broken, finger-pinching, clothing-ripping poorly made laundry baskets. Pick sturdy materials and read those online reviews before making your purchase. Even the pricey baskets can have structural flaws that other buyers may be able to warn you about.

“I absolutely recommend having more than one laundry basket,” says professional organizer Jennifer Moore, owner of Organized Boutique, in Allen, Texas. “I have a teenage son, and I sort our clean laundry into separate baskets and immediately place them into each of our rooms for putting away. I recommend this for families with kids who are old enough to put their own laundry away, so each person knows whose laundry is whose, and there’s not a massive pile overflowing on the couch.”

But for some families, multiple baskets just mean more opportunities to let unfolded clothing linger. “I used to have more than one, and sometimes laundry would sit in it,” Drumheller says, explaining that she’s since downsized. “Now, it has to come out of there, and it has to get put away.”

If you have the space, both Moore and Kidder say having separate laundry baskets and hampers is best. “I personally use laundry baskets only for clothes and linens coming out of the dryer, and we use the hamper solely for our dirty clothes,” Moore says. “This prevents cross-contamination between the clean and dirty clothes.” 

Of course, you might live in a smaller home and need to use hampers for both your clean and dirty clothes. If that’s the case for you, Kidder recommends choosing breathable materials to keep hampers from smelling. Washable laundry bags that line hampers can also ease the worry of putting clean laundry back where the dirty laundry lived all week. Plus, you can always aim to get the clean clothing out of there as quickly as possible.

This classic rectangular laundry basket comes in a set of four, for bigger families who choose to use several baskets in their laundry system. They can stack when you’re not using them, and they’re plenty sturdy, for when littles pretend they’re boats, cages, cars, or spaceships. “[These are] my go-to in the laundry room,” Kidder says.

Dimensions: 26.75″ L x 18.875″ W x 12.25″ H
Capacity: 71 liters
Materials: Plastic

“For families, the rope baskets with handles are great because they’re soft, sturdy, and easy to carry,” Kidder says. This large basket from Wayfair can be both a hamper and a laundry basket. And it’s so attractive, you won’t mind if you have to leave it out in the living room on laundry day.

Dimensions: 20” H X 15” W X 15” D
Capacity: 58 liters
Materials: Cotton rope

When Apartment Therapy tested this steel-frame basket, we were impressed by both its durability and convenience. It’s breathable, slim, and sleek, but it can still hold a week’s worth of laundry. It’s also going to save your neck and back, since you can roll it between rooms.

Dimensions: 11″ W x 18.75″ D x 24″ H
Capacity: 14.5 gallons 
Materials: Steel basket, ash wood handle

“If you have a large enough space in the laundry room, I’m a huge fan of the laundry sorters that have separate bags for whites, lights, darks, and towels/linens,” says Moore, who recommends this model. This one has easy-to-read labels, so everyone can see where each item goes and sort their own laundry, which makes laundry day a lot simpler.

Dimensions: 28.62″ L x 15.55″ W x 66.54″ H
Capacity: 13 gallons per bag
Materials: Cast iron frame

If you want your children to help with laundry from the start, this adorable sorting hamper gets them involved. You can place it in their room as a hamper or in the laundry room for when it’s sorting time. 

Dimensions: 31” H X 25” W X 12” D
Capacity: Not listed
Materials: Engineered wood, steel dowels

“I’ve had it forever, and it hasn’t broken,” Drumheller says of this other classic basket. She chose it because it’s light and has an easy-to-clean surface. The curved shape and handle on the long side allow you to carry it one-handed on your hip — something parents can very much appreciate.

Dimensions: 25.34″ L x 17.69″ W x 10″ H
Capacity: 32 Liters
Materials: Plastic

“I love open-weave baskets — rattan, bamboo, mesh, anything with airflow,” Kidder says. If you don’t typically store your basket in an out-of-the-way laundry room, or if you want to leave it out to serve as a place to toss linens before laundry day, why not make it have an intentional aesthetic to suit your home? These seagrass baskets from West Elm come in a variety of sizes  and shapes, including rectangular and hamper options with cotton liners.

Dimensions: Large rectangular: 19″ W x 15″ D x 15″ H; large hamper: 18.9″ W x 24.4″ H
Capacity: Not listed
Material: Handwoven sea grass, metal frame

When it was time to teach my tween to do his own laundry, I needed to make sure it was super easy for him, so he’d have no excuses. We don’t have room for a separate basket, so I found this rattan hamper with a removable laundry bag. The bag has handles he can sling over his shoulder as he lugs the clothing down four flights of stairs to our building’s basement washing machine and back up again. I love that we can wash the bag, too.

Dimensions: 13.4” L x 13.4” W x 23.6” H
Capacity: 17.2 gallons
Materials: Plastic rattan, metal tube frame, cotton liner

Apartment Therapy reviewed this laundry basket a few years ago, praising the convenience of being able to collapse it down to a height of just 3.5 inches for storing in a small home between loads. We also liked that it’s sturdy and holds water, so it can double as a tub for hand-washing items. Moore says she’s been considering buying these baskets for her own home “for space-saving and a more streamlined look.” If you don’t plan on using this as a tub, you can also buy the same basket with holes for ventilation.

Dimensions: 22.5″ L x 17.5″ W x 3.5″ H
Capacity: 41 liters
Materials: TPE and polypropylene plastics 

“Vertical is your friend. Tall hampers with a small footprint are great [for small spaces],” Kidder says, suggesting this hamper from Amazon. It’s narrow enough (just 7.5 inches) to stash in a closet or between the washing machine and dryer. You can also remove the support rods and collapse the whole thing in-between uses. The handles fit over your shoulder, and the mesh drawstring top ensures items won’t fall out while you’re lugging it a long way or up and down stairs. Larger sizes are also available.

Dimensions: 15.5″ L x 7.5″ W x 23″ H
Capacity: 48 liters
Materials: Oxford fabric, mesh top

Moore suggests passing on baskets or hampers that won’t hold their shape when they’re packed with laundry. “I’d skip the super flimsy, fabric laundry bags without a frame or handles as they do not have much structure and are harder to move around and keep contained,” she says. 

Both Moore and Kidder say lids are overrated, too. “For kids and teens, lids make it harder for them to toss dirty laundry in the hamper,” Moore says. “Removing this extra step of having to remove the lid before putting clothes away can make it easier for them to keep their room organized.”

While laundry baskets can be really pretty these days, Kidder emphasizes choosing function over form. “Baskets should be workhorses,” she says, “not showroom pieces.”