Utility · 1,800 mm / 71 in of wall · One afternoon
Measure the basket before the shelf
Utility rooms are usually built the wrong way round: shelves go up, then baskets are bought to fit, and the baskets that fit are never the ones that work. Buy or choose the baskets first, measure them, and cut the shelves to suit.
Leave 30 mm of clearance above each basket so it can be lifted out rather than dragged. Leave the front edge flush rather than overhanging; in a narrow room, an overhanging shelf is something you catch your shoulder on every time you pass.
Zones by frequency, not by category
Sort what goes into the baskets by how often you reach for it, not by what it is. The middle shelf, between roughly 1,200 mm and 1,600 mm, is the easy zone and should hold the things used weekly. The top shelf takes the seasonal and the spare. The bottom shelf takes the heavy and the bulky, because lifting weight down from above your head is how utility rooms cause injuries.
Nine baskets is usually more than a household needs on day one, and that is deliberate. Leave two empty. A system with no spare capacity fills up within a month and then starts spilling onto the machine tops.
Labels that get read
Label everything, including the obvious. A label is not for you, it is for everyone else in the house, and it is the difference between things being put back and things being put down.
Write what is inside in plain words rather than a category name. Gloves and hats works; winter accessories does not, because nobody thinks in those terms while holding a wet glove. Put the label on the front of the basket at eye level for the shortest person expected to use it.
Change the label when the contents change. A basket labelled for something it no longer holds teaches everyone to ignore all the other labels too.
Keeping the machine tops clear
The flat top of a machine is the most tempting surface in the house and the worst place to put anything, because it vibrates and because it is where wet things land. Give everything that collects there a named basket above it and the surface stays clear on its own.
One small fixed rail beside the machines takes the things that genuinely need to hang and dry. Keep it short so it cannot become a second wardrobe.
Empty the room properly twice a year. A utility room is where the rest of the house quietly puts what it has not decided about, and no shelving arrangement survives that without a regular clear-out.