Mark:
IF you do actually use the laundry room, I have a much better idea for you than a switch ladder which eats up space quickly!
Build a "cassette" system. I would make the cassettes about four to six feet long. These cassettes are single 2' by 4s' that have one strip of straight track down the center. The length would be determined by the reach spread of your arms and your confidence/comfort level in picking it up loaded with train cars. You wouldn't be moving it far because the idea would to build one single lane of "fiddle yard" that connects to the rest of you track. The shelf this lane would be sitting on would be about two feet wide. You could place four other cassettes on that same shelf; each having the capability of being placed into the single lane of "fiddle yard" that connects to the rest of you track. When you want to change consists, you could simple arrange the cassettes into whatever order you need. This will save you a lot of money from buying the additional switches for a yard ladder which end-up eating away at your space quickly!
Lastly, if you want to go the switch route---bite the bullet and buy a manual Ross 4-way turnout! I have 2. These awesome space savers spread out from one to four tracks in the space of 2 feet! You can't beat that.
