Hello all!
I've never posted on this forum before, but am on the electrical one quite often. Have a situation that I can't imagine has NEVER been attempted before. Here's the scenario. My house was built in 1963 and was part of a subdivision built for lower income veterans and older folks. None of the houses here were built with dishwashers in the kitchen. However, many have been remodeled to accommodate this. Mine, however, was remodeled to some degree, but apparently the idea of a dishwasher never came into their mind. Well, I'd like to put one in. The situation is, there are pretty nice cabinets and counter tops installed in an L-shape, with a stainless steel sink from one wall, all the way to the other corner of the kitchen. I have a 36" base cabinet that I can (cut out) physically remove to fit a dishwasher in just to the right of the sink (this makes it convenient for plumbing and electrical) but the height is about 3/8" too short to fit the dishwasher in below the lip of the counter top. Now, I'm sure the first thought is "well, lift the counter top." A tile back splash was installed just up to the edge of the counter top and it was caulked along the whole thing using a sanded caulk, so it appears somewhat seamless. Removal of the counter top would DEFINITELY cause me to destroy the caulk and probably damage the back splash as well. IF, and this is a very rhetorical IF...I could cut a notch up in the space of where the dishwasher is to go the width of the appliance and about 3/8" high, I could make this work. Thoughts? I don't want to go tearing the whole kitchen apart but have been given a brand new dishwasher I'd like to install. Mind you, I haven't taken the base cabinet out yet because I wanted to first get some input. Are there any other suggestions? The layout of the kitchen is as follows:

|-----------------------------------------------------|
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | | |
| | | |
| |--------------------------------------------
| |
|---------|
| O O |
| 4 |
| O O |
|---------|
| 5 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|---------|------------

1 is a corner cabinet
2 is a 36" base cabinet where the sink sits.
3 is the cabinet I can remove where I'd like to place the dishwasher
I've prewired electrical to the wall just to the side of 3.
4 is the stove, gas is located there and electrical
5 is a base cabinet and countertop that's NOT yet secured to the wall, and this would be an ideal location to place the dishwasher, but there is no plumbing nearby. Would running the pipes BEHIND the stove and through the countertops at the corner suffice?

Sorry for the crudity of the drawing, I'm not great at this..

Thanks for your input!

Matthew

Would anyone suggest running plumbing for drain and

 

It WAS spaced out, but apparently it truncates all unnecessary spaces in postings

 

1 Find a dishwasher thats 3/8 shorter.
2 Put it where you want and pipe to crawl or basement. Electric also.
3 Buy a portable that you can roll around and attach to your faucet. Has drain/water adapter that hooks to faucet.
4 router 3/8 inch from underside of cabinet.
Mike NJ

 

I already have the dishwasher. It was one purchased for a different house but never got installed. So buying a new one isn't an option. The house is on a slab, so running anything underneath isn't an option.

 

1) Sell on craigslist and buy a new one that fits or do option 3 or 4 below.

Mike NJ

 

Are the legs on the dishwasher lowered as far as they will go?

I once had to remove tile to lower the dishwasher enough to get it under a counter and I also once cut a notch in a formica counter overhang to gain enough space. Once the DW was in place I used oak banding to cover the cut and it actually looked better than the original.

 

That's a good point about the tile. It may be that new flooring added over the years is making it appear that your counter is too low. But when you remove the cabinet, you may find the floor underneath is lower than the rest of the kitchen. If that is the case, it could still be a little tricky to get the dishwasher down into that hole. You will probably need to just loosen the counter top so you can lift the front up a bit to squeeze it in.