Talk me out of an 18" dishwasher. (or into it)
Talk me out of an 18" dishwasher. (or into it)
I am currently redesigning my kitchen in a 1930's Midwestern USA house. The kitchen has a decent floor area but the floor plan is oddly restrictive.
My space next to the sink is such that I can either have a standard 24" dishwasher next to the sink and a slightly weird cabinet adjacent to it, or I could have an 18 inch dishwasher at 45 degrees flanked by two small but reasonably sized cabinet doors (or drawers), although the 45 degree plan would dictate a somewhat shallow custom counter depth on the flanks (like 18-20 inches).
I think I would be more proud of the accomplishment of building the angled design, and I think the ergonomics would be optimal.
But I'm not sure about the smaller dishwasher. I have never used a smaller one. It seems like it would be enough for my small family and still plenty helpful for gatherings.
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I'd question whether the 45 degree option will really be optimal ergonomically. It'll mean that it's harder to get at the dishwasher racks from the sides while they're pulled out (since there's a cabinet door at a 45 degree angle to them). Particularly for loading the back of the rack, that'll mean reaching relatively far.
I have a dishwasher next to the sink, and I tend to load it from the side standing in front of the sink. If it was at 45 degrees the door would open so that I couldn't stand in front of the sink while it was open.
Obviously I haven't seen your floor plan, so there's maybe something I'm missing, but I don't see how a 45 degree angle could make the ergonomics better.
Yeah this is a really excellent point thank you. I was actually thinking about ergonomics of the workspace above, but the bending, twisting and reaching is going to be an issue.
I can see how the 45deg plan could make the racks less accessible, especially for the shorter armed members of my house.
Even if loading from the front was equivalent to loading from the side, my plan would encourage you to load from the corner, which is probably not great.