Plumbing question

[Bumbumtaloo]

I guess this might be a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question but thought I’d ask.

We are looking to get a dishwasher and have two options in our kitchen and we are unsure which would be the best way forward.

Option one - dishwasher on one wall to the side of the kitchen, with the sink and washing machine on the other two walls - see bad drawing. Standard size dishwasher.

Option two - dishwasher to be under kitchen sink, there is a large and small cupboard. The small cupboard would be removed but is one inch too small so the large cupboard will need to be re-jigged. Slimline dishwasher.

We are having a dishwasher put in as I have medical issues and my DH is my carer and we are trying to make everyone’s life (once put in) easier.

What else is on the wall to the side of the kitchen? Are there any units there at all? And what about existing water supply and drains - these are presumably over by the existing sink, so how would they be run to the other wall? It also looks impractical to put it there as your diagram implies it will be sticking out in to the middle of the room potentially in front of the door. Have you marked out on the floor exactly how much space it will take up (bearing in mind you need space for the supply behind, so they never fit flush to the wall).

Putting it under the units, as close as possible to existing water supply and drain is a much better option and even with removing cupboards will be easier than diverting water supply. It's also easier to load, as you have somewhere to stack the dishes, plus being close to the sink to do things like pour away liquids from glasses that are not completely empty etc

Is it just the two of you? In which case a slimline dishwasher will be plenty big enough. Even with a bigger family, slimline dishwashers are fine, although you may need to put it on more often, or compromise by washing larger items by hand in addition to using the dishwasher (to be fair, we do this with a full size too, simply because we don't need to put the full size on often enough for things like saucepans to be out by the time we next need them!)

Caroian my picture was really terrible so will try to explain it better.

The sink and washing machine are where the existing water supply is. On the wall with the washing machine is our cooker, door into the kitchen and cupboard space above the washing machine. The wall with the sink is literally the sink, window and back door with the cupboards under the sink. The other wall is cupboards top and bottom with one dead space which is where we wondered about the dishwasher.

We would need to have an additional water supply and drain if we were to have the dishwasher there.

We are a family of 4, our DC are 8 and 5

Sorry my initial post wasn’t very clear, I forget that everyone hasn’t seen my kitchen

Have it near the sink or the cupboards you keep it in to minimise carrying.

I'd move the washing machine along and put the dishwasher next to it - the plumbing and waste can then be shared and you won't have to muck about with the sink. I would get a full sized dishwasher every time rather than a slimline.

Unfortunately we can’t move the cooker along far enough to make the space we need in between it and the washing machine and the space that there is isn’t enough for a dishwasher.

We literally have one space which is the wrong side of the kitchen where a full size dishwasher can go and under the sink where because of the sink only a slimeline one would fit with the moving around of the cupboards.

better drawing, perhaps?

Could wm go on other side of kitchen?

I don't think putting it on the wall to the side is going to be practical. Dishwashers need to drain in to a foul water sewer, so in practice the drain needs to connect to your soil pipe, which is where the kitchen sink (and your toilets etc) drains to. It strikes me that providing water supply and connecting the drain will be a big job - even if that wall is an outside wall, the back door sits between it and your drain. But perhaps I'm still not seeing the kitchen right.

I'm sure that a slimline dishwasher will be fine - after all, you currently have no dishwasher, so any dishwasher will be an improvement.

It needs a waste pipe out to the drain as well as water feed in. So remember that, it might help.

Our kitchen is actually quite big but badly laid out. The cooker is huge, it’s a range and DH’s baby. It’s duel fuel and that’s where the gas pipe is.

We are happy to pay for plumbing etc if possible, to the other side of the kitchen. But we are unsure if that would even work.

It's possible to get a Worktop dishwasher (about the size of a big microwave) but it would be rather small for a family. They will do the crockery for a meal, but pans may have to go in a second run. They are popular with single older people.

is it a wooden floor or a concrete floor?

the water supply pipe is just a tough hose, and you can get extra-long ones, but the waste pipe needs to flow mostly downhill.

Does the sink drain go to a gulley outside, or a soilpipe stack in the corner?

just seen your pic.

Is the sink unit 1000mm x 600mm?

if you changed it round so the drainer was on the left and worktop on the right, you might get a dwr to the right of the sink. But the sink bowl might be rather small. You can get corner sinks, but I have never tried standing at one.

The position you indicate would be easiest for plumbing.

You can get "Le Mans" pull-out shelves for a corner cab, but the sink bowl would use a lot of the space if you wanted to open it on the sink side

From a practical perspective the dishwasher is easier by the sink or next to it. There are 2 of us and we cook from scratch and our full size dishwasher would be better if it were smaller as it is rarely full. We run it once a day.

I would put the dw where the washing machine is now, as it will be much easier to load it there than on the other side, and then try and put the washing machine on the opposite side, plumbing runs permitting.

I had a corner sink and it was great, however it did take 90cm from the corner and from your drawing it doesn't look like you have that. If I'm wrong and you do, then you could put the dw between it and the door.

Our floor is concrete and goes into a gulley.

We have had another chat and think we are leaning towards the slimline dishwasher underneath the sink.

Many thanks for your help, it’s much appreciated.

Should have said many thanks everyone for your help.

Could you move the cooker and washing machine enough to have a corner sink like this? There would be then enough space for a full size dishwasher. I've had a slimline dishwasher and now a full size one and the additional stuff I can get in the full size one is brilliant (grill pan, all the frying pans, big casseroles etc), makes life so much easier than the slimline one. A slim one is obviously better than nothing but it is quite restricted.

We can’t move the cooker and washing machine enough to give us the space we would need. And as the cooker is dual fuel we can’t move it elsewhere in the kitchen because that’s where the mains gas is.

Our slimline dishwasher is in the equivalent space next to your sink (i.e. not directly under the sink as it wouldn’t fit, but in the next cupboard space along). It shares plumbing to the outside with the sink. I think this would be your best bet. Unless you’ve got a huge family, a slimline is fine.

Thanks gobbin no, there is only 4 of us so it should be okay.