Okay, my weird kitchen cabinets are about 1/4 too low for my new dishwasher. Closer to 3/16. Makes me want to scream.
I do not want to take out the top trim because it is the same all the way around the kitchen.
Assuming the floor is pretty much the same everywhere it is 5/8″ hardwood on a fairly hefty subfloor.
The solution seems to be to take out the hardwood and put in a sheet of 3/8 plywood to make up the difference.
Does this seem like the right way to go?
Is there an easier solution?
Other than getting a different dishwasher. I like this one and it is so close that I think it is worth the effort.
Appreciate your thoughts.
Replies
Is your 5/8" hardwood new? Seams that it must be otherwise I cant figure out why your dishwasher wouldnt fit - unless you've had several layers of floor applied.
Is it possible to take off the adjustable feet to gain that 3/16"?
Another suggestion and one that might be way out in left field for ya, could you cut the counter top out and raise the DW up on a pedestal, you wouldnt have to bend over so far to load/unload and it would make the problem look less like an after thought and more like a new inovation! I've seen DW'er raised so its not a totally foriegn concept. I think there has been a thread here lately regarding that same situation.
Doug
Take the adjustable feet/legs off the dishwasher and slide it in on a sheet of formica to protect the hardwood. Use some formica samples to final fit. should give you just enought room.
Depending on edge style of the countertop, shim the entire top of the cabinets with 1/4" ply or even just door skin if that gets you far enough up. Usually the overhanging edge of the countertop hides the thin line of the shim layer.
But try the feet first.
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
~ Voltaire
Put a removable piece of floring in front of the d/w so you can get it in...
(dont ask how I got that idea.....)
Bud
Eas -
You're dealing with one of the more common - and inexcusable - hassles of a kitchen remodel. For reasons that escape me, nobody ever seems to think about installing dishwashers and everyone gets pizzed when they won't fit.
If your dishwasher has leveling feet, it's fairly easy to remove them and slide your dishwasher into it's hole. Sometimes (but not often) it's possible to lift the dishwasher and reinstall the leveling feet so it can be raised to it's final height. One one installation, I was able to cut off about 1/2" of the leveling feet threads and get them back in.
If all else fails, the leveling feet can be tossed and blocks can be installed to lift the dishwasher.
Whatever you wind up doing, lay it on the cabinet installers. Not knowing how the dishwasher was going to go in was a serious blunder.
Whatever you wind up doing, lay it on the cabinet installers. Not knowing how the dishwasher was going to go in was a serious blunder.
No lie. Looking right at the installation destructions calling for 24 1/4" clear, face frame, and installing the bases to leave 24" clear end panel-to-end panel. Or, gee, let's use this 2" wide edgeband, even if it hangs into oven, d/w and similar openings . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Honestly, I am not really needing to blame anyone.My place was built about 1897 as a commercial workshop--10 years ago someone with more ideas than sense bought it and turned it into a house. (Don't know what this says about me when I bought it) The kitchen cabinets were salvaged from a local high school science lab. And were installed on top of the old wooden floor. With a pretty deep tile floor for the kitchen.There was a dishwasher in place (three year old maytag POS) and I hoped against hope that the new one would fit--and it almost does. The trick is that low hanging piece of trim at the front of the cabinets. Given my experiences with this place, including the former owners deep love of liquid nails, I should have known better. The countertops are held down with globs of the stuff.As it is, the feet are up as far as they go and the way this thing is designed it has a large flat piece on the bottom so taking the feet out won't help.I think there is no easy way around this. So I am planning to take out that patch of finish floor this week. Thanks for your thoughts.
If the DW would fit if you could raise the feet highger ( and you can't raise them more ) then lower the flood. i.e. use a MM or router to dado the floor under the cabs to accomodate the width of the feet. You may need to remove just a tad of the visible floor in front of the DW. You could do that neatly with the MM and pin it back in with a brad nailer for later removal.
I didn't say it would be easy.
Sounds like the DW is bran new? Return it and get something else? although they are a standard size, in reality they vary in (adjustable) height up to 1/2"
Heh!You just made me think of my in-laws. The appliance store delivers and "installs" the new Bosch dishwasher but elects to avoid installing the retention brackets. They get tossed (of course). With the counter over an inch over the dishwasher, the thing starts tilting out every time someone pulls both racks out (Argh!)While adjusting the legs all the way up would have made the tilt less pronounced, the real issue was that the front of the dishwasher sat under a thick bullnose, while the back end had "air" over it. Screwing the retention brackets into the woodwork on either side might have worked, but then, I would have needed them to be there. So, I went to HD, bought two 1"x1"x36" hardwood sticks, a box of stainless #10x1.75" screws... cut the wood down to the right length, installed it such that it would fit just over the notched top corners of the Bosch, installed level and voila... a non-tilting Bosch. If the door hinge/door was strong enough, you could probably stand on it now.The thing is, the Bosch is one of the easier dishwashers to install... plug it in, and the water connection is very accessible in the front, with a tunnel under the unit to bring the water supply from the back.
unfasten the counter top..
raise it....
slide the DW in...
refasten the countertop...
was the HW floor put in after the cabinates???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
The cabinets need to be installed after the HW floor or installed on strips of wood that of similar thickness to the hardwood. Whoever was supervising the job is responsible for the F-up. The fixes recommend above take care of it 90 % of the time.
If it makes you feel any better, I had the opposite situation on a house a few months ago. Designer told cabinet salesmen that the kitchen was to get hardwood. Salesmen told installers and they installed the cabs on 3/4" thick strips of wood. Apparently the designer was illiterate as she was unable to read the simple specs I gave her for the house. She missed some other stuff too. So, I ended up having to run all over the place to find some taller than normal shoe mold to cover the gaps, a few of which were around 13/16". I'll guess you probably got a better deal.
Worse come to worse, you could get a different dishwasher.