My Kitchen Lady Newsletter - Oven & Dishwasher Placement

I recently spent several days cooking at my son & daughter-in-law’s home while I was visiting after the birth of my newest grandchild. They are in a new townhome with an upscale kitchen. The builder allowed 2 critical mistakes in the design of the kitchen.

The first is the position of the dishwasher in relation to the sink. The double bowl sink is on a peninsula with the dishwasher at right angles to it within 3” of the corner. With the dishwasher door open you can barely reach into the sink to retreve the scrapped dishes.

The second is a pet peeve of mine. The only oven was an undercabinet oven. I have no problem having this as a second oven but as the only oven is literally a pain in the neck and back to be using all of the time. These ovens are very low first because they start under the counter and second because the the control panel pushes the door and racks down anywhere from 4”-6” and faces straight forwaard forcing the used to stoop to see and program the panel. An alternative option in a small kitchen would be a range instead of a cooktop and undercounter oven which puts the control panel to the top face of the unit or behind the back of the burners. Both places are usually easy to read.