Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
lavender_lass

A second dishwasher

lavender_lass
11 years ago

Do many of you have a second dishwasher? I've been thinking about having the dishwasher by the main sink, under a bank of windows. I'd have a plate rack and area for pans, but no glass storage. Instead, I'm considering a dish drawer by the second sink, in the island. Does anyone have a similar set up?

Comments (17)

  • catbuilder
    11 years ago

    I have a regular dishwasher and a single dish drawer. The reason I have this setup is because I hated the dish drawer so much that instead of putting the second dish drawer in (they were both going to be singles, flanking the sink), I modified the cabinetry and put in the regular dishwasher. I find the dish drawer hard to load (I have to keep taking dishes out to rearrange what's in there), and it doesn't clean very well. It also holds significantly less than half of what my regular dishwasher holds. I hardly ever use it now. I like the idea of the drawer, and prefer unloading from there, but I would not do it again. If I wanted two dishwashers, I'd get two regular ones.

  • lavender_lass
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Cat- Thanks for the response. I'm thinking it would be nice to have the dish drawer just for glasses. Do you think your dish drawer would work well, if you were just using it for glasses, mugs, and cups?

  • ILoveRed
    11 years ago

    Differing opinions...I love my dish drawers. I use thin dishes (Corelle and everyday china) and I feel like it holds a lot and cleans well. I do have to say that no one else in the family seems to be able to load it properly. But, I think that's purposeful. Mine is the F/P brand.

    Lavender--I would love to have a double dd by my clean up sink and a single dd by the prep sink.

    I find that I use my top dd as often as I possibly can. Easy on the back.

  • Jolivia2
    11 years ago

    Just about finished with my kitchen reno and love love LOVE my second dishwasher! I don't have drawers, however; I have 2 regular sized dishwashers - one in the island, one at my sink. Husband argued incessantly over this - but I stuck to my guns. I chose not to put a sink in the island though, and was concerned that wouldn't work for rinsing, etc., but the layout works perfectly. I thought I would only use the island DW for holidays and large meals, but since no one likes to "unload" in my house, I'm using both all the time. Believe me, at the end of the day its nice to begin cooking and not have to unload - you have an empty dishwasher at the ready, and no dishes piling up in the sink.

    Would do it again in a second!

  • taggie
    11 years ago

    Also have a 2nd dishwasher and love the convenience of it. Often I will use it just for a drying rack since I don't like the look of pots and pans drying on the countertop (and I am too lazy to towel dry them!).

    Our second is a drawer and I personally can't love it. Hard to load, not very glass-friendly, and no heated dry (bah!). If I had it to do again I would do two regular sized dws, and they would both have heated dry. But definitely get the 2nd one regardless of what type you choose, it's an amazing convenience.

  • beaglesdoitbetter1
    11 years ago

    We have two dish drawers (separate) and one full size Bosch (one dish drawer in the island, one dish drawer and the full size dish washer next to the other sink).

    I HATE the dish drawers. Oh how I hate them. About half the time they don't seem to complete their cycle all the way for no reason. You open them up after they should be long done and they have sopping wet water in the bottom.

    They hardly hold anything.

    One already had to be repaired because a part randomly came apart.

    There are other annoyances that I can't think of off the top of my head but they are just unpleasant.

    But I love having multiple dish washers. I also like that I can use one to store dishes until they are ready to be washed so they stay out of the sink.

  • pharaoh
    11 years ago

    I SO wish I had room for a second dishwasher....

    When we remodeled we really tried to make room for a second DW. Alas there wasnt any.
    We entertain a lot so the we run the single DW 5 times on days of cooking, cleaning,DW, repeat.
    We will put a DW in the outdoor kitchen when we build that some day :)

  • catbuilder
    11 years ago

    You should take some of your glasses and mugs to the store to try out the actual dishwasher you are considering. My glasses only fit on one side of the dishwasher. There are fold-down racks that I've tried putting cups on, but nothing gets clean on the top racks when there are dishes below. The filter gets clogged a lot, and it's a chore to take the racks out to clean the arm that spins the water. I don't see the point in having a dishwasher if you have to practically wash the dishes before you put them in. Honestly, it fits so little that when it was the only one I had I usually just hand-washed everything since I had to wash the things that wouldn't fit anyway.

  • liriodendron
    11 years ago

    LL,

    Can't offer advice on the DW problem (I don't use one), but I was pleased to see you were posting. I felt that I hadn't "seen" you around much lately (well, since the late Fall.) I know you had family medical issues to sort out and I was hoping that you were just busy getting your DH moved back home and recovered.

    Glad to see your username on a thread. Even where you live Spring can't be that far off - it's starting to poke its nose out even up here in NY. Roses in just a few months!

    L.

  • lavender_lass
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you all for the input...it sounds like two dishwashers are wonderful, but dishwasher drawers are not so popular.

    L - It has been nice the past few days, but it will be a while (maybe May or June) before we see many roses :)

    My husband still isn't home, but he's doing much better. The neurologist can't figure out what caused all this, but we're lucky that it's not permanent. Some people never get better...so trying to see the glass as half full.

  • janealexa
    11 years ago

    We have two regular dishwashers, one on each side of the main sink. We mainly use the second one as a drying rack so it keeps the counters clear. We only use the second one as a dishwasher when we have company.

  • ontariomom
    11 years ago

    Lavender_lass, I too am glad to see you back and thinking about your design again. Sorry, that your DH is still not back home.

    I am also intrigued by the idea of putting one of my dishwashers in the island near prep sink and the other near the cleanup sink. What would be the cons of splitting the dishwashers and having one near clean-up and second near prep sink? Somewhere, I thought I read it is best to avoid having a dishwasher near the prep zone, yet it seems convenient to have a dishwasher close to where you prep and are generating dirty utensils, bowls etc from the prep.

    Carol

  • kitchendetective
    11 years ago

    We have two full size dishwashers, one next to the clean-up sink and one next to the prep sink. I believe most KDs recommend that if you have 2, they both be next to the clean-up sink. However, our arrangement works for us because the cleanup sink is distant from the prep area, on the other side of the island from where we prep, and I would not want to have to traverse the kitchen with gloppy bowls in order to load the dishwasher while prepping. Also, I think one should consider both the layout of the kitchen and the layout of adjoining rooms in dishwasher placement. Our clean-up sink is closer to the butler's pantry and dining room, while our prep sink is closer to the breakfast and family rooms. The prep area dishwasher ends up getting used after breakfast more frequently than does the clean-up area one. The converse is true after dinners in the dining room. Usually, both get used in a day. We have two Bosches and I have been very pleased with them. My only complaint is that our large individual pasta bowls will flop over if not carefully placed when loading the dishwasher (and dodging the Great Pyrenees's efforts to "help"). I wish some of the tines were taller to prevent that. So, do take some of your dishes to the showroom to test their fit in the dishwashers that you are considering.

  • realism
    11 years ago

    I don't see the need for two dishwashers unless you have a large family and both will be used on a regular basis. Spending hundreds to thousands on a dishwasher that will be used as a drying rack so you don't have items on the counter or in the sink? That sure is an expensive drying rack!

  • ontariomom
    11 years ago

    @ Realism, we have a family of 6 and I Lavender has posted that she entertains often. We have one single dishwasher now and constantly have a pile of dishes waiting to be loaded (usually they wait cause the dishwasher needs unloading). I have encountered a few raised eyebrows when I tell people we want two dishwashers. However, there is a case to be made that dishwashers use less water than hand washing dishes, and the new energy efficient ones use less energy. I agree that using it for a drying rack, is an expensive drying rack (although tempting place to stash mess when company is at the door LOL).

    @Kitchen detective, your comments are very helpful. I don't suppose you have a layout you could post to see how you have positioned your two dishwashers?

    Carol

  • a2gemini
    11 years ago

    Lavender- so glad to hear from you. I am glad DH is slowly improving but must be so hard for you.

    I only have one DW but from the posts- I am glad that I ruled out the dish drawers. I read the repair rates and the F&P drawers had a repair rate 4 times greater than the best performers. And the above comments confirm my research.

    I second taking dishes to the store to try out the DW - I came with dishes, pots, Mughal, glasses, etc. LOL

    Even the best can have lemons(my first Miele) but was most likely caused by faulty installation/repair by first appliance dealer- they lost their Miele contract- but we got all of our $$ back. We did purchase Miele again and are happy.

  • laughablemoments
    11 years ago

    We've had our 2nd dishwasher installed for about 2 weeks now. Having a family of 9 has made this extra DW a real blessing to us. We've gone from handwashing almost all of our mixing bowls, pots, pans, and baking equipment, to putting almost everything in the DW. It amazes me how quickly they both fill up and need to be run. I've also been able to put away my drying rack and just use a microfiber mat for the few things that we still hand wash. Hooray!

    When we were trying to decide on the location of the 2nd unit, I leaned pretty heavily on Rhome's experiences, which I've linked below. It took some faith since I had no first hand experience. I thought really hard about putting one in our island at the prep sink and another at the separate cleanup zone. In the end, I decided to trust what Rhome was saying. For us, having both at the cleanup sink is working really well. I think it would have been more awkward to use them if we had split them up. It's really nice to be able to pile everything in the super single sink (another opportunity to trust GW members that worked out really great) and then load the 2 DWs from there. I thought one DW would be primarily for dishes and the other primarily for cooking and baking equipment, but the reality is that things get intermingled depending on where there are open spaces as we load them up.

    Hope your husband will be able to come back home soon, Lavender. Blessings on you both!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Rhome's explanation of 2 dishwashers and their best location

Sponsored
BME Construction LLC
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars20 Reviews
Loudoun County's Source for High-End Custom Decks & Outdoor Structure