This became a point of contention between my first (and soon former) KD and me. He insisted that I have a raised DW because I am tall. It's not like I'm some freak of nature, for goodness sake, I'm 5'11". He's tall (probably 6'5") and loved his, so I would love mine, too. He was sure.

I couldn't convince him that I had never in my life thought to myself "I wish I didn't have to bend so far to load my DW" and that I would never miss this so-called convenience. More importantly, I reminded him repeatedly that the #1 reason I was doing this remodel (well, besides that my kitchen was hopelessly outdated) was that I wanted more counter space. Raising the DW automatically meant 24" less counter space, and that was unacceptable to me.

On top of my counter space objection, it wasn't as ergonomic as it sounded. His shop had a raised DW in one of the showroom kitchens, and I found it to be completely awkward. The DW controls were at an odd level and it was difficult to reach to the back of the top shelf.

All that said, I ended up with F&P dish drawers, and I use the top drawer at least 5 or 6 times more than I use the bottom. In fact, I only use the bottom drawer when there are too many dishes to fit in the top drawer (like last night when we had company for dinner). It serves the same purpose of not bending to load without the loss of counter space. If I had a lot of dishes every day and bending was an issue for me, I think I'd prefer two single drawers flanking the sink instead of a raised DW.

In eurodesign, they do this all the time (one sample image below). In my next life when I get to do another kitchen, I will do a raised dw, possibly built into a full depth cabinet stack - but probably not that drawer above the dw in the picture.

I think full height dws with multiple spray arms work better (have fp dd now) and have more flexible loading.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fagor stainless cabinet

We have two D/W's, one raised (6") and one not. It happened to fit our design configuration perfectly. I'm 6'2" and the loader and unloader. I rotate using the two D/W's and the higher one is definitely easier for me to use...but not so much so that I'd twist my design into a pretzel to accommodate it.

I'd suggest that you include it if it fits easily into your design or if you have chronic back problems. Otherwise, the regular height should be fine.

Bob

montalvo-- do you have pictures you can share?

Here's a picture, showing our two D/Ws (Miele Incognitos). Note, too, the distance from the sink which is often mentioned as a concern by folks who are laying out their kitchen. As I ranted in another post this morning, I load/unload the dishes in our house and am among the very few who don't rinse dishes before loading (just scrape, as directed in the owner's manual). Consequently, proximity to the sink has just never presented even the slightest inconvenience to me.

I should mention that we have two other D/Ws, one in the lanai and a Fisher & Pakel dish drawer (double) in the upstairs bar. I find it hard to imagine using the F&P drawers as primary D/Ws, simply because their capacity (even both together) is so limited and they offer little loading flexibility. But single dish drawers are a way to avoid bending over.

Bob

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ours. It's a bit further from the sink than montalvo's to give us more same-level counter space, but it still isn't a problem to load. It's raised only six inches, but every inch is a pleasure to backs that aren't getting any younger.

Our arrangement is quite different -- a small kitchen with an eight-foot run with full height uppers dedicated to cleanup. (Yes, the cleanup sink faces the wall.) It is sideways to the dining room with the dishwasher at the dining room end of the run. The two spaces are open to each other, so we like the way the raised counter above the DW distracts from and partially obscures the cleanup sink. And the way most dishes go straight into the DW.

(Sorry, still haven't learned how to post pictures.)

Thank you, Montalvo, for posting the wonderful picture! And you answered my question even before I asked. My concern is that I know I need to have a dish drainer for dishes that don't go in the dw, and I wonder if anything drips/drops in that counter area to the right of the sink. Is that a trash compactor right next to the sink? I suppose if that or a trash container were open, it might alleviate some of the perceived (in my mind!) problem. I really like your layout, how the counter just flows so beautifully.

Aww, Living, are you sure you can't get help with posting a pic? I'm sorry to ask you to go to so much trouble, but I sure would love to see yours. Do I understand that your raised dw is on a peninsula?

We have a raised dishwasher and LOVE it! Neither of us are tall (I'm 5'5" and my husband lies and says he's 5'10" [more like 5'8"]) or pregnant (I hated emptying the dishwasher whilst pregnant), but even still it is so fabulous. It, along with our side-opening ovens, makes perfect sense to us, like "why aren't all dishwashers raised?"

These are the only pictures I currently have -- I'll try to take more after littles go to bed (but now is dinner time, so writing this is on borrowed time!), but you can see that our dishwasher is 18" to the right of our sink. It is definitely enough landing space for our dishrack. We're not really finding too many drips on the way to the dishwasher, and I'm not sure why not .... I'll also have to measure how high ours is -- definitely higher than 6".

My sole complaint is the way our cabinetmaker did the panel underneath the door (where the toekick would be if it were standard height) -- it's recessed and looks odd. Again, I'll have to take a picture later for you. He said it would have to be that way in order for the door to open. Not sure why ours needs to be recessed but montalvo's doesn't. (meaning: I think he's wrong because clearly montalvo's works) Shoot!

I had planned on a raised dishwasher to avoid bending until I discovered dishdrawers. In my small kitchen it is a plus to have all the counter at one level. I have not had a problem loading what I want to load. You might want to consider that option.

The raised dishwasher concept is not new. It's been around at least since the early 90's and I think in the 80's.

For about thirty-five seconds we considered those drawers but then we remembered our two toddlers ... and the fact that we run a pretty full (full-size) dishwasher nightly. If it were just the two of us the dishdrawers would be terrific! It really depends on the situation.

I like the applications where I've seen the dishdrawers separated, flanking the sink (so they're both right under the counter). But I suspect that works best in a kitchen of size.

Anyway, I meant to just pop back in to say I didn't take any more pictures and now I am to bed.

Thanks to you too, rmkitchen, for the picture and explanation. (Both of your kitchens are beautiful, by the way.) I'm so grateful to hear of your experiences and what you like/don't like (nothing!) about a raised dw. It's interesting to me that a small counter between the sink and dw works out so well. Did anyone consider placing a dish drainer on top of the raised dw or would that have been awkward? I truly am surprised that more people don't do this to save their backs!

I'm afraid that posting pictures will have to wait until I have enough time to learn how. As it is, I rarely even have time to glance at this forum.

Unlike the other pictures posed, my cleanup area is on a wall. Our kitchen is basically two facing walls with peninsulas at the open ends. The DR is wider than the kitchen with the side of the cleanup wall facing almost the middle of the dining space. That's why the raised DW tends to block the view of the cleanup sink. And the location makes it so convenient to load the DW.

sjerin, we don't use a dish drainer. DW does the hand-washing and towel-drys everything. But our D/Ws have enough capacity and flexibility that there are typically very few things she has to hand-wash, just her prep knives, non-stick pots and a few very large platters.

Bob

living-- I am sorry I asked again for a picture; I certainly DO remember how tough it is to have young kids at home and I know you barely have time to breathe. Thanks again for the explanation.

montalvo-- I wish I didn't have to use a dish drainer. Lately it has occurred to me that when I get a better dw I may not have to do this! No way do pans get clean in my current one.