# Dishwasher height constraint....



## harpua728 (Jul 13, 2015)

I figured out part of the mystery. The current kitchen flooring (marble tile) was installed on top of the previous tile and is close to one inch thick. This is why the height from the floor to the counter is less than 34.5 inches. I was able to look under the dishwasher and the new floor goes extends about 5 inches under the dishwasher before there's a one inch drop to the old floor. So MOST of the cutout is about 34.5 inches high, however, the opening at the front is only 33.5 inches. Would this allow me to fit a standard dishwasher or am I still out of luck since the opening in the front is only 33.5 inches?


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## firehawkmph (Dec 12, 2009)

You'd have to check the specs on the actual height of the new dw and see what it is. 34 1/2" is a standard cabinet height, that's why they spec it that way. If the dw is able to fit in the opening, I would cut some plywood to fill up the recess at least on each side where the back legs travel over. With that drop, it makes it hard to slide the dw in or out. I doubt the old dw was put in before the countertop was on. Somebody was too lazy to tear out the old floor before the new one was put in. You could get away with that with thin floors like vinyl, but most of the time tile or marble raises it up too much. More work to tear it out, definitely. But to do it right, that's what it takes.
Mike Hawkins


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## jlhaslip (Dec 31, 2009)

You may need to remove the countertop to get the old one dishwasher out and the new one in.
If you do that, it is a simple task to add a build up of material around the perimeter of the cabinets (except across the dishwasher opening) and across the rear of the cabinets to lift the counter up to a suitable level. Sounds like a single thickness of 3/4 inch might do it or possibly two ply of 5/8 inch material. There is a bit of tolerance on the height, but an inch is too much. If you get it within a quarter inch, you very likely will be okay.
Also, check the new machine for adjustable wheels on the back end. It may be required to set them for your specific cabinet height, whatever it ends up being after adding the material suggested above.

Had a job once where we installed the kitchen, and got a call back to solve this same issue. The Contractor failed to mention that the suite was getting 2 inches of lightweight concrete as a fire code requirement, so we had set the kitchen at exactly 36 inches off the subfloor. Dishwasher did not fit, of course, and the countertop was at 34 inches. We de-installed the kitchen completely, added the material under the cabinets at proceeded to re-install them, including all the uppers. Not sure if the Contractor paid for the R&R because I was just the installer. I got paid hourly.


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## jlhaslip (Dec 31, 2009)

Firehawk makes a good point about building up the floor...


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## Msradell (Sep 1, 2011)

Our kitchen floor is also higher than the floor beneath the dishwasher because hardwood flooring was installed in the main part of the kitchen. The actual height at the front is just a little over 33.5". Our new dishwasher went in just fine, the back legs had to be extended more than the front ones which are on the hardwood flooring but other than that installation wasn't a problem at all. The new dishwasher is a Bosch I don't think that makes any difference, it's specifications still showed a counter height of 34.5"


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## harpua728 (Jul 13, 2015)

Msradell said:


> Our kitchen floor is also higher than the floor beneath the dishwasher because hardwood flooring was installed in the main part of the kitchen. The actual height at the front is just a little over 33.5". Our new dishwasher went in just fine, the back legs had to be extended more than the front ones which are on the hardwood flooring but other than that installation wasn't a problem at all. The new dishwasher is a Bosch I don't think that makes any difference, it's specifications still showed a counter height of 34.5"


Thanks! Hopefully I'll be ok then. 

What model Bosch? All the ones I looked at had a min height of close to 34 inches which made me think that the unit would not be able to fit into the 33.5 inch opening.


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