Stand-Alone Dishwasher

Historic homes offer many charms, but the layouts often prove challenging when seeking to incorporate modern conveniences, such as dishwashers. As a bachelor, the 20” portable apartment dishwasher sufficed for weekly washing. But, after marrying my lovely bride, the first thing on my “Honey Do List,” read in all caps: PLUMB THE DISHWASHER. She apparently despised the daily task of rolling and connecting the dishwasher to the sink faucet. A weekend of old-school plumbing and my tiny friend reposed permanently in the corner of the kitchen.

Five years and one precious little boy later, the dear wife rightly decided the happy little dishwasher was too tiny to meet the needs of our family. But now we faced a more challenging dilemma: The original kitchen cabinets were too shallow to accommodate a built-in dishwasher, but the full-size portable dishwasher lacked both the features we desired and clashed with the cheap and cheerful vintage motif we had spent so much time and money to achieve.

After a month of fruitless searching, my wife suggested buying her top-ranked preferred dishwasher model and building a wood cabinet. The time of such a task seemed daunting and, with the steam and heat escaping the dishwasher, surrounding it with painted wood would be less than ideal. I countered with what proved the perfect solution: Purchasing the replacement parts for the shell of the full-size portable dishwasher and encasing the under-counter model in the retro-fitted cabinet.

Only one minor problem remained: The portable dishwashers’ cabinets all came standard with faux cutting block or cheap and ugly laminate tops. And to make matters worse, the dishwasher would flank the anchor for our classic kitchen—the 1950s O’Keefe & Merritt porcelain white stove—and would distract from the beauty of my first baby.

I found the solution with the helpful folks at Heffron’s: A custom-made “table-top” sized to straddle the dishwasher. After sampling a few of the many choices, we decided on the Boomerang pattern in Glacier, wrapped with a fluted banding.

The final product proved better than we imagined. But you can judge for yourself.