Appliance Placement in Galley Kitchen

When would you ever be opening the oven and dishwasher at the same time?

Or for that matter, the freezer?

Ovens and freezers are quick open-and-close deals anyway.

Grey Matthew is sort of right.

Oven and dishwasher rarely conflict. Why would they?

At post-meal cleanup, however, refrigerator and dishwasher will often conflict. Condiments, leftovers, china and crystal need to go in both contraptions, and their contents often need to be thoughtfully rearranged at that time. Don't make that harder ... nobody likes cleanup time very much anyway.

I had a similar problem. It was recommended that I have just a stove top with separate wall mounted ovens.

I faced that issue a couple of years ago and installed the dishwasher across from the oven and have not had a conflict. In a galley there really aren't many options, so my vote is the oven.

If your kitchen is so tiny that you have a galley kitchen, what need do you have of a dishwasher anyway?

Good question, NYCMatt.

FormerRenter: In light of your quandry, are you aware of this product, the link of which I've attached below?

Sounds perfect for your situation - provided you at least have some counter space available. I wouldn't mind having one myself!

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

http://www.lustertv.com/products/portable-countertop-dishwasher-271870.html

Seriously, I've never understood these tiny kitchens in apartments of just one or two people who insist on having a dishwasher. How many dishes do you really dirty over the course of a day that you need a full-sized machine to wash them? I understand if you're a family of five or six, but even for two or three people, doing the dishes by hand (washing, drying, and putting away) takes no more than the amount of time it would take to load and unload the dishwasher.

I concur - & I have one of those kitchens you speak of.

I've never had the need for a dishwasher, as the same single dish, bowl, cup, saucer
& cutlery sit in the countertop dishrack day after day, year after year.

As tempting as the Carousel countertop washer is to me, I obviously have no real need for it.

I like the concept, though - especially that no plumbing or electricity is needed. I really wish I DID have a need for it!

My dishwasher is maybe 40 years old, judging by the buttons dials and typography, and still washes better than I do. Orchestrating the loading and unloading is more trouble than it's worth, though, so it's just for storage.

Yesterday I had a brain freeze or something and made the CooksIllustrated banana bread, the kind that takes an hour and leaves you with a full sink. It still took maybe ten minutes to wash it all.

Dishwashers are also a notorious attraction for cockroaches: a combination of water, food particles, warmth.

And before you protest that you've had a dishwasher for years and don't have cockroaches -- you're wrong. I've had several guys who repair dishwashers all say the same thing: rich or poor, if you have a dishwasher, you have roaches. Period. They've never serviced machines where they didn't see the buggers nesting inside somewhere.

Thanks, everyone. I agree with you about the overall need for a dishwasher - and I'm happy to hand wash dishes most of the time. But you wouldn't believe the reaction that I've gotten from everyone, especially brokers, when I suggest not installing a dishwasher. Although it's a galley kitchen, it's not all that small (10 feet long), so it really can accommodate a dishwasher, but not in a way that doesn't smack into either the oven or frig depending on its ultimate location. The countertop alternative is interesting, but other than a blender and a toaster oven, my counters will be pretty spare (just the "clean" look that I like).

So far, the votes seem to be that the dishwasher is better opposite the oven. This is really helpful!

I responded before I saw NYCMatt's post on roaches. Yuck. Never really thought of that. Has anyone found that their dishwasher has been a staging zone for roaches?

Fuck the brokers. Unless they're guaranteeing to eventually buy your place, ignore them.

You'll value the cabinet space more than a dishwasher you'll barely use.

If you use it only for storage, for which it's perfect, roaches won't be attracted to it more than to any other cabinet.

Even if you're selling it as a ten-year-old kitchen, most buyers will throw a fit if there's no dishwasher, and penalize you for more than the lousy couple thousand it'd cost to put one in. Just put it next to the sink, where everybody else does and where the plumbing is, and don't worry about it.

NWT, that's good in theory.

But a mechanical appliance that sits unused for months or years at a time gets so gummed up the new owners would have to replace it anyway.

Never knew about the roach issue until now; I would imagine it would be a haven for waterbugs as well.

There are no roaches.

Of course there aren't - just mix in some Raid with your Electrosol...

Psst -- "water bugs" are a sanitized name for ROACHES.

It's the same insect.

In my galley kitchen of just over 8' long, I've got a full size dishwasher, range, and counter-depth fridge (narrower width), with no door conflicts. (south wall, east to west: Fridge (24" wide, sink (18" wide in a 42" wide cabinet, dishwasher (24" wide); north wall: range, centered (i.e., directly across from the sink)). It's a close fit, and, as others have pointed out, when you're working in there, there's no practical reason to need more than one door open at a time. I also had the advantage of no columns or bump-outs in the way, and was able to move the gas line for the range.

Disagree with some posters about the need for a dishwasher: I entertain regularly, and dinners for 4 to 6 people can use a lot of dishes. At the end of the evening, I'm happy for the capacity of a full size unit -- so I'm not up half the night washing dishes.

Many thanks for the clarification, "Psst" - but whatever they may be called, why not just simply eliminate the dishwasher itself? Enjoy!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MpJM2N5wAjI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DMpJM2N5wAjI

Have you considered a d/w drawer. You can install 1 or 2(one below the other, next to each other.) They pull out so use less space. No swing space for the door needed. Depending on your needs on a given day, it will give you the option to use one or both. However they are more expensive.

The dishwasher drawer is another interesting option. Thanks. In thinking about the practical aspects of how people use kitchens (myself included) and as pointed out in this thread, I'm now comfortable that there's little to no need to have the dishwasher and oven open at the same time.

The golden rule for kitchens is to arrange the sink/stove & oven if combo unit/fridge in a triangle for ease of use, the d/w is an extra unit assumed that it will not be used simultaneously with the other (3). That being said, put it somewhere that makes sense when you are loading it from the sink. I say this because the previous owners of my coop placed the d/w right next to the corner sink so that I cannot have the under-sink cabinet and the d/w open simultaneously (which is where we end up storing cleaning supplies, d/w soap, etc etc). It is annoying, but nothing more. I'd rather have a d/w and be slightly annoyed than have no d/w and the counter top of our small kitchen be constantly over-run with dishes in various stages of washing/drying.

Also re: roaches & d/w. I've had d/w in 5 out of 6 rentals in the past and only had this issue once. And yes, it was gross, but weather was unusually wet & warm for end of winter and the roaches in our building were abnormal. The exterminator came (building) wide for a couple of weekends in a row and it went away. I think if you were to leave dirty/damp dishes in the d/w without running it for a week, yeah it might cause a problem, but I don't think regular use of a d/w does though.

"Also re: roaches & d/w. I've had d/w in 5 out of 6 rentals in the past and only had this issue once."

That you know of.

Unless you took your unit apart, however (like my two repairmen friends do on a regular basis) you'd likely never know.

"like my two repairmen friends do on a regular basis"

... maybe architecta doesn't have lesbians. Try cleaning your apartment once in a while, GreyMatthew.

"that you know of" could apply to anything in NYC when it comes to cockroaches.

>Unless you took your unit apart, however (like my two repairmen friends do on a regular basis) you'd likely never know.

Your two repairmen friends live together and both happen to be repairmen and both happen to like taking their work home?