DIY Dishwasher Cabinet

At long last, we have completed our dishwasher cabinet!  From the moment I knew that our future home did not have a dishwasher, I began plotting and planning how we could change that.  We are a family of six (my husband, our three children, my grandmother, and I) that spends the majority of the day in the home. I am a stay-at-home mom, our kids are homeschooled, and my husband works from home.  More time spent at home equals more dishes to wash.

We eventually purchased a dishwasher in November of last year for the amazing price of $50 (a refurbished floor model from Lowe's found by a friend who works there) and it wasn't until two days ago that we actually washed our first load of dishes.  Although it may appear that way, this was not a severe case of procrastinitis, a disease that has plagued many of our home improvement projects in the past. No, there were legitimate set backs that made this project a real challenge.  For instance, after getting permission from our landlord to cut the existing cabinets to make room for and  install our new dishwasher, we realized the cabinets of this very old kitchen were custom made and did not conform to current standards in cabinet depth/height.  The dishwasher was too deep and too tall.

Our brilliant Plan B was to make our own dishwasher cabinet.  This lead to many debates as to what would be the best setup.  Before long we were saying to one another,  "Hmm, we might as well  take advantage of the situation... " Beware folks, these words mark the beginning of  all "what have we gotten ourselves into?" projects!  If you so much as utter these words, your "do it in a couple of hours" job can quickly grow into a "don't think we'll finish this year" job.  For us it was, "Hmm, we might as well take advantage of the situation and add some much needed counter space and storage." Famous last words. :o)  Not really, it was actually a brilliant idea and we are now really glad we weren't afraid to grab the bull by the horns. (Yep, I'm a Texan, born n' raised)  After we'd pieced together in our minds an idea of what we wanted, we had to find the right size cabinets and counter top.  This led to much searching and store hopping.  After we found and purchased the cabinets and the counter top, hubs had to figure out how to run the water/drainage connections, which was not an easy task considering the distance from the dishwasher to the sink.

We hurdled many obstacles, but all our hard work paid off.  We are loving our new dishwasher and cabinet.  Check out the pics below to see how it all went down.   (The pics will also reflect other changes made to that side of our kitchen such as fresh paint, new hardware and new stove/microwave.  I'll soon be posting about our complete kitchen revamp, so check back!)

The picture below is of our kitchen after we'd painted the dark wood paneling and replaced the stove. When this picture was take we still had not changed the cabinet door pulls or installed the microwave above the stove.  The last after picture of this post shows the kitchen how it is right now.

The pictures below show all the steps we took in building the cabinet.

Quick Overview of the Before, During, and After

In the above after picture you will notice the microwave is installed, the cabinet door pulls have been changed, and the metal inserts on the cabinet doors beneath the sink have been painted.  I'd like to mention, for those of you out there that take note of the details, that our oven door has never opened completely because of the way the wall juts out there (there's an old fireplace that has long been covered, behind the cabinet) and the placement of the cabinet did not make accessing the oven any more of a challenge than it already was.

We still have a few more plans for this room, one of which involves re-purposing and dramatically trasforming of this curb side find...

...which we did this to...

Wanna know how it turned out?  I'll be sharing all about it this week.  If you choose to follow this blog, your Reading List (on your Dashboard) will alert you the moment I post the details of this project.  This is, hands down, one of my favorites.  Maybe it's because it cost $0! :o)

Update: This is how this area of the kitchen looks like now.  Read about the above curbside find,  The Little Hutch That Could.

Dishwasher Cabinet Price Breakdown:

Lowe's Dishwasher Whirlpool - $50
Ikea Counter Top - $89
Home Depot Dark Walnut Wood Stain - $5
Home Depot Cabinets - $79x2
Cabinet Paint Glidden Navajo Sand - $23
Home Depot Hardware Drawer Pulls - $2x2

Total Cost of Project:  $329

Be a dear, leave a comment, and let me know what you think! Have any questions about the project?  Feel free to ask.  Got a dishwasher related story to share? Would love to hear it. Till next time ya'll!

I am linking to parties on the following blogs.  Check them out for loads of great ideas and inspiration!

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/
http://www.remodelaholic.com/
http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/
http://www.atthepicketfence.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://www.missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/
http://www.hopestudios.blogspot.com/
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/