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After having to wash my dishes by hand after my dishwasher decided to stop working about 3 weeks ago, I am happy to report – those hand washing days are OVER! It wasn’t too bad at first, but it did start to get old around week #2. I noticed I wasn’t so quick to wash the dishes right after I used them, instead they started piling up in the sink. :)
If you read my post about my love/hate relationship with appliances then you may remember that I could only choose certain models of dishwashers that would fit under the height of my cabinets. Turns out I only had 3 to choose from – a Bosch and a GE were the only ones I liked of the 3. I went with the GE since it looked the best with my GE oven.
I did find out something interesting about my cabinets from the very helpful appliance salesman at the local appliance store. He told me my cabinets are ADA compliant. Which is the reason they are shorter.
He went on to explain why builders use them. My house is a “builders spec house” Usually these houses are built to fill one last lot using a house plan that the builder thinks people will buy. They might include a few upgrades along with basic stuff, only a few things left for the buyers to customize. To keep things simple, builders sometimes but in ADA compliant features where they can, so that if the buyer happens to need these, they don’t have to rip anything out. Hence the reason my cabinets are shorter, or if you knew the builder of my house – he got a money saving deal on them and that is the reason he used them.
I never put 2 + 2 together even after the first fiasco years ago when I bought a Kitchen Aid and the installer told me when he came that I would have to pick a Maytag as that was the only model at the time that would work. Light bulb moment… makes total sense to me now! It also explains the reason we had to remove the feet from the oven when it was installed so that it would be close to flush with the counter top.
We like the new dishwasher – much quieter, but I did not like the fact that you could see the black base. All models seem to have this. I knew I would be whipping out some paint to fix it to my liking. The white dishwasher that this stainless one replaced, had a black base also that I painted, as did the base on all the cabinets when we first moved into the house. I painted that base after the first few weeks of moving in. I am not a fan of black cabinet bases.
It is not that I don’t like black, I actually like black and think every room could use a little bit of it to create balance and interest, but your eye goes right to the floor when the cabinet base is black on light color cabinets. I like to create visual flow, so out came the Antique White paint.
I put down painters tape, roughed up the surface with medium grit sandpaper, which I found out was plastic – not metal! I cleaned it well and let it dry. I then rolled on a light coat of Gripper primer. It was hot and humid here yesterday so it took a long time to dry. I then rolled on a coat of paint.
The floor is going to be refinished very soon – my summer project. I may have to repaint the entire baseboard around the cabinets, but that is OK. For now I am happy that the black is gone.
When I redo the floor, I plan to add “feet” in front of the dishwasher like I did on the end of each section of cabinet. (photo below)
When you own a house and like it to look “just right” for your style – there is always a project that needs doing. Now having two stainless appliances in the room, I want to replace the brass faucet and drawer pulls – will be doing that soon.
My summer is going to be filled with lots of projects – floor work and painting mostly. I am most excited about my plans for the floor in my mudroom. Will be starting on that soon now that the dishwasher project is behind me.
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