Should I place my dishwasher behind my kitchen sink?

Dannyboyni

I have a prep kitchen island with three units. Two are for prep work and the third is a cleaning station under a sink. I cant afford to make the island any bigger so I am left with no space to place the dishwasher on the island itself. Would placing the dishwasher behind the sink slightly offset to the right from the middle of the kitchen tap work?
Please see below images, the blue line is the outline of the dishwasher in relation to the kitchen tap. There is a 1220mm distance between the two worktops. I think as the dishwasher is not directly opposite the kitchen sink it makes it slightly easier to load it from the sink. The cutlery drawer is the unit directly to the right of the hob.

Many thanks

Soot2006

Was there a specific question?  This set up wouldn't bother me at all, and it would possibly help my husband remember to close the dishwater door  after loading/unloading it.  I would probably end up leaving pots on the stove until they were cool and then stick them direct in the dishwasher.  We hardly use our sink  for washing up these days other than a few not dishwasher safe items.

Doozergirl

There's nothing wrong with the distance from each other. You need to set up two water and wastes though - not the biggest problem in the world.  

My own preference would be not to have the sink on the island though.    It's still a long running joke with friends about their 'show sink' in the house they bought before Xmas.    Islands are designed for social gatherings but with a central sink you end up with random washing up in the middle of a social gathering - people automatically put dirty plates there, or there's rinsing and washing of things that need to be turned over during a party or glasses lingering that can't go in the dishwasher.  The upside is that it means the washing up gets done pretty quickly as people randomly start doing it.  

If food is being served from the island, then it makes sense for the cutlery drawer to be in the island.  There's a lot of rather small drawers in that kitchen.  All useful? 

I'd also bring the island in a bit closer than 1220mm.  Personal preference for me is closer to a metre as it's easy to do all jobs just spinning on one foot.  

neilmcl

I have my dishwasher fairly close to my sink. It makes it very easy to rinse and load the machine.

Le_Kirk

Doozergirl said:

I'd also bring the island in a bit closer than 1220mm.  Personal preference for me is closer to a metre as it's easy to do all jobs just spinning on one foot.  

Thanks @Doozergirl , I now have an image in my head of you doing the prep, cooking, washing-up all whilst spinning on one foot!

Dannyboyni

@Soot2006 I just have searched and searched and no where have I found people placing their dishwasher behind their sink. I guess from a resale point of view I want to be 100% certain this is something people would not see as a deal breaker.

@Doozergirl The house is a narrow terrace house. I do not think social gatherings can happen around the Island due to there being no room for island seating. There is a living area and dinning area down from the open plan kitchen which should be sufficient for social gatherings.

My plan is to serve food from the row of cabinets on the other side. Take the oven for example, you take the food out and set it down on the counter space directly beside it, this makes that space an ideal serving space, besides the island by this stage will look like a war zone what with all the messy prep work having just been completed.

The reason I had chosen 1220mm width is that is the required width if two cooks are working together. It also allows me to have very deep drawers in the island to make up for lost space due to having no wall hung cabinets. I guess I could reduce this down to 1100mm but it does bring the dishwasher closer to the sink making it slightly more awkward to load it. I guess I could shift the dishwasher further down by extending the hob cabinet 100mm.

Every drawer is actually useful, I went into meticulous detail and mapped out in 3D all of the objects I would need in each drawer.

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: I'd also bring the island in a bit closer than 1220mm.  Personal preference for me is closer to a metre as it's easy to do all jobs just spinning on one foot.  

1200mm works better in my opinion - It gives enough space for two people to pass each other.

markin

You want to rinse off food as you load it and dishes always get dumped in the sink, (just me?). It cant go under the sink bowl can it, so the sink wants moving over a little. No spinning around for me. And where is the bin/compost bin?

Dannyboyni

markin said:

You want to rinse off food as you load it and dishes always get dumped in the sink, (just me?). It cant go under the sink bowl can it, so the sink wants moving over a little. No spinning around for me. And where is the bin/compost bin?

The sink cabinet is 1040mm long. It houses the waste disposal unit. The bottom drawer of the sink cabinet houses all the waste and recycling bins. Sadly there is no room for the dishwasher on the island unless I remove a valuable prep cabinet and extend the island 60mm. (I would reduce the sink cabinet down to 900mm). This also significantly reduces my prep work area. There is also the issue of where I would put the hot water tank for the hot water tap, it only really fits in the island due to the cabinets being deeper.

Surely I can still rinse the plates in the sink, I just have one extra step to do which is a twist to face the dishwasher from the sink. Would this cause any problems I wonder?

Edit I see you mention no spinning around for yourself so I assume that is a deal breaker for you.
I guess my question to yourself is would you be happy with the current 1178 length of prep worktop with having to spin around to use the dishwasher, or reduce the valuable prep area down to just 778 in order to fit the dishwasher in the location you have suggested. Due to the restricted space there will have to be a compromise somewhere.

markin

I got the tape measure out, opened the dishwasher door and it wasn't as bad as i thought really, the waste disposal unit helps. I always find it useful to mark it all out on the floor with masking tape to make sure it works.

Dannyboyni

markin said:

I got the tape measure out, opened the dishwasher door and it wasn't as bad as i thought really, the waste disposal unit helps. I always find it useful to mark it all out on the floor with masking tape to make sure it works.

I guess you also have to remember on my images they do not include the dishwasher baskets, when they are pulled out they bring the whole thing a good bit closer to the sink. I now just hope I can find a significant other and they are not put off by my dishwasher placement. I am probably the only man in the land with the dishwasher behind them haha.