Cabinet 'Demolition' & Dishwasher Installation

We've been so busy with other things that progress on the kitchen has been on hold. Everything that is left to do is dependent on other things being done, and we're finally on our way to completing them now that the water pipes have been replaced. In addition to replacing the pipes, the workers also installed our new dishwasher. So in preparation for that, we had to do a little "demolition" to make room, since it wasn't just that the house didn't come with a dishwasher, it has never HAD a dishwasher.

Like we did with the refrigerator, we chose a smaller one to better fit the kitchen. That way our needs are met with minimal disruption to the flow and it doesn't feel like we tried cramming too much into the space. After not having a dishwasher for years (4+ for me, 12+ for Nick), just having one at all will feel like a luxury! We'll probably just run a load or two per week and continue hand washing pots and pans, since we use those almost daily.

After much research and reading consumer reviews, we decided on this Frigidaire 18" dishwasher in black. We decided against a stainless steel exterior in order to allow the dishwasher to blend in more with the lower cabinets rather than stand out.

 

We actually ordered this back in January and it's been in the garage since then. Once we set a date for the water pipe replacement and dishwasher installation, it was time to do "demolition," with demolition in quotation marks because there was really very little that needed to be done. Nick took on this project:

Removing the cabinet end, which was just this half-wall thing 

After end piece removal

We couldn't extend the existing base to create the wider dishwasher platform because it was too tall. We needed something at a height about half that. So we removed it to get down to the flooring:

The newly opened area under the counter top. You can see where we moved the range plug, which would have been in the way directly behind the dishwasher.

And a shot of the dishwasher temporarily in place:

We still need to build a little platform for it to sit on, to bring the top of the dishwasher up to where it needs to be in order to attach to the underside of the future new counter top. Here's an 'after' shot of dishwasher and range together, pre-platform for dishwasher:

The new counter top will extend across that gap shown above and nearly be a nearly seamless transition to the range. We are well on our way to finishing the kitchen now. We waited on the dishwasher installation until we had the new pipes. We could not get accurate measurements for a new counter top until the dishwasher was in, so now we can get that measured and ordered. Then we can start removing the old back splash, and once the new counter top is installed (another job we're not doing ourselves), we can put in the new back splash.