I'd bet 24" is plenty of room to land a few bags of groceries or take out a pile of meal fixins. I'd leave everything where it is and not put the DW in the middle of the room.

I haven't been paying attention, what cabinets did you end up going with?

Moving the DW interferes with the prep space. Move the 18" cabinet to the same side as the 24" cabinet in order to have a more functional prep space. Then do a small filler and ledger against the wall so the DW can open cleanly and still have the countertop supported. Now your cleanup and prep zones are clear, and two people can work at the sink if need be.

Right lwo. I know your idea is the best solution, but there is a vent running along that wall, so if you put d/w there, I will have to run wires up through the vent.

I'll ask kitchen guy whether this is code-worthy.

If it is NOT code-worthy, what are my options?

Swen: I decided to go with dull old white shaker :-)

Is there actually a standard side for a dishwasher?

Can you do LWO's move? That would be my preference I think. Decent space on both sides for two different activities. And the open DW won't hurt anyone. (I like to do all my kitchen work with the DW open and drop stuff in there as I go. Need a drawer dishwasher OR proper DW placement for that to not be a shinbanger so I like it on the wall in this plan. Not that *I* was planning on being the main chef in your kitchen or anything...but for ME, I like it.)

Ahhh nothing dull about that - timeless! Can't wait to see it :)

The outlet for the DW doesn't move, no matter what side of the sink it's on. The outlet is in the sink cabinet. So, not sure what you mean by running wires inside a duct.

fori - I'm looking into LWO's move, and yah yah, I like it there too, I agree. I thought the standard (or preferred) side is to the right of the dw, because most people are right-handed.

fori, I like your use-and-drop strategy you mentioned. Did you hear about the tip for placing like cutlery with like within the dw?

swen : yup, ha ha ;-) I think with all my tchotchkes it'll look warm and homey. Where is your kitchen at?

"live_wire_oak"

Some folks direct connect.

Hingeing the refer on the right affords plenty of landing space and easy transition to work space, on both sides of the sink.

Why would the DW be open, during prep, unless there is a disposal in the DW.

LWO - My impression was that the dw was hardwired directly to the panel. I'll have to talk to the electrician/KD about this, and figure something out.

The vent is a cold air return. It runs all along the wall (where we want to put the dw), within the floor joists (newer construction places these returns below the joists. To get the dw wire up there, you'd have to drill through the cold air return and put the wire through it.

All this might be moot if I can have an outlet inside the sink cabinet.

Ooh I think you CAN have an outlet inside the sink cabinet - we did that in our last house (for the DW and disposal) and the inspector didn't blink twice!

Our kitchen is....standing. Haha we're SO close I can taste it! I accidentally installed the hood vent 1/2" too far to the right so everything came to a screeching halt until I could fix it. Since we're DIYing the rest it's taken a back burner to other things like snow removal and sleeping.

When will your cabinets be delivered/installed? How exciting!

The outlets for our diswashers and garbage disposers have always been in the sink cabinets. I never thought about them being hard-wired otherwise. Another thing I learned from GW.

snooby, it's not uncommon in our house for me or the kids to put clean dishes away while DH is making dinner. Or for me to clean up the dishes he has used in the process. Or to load breakfast dishes into the DW while DH is cooking (in our world, is doesn't always get done after breakfast).

During our reno, our sparky hard wired our old Kenmore in its new spot. When that POS Kenmore died (hooray!), the Miele installer said he had to have an outlet for the new unit. There are advantages and disadvantages to both set-ups, according to the advice I received over in Appliances. Have yours set up how YOU want it if at all possible to achieve a better layout.

LWO suggested what I was going to suggest.

Thanks all! I'm going to get the electrician to install an outlet in the sink cab. Boom. Done.

swen, oh you lucky duck with the snow. jk. We managed to get some but not much so no shoveling (but a lot of hasty snowpant and mitt purchases that week for the kids). Yikes, re: hood placement. Hopefully that's resolved now. What bs did you end up with?

The electrical box itself is still in the sink cabinet when you hardwire. If you can get wire to that run at all, its's not a problem to have the DW located there.

I use dishes and utensils and cutting boards when I prep, Snooby. When I'm done with them I can put them in the sink or I can leave them out or I can be halfway tidy and put them directly in the dishwasher. I have a small kitchen and try to clean as I go. It's not because I'm hyper clean; it's because I'm a slob and if I don't put them in immediately, it could be days. :P

An outlet in the sink cab is what I've always had. Makes DIY dishwasher replacement easier if nothing else. You'll want (maybe) a garbage disposal plug in there too. Sometimes those are also hardwired.

Great news!! For once things work out in favor of your preference amiright?!

Not minding the snow but we grossly underestimated the amount of time it was going to take to shovel/snowblow the driveway at the new house. Gotta get my shoveling muscles back! We went with the 3x12 grey glass subways - still sitting in boxes in our garage waiting to be installed! Did you decide on your countertops and BS yet?? Last I remember you were vacillating between formica and maybe marble?