I don't think so. DW uses much hotter water than washer. Even when I used my WD combo( the ventless one), there was no moisture to be felt around. The unit felt warm (enough to dry towel over it) on drying cycle but my dishwasher puts out more heat- it is old piece of wonder, fixed manytimes. Besides look at the build in ovens, even thou they vent up front, I'm sure there must be some heat in between cabinets. I wouldn't worry as long there is no water drip when draining. In europe we use appliances build in the kitchen for years.

I'll admit DH is the one who is better with this sort of the stuff (I'm just the creative one who comes up with the projects). ;) I have a W/D on pedestals and a shallow shelf above the back of them that was there previously. The one in the back just has a piece of wood on each side holding up the wood shelf (like you see in closets in older homes). I told DH I want a shelf in front of it that extends to the front of the machines so I can set things and not have them rattle like they do now sitting on the machines. He was talking about putting another piece of wood on each wall like the ones in the back and maybe some sort of metal strapping (like you see on plumbing or HVAC ducts. Although I think that is overkill. There is no room between my machines for a leg or any kind of pedestal to support from the bottom. I was just looking at pictures, and I saw a couple support from the bottom. I do agree with being able to remove the shelf easily though. Edit: I just looked at the shelf above the machines and there is a metal bracket supporting the middle. I was going to say if you had a thick enough shelf you would not need a bracket in the middle as long as you didn't put a couple of the 96 load detergent containers in the middle of the shelf. Hmmm I'm looking. Wish DH was here so we could find a solution. This post was edited by IowaCommute on Thu, Apr 3, 14 at 17:04

I'm in the same spot, as I'd like to keep the counters in our laundry/bath as close to standard as possible without having to go to really small machines. As practigal said, Frigidaire has 36" tall models with good capacity, but I was told by an appliance salesman last fall that these are being discontinued and I'm worried about the possibility of having to replace something that's no longer available. I hate that the new "standard" is gargantuan. I tried to contact Frigidaire to see if the discontinuation rumor was true, but I didn't get a reply. Here is a link that might be useful: Frigidaire front load washers

garyboun - I actually accomplished what I wanted and I love it. My washer /dryer are underneath my cabinets with pocket doors that open and slide back in. It required wider cabinets but I love that they are hidden when not in use. Since I used pocket doors, I had to go wider so each appliance has double pocket doors. Because the dryer is not vented it's important to keep doors open when using. It's great during the winter because it heats the room up. Let me clean up the laundry room a bit and I'll show you pics. In order to accomplish the planning of my cabinets, I did find a washer/dryer in a showroom and took pictures so that I could plan where to put my plugs and drain hoses. I have those pics as well if you want them. The only thing that is a bit tricky is that the detergent fill-bin is located at the top, so you will need to be careful about your countertop overhang. My total depth of the cabinets with the w/d is 27" including countertop. Cabinet depth is 26 1/2" so very minimal overhang. There's definitely room in the back for it to go back further but I wanted to play it safe. At minimum I think the cabinet depth would need to be 25" with doors that overlay on top versus inset. As far as leaving door open to dry out, it's also necessary to wipe down the rubber flange of excess water so mold doesn't set in. But I typically leave door open when I'm done with laundry on both w/d for a bit before closing them up for the day. These are in my back door entry so it's really nice to shut them away. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Let me know if you have any questions and I will see if I can upload pictures tomorrow.