No, that's not enough capacity. You need two regular sized DW's not two half sized ones. Put a DD in a separate bar area if you want the cool factor, but they won't do what you need to have done in a kitchen on a daily basis and will frustrate you no end. Plus they are a lot louder than regular DWs and I'm not all that impressed with their cleaning ability. Look at putting a couple of mid to higher range Bosch or Kitchenaids in, or if your budget is pretty high, look at the Meiles.

I agree with Hollysprings. Note that DWs today have somewhat less capacity than older models due to insulation for energy savings and for noise reduction, even the lower-cost models. At best, with your family size/age you can get away with a full-size DW and one DW drawer, so that you can use the drawer for all the glasses, which really pile up with teenagers (why do they only take a few sips from a glass, then put it down, forget about it, and get a new glass 10 minutes later? Why?).

In my research, the Kitchenaids and Mieles have the most capacity of the DW's we looked at. The Kitchenaids because they are actually larger - note that they will stick out about 1/2" from your cabinetry due to the larger size. The Miele's because their racks are so perfectly designed and organized. We opted for the KA because it was, like, $1200 cheaper than the Miele. The Bosch's are good DW's but we found them noticeably smaller inside (bring a few of your dishes and/or pans to the appliance store and stick them in the floor models, it will really show you capacities, usefulness of the tines, the layout, etc.).

P.S. Don't get a DW with a built-in grinder. Not worth it, doesn't do much, and adds to the noise level of the DW.

Great advice.

No kidding about the glasses and teenagers. I find about 3 glasses per day in my daughter's room. UGH

I had a KA picked out but then someone here at GW said there have been several recent kitchen fires started by the motors of KAs and several other brands such as Kenmore, whirlpool etc. And after looking at their posted link to a video I decided against the KA. Am I being paranoid?

I also was not crazy about the Bosch because it sounds like they don't have built in dryer, and I know that would drive me nuts.

So my backup is the Miele. Even tho I hate to spend that kind of money on it. And really don't know if we have the budget for it yet or not.

Yes, I saw the KA posts, and the website about the fires, and it is disturbing. Though it should be noted, it's not just KA, but the Whirlpool family (Whirlpool, Maytag, KA, etc.). It appears the model we bought is not reported anywhere on that website as one of the models that has had a reported fire (KUDS40FVPA).

If you are considering the Miele, you could look at one of their lower-level models in order to save money. You'd get all the wonderful Miele engineering, but no need to pay for 15 cycles (everyone mostly uses 2 or 3) and the like. You will also save money if you don't need a panel-ready model. For our layout, we had to have a panel-ready DW, which made all the Miele's we looked at very expensive. So check out some of their lower-level models - they are still expensive, but slightly less so.

yes. Don't need panel fronts. SS will do, however, still in the $1300 range. Ouch.

Another vote for the DD's. We've had then over five years. We are a small family but they also work well when we expand and have guests, and teenage parties, etc. Everything zelmar said.

Personally, I've never liked how noisy they are even compared to a mid range Bosch. With that said, they are still quieter than most DWs produced even 10 years ago and if I were a one person household, I'd probably be fine with using them. I mostly hand wash most of my pots anyway.

Professionally, in that price range, I've had more clients complain about them than all of the other "regular" DW's put together. Installation issues were a common frustrating problem, but complaints about capacity was right there at the top for people who "heard" that they still could wash all of their pots and pans in the DW with no problems. And that's why I suggest taking a stockpot, a couple of your plates and glasses and some utensils and whatever awkward sized mixing bowl/platter that you regularly use and visit a showroom. (Put everything into a tote with a handle or a cooler with wheels and a handle for easier transport.) Play around with it yourself and see what YOU think about how much you can cram into it.

I agree with hollysprings.

We have one regular dw and one drawer dw, and the drawer dw is harder to load (especially for glassware), louder to run, doesn't have heated-dry feature, and just generally is a little more frustrating than a regular dw.

Go with regular dishwashers if you can.

good idea

Every kitchen decision has positives and negatives. I've never washed my largest stockpots in dw's simply because I think it's a waste of room. All of my other pots and pans fit in a dd. Usually when doing dishes at the end of the day, all plates, glasses, silverware, cups, soup/cereal bowls will fit in 1 drawer. I take out the silverware holder and put bulky bowls, pots, baking dishes in the other dd.

I have a single dd load running right now. My daughter is sitting at the table doing a jigsaw puzzle with a hockey game on the kitchen tv. The volume is on low and the comforting hum of the dw doesn't interfere with it at all.

There are definite negatives to dd's but there are also definite negatives to traditional dw's. In my mind the positives of the dd's far outweigh any positives of traditional dw's. The ease of opening and closing and the ability to quickly load up and run makes the quality of life around our house a lot better (I know the other 3 members of my family would heartily agree.) A low hum in the background and the need to hand wash an occasional pot doesn't make a difference because I'm hand washing plastics (never liked putting them in any dw, including traditional ones), large pots and all pots that aren't all ss, cookie sheets, woodenware, and sharp knives anyway. These items all were washed by hand even when we had a traditional dw.

I no longer have bruised shins from running into an open dw door. Dishes actually get PUT into the dd's more often than they did into our old dw because it's so easy to partially open a drawer and stick the dish in than it is to first lower the cover before pulling out a rack. This means fewer dirty dishes sitting on the counter or in the sink. Plus there is usually an unloaded dw available. A traditional dw that is running is unavailable as is a clean dw that hasn't been unloaded yet.

Our dishes always seem as dry as they did in our previous dw. The only wetness I notice is in the depression at the top of our cups.

Dd's obviously aren't for everyone. But for my family, they make a lot more sense than a traditional dw and I can't imagine any of us willingly going back.

Wow!! So much to consider...

Thanks all. Will keep you posted with my decision.

I have a small family but we regularly have english house guest for extended stays many times a year. I find my dish drawers much more large group friendly than my previous standard dw was. There is never a line of dishes, any more, waiting for the dishes to be finished cleaning. The two drawers hold more together than my old standard could hold alone. I adore my DD!

Keep in mind that two drawers have only 2/3 the capacity of one regular dishwasher. I was supposed to have two drawers installed (both top drawers), but fortunately only one was available when it was time to install them. I was so frustrated with how little fit into the drawer, and with how badly it cleaned, and how hard it was to load that I had the other cabinet modified so that I could put in a full dishwasher instead of another drawer. I love the idea of the drawer and not bending down to load and unload, and only pulling it partially open to load, etc. When they engineer it differently so that it can be as wide and deep as a regular dishwasher, and clean as well as one, then I will look at it again. Until that time, there is no contest. The full dishwasher wins hands down.

I agree totally with all of zelmar's points. I love my DD and would never go back.

Given all the comments since my post earlier, I reiterate my original advice: get a full dishwasher, and 1 dishwasher drawer to have the best of all worlds.

I find mine to be very quiet. I think it may be a factor of how they are installed. Also, there may be part of the cycle that is louder than the rest. Occasionally I've had noise in one of them, maybe from something not being loaded correctly.
Mine clean well except if they are loaded incorrectly and the spray arm is blocked. Occasionally a bowl may not get clean if it was too close to something else, but I think that is the same for any dishwasher.

I find it way easier to keep up on things with the dish drawers. There are almost never dirty dishes in the sink now.

Like Zelmar, I prefer to do my pots and pans by hand, same with good knives. I think that the capacity of one drawer is more than a half a regular dishwasher. Maybe that is because of how I load them, and what I'm loading in them (not pots). Guess it depends on your routine and the shapes of things that you put in. Like what shape your bowls are and if they fit well. I have one set of plates that are square and over-sized. They fit, but with effort.

Chinchette-mine are not quiet but they are not loud.

I love my dd's. I don't believe that 2 dish drawers only hold 2/3 of a regular dishwasher. I am constantly amazed at how much I can cram into my 2 dd's especially with 2 cutlery trays. Rarely does anything come out dirty.

My dish drawer purchase was partly because I needed a dishwasher that would fit into a space that was less than 24", since I was replacing a Miele.

The best feature is that I often run the top drawer twice a day and rarely hand wash anything. With my full size dw, I would have never done that.

I got a regular KA DW in our new house. I didn't even consider DDs because my parents have them at their house and their plates only fit if you load it a particular way. That would drive me nuts! The plates aren't overly large but the have to be stacked in a way that is almost impossible to get them out and not at all ergonomic for loading. VERY ANNOYING.

I have a set of dishdrawers, tall tub on top. We are a family of 5. Although we bought them when the kids were not here 100% of the time. But when they do all come home, there is usually more than just 5 of us, there is 6,7, or 8 depending on who is bringing whom home. What I like is that we can run it after prepping. And then after dinner, it is done, we can load up the other drawer, run it, empty the first one, and then fill it with dessert dishes and anything else that is left over from the prep and serving. Do you ever run out of stuff when serving big dinners, like forks or spoons, and you find yourself hand washing them so you have them for dessert? You can run the fast cycle and they will be ready in time.

There is a learning curve on loading them so you can max out the space most efficiently. Once you have that down, you will not look back.

Mine are not that noisy, yes, I can hear it, but just at certain parts of the cycle.

And as far as installation, it's worth having the pro who really knows how to install it do it. I've never had a problem because my guys were fantastic.

Next house? 2 single tall dishdrawers, one on each side of the sink. :)

Our plates would not fit in our old Kenmore--we ended up getting used to using salad plates instead of large plates (which actually ended up being a good thing for limiting portion sizes.) But the large plates do (barely) fit in our dd's. They fit the same way the salad plates do, no fancy stacking necessary.

If still considering dd's, you should bring your plates to the showroom and see if they fit. That's what I did and it gave me peace of mind.

On the other hand, the selection of baking dishes I brought to the showroom wouldn't fit in the small oven of the 48" range I had my heart set on. We had to change brands and the dishes/pans fit fine. I'm glad I did the test since I use the small oven 90% of the time. Lesson learned! If there's any doubt, try it out.

Thanks everyone!!!

I want to bring some dishes and test it out for myself, however, having a HECK of a time finding appliance store in the area (peninsula--sf bay area) that has them on the floor. Lowes only has single on display.

Funny thing, I google searched my area for appliance store carrying the F&P and two houses in MY OWN neighborhood that are for sale came up with the F&P DDs so just might have to take a trip down the st. and knock on a neighbor's door...

We're a family of four and hoping to include DDs when we redo our small galley kitchen this spring - I figured anything that doesn't block the aisle would be a plus, and since I don't run the dishwasher every day or even every other day right now, I'd love the option to run a smaller load more frequently. Can anyone recommend (or warn against) particular models? I'm especially interested in the noise factor. Thanks!

I vote for two DWs.
If I had the space I would have put in two regular DWs. and we are a family of 2 but we do entertain a lot.

I like capacity. I hate washing anything by hand. Everything goes into the DW. It is run once a day. For parties, 3-5 times.