I am on my second (I relocated--I didn't break it).

We like it a lot but if you do a lot of dishes, you might not reap the benefit of having two little DWs. There's a lot of discussion on the appliance forum. Some people love 'em, some hate 'em, some are neutral. If you have back problems, they are wonderful, especially if you go the expensive route and mount two single drawers high. They can also work better in tight spaces because they don't need to open as big as a normal DW.

I should point out that they are not as quiet as some of the big ones and might not be as good for a greatroom type installation.

I only use my big dishwasher twice a year, on holidays. The house is gutted so I'm planning on 2 single drawers, one on each side of the sink.

Is there any way to put extra insulation around them to make them quieter?

What brand do you have?

We have two singles one on each side of the sink, in kitchen/greatroom. They are quiet. A visitor just commented on that this weekend- how quiet they are. I think the bottom drawers are louder than tops.

I have the FPs. And yes the bottoms are noisier! These aren't noisy machines though. They just aren't absolutely silent like the Mieles are.

I love our F&P dishdrawers. When we first purchased them 3 1/2 years ago I thought for sure they would overrun the market because they make so much sense to me. I love filling up one drawer and putting it to wash while the other drawer is still free to receive the inevitable dirty dishes that accumulate while the dw is running. Ours have been trouble free and I can't imagine ever going back to a traditional dw. Not only can the cycles be staggered but they make sense in the same way that people on this forum tend to favor drawers over pull outs. The dd's require one motion to open or close.

I suppose they are nosier than the super quiet dw's but to me the pluses to me FAR outweight any of the negatives. We have the stacked drawers.

My sister recently commented that she thinks one of our drawers holds as much as her new Kenmore (a model which I believe is made by Bosch.)

Loved the one we had in our old house and plan to buy another when we remodel the kitchen in our new house. The only problem we ever had was if we put things on the top that stuck up too high and prevented the seal from engaging...that would cause a flood code. However, once it dried out it would sort of fix itself, and we learned to be careful to avoid doing that again. I didn't think they were especially noisy but I'm not that sensitive to DW noise. Totally love them and am looking forward to having them again!

What brand do you have?

Goodness...I didn't mean to suggest they were like garbage disposals. They just aren't super awesomely fantabulously quiet.

O, one concern is that guests don't know how to load the things. They take a while to figure out. So you get to reload things after company loads their own dishes to "help" out.

I haven't had Anna's problem because we're careful about that, but you do want to be careful about it.

We have one F+P drawer and one full Miele. I LOVE this set up. During the week or when one of us is travelling (we're a two ppl household), the F+P is just perfect. When the house is full of guests - which is often as possible! - those two babies are in full swing.

The Miele is definitely quieter, but the drawer is not particularly noisy.

Eliz

I've been using the F&P dishdrawers for four years now, I think. We love them. My only regret is that I didn't have the space to buy two singles and have them installed on either side of the sink. We use the top one 80% of the time, easily.

I think they hold a ton. I would estimate that, together, they hold about 50% more than my regular old dishwasher. We had the same problem as Anna a few times, but learned to load them correctly and don't have it anymore.

They clean beautifully, including pots and pans. (When I use the bottom, it's usually for pots and pans.) I'd buy them again in a second.

Thanks for the replies. This is the kind of info I'm looking for.

I swore I would NEVER buy F&P again. I bought their washer & dryer 5 years ago and the washer was a nightmare. It was always broken. I had to rent a machine for 3 months on one breakdown. I finally borrowed a 20+ year old Kenmore off of a friend's front porch to wash clothes until the warranty company decided to give me my money back 3 years later. Fisher & Paykel wouldn't even answer my emails.

It seems that F&P are about the only makers of the drawers. A full size machine just isn't feasible for us.

We have had the KA for 3 years. Love the convenience of the two drawers but it is extremely noisy and sometimes there is an inch or more of water standing in the bottom of the drawer after the cycle finishes.

I would not buy KA again. I might possibly try the F & P.

I haven't been using my F&P drawers long but already, I love them.
Fill one, let it run, and you can still use the other one. I was so surprised
at how quiet it is. Sometimes I can't tell its on...my old one was SO loud.
I was surprised though that you have to use powdered dish soap.
vic

I have the F&P drawers, and I absolutely love them. If I had the room, I'd have preferred to have two single drawers, with one on each side of the sink. But, even with the two drawers stacked, I much prefer it over a standard DW. We use the top drawer about 10 times more often than the lower drawer. Even when we have company, I can usually fit everything into one drawer. Only really big coking days require both. They clean well, run quietly (not silently), and are so easy on the back.

I've had the F&P dishdrawers for about 5 months and really like them. I love the flexibility of the two drawer system. Now that there's always an empty dishdrawer available, I find the dishes rarely stack up in the sink. The top drawer is more convenient to load but with 3 children I often end up running both drawers on a daily basis.

Don't have them but Consumer Reports sites the F&P as noisier than many standard DW not just Miele's (CP gave them a rating of good for noise while numerous more affordable standard models were scoring Very Good - CP did like the way it cleaned though). The worst scoring DW model overall last year was the Kenmore Dishdrawer.

I've had the KA DDs for about a year and a half. I love-love-love the no-bending factor. Noise is no issue at all, and our kitchen is open to the great room.

My layout would only accommodate a stacked installation. We're empty nesters and have found that we use the top drawer exclusively for day to day purposes, using the bottom drawer only when we entertain. Actually, it's a really good thing that we have the stacked drawers because of the problem we've been having. It seems that water drains into the bottom drawer, just a little bit with each load. I've had the repairman out twice and still no fix. Fortunately they're still under warranty. If replacing the two pumps doesn't fix the leak, I'll likely press the issue to replace the top drawer.

If we didn't have the drawers stacked, I dread to think what would've happened to my cabinets.

I love the idea of no bending. My DDs are immediately adjacent to my island where my dishes are stored in the second drawer. It's such a dream to unload -- reach in for a clean dish, pivot to the left and put the dish away.

I think the point many of us are trying to make is:

1. The dd's would not be on the top of the "quiet" list but they are very quiet. DH and I can stand in front of our dd's while they are running (including the bottom one) and carry on a normal (in sound level) conversation without feeling as though we are talking over any noise. In fact, I usually don't notice the dd's running at all unless I actually focus on listening for them---i.e. if I'm wondering if I remembered to turn them on. The "noise" means I don't have to go over and eyeball the control panel to find the answer. The noise is not at all comparable to our old dw either in decibel level or in quality--rather than a loud clank it's a low hum. I actually like the hum and find it comforting.

2. My first priority is convenience and functionality and the dd's, in my opinion, are so far above the traditional dw in these categories that the noise discussion becomes moot. After 3 1/2 years I still find using the dd's a pleasurable experience rather than a chore (and I still smile everytime I open a just-washed drawer and see all the sparkling dishes nestled inside.)

As for the issue of 2 single drawers mounted higher or stacked drawers, I would never go with the 2 singles since I like to stay as flexible as possible. Many other dw models would fit into the same space our stacked drawers occupy. I use both drawers equally often---I stagger the use so that they will get the same wear. I want them to last as long as possible for both financial and environmental reasons. Dd's are already so much more convenient than a regular dw I don't see any reason to go the extra mile to have 2 separate top drawers. I'd rather load/unload a low dd than spend the time doing specific excercises for maintaining flexiblity.

Sometimes I think our choices can be swayed for the wrong reasons. Some people might read this thread and quickly dismiss dd's because they have a misguided notion about the noise. This would be a huge shame because they may never get to the point of realizing that the design could be a revolutionary change in their kitchen (it was in mine.) The dd's aren't the right choice for everyone but a decision should be made based on all the factors, not one factor that might not be an issue at all.

Thanks for all the replies.

The noise is not a factor for me. All appliances make a certain amount of noise. I plan on running them at night anyway.

IÂm very active so the little exercise I would get bending to load or unload a bottom dd draw wonÂt matter. It may make a difference if we ever have to sell the house and an older couple or a couple with young kids are considering the house.

It seems a lot of people have problems with the top washer leaking water into the bottom washer. Is this a design flaw or installation problem?