I've always had a DW on the left and I hate it. I realize that it makes sense to hold it in your right hand, wash, put in dw with your left, but to me, it makes more sense to have it in your right hand, rinse and put it right in the dw, no?

I'm dying to hear other comments on this because my installer wants me to switch the DW location too, and I'm resisting.

The rule seems to be true! In our main residence, we have it on the right. In our vacation house, it is on the left. My wife says it works better because you hold the dish in your left hand in the sink and then put it down directly as opposed to changing hands to do otherwise.

So in our remodel of the vacation house we are keeping it on the left.

I am right handed and have the dw on the right. My mother has hers on the left, so I have tried both ways. My kitchen planner wanted to switch it to the left and I was insistent on keeping it on the right. I always feel like the counter is in my way when I have to put it in on left. Now I realize why. I put it into the dw with my right hand, not my left, no matter where the dw is. It also feels more natural to turn to the right than the left.

Sue

More than right or left of sink, where are your dishes going to be stored?

Our main dish cupboard is above and to the right of the DW, and we just love it! DH has actually started emptying the DW on his own- I am sure it is just because putting the dishes away is suddenly so much easier! Cutlery drawer is to the right also. Bowls and baking stuff also within arm's reach in drawers to right of DW.

Had DW to left of sink in previous house, but then dish cupboard was also to left of sink...

My DW is to the left of the sink and I'm left handed. More important to me is that the DW is closer to the table. With this renovation the dish storage cabinet moved from directly above the DW to the right of the sink, which is taking some getting used to. It was much more convenient when the cabinet was directly above the DW.

Good thing we're getting older, rarely cook and use so few dishes.

Mine has always been on the right and I can't even imagine it being on the left. I never thought about it until now, but my mother's is on the left.

Laurie

Mine has always been on the left. Works for me. I think either way would be fine.

I agree with raehelen--where will the dishes be stored? Prior to remodel, DW was on R but dishes were not stored in a place that made putting them away convenient (but it was the most convenient place possible due to the layout). Now DW is on the L and dishes are very easy to put away. Additionally, the DW doesn't interfere with prep/cooking any more and accessing dishes to set the table doesn't interfere with prep/cooking.

L or R doesn't matter, I got used to both (I'm right-handed). The other benefits are what has made all the difference.

IMO, the handedness of the person loading the DW is one of the least important factors in DW location, with proximity to dish storage and dining areas being much more important.

I'm right-handed and have two DWs - one on either side of my sink. To me, both DWs are equally convenient to load, though the one on the right, being closer to my dish storage, is substantially easier to unload.

I'm one step behind Sweeby on every thread today ;-), but I was about to say exactly the same thing, in agreement with what Raehelen, Melle, and Dian57 also said...We have 2 dishwashers, one on each side of the sink. Both fine to load, but it's more inconvenient to unload the one that is farthest from the dish storage...Putting it close to where the dishes go is most important.

My dishwasher has always been on the left. The only thing my KD advised was to have the dishwasher on the opposite side from the trash. The order should be scrape the dirty dish off in the trash, next run the water on the dish, then place in the dishwasher. It should all happen in a straight line.

We also have two dishwashers, one on each side of the cleanup sink. Proximity to the dining area(s) and where you will store your dishes & cutlery are FAR more important than which side of the sink or if you are right or left handed. Because of this, we knew one DW would be primary for dishes & the other for prep bowls, cooking tools, and entertaining overflow.

I agree with dish storage. My dishwasher is on the right of the sink and my dishes are stored in the cabs above it.

Also, will you have a disposal and a double basin sink? That will be a consideration too...what side of the sink will the dispoal be on? I wanted the disposal closer to the dishewasher with my double basin sink.

I'm also right handed but I pick dishes up with my left, rinse and transfer to my right and load the dishwasher. It would feel awkward for me to have the dishwasher on my left.

I agree with everyone who placed location of dish storage as the top criterion. My DW will stay on the left of the sink where it's always been because there isn't enough room for it on the right. So, in my new kitchen, I've brought dish storage closer to the DW.

Dishes and cutlery will live in a 36-inch wide wall cabinet that sits on the countertop just to the left of the DW. The cutlery will live in the bottom drawer, which just skims the countertop, and the most often used dishes will be on the lowest shelves, which fall below the bottom of a normal wall cabinet. The goal was to minimize lifting dishes to upper shelves.

FYI, we paid an upcharge to install 170-degree hinges in that wall cabinet so that the doors (each 18 inches wide), which hover about 6 inches above the countertop, would open wide enough to be out of our way when unloading the dishwasher. With standard 110-degree hinges, the open cabinet doors would poke out several inches past the countertop just over the dishwasher. That didn't look safe.

Susan wrote: "The only thing my KD advised was to have the dishwasher on the opposite side from the trash. The order should be scrape the dirty dish off in the trash, next run the water on the dish, then place in the dishwasher. It should all happen in a straight line."

I respectfully disagree: why rinse your dishes? Today's dishwashers & detergents need something to clean. Rinsing is an unnecessary step & wastes water.

Our dishwasher is between our garbage disposal & our trash pullout. Most stuff gets scraped into the trash, then into the DW. The sink garbage disposal is for the really wet & messy stuff.

gizmonike,
Please tell me what brand of DW you have that you don't have to rinse for. Every DW I have ever owned would not clean unless I rinsed. I would love to not have to rinse.

i have two kitchen aids...rinsing makes them not work as well.

and i also have a dw on either side and really don't notice a difference.

Gizmonike,
what if you have chicken or rib bones? Don't you scrape them off? My house is 20 years old and we had some problems with water backing up into the sink. They had to snake my pipes from the roof and go beneath my kitchen floor. The plumber said that garbage disposals and dishwashers do not do a good enough job of pulverizing the food and over years food particles collect and clog the pipes. In fact, he told me that most plumbers do not even have a garbage disposal! I baby my pipes. I toss out potatoe skins, leftover salad (wilted lettuce and onion skins are the worst culprits to clog pipes), bones and much else. In fact, I'll bet everyone else reading this thread dumps the leftovers on their plates into the trash, then rinses, then places them in the dishwasher.

Everything food related goes into the disposal here. When it's 98 degrees out (like it was today) the last thing I want is a smelly garbage bin outside.

The only thing I don't put down my disposal is bones, onion skins, banana peels, fruit pits and corned beef (HA! learned that one the hard way).

I don't use much water though, just scrape all the plates and then rinse the sink out and run the water to use the disposal.

As a side-note, here in Raleigh they will be banning garbage disposals for replacements and in new-builds. So glad I don't live in the city limits. Selfish as it may sound, when we were without a sink the garbage disposal was what I missed most; probably because my kids still thought we had one and I had to scoop wet cheerios out of the sink everyday.

Personally I am right handed and prefer the DW on the right side, but what is more important to me is having the DW on the far side of the sink from the dining table. I find it awkward to walk around the open dw door to get to the sink when cleaning up.

I really appreciate your input! I will print it out and look at all the options! Thanks! Marla

I said we don't rinse dishes, etc, before putting them in the DW but we always scrape them. While we do have a garbage disposal in our cleanup & prep sinks, our primary way to dispose of food waste is still the trash. Only soupy stuff or smelly leftovers go into the disposal.

We have 2 Miele Excella DWs now & had 2 mid-line KitchenAid DWs in our former kitchen. Neither require pre-rinsing, and we use an enzyme-based powder detergent.