I think many cycles on my DW use about 4.2 gallons of water or less depending on soil and load size but the DW can use more if the soil level is high but no more than 6 gallons. I connect mine to hot water, however my DW is not close to the water heater so the actual water is not all that hot, but better than the 38F degree water that comes out of the cold water line in the winter. I don't wash fine china in the DW so don't really care about dish damage, but even if I did because of my situation I can still get a cooler fill for that cycle. So it depends on your situation. If I cared about the china crystal thing ALOT then I would go with the cold water supply. Since I don't I opt for the hot water supply which helps speed up the cycle a little. I have seen times where there is a temp delay using a hot fill (you can tell if the time remaining count down stops and holds the same time) The delay has never been more than 3 minutes and then the time countdown will resume, however this will only happen if there is some different unexpected condition because each time you run a cycle the DW will take the time it took to heat the water into consideration so that the next time you run that cycle the initial cycle time will already include the time it took to heat the water the last few times you ran that cycle. Anyway it depends on your situation. For me no worries about china/crystal = hot water fill.

Well, after much discussion, debate, and numerous proposals on the subject, we now have a new Laundry Forum on THS! Hopefully this will indeed help relieve some of the burden in the original Appliances Forum, where the 300 thread limit was starting to burst at the seams in a somewhat desperate effort to contain lengthy conversations about *all* appliances... thanks, Spike, for making this upgrade happen! Anyway, in order to further improve access to information on laundry-specific topics, Spike and the THS staff have created another new FAQ section, specific to the Laundry Forum. I, "hardwarehack" Tom, am now working as the Editor of both FAQ sections, and will be re-posting the various laundry-related FAQ articles from the Appliances FAQ here... as well as starting into the large pending queue of FAQ files submitted to me by helpful THS participants. As Spike noted, the transition to the new split Forum system will take a little while, so for now, I'll leave the original Appliance FAQ article URLs intact, for handy reference. If anyone has additional suggestions for this new FAQ section, I'm about to create another FAQ thread in the main Forum - please post ideas, comments, and formal proposed FAQ textfiles there. Note that outside links (e.g. company sites, etc) are *not* permitted in the THS FAQs, partly to avoid advertising, and partly to avoid the looming specter of linkrot in countless "permanent" files (remember that unlike the main Forum threads, FAQ articles are here to stay!). I will also continue to monitor the "main" Forum threads, for possible interesting and helpful data, that can be immortalized in the FAQ. :) In short, if anyone wishes to contribute here, there's no need to email me - just post your thoughts in the main Forum, either in the FAQ thread or other threads, and I'll then compile and re-post them here. Thanks everyone!! --Tom. [added to Laundry FAQ: 21 May 2003]

While I think the revisions addressed some issues, I would 1. make the vanity longer and use up all the space possible. Remember, 2 sink vanities lose a lot of drawer/storage space. Also, is there any other storage in the bathroom? Where will a towel-rack go or even a bar to hang a towel? 2. A desk inside the closet? Not what I would do, but maybe you have a good reason. You're going to need some serious lighting conditions in there to address the needs of someone working at the desk. 3. You must have a great relationship with a plumber, because none of the water-needing devices are back-to-back which means a whole lot of plumbing. 4. I'd probably close up that door from the bathroom to the closet. 1st, you get more hanging space in the closet. 2nd, you get room to add a tall bank of cabinets in the bathroom for storage. 5. Is that the shower in the upper left corner? 6' by 5'? That's an awfully big shower (bigger showers not always better, since it might not be as warm in there), and then a little dinky toilet area which is going to feel cramped. 6. The master bedroom is still so big you can fit a sofa in there. This is my personal preference, but here you are adding all this "utility" to a big space...2 bathrooms, a desk to work at, a new laundry room... and yet you still want all that roomy space around the bed. I just wouldn't want that, if I were you. To me, I consider having separate vanities a far bigger luxury than space around a bed, or having a sofa in my bedroom. I do think it's a great idea to have the laundry close to the kitchen like that. But a powder room that is going to flush while people are dining at the table? And they'll be able to smell from there? All in all, I don't really know why you are opposed to getting an architect. I'd want it done right for the amount of money you'll end up paying for construction.

@Veronica We’re not finished, we ended up parting ways from our contractor due to a lack of quality in their work. We’ve been doing the finishing ourselves as time and money allows. We ended up casing the opening between the dining room and garage- creating a play area and lounge space. We have a full bathroom and laundry room in the back 1/3 of the previous 1 car garage, with a small closet between the two for toy and game storage. (The header delineates what used to be the garage wall in the photos) The previous garage door opening was bricked in and we had a window placed that matched the size of the other exterior windows. My husband still has some electrical work, trim and other things to finish up.