A few years ago we bought an apartment in New York with a kitchen that was less than ideal. It had a dishwasher, but it was small and not very good. We don’t have the space for two dishwashers, but I figured if we could buy one of those drawer style dishwashers, we could fit it in under the sink and gain some extra space. However, I did a quick search and found that most of them were $1,000 or more.
I decided to do a little research to see if I could build my own. After a lot of looking around on the internet and finding very little, I decided to figure it out myself. There are a lot of steps involved and you need some knowledge of plumbing and electrical work. But if you take your time and plan things out carefully you can do this yourself for about half the cost of buying one new.
A few weeks ago, we had a problem. We have a large family and seem to be perpetually in need of dishwashers. We went to buy another one and found that they are more expensive than ever. So I decided that we should double our dishwashing capacity by installing an extra one.
If you have never installed a dishwasher before, you should know that it is very easy:
1. Turn off the water supply.
2. Disconnect the water supply hose from the sink faucet and remove the drain hose from the garbage disposal or sink tailpiece (the pipe under the sink where you connect the drainage hose).
3. Secure the mounting brackets at the underside of the countertop with screws and plastic anchors (use screws long enough to penetrate through to the cabinet).
4. Set the dishwasher on top of these brackets, making sure that it is level. Secure them with screws driven through holes in each side of the dishwasher into the mounting brackets (again, use screws long enough to penetrate through to the cabinet).
5. Connect your new dishwasher hot water line to your existing hot water supply line under your kitchen sink with a T-fitting and new copper line attached with compression fittings (making
Several years ago I wrote a blog post called “DIY Dishwasher Repair: I Can Fix That!” Since then, it’s been viewed more than one million times. And since then, I’ve received countless emails and comments with questions about how to do the repair, how to buy the right parts, and so on.
Since that post was written, the cost of a new dishwasher has gone up considerably. As of this writing (May 2014), a new dishwasher will cost you at least $400.00, even for a low-end model.
When we bought our home in 2007, it came with an older dishwasher that was relatively small inside and ran very loudly during operation. We didn’t mind the noise too much because we live in a fairly large house and we don’t have any close neighbors. But what we did mind was how little space there was inside for loading all of our dishes into it.
When I wrote my original post on DIY Dishwasher Repair in 2009, I had owned that dishwasher for two years and it was still running fine, despite its age (at least ten years). But by 2011 it began having problems again, and we were thinking seriously about replacing it.
I have a dishwasher. It was not expensive. When I bought it, I was looking for a basic one that would do the job and not cost too much. It has done well over the years, but since I cook a lot I really wanted a second dishwasher.
I started by looking at new ones, but even a cheap one is about $400. Then I looked at used ones on Craig’s List, but even those were about $200 plus $50 for delivery and installation. That’s more than my original dishwasher cost. So I decided to do some research and see if I could build my own for less than $200.
This post is about how you can do this yourself. You’ll need at least basic skills using tools like a drill, screwdriver, wrenches, etc., but you don’t need any special skills or training to build your own dishwasher.
Let’s start with the materials:
I have an older dishwasher that’s been having problems lately. We’re not ready to replace it yet, and after some research I discovered that the parts are still available for my model.
I decided to order a new control board and see if it would solve the problem. The part came in and I installed it. It did not fix the problem. After some more research, I determined that the heating element was probably bad.
I ordered the heating element and it came in today. Installing the heating element looks like a big job, so I haven’t started it yet, but if I had known how easy this would be I would have done it a long time ago!
This is a bit of an experiment as we haven’t used the dishwasher since installing the heating element, but here’s what we did:
1) Removed the front panel of the dishwasher (it just snaps off).
2) Removed two screws holding on the metal plate that surrounds the bottom sprayer arm (it just pops out).
3) Removed two screws holding on the black plastic base plate at the bottom of the tub (it just pops out).
4) Pulled out both of the lower sprayer arms after removing three screws each (they pull straight up
I didn’t realize how much I relied on my dishwasher until it broke. After a few weeks of hand washing dishes and utensils, I was surprised to find that my hands had actually begun to resemble those of a main character in a horror movie. The skin was peeling away from the tops and bottoms of my fingers, creating an unpleasant oozing rash that extended down to my fingernails.
The only good thing about this situation was the fact that I finally had a legitimate excuse for buying a new dishwasher. But after calling around for some quotes, it wasn’t looking like I’d be able to afford one any time soon.
Apparently, there is not much competition in the dishwasher market because every repair company had an exorbitant service fee and quoted me at least $600 for parts and labor. That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands (literally).
I found a service manual online that described how to replace just the inner shell of the dishwasher, which included the drain pump and motor assembly. This part alone cost around $240, but it was definitely less than “the going rate.” This is not a DIY project for everyone because you’ll need some plumbing experience along with access to some power tools and specialized
I used to think I was a decent cook. Decent, but not great. I did not really know how to utilize the whole kitchen. I could make great steaks, use the broiler right, and toast bread in the oven. I could follow recipes for baked goods and make a good meal for my family. But that was about it.
One night a few months ago my wife and I were having a few friends over for dinner. She had made a delicious chicken dish with vegetables that was paired with some red wine from Napa. It was great, but we did not have enough plates and silverware for everyone because we had just moved into our house and did not have time to go buy more yet. The conversation at the table was wonderful; everyone enjoyed their food, wine and company immensely.
When everyone left I cleaned up the dishes by hand because our dishwasher was broken after two years of service! After cleaning all of the dishes, pots, pans and utensils by hand I decided I would never do that again! What if we wanted to invite people over? What if we had guests over regularly? How would we ever keep up?