After using our Pinnacle 37MDQS for about 15 days straight, we discovered that we were not fans of the farm sink setup. That's probably something that deserves a whole thread on it's own...
So, in looking into what different options would be there, came across this link to this YouTube video on a FisherPaykel drawer dishwasher install:
https://youtu.be/kKFDThbATq4
He does a good job of explaining the steps he went thru to get it installed, and some of the reasoning behind installing one, mostly water conservation. which is probably our biggest gripe about the farm sink.
So, we decided that adding a dishwasher would be a good solution. But, since I can never do anything the easy way, I started measuring, and I discovered that I
should be able to fit the TALL version, Fisher Paykel model DD24SCTX9N, dishwasher into our 37MDQS, not the shorter version in the video.
At the end of the day, I DID get the taller version in there, but there is no room for error, and I'm not for sure that I would recommend this to everyone, as it may not fit in some units, due to the drain on the sink. Unfortunately, I didn't take a pic of this, but the issue is on the left side of the cabinet where the sink drain comes down. The overall height of the tall unit is 17.875" and the dimension from the bottom of the cabinet to the drain pipe is 17.75", but the pipe does move up some. If that dimension was much less than that, I would say this install won't work. This install does also require more rework of the cabinet, which could scare some people away too.
As for installing it, the taller version requires a few more mods than the smaller version, which are related to the height. You have to remove material from both the BOTTOM of the cabinet and the top of the top of the cabinet.
The bottom was pretty easy. Just use a vibratory tool, and set it along the bottom of the cabinet, and cut the front off. The vibratory tool doesn't make a great finished edge, but that's all covered up, so not a big deal. That ultimately removes about a 3/16" of material from the opening, but still not enough.
The top is a little trickier to fix. You have to cut about 3/8" off of the top side of the cabinet. Again, I turned to the vibratory tool, but I used a piece of angle iron as a guide. That worked OK, but again, the vibratory tool doesn't make a super great cut.
One tip that I ran onto is that the right side of the cabinet has to be removed also. That piece comes right out, BUT there are actually 4 screws that hold it on, and there are 2 of them that are hidden, so you need to take a piece to get to them, and it's just held on with staples, and comes right off.
After getting the cabinet all trimmed out, I used some dark stain to hide all of the white wood. The dishwasher itself also covers that up too.
I decided to use the front screw option, and not the side option. If I had that to do over again, I would probably use the side option. I did split out one of the front stiles, but it's really noticeable, except to me.
Another tip that I can pass along about this install is that the instructions aren't super clear, at least not pictorially, that there is a rubber washer what you have to install onto the hose adapter. Without that, the connection will leak.
Here is the installed dishwasher in place.
The dishwasher works GREAT, and is super super quiet. The only time that we can hear it, is when it's draining, and that's mostly noise coming from the sink drain. One plus to the size of unit is that we can get a half-sized baking sheet in there, standing on end. We put pots, pans, everything that will fit inside of there, and it handles it all with no issues.
After getting the dishwasher installed, I decided to repurpose the drawer that came out, and I trimmed it down to fit inside of the bottom pantry cabinet, where we keep all of our pans. It's easy to lose stuff in those deep narrow cabinets.
I was actually able to use all of the pieces from the drawer, and just trim the drawer to fit the new cabinet size.
Linear Mode
