I’m undertaking a countertop upgrade. The dishwasher has a door panel attached to the front and it’s really important that the dishwasher be securely fastened to the underside of the countertop to keep the door panel aligned since there’s very little clearance from side to side. Of course, it also prevents the dishwasher from tipping forward when you open the door.
The granite installer put a sheet metal strip that bridges the cabinets and has a bunch of starter holes to accept a sheet metal screw from the underside. The problem is that the holes in the dishwasher bracket don’t align perfectly with any of the starter holes in the sheet metal strip. If you screw the dishwasher bracket to the nearest starter hole, the dishwasher shifts just enough to misalign the door panel.
Surely there’s a better way.
Anybody know of a solution that provides greater flexibility or adjustability?
Unusual configuration. Usually we attach a piece of wood from cabinet to cabinet in the dishwasher space and you just put a screw into the wood. Not being there it's difficult to visualize what kind of sheetmetal rail you have. It sounds like all you would need to do is drill some new holes where the dishwasher bracket meets. I've also seen granite people glue the dishwasher tabs to the underside of the counter with some of the polyester adhesive they use to install the counters.
If I understand the situation correctly, you ought to be able to line it up properly, mark where the D/W tabs are, then drill new pilot holes in the correct spots. There are only 2 holes, and once it's attached, I can't see any reason why you would need 'flexibility or adjustment', as you say.
Drill granite? I would be afraid of cracking the top. Plus, what kind of screws would you use for granite? I go with gluing a piece of wood to the CT and mounting the DW with that.
This is the bracket I was describing. The end tabs get attached to the cabinets on either side of the dishwasher.
As you can see, it has pre-punched starter holes. Even though there are a bunch of them, none of them align with the holes in the Dishwasher bracket. Because there are so many of them, it’s not possible to create a new hole in-between the pre-punched holes.
“Usually we attach a piece of wood from cabinet to cabinet in the dishwasher space and you just put a screw into the wood”
A piece of wood seems like it would afford the most flexibility, but what does that piece of wood look like?
I don’t think there’s that much clearance between the dishwasher brackets and the underside of the countertop.
Quickstep: Typically, the standard granite counter top is approximately 3/4" thickness (2cm), and it has a doubled up front edge to give the appearance of a thicker slab. Unless you have a 3cm slab, in which case there is often not a doubled front edge hanging down. When a wood strip is attached beneath the granite, it is usually attached behind that doubled up front edge, leaving only about 1/4" thickness hanging down into the clearance space. Your D/W slides in flush with the cabinet faces and the top tabs (usually 2 of them) can then screw into the wood strip. The standard counter top height is 36" to the top and there is typically 34 1/2" of clearance space from the floor to the underside of the counter's front edge. This allows a D/W to slide in and you can usually lower the front adjustment feet on the D/W to fit in that space, with a little to spare. They will usually go down to about 34" height.
As suggested, you can use adhesive to attach the wood strip to the underside of the granite.
George C, I have a question. I have never seen a D/W with side tabs, only top ones, so that they mount under the counter and are not readily visible. How do side tabs attach without being visible? Are they located just behind the edge of the D/W door and only visible when the door is open? Or is there a decorative trim strip that goes on afterward to cover them?
Usually the tabs on a dishwasher have enough slack in them to move them left or right. If your dishwasher doesn't I would be inclined to remove that bracket and get rid of it. You could cut a strip of wood 3/4"x 2" and glue it flat to the underside of the granite with some epoxy and screw the tabs to that. You should be able to adjust the height of the dishwasher to account for the 3/4".
If there isn't enough room for a wood strip, there are brackets that can be mounted with adhesive to the underside of the granite. The installers left a couple tabs like these which have never installed (we never use our dw) but if I were to use them, I would simply epoxy them.
It turns out the Tabs that mount the dishwasher to the countertop underside can be re-oriented to attach it to sides. I had to make a couple of shims, but no biggie. It was actually easier to keep it centered this way.
I wouldn’t have imagined that the tabs would have worked in a different orientation, but thanks to you nudge to re-visit the installation instructions, I’m now in business.
I guess dishwasher manufacturers are just starting to catch up. They make the tabs on the top to screw to a formica countertop. I haven't done a job this century with a formica countertop.
I had a similar situation. Our dishwasher had holes so it could be attached on the sides to the adjacent cabinets. There were no tabs involved, I just got some stainless steel screws of appropriate length.
Jim
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