I am currently redesigning my kitchen in a 1930’s Midwestern USA house. The kitchen has a decent floor area but the floor plan is oddly restrictive.
My space next to the sink is such that I can either have a standard 24" dishwasher next to the sink and a slightly weird cabinet adjacent to it, or I could have an 18 inch dishwasher at 45 degrees flanked by two small but reasonably sized cabinet doors (or drawers), although the 45 degree plan would dictate a somewhat shallow custom counter depth on the flanks (like 18-20 inches).
I think I would be more proud of the accomplishment of building the angled design, and I think the ergonomics would be optimal.
But I’m not sure about the smaller dishwasher. I have never used a smaller one. It seems like it would be enough for my small family and still plenty helpful for gatherings.
If you choose any dishwasher, spend the extra money and get one that’s quiet. The cheapest ones are so loud that you can’t really enjoy anything else while they’re running. I’m willing to bet that quiet 18" dishwashers are pretty hard to come by.
I would strongly encourage you to get standard-sized appliances, especially for ones that slot into a specific space like a dishwasher.
We recently needed to buy a new refrigerator. Our opening could not take a standard 36" French door fridge - or must be either a single-door 36" or a French door 33". Neither of those are the current standard. While on the surface there are several models that could work in this space, it quickly became clear that we have virtually no options. Fancy ice maker? Not available. Door-in-door? Nope! Multiple interior layout options? Hah, no!
It turns out that companies only make significant options in the most common size. Thinking that you do not care about those options? I believe that you do not want them now. That may well change in the future, and then you will be stuck. A family’s needs change as everyone ages, and the things that feel great now may not be good choices for you later. Flexibility is king when it comes to long term planning.
We only had an option to add an 18" to our kitchen. We’re a family of 4 and it works well enough for us. We run it most days and twice on particularly heavy days. For us it was absolutely worth it and prevents constant arguments about having to hand wash dishes. 18"s are definitely less common than 24", but it’s not like it’s an obsolete or custom size, your going to be able to find them if needed.
I’d question whether the 45 degree option will really be optimal ergonomically. It’ll mean that it’s harder to get at the dishwasher racks from the sides while they’re pulled out (since there’s a cabinet door at a 45 degree angle to them). Particularly for loading the back of the rack, that’ll mean reaching relatively far.
I have a dishwasher next to the sink, and I tend to load it from the side standing in front of the sink. If it was at 45 degrees the door would open so that I couldn’t stand in front of the sink while it was open.
Obviously I haven’t seen your floor plan, so there’s maybe something I’m missing, but I don’t see how a 45 degree angle could make the ergonomics better.
Yeah this is a really excellent point thank you. I was actually thinking about ergonomics of the workspace above, but the bending, twisting and reaching is going to be an issue.
I can see how the 45deg plan could make the racks less accessible, especially for the shorter armed members of my house.
Even if loading from the front was equivalent to loading from the side, my plan would encourage you to load from the corner, which is probably not great.