Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Private home dishwashers: 18" vs 24"

[Jenny Guy (jenstermeister]

I think I would go with the 18". I've been living in retrofit cohousing for
6 months, with a smaller kitchen than I'm used to. It's my preference to
have a 24" dishwasher, and fill it up for a couple of days and then run it,
but when I think about remodeling my little kitchen (someday!), I plan for
an 18" dishwasher because that will allow more cabinets. When you have a
small kitchen, the dishwasher takes up valuable space that could have been
used for cupboards.

I downsized when I moved here, and gave my son some of my kitchen stuff for
his new household, because I don't have as much cabinet space as I used to.
I live alone, but 4 nights a week 3 people eat dinner here. Now, when my
24" dishwasher is half full, I run out of plates for dinner. So that's
another factor: less cupboard space = fewer dishes = you need to run the
dishwasher, and I hate to run a dishwasher that isn't full.

My brother and SIL have an 18" dishwasher (family of 3, not in cohousing,
host big dinner parties), and they're happy with it. They have a large
kitchen but chose it because (unlike me) they don't like to let the dishes
collect there.

I agree that the idea that you don't need as much kitchen because you'll be
eating in the common house doesn't necessarily pan out,
and I prefer a standard-size dishwasher, but I think the trade-off of
having more cabinet space (an 18" cabinet instead of 12") would be worth it
, at least in my case.

Can you describe what the difference would be, in terms of cabinetry, with
 the 2 designs you're considering?

Jenny Guy
Kingfisher Cohousing on Brookdale, Oakland CA
brookdalecommons.org



> On Oct 18, 2013, at 3:48 PM, Taryn Leigh <taryn_leigh [at] hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > One question that has come up is dishwasher size in the private homes.
> >
> > Our architect, Charles Durrett (extensive cohousing experience)
> recommends an 18" unit however our developers/project managers (extensive
> small strata development experience but no cohousing experience) say 18" is
> too small and to install 24" units.
> >
> > Some context:
> >
> > We have designed 31 units, studios, one bedroom, two bedroom, three
> bedroom and 1 four bedroom unit.
> >
> > Our private kitchens are small, a few have only 3 upper half-cabinets.
> >
> > Our group hopes to hold 3-5 common meals per week.
> >
> > We are four member households away from being sold out and so far the
> largest family size is two parents and two kids.
> >
>
>
>
>
>