Updating a Dishwasher

As you may have seen on my list of 300 things I want in life, I wanted a new dishwasher. Our dishwasher was from the 1970s, leaked, and overall was starting to bite the dust. So, we finally replaced it. I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have to a) accurately depict how insane it was to replace or b) help you change your dishwasher in the future if you plan on updating an old one.

Taking out the old dishwasher

It took us nearly an hour and a half just to take out the old dishwasher. When we tried pulling it out, it kept getting stuck on something. We couldn’t figure out what it was getting stuck on at first (especially because we have never changed a dishwasher before). First, we tried to turn the water off to the dishwasher using the valve located under the sink. Unfortunately, the valve wouldn’t turn as it probably hadn’t been turned since it was installed in the 70s. So, we had to turn of the water to the whole house. Second, we had to locate where the water was connected under the sink and unscrew the waterline. Being a dishwasher from the 70s, the water line was a metal pipe with absolutely no give. It took a lot of effort and strength to unscrew the waterline and bend the pipe so we could pull out the dishwasher.

But the damn thing still wouldn’t come out. We thought, maybe it was the drain pipe connected to the disposal, so we disconnected the drain pipe so we could push it through the hole under the sink easier. Still, the dishwasher was caught on something. We couldn’t find how the thing was plugged in! We thought it was maybe plugged into the wall behind the dishwasher. So we kept trying to pull it out. No luck!

Finally, we removed the panel covering the electrical wires and discovered it was wired directly into the floor. So we went to the breaker and turned off the power to the dishwasher to start disconnecting the wires. We had to cut the ground wire because of how they attached the ground to the dishwasher.

Success! We finally had the dishwasher free and were able to pull it out!

But we had to decide if we would wire the new dishwasher to the floor or plug it in under the sink.

We tried pulling the wire out of the floor some more, but there was no extra wire. We decided to cap the wires and shove them as close to the ground (and a little under the cabinet) as we could.

Next, we had to set up the new dishwasher.

First, we laid the new dishwasher down on it back so we could locate the electrical component, the water intake, and the drain. We connected the waterline to the intake on the bottom of the dishwasher (connecting it under the sink comes later).

Then, we opened the electrical panel and connected the electrical cord to the dishwasher. Essentially, you connect the white to the white, the black to the black, and the green to a screw on the metal panel under the dishwasher.

If you buy a new dishwasher and cord, the cord will come with plugs that make connecting the wires super easy. You just twist the wires together, then twist on the cap. We added electrical tape for good measure. Then you reconnect the panel. Next, we decided to use the same drain pipe that was connected to the old dishwasher because of the fitting to the disposal.

All that was left was pushing the dishwasher back in.

We ensured the drain pipe, the waterline, and the cord were all on the correct side of the dishwasher before we started pushing it back in. We fished the pipe, waterline, and cord through the hole in the cabinet under the sink as we pushed the dishwasher into place. It took several attempts, and we had to pull it out and push it back in several times to ensure it was even and level (there are feet under the dishwasher to raise/lower to ensure it’s level and tall enough). Once the dishwasher was in a good spot, we screwed it into the cabinet. Then, we connected the waterline and the drain pipe and plugged it in.