The delivery guys showed up on Monday around 8:15. I spent the time disconnecting the dishwasher and stove. We also packed up the fridge the night before. As they carried the old appliances out, I would vacuum up the area before they brought the new ones in. First to arrive was the stove. I was going to use the same old cord, but they put a new one on for me. Glad I didn’t buy one at Lowes! Next to arrive was the dishwasher. Oddly enough, they left it in the living room. They lugged out old beast of a fridge out and brought in the new stainless bottom mount. It’s a thing of beauty I tell you. Shelves that aren’t cracked. A door that closes. An ice maker. Lap of luxury I tell ya…Then they carried in the new over the range microwave. I asked them about the dishwasher installation and they said to call Lowes to set it up. No problem. I tipped them $30 and gave them each a bottle of water and they were done by 9:15.
Lowes was running a promo where any dishwasher over $397 came with a free installation. I figured the delivery guys wouldn’t install it, so I called to inquire. Well, even though we bought a $600 dishwasher, our “discount” brought it under the $397 mark. So it would be $169 to install it. After easily disconnecting the old dishwasher, I said “No gracias. Neely and I will do it.”
All the existing plumbing was there, I just needed to hook it up, riiiiiight? Not in this house! Ok, it wasn’t that bad. My first mistake was I left a piece I needed on the old dishwasher. It was a 90 degree elbow that attached the dishwasher to the copper tubing. So I went to Lowes to pick it up, along with a socket kit (stay tuned…). With the new elbow in hand I taped it up and attached it to the dishwasher. I hooked up all the electrical, and the drain. It took a little finagling to get the dishwasher moved into its new home, but I nestled (forced) it in. Now I just needed to connect the old copper tubing to the new elbow. I only had about 5 inches to work with. I tried to get it started by hand but it was too tight (that’s what she said?). So I am trying to crank it by hand. I could only crank about 1/16th a revolution each time and it would probably take 50 or so full revolutions to crank it down. Just when I would think I was making process the entire fitting would pop off and I’d have to start over. The old tubing was not working. I check the connection under the sink and headed down to the local hardware store (closer than Lowes). I bought a dishwasher kit to get the 60” flex tubing I needed. It also came with the elbow I previously bought. Oh well. I taped up the fittings again and attached the tubing. Easy as pie! Turned the power and water back on and ran a test to see if it leaked, and drumroll…..OF COURSE IT DID!
Over the course of the express cycle a tiny bit leaked from the hot water line into a Tupperware container. I backed it off, re-taped it, tightened it up and ran it again. Second try was a dry success.
Stove, done. Fridge, Done, Dishwasher, done!
On to the microwave. This thing is a beast. I had every intention of installing it myself. After calling Nick with a few questions, he suggesting I wait for him to come over before hanging it. So I prepped it as best I could. I installed a socket in the cabinet above. We tore out the tiles on the backsplash to make room. Nick measured for the 4 holes we needed to drill and I drilled them. We hung the bracket, then mounted the microwave to it. Two lags in the wall and two lags in the top cabinet and it was done!
So I learned how to install a dishwasher and over the range microwave. No to mention a socket and some plumbing tricks. All things considered it was a very productive day off work.
Here are our new appliances in our old kitchen!
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