Fastening the facade to the dishwasher

After buying a built-in dishwasher, the user is faced not only with the task of how to connect it to a drain or water supply, electrical communications, but also how to hang the facade on the door. Most trust the furniture makers to solve this problem, and only a few hang the facade on their own. What is necessary for such work, how to carry out installation - we will give an answer to these questions.

Facade and its purpose

The facade for the dishwasher is a decorative panel, which is usually made of the same material as the facades of kitchen furniture. She is mounted on the door. The facade allows you to hide the dishwasher so that it is not always possible to understand that it is the dishwasher that is hidden, and not the cabinet.

Completely built-in dishwashers 45 or 60 cm with a hanging facade have some advantages:

• they facilitate the choice, from the point of view of the design component, there is no need to select the color of the dishwasher to match the color of the kitchen or other furniture, it will still be hidden, which means it will fit perfectly into the interior;
• the control panel is not noticeable, which means that young children will not once again press buttons;
• thanks to the façade, it is not so audible how the machine makes noise during washing.

The facade is most often made of MDF 16 mm thick, it can be laminated MDF or coated with a colored film, and therefore the color and texture of the facade can be any. And one more thing, in some built-in dishwashers, the open door is fixed only after the facade can be installed.

Sizes of the decorative panel

The size of the facade will primarily depend on the size of the dishwasher. In terms of width it is mainly machines 45 and 60 cm, the height of most built-in machines is 82 cm. But there are compact models with a height of 60 and 50 cm.

Important! We have given the average size of the machines (60 and 45 cm), models can vary in width and height from a few millimeters to a few centimeters.

Experts recommend first choosing a 60 cm or 45 dishwasher, determining its size, and then ordering furniture for the kitchen. In this case, there is less chance of making a mistake with the dimensions of the niche for the dishwasher and, accordingly, the dimensions of the facade. Indeed, in reality, the dishwasher can have a width of not 60, but 59, 2 cm, not 45, but 44.6 cm, which is very significant. An improperly made facade can no longer be cut off, because its appearance will deteriorate, since the end parts of the facade, like its front side, are laminated or covered with a film.

As for the height of the facade of the dishwasher, it should also be clearly calculated. The height of the facade of the dishwasher is slightly greater than the height of the door of the dishwasher. So that the facade is flush with the countertop, you will have to adjust not the facade, but the legs of the dishwasher so that it clearly fits under the countertop. What will be the height of the facade in a partially built-in dishwasher, will depend on the width of the control panel on the door. To hang such a facade is a little easier than in fully-built models.

We hang the decorative panel ourselves

The facade of the dishwasher should be hung only after the dishwasher is connected to the water supply and drain. In addition, you need to install the dishwasher in the niche, which is diverted under it. For work, you may need:

• roulette;
• screwdrivers;
• fasteners;
• handle for opening the door;
• the facade itself.

Note! Many built-in dishwashers come with instructions for attaching the facade and a special layout for marking. In models Bosch, Siemens even put a special screwdriver.

So, before installing the facade, the dishwasher is attached to the side walls of adjacent cabinets and to the countertop. After that, you need to screw the handle on the front side of the facade to open the door.To do this, carefully drill holes for the screw with a drill. The drill should be thinner than the screw, and you need to drill from the front. So you will avoid chipping on the facade.

Next, you need to determine the distance (Z) at which the place of fastening of the facade should be. This is necessary so that the edge of the facade of the dishwasher is flush with the edges of the facades of adjacent cabinets. Using a tape measure, measure the clearance between the countertop and the facade of the adjacent cabinet (distance x), then measure the distance from the top fastening of the facade to the countertop (distance y). Now we calculate Z = y-x, this will be the desired size - the distance from the attachment point to the edge of the facade of the dishwasher.

After measuring, take the template from the kit and attach it to the inner surface of the facade with tape, according to the calculations. It’s better to double-check everything several times, and if possible, practice on a piece of unnecessary MDF. So, using the template, outline the points for the holes for the mount. Then drill holes so that the drill does not pass through, ¾ of the facade thickness is enough, otherwise there will be holes. You can do without drilling, but such a mount is more reliable.

And finally, fix the facade with the help of screws. In some models it is necessary to unscrew the short ones and screw in their place the long pits that pull the door and the facade together. Installation on this may not end. First check how the door opens, if it rests against the base below, how tight it opens.

Important! The degree of tension on the door of the dishwasher is adjusted using bolts located on the sides of the bottom of the machine.

If the facade rests on the base when opening, which can happen during miscalculations, you will need to make a small gap in the base. The size of this gap will be equal to the thickness of the facade plus 2-3 mm. This is a perfectly acceptable option, especially when adjusting all the facades in level by twisting the legs of the furniture and the dishwasher fails.

So, installing a decorative panel on the door of a built-in dishwasher 60 or 45 cm should not be difficult if everything is correctly calculated and the size of the facade is adjusted to the size of the equipment. We hope our tips will help you in your work, good luck!