apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have the Fisher and Paykel ones, and I really like them. I rarely use both drawers, though (only with a big dinner party). I fill up the top and run it. I've thought maybe I should alternate?? Does anyone?

Love the Eco setting, but the "Fast" cycle never gets my dishes clean. I always have to run the normal cycle.

It's great not having to pull down a big heavy door, though. The drawers are so smooth and convenient.

I've wanted one since they came out. I've been waiting for them to become a bit more common and hopefully for the price to come down a bit.

I had two in my kitchen until I sold my house. Both were from Fisher Paykel and they absolutely did not clean like an original sized one...i had the repair man tell me i needed to use a special liquid detergent and that the plates had to be virtually cleaned and rinsed prior to placing them in the drawer.

Plus the drawers held a lot less dishes...truly one of the good things about selling my house was losing those dishwasher draweres...not to mention that mine were among the first from Fisher and they learned from their mistakes as the markings quickly eroded away...

You rack up a boatload of repair charges if the guy who installs them for you doesn't know how to do it properly. Otherwise, I'd love to have some. Maybe in a kitchen of my own someday...

They sure look good. As it is, I am always juggling to fit dishes in my full size dishwasher after a day of dishes for a family of 5. I can't imagine trying to fit my all-clad in these drawers along with dishware. Probably only functional for small families who eat out alot.

What I really need is a second full-size dishwasher. I can never get everything to fit and end up running it 2x a day sometimes. We have two dishwasher drawers (in addition to a regular dishwasher) at our family summer home though. They're ok but not great. Now, a refrigerator drawer is something to talk about!

For me, it was all about form and function.

I wanted one so that I had additional room for a storage door. A full-size dishwasher takes up the space of one full cabinet or two storage drawers.

I determined that for barely 1000 s.f. of space and two people that the size of the dish drawer would be quite adequate.

The dishdrawer has been more than adequate for our needs and I am a professional chef, my wife, an avid baker and both of us do a lot of cooking at home. On big cooking and preparation days, we may run the dishwasher twice. However, the cycles are shorter than a regular dishwasher.

If I had more space I would like another dish drawer just for glassware.

The F & P dishdrawer is quite effective but you must be sure to use rinse additive.

If we were a bigger family there would be a need to have more dishwashing capability just as different sized restaurants have different sized machines. It's all about what is best for your space and lifestyle.

My mother has two Fisher Paykel drawers at home and she likes them. She lives alone, so it's convenient for her to run just one drawer at a time.

Years ago in an apartment, I had an apartment size regular dishwasher and it was great. I think it was 18" instead of 24", and it was perfect since I didn't cook every day.
I think the dish drawers are a stupid gimmick that was invented as a way to get people to fork over twice or three times the money for a less functional product. I hear about more problems with them than any other applicance.

I've been considering a single drawer; because of the way my VERY small kitchen is organized, a single drawer is really the only built in option we could consider. I've held off b/c it seems like I get very opposing reviews from people who have owned them.

I really wish that appliance designers would give priority to smaller items as opposed to creating bigger and bigger appliances for American kitchens.

@peaceami,

I've never had trouble with mine.

If you want some peace of mind you can pay a little extra for something like a 5 year all encompassing warranty.

I hear what you are saying about designers creating smaller appliances. It's the same thing with furniture.

You are right considering a dishdrawer for a very small space. Just as small restaurants and bars are right for considering commercial dishdrawers in their very small spaces. I remember the pintxos bars in Spain washing their plates and glasses in little dishwashers right behind the bar.

My parents have a 2 drawer dishwasher and they love it. Since most of the time it's just the two of them they can just use one drawer, but when they're feeding a crowd on holidays they use both.

Wasn't there a fisher paykel video review around the holidays on AT a few years ago? All I remember was that it was hilarious. Harsh, but funny.

We have double F&P DishDrawers. I wouldn't buy them again, but they aren't terrible, either, once you learn how to get good performance out of a load. A full-sized dishwasher is a much better value.

We started out with a v2 unit and after about 10 repairs, I wrote to the company and they sent the factory rep out to give us a brand new v3 unit, which has performed much better. There is definitely convenience in having a dirty drawer and a clean drawer, for instance. Or, if you keep Kosher, you could have one drawer for milk and one for meat.

@Elizabeth P: Yes, I always alternate. As much to do with my dirty/clean strategy as with wear and tear. The last time we needed a repair, the part had to be shipped from New Zealand! I imagine they might have fixed that by now, though.

I have the Fisher & Paykel double drawers and I love them. A single drawer is more than enough for dishes for one or two people.

I joke sometimes that when I remodel the kitchen I'll just replace all the lower cabinet storage with FP dishdrawers and never have to put anything away again!

We've got a double from F&P. It came with the house so we've kept it. Coming from Europe and now living in NZ, the home of F&P, I'm somewhat disappointed with the quality of most of their products. The drawers however really suck.

You'll never fit as much into two drawers as you will fit into a regular DW. More often than not, I find myself looking at a drawer that's basically full, yet there's not much in it.

Since these drawers have only the one spray arm in the bottom, most times smaller pieces on either of the drop-down shelves don't come out clean. Our large dinner plates barely fit - OMG, I could go on.

No, I certainly wouldn't buy one and for the equivalent of US$950 I can find some very nice and European down here.

One Minute Tip: Avoid the Fisher & Paykel DishDrawer
We considered a DishDrawer for a while, but this video convinced me to think otherwise. Also it was more than twice the cost of a standard-size, more energy efficient regular model. ($300 for our Whirlpool vs. $700 for the single drawer)

My parents have a 2-drawer F&P dishwasher and I hate loading it when I visit them for dinner. It's so hard to fit things in. My mom had to give away a lot of her fiesta ware because it simply didn't fit.

When I bought my own house and remodeled the kitchen, I did not even consider drawers. The benefits, perceived or real, were not even close to being worth the much higher cost.

That video is a perfect example of why you shouldn't record videos for the internet when you are drunk. How odd. Too bad they didn't show an "after" for the dishes, but I suppose most annoying food gunk that gets left on dishes wouldn't show up on a tiny encoded internet video anyway.

SisterRae: that was the video!

We got the double dishdrawers by DCS for Fischer and Paykel. http://www.warnersstellian.com/products/9241 We LOVE them. They are really energy efficient and offer an eco mode. The only downfall is that my husband, who is in charge of putting dishes away, has decided to just take clean dishes from one drawer and put the dirty dishes in the other drawer so he never has to put them away:)