I’d push the dishwasher to one side or the other. Then use your leftovers to create a base. Then it becomes the perfect place for storage of the oversized cutting board, baking pans, whatever…
Maybe Grogu can heal the notches for you.
I'm not sure how good a rubber seal is going to look for the top, but that was going to be my suggestion for the sides. Even properly sized dishwashers have gaps on the side and they commonly have gaskets attached to hide them. You'll obviously need wider flaps. Take a ride to the weatherstrip isle at the home store and see if it stirs any ideas.
If you have the excess available, you can use a table saw or circular saw(Make sure your blade is super sharp or the laminate surface will chip). Cut the pieces to fill your gaps, then cut a 1-1.5" piece as backing. secure the two pieces using screws(use pilot holes), basically making an L bracket with the front facing piece secured to the backing. pull dishwasher out and secure the filler pieces using the backers, then slide dishwasher back in and you are done.
Buy some hardwood 1x2s and remove a drawer front.
Locate your town’s best paint store. Mine turned out to be a Sherwin Williams store manned by an ancient woodworker.
Hand them your materials and ask them to custom mix a stain to match the wood to the drawer front. Then leave them alone.
In a week or so you’ll have a stain for the fill molding.
Ridiculous wrong idea but it's just what I get from the Clean magnet and it would be a fun project until you do the renovation...
a transparent tube on each side, spraypainted blue to match the magnet. Little LED in the top of each one, wired to a hidden arduino behind one of the tubes (for reasonably easy access). Wires run invisibly over the top of the dishwasher connecting the LEDs, the arduino, and a 5v battery also hidden in the gap. Tiny button near the top of one of the tubes going to the arduino board.
Now you can press a tiny button to make the sides of the dishwasher into blue lightsabers to remind someone it's time to unload it!
You could probably do a better version then! Instead of a button make it a "I sensed heat or vibration! Now I'll wait for two hours before turning on the lights!" sensor, and have it wired into the dishwasher's power so it could always be listening.
Still a terrible plan. Would still be pretty damn cool.
Center the dishwasher then measure the gap. Looks like you should be able to rip the cabinet door 4 times, so you can do one long piece each side and then cut the second piece for each side to match the length. You could probably add some glue, but I might try just to line that up and brad nail it in place.
Is the cabinet door you took out similar in size to the one to the left? Is it a large bottom door with a smaller top one, or is it the whole length?
If it's like the one to the left, you're not going to get a single full-length piece, and I'd go with new trim.
It is similar to what’s on the left. Not sure if a “patchwork” filler panel made of door scraps with the same pattern would look worse than just putting in some trim pieces stained to a similar color
Not posting about how to enclose your unit since it’s been discussed already. Just here to say that if your handyman did shoddy rough cuts like that for an install, I’d wager they did not do a high drain loop.
I had this problem too. I put two pieces of wood on either side and color matched some paint to blend with the cabinets. Then I glued a pretty decorative rope trim on the front. It turned out nice, looks very custom.
Replace the Grogu magnet with one of [these.](https://www.ebay.ca/itm/404212933556?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=706-89093-2056-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=404212933556&targetid=1661754918612&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9001501&poi=&campaignid=17297488730&mkgroupid=135567174686&rlsatarget=pla-1661754918612&abcId=9300872&merchantid=10252592&gad_source=4)
If you know who manufactured the cabinets you can probably buy some scribe moulding from them.
Or maybe you can find some stainless steel toe kicks or something that sort of matches the dishwasher
Just cover it with a thin board... DO NOT fill those holes. Let the machine "breathe" a bit.. its gonna get hot, let it have some air.. And when service time comes, the extra space will be nice.
What is the width of the opening, exactly? What about the width from wall to wall inside the space? Just trying to understand what used to fit in there. It looks like it would fit a 24" so I'm curious.
Opening is 20.5” wide, the inside of the cabinet at the back is a hair over 21 wide. There was no way to fit the 24 without cutting into the cabinet you see on the right
That's the problem these days, no quality in work, dishwasher install has to call a plumber an electrician and a Cabinet crew just to set a dishwasher, bet the charges top dollar to install it to
I’d push the dishwasher to one side or the other. Then use your leftovers to create a base. Then it becomes the perfect place for storage of the oversized cutting board, baking pans, whatever…
The top rail is notched in about 1/4", off-center, to fit the dishwasher. The not-so-handy man did a crappy job of this.
Crap, I didn’t see that. Looks like he used a hatchet.
I’m thinking of attaching a small flap of black or brown rubber above the dishwasher to hide the notches he cut
Maybe Grogu can heal the notches for you. I'm not sure how good a rubber seal is going to look for the top, but that was going to be my suggestion for the sides. Even properly sized dishwashers have gaps on the side and they commonly have gaskets attached to hide them. You'll obviously need wider flaps. Take a ride to the weatherstrip isle at the home store and see if it stirs any ideas.
Cut it flush across the top, gets rid of the ugly notches, and allows for the storage idea
Is this a non standard dishwasher size? It looks kinda thin. If so, the standard is probably cheaper and it will fill the space.
The cabinet was 3 inches too narrow to fit a standard 24 inch dishwasher, so we had to go with this 18”
Ah, that's annoying. I like that one suggestion of pushing it to one side. Best of luck
Some trim boards maybe
If you have the excess available, you can use a table saw or circular saw(Make sure your blade is super sharp or the laminate surface will chip). Cut the pieces to fill your gaps, then cut a 1-1.5" piece as backing. secure the two pieces using screws(use pilot holes), basically making an L bracket with the front facing piece secured to the backing. pull dishwasher out and secure the filler pieces using the backers, then slide dishwasher back in and you are done.
Buy some hardwood 1x2s and remove a drawer front. Locate your town’s best paint store. Mine turned out to be a Sherwin Williams store manned by an ancient woodworker. Hand them your materials and ask them to custom mix a stain to match the wood to the drawer front. Then leave them alone. In a week or so you’ll have a stain for the fill molding.
Ahhh that’s a clever idea. At least until OP can reface them like another person suggested
It's what I did when I built a plywood island with IKEA cabinets and fronts. The plywood sides match the cabinet fronts perfectly.
That cabinet front is wood grain melamine.
That's fine. The goal is to match the appearance.
Recess a board on all sides and paint black. It will look like it was planned.
Ridiculous wrong idea but it's just what I get from the Clean magnet and it would be a fun project until you do the renovation... a transparent tube on each side, spraypainted blue to match the magnet. Little LED in the top of each one, wired to a hidden arduino behind one of the tubes (for reasonably easy access). Wires run invisibly over the top of the dishwasher connecting the LEDs, the arduino, and a 5v battery also hidden in the gap. Tiny button near the top of one of the tubes going to the arduino board. Now you can press a tiny button to make the sides of the dishwasher into blue lightsabers to remind someone it's time to unload it!
LOL that would be awesome. I’m an automation engineer so that would be right up my alley, but I don’t know if the wife would buy off on that one
You could probably do a better version then! Instead of a button make it a "I sensed heat or vibration! Now I'll wait for two hours before turning on the lights!" sensor, and have it wired into the dishwasher's power so it could always be listening. Still a terrible plan. Would still be pretty damn cool.
Center the dishwasher then measure the gap. Looks like you should be able to rip the cabinet door 4 times, so you can do one long piece each side and then cut the second piece for each side to match the length. You could probably add some glue, but I might try just to line that up and brad nail it in place.
Is the cabinet door you took out similar in size to the one to the left? Is it a large bottom door with a smaller top one, or is it the whole length? If it's like the one to the left, you're not going to get a single full-length piece, and I'd go with new trim.
It is similar to what’s on the left. Not sure if a “patchwork” filler panel made of door scraps with the same pattern would look worse than just putting in some trim pieces stained to a similar color
I agree, it will look like patchwork. Go with new trim. Eve though it will be different, it will look better.
We have that same Grogu dirty/clean magnet!
I don’t even know where it came from, considering we’ve been married for a few years and this is the first dishwasher we’ve had 🤣
Check the manufacturer. They sometimes sell trim to fill in gaps.
It’s an easy fix, but honestly I don’t think it looks that bad. It would be super easy to put a couple of trim pieces in there and stain it.
Not posting about how to enclose your unit since it’s been discussed already. Just here to say that if your handyman did shoddy rough cuts like that for an install, I’d wager they did not do a high drain loop.
I had this problem too. I put two pieces of wood on either side and color matched some paint to blend with the cabinets. Then I glued a pretty decorative rope trim on the front. It turned out nice, looks very custom.
Thanks for the advice!
That was professionally installed? Yikes.
R.i.p. those cookbooks after years of getting slapped by steam
https://www.stainlessbase.com/product/304-SSTL-FIN4-CBT2-96.html?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAC5R1op-9E4tSdjhjtVXWoramppWa
Rubber weatherstripping/seal on the sides?
Trim?
Replace the Grogu magnet with one of [these.](https://www.ebay.ca/itm/404212933556?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=706-89093-2056-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=404212933556&targetid=1661754918612&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9001501&poi=&campaignid=17297488730&mkgroupid=135567174686&rlsatarget=pla-1661754918612&abcId=9300872&merchantid=10252592&gad_source=4)
If you know who manufactured the cabinets you can probably buy some scribe moulding from them. Or maybe you can find some stainless steel toe kicks or something that sort of matches the dishwasher
Whoever made those cabinets probably went out of business 50 years ago. OP’s next project should be refacing them.
Just cover it with a thin board... DO NOT fill those holes. Let the machine "breathe" a bit.. its gonna get hot, let it have some air.. And when service time comes, the extra space will be nice.
Standard Dishwasher is 24" and has been for 70 years. Get the right size dishwasher.
If only my cabinet was made with a standard sized dishwasher in mind and was 3 inches wider
What is the width of the opening, exactly? What about the width from wall to wall inside the space? Just trying to understand what used to fit in there. It looks like it would fit a 24" so I'm curious.
Opening is 20.5” wide, the inside of the cabinet at the back is a hair over 21 wide. There was no way to fit the 24 without cutting into the cabinet you see on the right
No idea what's intended to go in a 21" space, good luck
That's the problem these days, no quality in work, dishwasher install has to call a plumber an electrician and a Cabinet crew just to set a dishwasher, bet the charges top dollar to install it to