Small things do make a difference

There's a new dishwasher in my kitchen. It is basically the same model as the old dishwasher, just the panel with the buttons has been updated a tiny bit.

But this dishwasher works! And not only does it work, as in washing the dishes, but nothing else is broken, either.

You see, the old dishwasher was a bit too tall for the space it was in. So at some point, someone took out the floor beneath it. So it was a good two inches below  the level of the rest of the kitchen floor, resting on the floor joists. And since this is an old house, over 100 years old, there's been some settling. And the worst settling has been in the kitchen, so the floor slopes noticeably right at the counter where the dishwasher is installed. So it was lower than it should have been and it slanted a bit forward.

But that's not all. The spring in the door was broken, so every time you opened it, it crashed down to the floor. This meant that every single time you opened the dishwasher, you had to gently lower the door all the way down. If, like me, you have a back that sometimes reacts to bending over with sharp, stabbing pain, this is not the most enjoyable moment of your day.

There was also something wrong with the latch on the door. To get it to stay closed, and not crash down to the floor, you really had to shove the door shut. To get it to latch enough to run the machine, you had to exert significant force on the door, until a little blinking light turned to a steady glow.

Then a few months ago, it started to leak. Always from the same side, but varying amounts of water. Sometimes no leak at all, sometimes the kitchen floor would be sopping. Because of the slope of the floor, the water ran halfway across the kitchen and puddled right in front of the stove. So we had to start putting a folded dishtowel under the door every time we used the dishwasher.  Our Wonderful Landlord did have a plumber come and look at it, but he couldn't figure out how to fix it. (I think it was at this point that Wonderful Landlord realized it would need to be replaced sometime in the foreseeable future.)

And let's not forget about the mold problem that started last summer. We had to run bleach through the machine every week to keep that under control. This was probably caused by the fact that the washer didn't drain completely, due to the forward slant that it was on.

So move forward to Thursday, when the new washer was installed. Wonderful Landlord wanted it done right, this time. This required a bit of carpentry work, to replace the missing floor and create enough space under the counter for the new washer. Historical tidbit--old kitchen counters were approximately 32" high. Today's kitchen counters are about 34" high. Today's appliances don't fit under 50-60 year old countertops. Who knew?

The new dishwasher is level, not slanted. It sits at the correct height, because there is a floor under it. The door works properly. No more crashing down! You can lift the door up and it stays closed without shoving or pushing. It latches with a fingertip's pressure. It doesn't leak. With any kind of luck, we won't get mold.

No one of these things was a huge disaster. Any one of them I could have lived with for a long time. And they happened so slowly and gradually that I just adjusted to the changes and dealt with them. But gathered together in the shape of one machine? A pain in the neck. And then when it stopped working and just made sad grinding noises, it was clear that, however much you believe in repairing and fixing things up, this sad little dishwasher had washed its last dish.

It's going to take a week or two before I stop shoving the door shut, and stop going for a dish towel every time I run it.

And there's an added extra bonus. They had to raise the entire counter up two and a half inches. So now it is at a better working height for me, and the sink especially is at a good height. So maybe my back won't hurt as much when I wash the stuff that has to be handwashed and can't go in the dishwasher. 

But I'll adjust. And soon the old machine with be a dim memory. And I'll stop appreciating the joys of a machine that works exactly the way it is supposed to.