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Is A Raised Dishwasher Cabinet Actually Helpful? What You Should Know
By RON BAKER
While a raised dishwasher is great for avoiding back strain when bending over to access it, it also poses a few problems. The most important one is how to handle the drain line.
To prevent backflow, which can contaminate dishes and cause leaks, the drain line runs as high as possible near the bottom of the countertop in a high loop above the sink’s P-trap.
The high loop makes backflow almost impossible, but a raised dishwasher can undermine this. The solution is to install an air gap that stops back-siphoning by letting air in.
A raised dishwasher cabinet can also become an aesthetic oddity that will inevitably break the visual flow of your countertops right next to the sink.
Raising a standard-sized dishwasher will also raise your countertop by about 12 inches, causing a dishwasher-wide column that doesn't match the rest of the room.
Most homeowners adapt by creating a dedicated space between the higher countertop and the upper cabinets with a shelf for cookbooks or a dish-drying rack.
Others have built a "tower" of cabinets or appliances above and below the dishwasher to make the break uniform. One can also place a drawer or small cabinet below
the dishwasher.