Dishwasher Size & Opening Finder

How to use the dishwasher size finder

1. Pick the size: a standard 24″ dishwasher or a compact 18″ one.
2. Measure the opening: its width between the cabinets, its height from the floor to the underside of the countertop, and, if you can, its depth from the wall to the countertop’s front edge.
3. Pick whose installation guide: the maker of the dishwasher you have or want. Each guide is that maker’s own, named in the table below.
4. Add the door’s room if the dishwasher sits near a corner or faces an island: the space from the opening to the cabinets at a right angle, and the space in front.
5. You get whether it goes in, how the five makers’ guides read compare, and the opening drawn to scale.

The rule behind the numbers

Every maker’s installation guide gives the opening its dishwasher needs: a width, a depth, and a height range from the floor to the underside of the countertop. The range is the reach of the dishwasher’s feet. Below the lowest height it will not slide in; above the highest it cannot rise to the countertop, so it leaves a gap. The ranges are not the same: a 34″ opening takes a Whirlpool, a GE, a Bosch or a Frigidaire, and is too low for Samsung’s 34⅛″.

The guides also ask for room for the door. In a corner, Whirlpool, GE, Samsung and Frigidaire ask 2″ between the dishwasher and the cabinets or wall at a right angle; Bosch’s 2023 guide draws 6″. In front, Whirlpool’s open door reaches 25⅝″, Frigidaire’s 27¾″, and GE asks 28⅜″. For the door to sit flush with the countertop’s edge, Whirlpool asks a countertop at least 24″ deep and Samsung 25″.

Each maker’s opening

Every guide asks at least 24″ of depth. “+” means at least; a dash means no 18″ guide was read for that maker. The dishwashers themselves, from their own sheets: Whirlpool’s UDT555SAHP is 23½″ wide, GE’s GDF630 23¾″, Bosch’s SHE3ADF5N 23 9⁄16″, Samsung’s DW80CG5450 23⅞″, Frigidaire’s FDSR4501AP 23¾″; Bosch’s 18″ SPE53U52UC is 17⅝″.

Five worked examples

A standard 24″ × 34½″ opening. It fits all five makers’ guides: 34½″ is inside every height range read.

A 34″ opening, where a new floor went in under the old counter. Whirlpool, GE, Bosch and Frigidaire go in; it is too low for a Samsung, whose guide asks 34⅛″.

A 35″ opening under a raised counter. Bosch and Samsung reach it; Whirlpool’s feet stop at 34½″ and leave ½″ under the counter, GE’s and Frigidaire’s ¼″.

Next to a corner, 3″ from the cabinets at a right angle. Enough for four makers’ 2″; tight for a Bosch, whose guide draws 6″ so the door opens.

A compact 18″ opening, 34″ high. It takes Whirlpool’s, Bosch’s and Frigidaire’s 18″ dishwashers: Whirlpool asks 18″, Bosch 17¾″, Frigidaire 17⅝–18″.

Common mistakes

• Measuring the height to the top of the counter. The opening is from the floor to the underside of the countertop.
• Measuring once. Whirlpool’s guide: “measure the lowest point on the underside of the countertop and the highest point on the floor”. A tile or wood floor laid into the opening lowers it.
• Trusting “24 inches” for the dishwasher too. The dishwashers read are 23½–23⅞″ wide; the 24″ is the opening.
• Forgetting the corner. A dishwasher pushed against the cabinets at a right angle opens its door into their handles.
• Not checking the space in front. An island closer than the open door’s reach stops the door short.

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