Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 13, 2025 ...

Dishwasher in a drawer

December 08, 2013, 09:14:54 pm

We're still in FT shopping mode. DW wants a coach with a dishwasher instead of the oven. We really don't expect to find one as coaches with them seem to be pretty rare, so we are thinking we would have one installed. What are members' experiences here with dishwashers? Good, bad, or

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #1 – December 08, 2013, 09:50:42 pm

Have a Kitchenaid drawer in my 2000 U-320. Was put in by PO, under cook top in space where there was previously a cabinet or deep drawer. Now have a shallow drawer (holds knives, etc.) directly under cook top and then the Kitchenaid D/W drawer under that.

Nice to have, but not a must. DW likes it because she puts dirty dishes in it as she cooks, keeps less clutter on limited counter top space. Easily holds a couple of days dishes for two. Use it if we are hooked up, when boondocking I hand wash.

Had to have service on it twice in the five years or so we have owned coach.

If you want it and can afford it, it can be retrofitted if not in coach already.

I have lots of upgrades I would put in front of a Dishwasher Drawer and DW wouldn't object. If it wasn't there when we bought it, I would not have put it in, but that is our taste. Also wouldn't take it out now that we have it.

Upgraded the Splendide to the new model, residential ref rig. and aqua hot are features that neither one of us would give up. Of course headlights and roof treatment also on the list. We also have tile floors we like better than carpet, but trying to get down to Ernie for some wood....

And as always YMMV....

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #2 – December 08, 2013, 09:56:00 pm

The U300, 1994 40 for sale in Arlington has a dishwasher in a drawer new from the factory it looked like.  About the size of an RV oven, looked new, except for some crumbs as the sellers used it as a bread box.

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #3 – December 08, 2013, 10:53:12 pm

Some of those fancy things are less useful than expected.  I thought it was nice having a trash compactor in my 1990...but after I used it once to see if it would work, that was it.  The rest of the time, it served only as "the trash bag holder."  I never wanted to keep trash around for days just to fill it up.  But it was useful to store the trash bag.

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #4 – December 09, 2013, 05:52:17 am

If you do a lot of cooking and stay most places with full hookups may be ok. Most of the folks I know that have them use them for storage.

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #5 – December 09, 2013, 06:56:53 am

                 Phyllis thinks it is wonderful. Would not be without one . Sterilize is a biggie , dishes  come out too hot to touch . When we took delivery on this coach , she said  "we don't need that " , well now she needs it . Different strokes for different folks sort of thing .              Brad Metzger

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #6 – December 09, 2013, 07:30:54 am

My next coach will have one.

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #7 – December 09, 2013, 09:20:34 am

BTW, and FWIW, our oven is combined with Microwave, so we have both dishwasher and convection oven. Have bought GE Profile Advantium to swap out in Spring at Parliament for OEM Sharp, which still works fine.

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #8 – December 09, 2013, 11:17:22 am

Interesting how different things work out for different people. We use the trash compactor quite a lot. Turns out that when we're in the coach most of the garbage is plastic, paper and cardboard. Some coffee grounds and tea bags but between us and the dogs we don't have a lot of food waste. Lots of RVs don't even have a suitable place for a garbage container and we find the compactor in the Foretravel amazingly convenient. Turns a trip a day into a trip every 2 or 3 days for trash.

And as far as dishwashers go, I love the one we have at the Stix'N'Brix. It's a roll-around as our kitchen is straight out of the 1950s with little room for a built-in dishwasher but the roll around is handy as it works as an "island" for food prep, too. DW cooks and, most of the time, I do the dishes.

A dishwasher for the coach sounds like a great idea. We have a large drawer under the cook top that would be enough room for one. I've seen them at RV shows but didn't think they'd hold enough dishes. Nice to learn that might not be the case. But may have to wait 'til we spend a winter in the coach.

Craig

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #9 – December 11, 2013, 04:06:02 am

We chose to go with a 3/4 size dishwasher.
I removed the 4 stacked drawers that were under the counter. I installed the dishwasher in that opening.
I then rebuilt the drawer cabinet and moved it to one of the bathroom closets as I did not want to loose the 4 drawers. The drawers in the closet work great. They can either be used for Kitchen, miscellaneous items, wardrobe items, or bathroom stuff. The drawers are close by all three areas.
The laundry basket fits perfectly on top, with the washer dryer next to the drawers.

The dishwasher works fantastic, is VERY quite, and probably uses less water than if we washed by hand. The sanitizing is also a big plus. It will also heat its own water.

We have not tried using it to store dishes or pots yet but it would be a perfect spot since all those items could fit securely in the wash racks without any movement or worry about them falling out of the cabinets. The cabinet is very well insulated and any noise from moving or rattling dishes is well muffled. It would also be a perfect spot to store large items that would not fit in any drawers or cabinets.

We usually run a load every night and then before we leave the campground.
I like the size of the 3/4 dishwasher as opposed to a single drawer unit.

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #10 – December 11, 2013, 11:27:22 am

Royce, we have had the small dishwasher units in our last two Foretravels the 99 had one on the counter, hard plumbed into the bathroom lavatory. Our present coach has one installed under the cooktop. We wanted a Fischer-Paykill and actually had one on hand but the carpentry to install it was just too expensive. My wife will not enter a coach that does not have a dishwasher. The units we have used are Vista machines. They have worked well. We ran the first one while tooling down the road (had the genset on anyway for AC). Found this is a no-no, the impeller is plastic and it did not tolerate the bounce. The manufacturer stood up nicely, sent me a new impeller with detailed instructions, otherwise we are very pleased. They use small amounts of water and do the job satisfactorily.
Current coach had an Atwood stove with oven when we bought it, we took out this and inserted a 3 burner cooktop (DW does not care for the OEM French cooktops) and the Vista dishwasher.

Quote Selected

Re: Dishwasher in a drawer

Reply #11 – December 12, 2013, 07:07:39 am

What are the power requirements of the drawer units? Thx

Quote Selected