Memorial Day 2010 - Dishwasher Edition

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 started differently than any other in recent memory.  In years past we would take it easy on Saturday and attend church on Sunday per our usual routine.  Then on Monday maybe attend the Annual Smith Family Potluck in Salt Lake City.  However our plans changed when our dishwasher having died a slow and gruesome death a few days earlier destroying several of our dishes and utensils in the process. It became very apparent that a new one was needed.

We thought the long holiday would be perfect opportunity to buy a new one as there were sure to be holiday sales throughout the valley.  After researching a bit my wife Emily found the best deal at Sears so we packed up the kids first thing Saturday morning and headed to make our purchase.  Little did we know that this would be the beginning of a very long day as we had no idea what lay in store for us!

Upon our arrival with the store just opening knowing that the installation would not be done by professionals we were anxious to find an associate or Blue Appliance Crew to assist us so we could get on our way and begin the process of installing our new dishwasher.  Our little plan went terribly awry when there was no Blue Crew Member to be found!  After what seemed like a half and hour of waiting and trying to contain the impatient children, Lissa and Joshua, someone arrived.  We quickly chose the model and style that fit our budget.  We purchased it and brought it home eager to get started.

As soon as we put the kids down for their nap we began removing our old dishwasher.  The removal process seemed to us like it would be rather simple, however due to our small kitchen and the location it took much  longer than expected.  Once removed we discovered we were missing a couple pieces of hardware and therefore needed to take several trips to the Home Depot and Lowe's before we finally were able to successfully proceed.  The day grew longer as we still did not have it installed and with the two-year olds up their presence only compounded the situation.  Just as we were nearing completion after hooking up the electricity, the water intake hose, and drain hose we discovered after turning on the water that it still leaked.  Since we lacked a good amount of space as well as the water intake hose being too short taking the dishwasher in and out was very difficult.

Finally what we had to do was unhook the hose from the wall under the sink to fully tighten the other end attached to the dishwasher.  We went through this agonizing process three or four times as we still couldn't stop the leak.  As night fell and after nine long hours we finally had no leakage and it appeared that everything was working correctly, so we completed the installation by attaching it to the counter and putting it through some preset rinses as instructed.  We were relieved the process was over and we could rest our sore and weary bodies and enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend recovering.