Help me have a countertop dishwasher, fancy faucet edition

July 18, 2014 1:23 PM

I've been itching to have a countertop dishwasher again. The catch? I rent and my kitchen faucet is a pull out model, with the built in sprayer. I have an idea below -- can you let me know if it's feasible (plus any pitfalls to watch out for), and if not, perhaps point me in a better direction?

Apologies in advance that I'm having a hard time explaining some of this! I don't really know the vocabulary I need.

I don't know the exact model, but the faucet is roughly similar to this. It has a handle/sprayer attached to a pull-out hose (for normal use, you just don't pull it out). The countertop dishwasher needs to attach an adapter to the end of the faucet, which doesn't work so well here. The adapter basically becomes the new end (aerator?) of the faucet; it's a quick disconnect to attach the dishwasher hoses as well.

The end of the faucet does unscrew at the point where the handle pulls out, and I believe the adapter would fit there, but it's not practical because with the sprayer handle replaced with the adapter end, water would just spray up if we turned on the water when the dishwasher hoses are not attached. I don't want to unscrew and rescrew everything repeatedly; we'll use the dishwasher pretty much daily.

Our sink has the 3 holes cut for installing the main faucet (being used), plus the extra hole for faucets that have a separate sprayer (not currently being used).

My idea is to install a tiny single hole faucet in this extra hole, basically for the dishwasher only. This will mean I'll need some sort of splitter for the water under the sink, preferably to connect it to the hot water only -- can you point me to a tutorial for this or at least let me know what the parts are called? What difficulties might I run into doing this by myself? I'm fairly handy, but don't specifically have any plumbing experience.

If you've done this, do you have a recommendation for a cheap-o single hole faucet that will fit the standard countertop dishwasher adapter?

Is this a reasonable approach? Is it an easy enough DIY project? Do you have a better idea in mind? Requirements: I'd like it to be as inexpensive as possible, and I can only do reasonable renter things.

posted by ktkt to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Somewhere under the sink, there are hoses which go from the bottom of the faucet and screw on to valves, which are mounted to the wall.

Measure the size of the threads on those valves (Possibly 1/2", but not necessarily), measure the size of the hole for the sprayer, take those two measurements down to your hardware store and get two "T" fittings with the appropriate sizes, the hoses to hook up the second faucet, and that faucet (hoses might come in the faucet).

Ask for help, and it'd be hard for us to recommend anything because you're not going to be using that second faucet much, so you really just want whatever your hardware store has in stock and cheap. And hardware stores are totally used to answering just this sort of question.
posted by straw at 1:36 PM on July 18, 2014

You could use the same part you use to add a built-in dishwasher - it's a little tee piece that you connect to your hot water line just by unscrewing the braided hose that goes to the faucet and screwing in the tee. Provided you have a shutoff under there, it would be a pretty quick job. You'll want to pick up some teflon tape to wrap the threads when you make your new connections, and have a brass or stiff-bristled brush on hand to clean off old teflon tape residue that may be on there. The biggest risk is that any leaks/burst pipes/broken fittings in the water supply line can cause huge damage to the property, and you'd probably be on the hook for that if you had messed with it.

I have a built-in dishwasher whose inlet is clogged with junk from the hot water tank, and I'm waiting until the new tank is installed to get it fixed. In the meantime I just pop the door open and fill it with the pull-out faucet instead. It's a bit of a hassle since it fills a couple of times during a cycle, but that'd be an option in your case too.

Disclaimer - I'm also just a do-it-yourselfer, but I did install my own dishwasher.
posted by pocams at 1:44 PM on July 18, 2014

Response by poster: Update: Well, I feel silly! Upon closer inspection the aerator does unscrew from the sprayer end, so it looks like I can attach the dishwasher adapter without any crazy shenanigans.

The above comments have reassured me that my original plan is pretty reasonable, and we may go through with it anyway to avoid tying up the regular faucet whenever the dishwasher is running.

So, thanks for the above, and if you guys have more advice, keep it coming!
posted by ktkt at 2:33 PM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Final update, in case anybody is contemplating a similar endeavor: the dishwasher arrived today. The quick release attachment did indeed fit my sprayer faucet, but the sprayer portion couldn't handle the pressure buildup, and water would leak out the sprayer holes, so I was off to the hardware store.

All in, it took a cheapo single hole faucet, a faucet adapter (since my cheap faucet was not the right size for the quick release attachment), a hose, and the T fitting. (Already had tape at home.) A hardware store employee was super helpful with finding all the pieces I needed. Some straightforward monkeying around under the sink, and I was good to go.

Works great, and I'll get bonus points with the housemates for not tying up the sink with the dishwasher-ing.
posted by ktkt at 12:53 AM on July 26, 2014 [1 favorite]