In this day and age, many people live in apartments that have way-to-small kitchens.  If this sounds familiar to you, then read on.  It is tough to even prepare meals in them, let alone fit another bulky appliance into them.  The fact is that most people in western countries have grown accustomed to using a dishwasher.  To go back to washing dishes by hand in the sink can feel like getting tossed back to the Stone Age for some.  One problem people face is that their kitchen doesn’t have a dishwasher, and there really isn’t room for one.  If you are in this situation, you have a few choices.

First, you need to decide whether you need a full sized dishwasher or a small, tabletop unit.  The large ones will be able to handle almost anything you can toss into them, but a compact tabletop dishwasher will only be able to hold 4 place settings.  If you are just looking for a cheap dishwasher that is simple to hook up, I would definitely go with a portable tabletop unit.  There is no plumbing to be done, since they just get hooked up directly to the faucet on the kitchen sink.  The downside to them is that they are a bulky appliance about the size of a microwave, and will take up space in your kitchen.  Many people solve this problem by putting them on a rolling cart, which can be simply pushed next to the sink for use.

If you don’t like the thought of having a bulky appliance hooked up to your sink, or have a lot of dishes to wash everyday, you will most likely need a large dishwasher.  If this is the case, an option is to remove one of the lower kitchen cabinets and install a slimline dishwasher.  These units are designed to fit into smaller spaces than normal dishwashers. You will need to hook up the water intake and drain tubes to the plumbing, but any good plumber should be able to tackle a job like this easily.  You can even do it yourself if you have the inclination.