Appliance handles in the way

[thinkerbell]

So…we decided to buy all new appliances for our kitchen. We went and picked out what we wanted and they brought them out and installed them. Well, we didn’t even think about the handles being an issue. The range handle and the dishwasher handle get in the way of opening the drawers beside them because they are both in corners. Without returning the appliances, which I don't even think we could do, changing our cabinets around, which we aren’t willing to do, what can we do to fix this situation? The appliances that we had before weren’t an issue so we didn’t even think about it. Is there even anything we CAN do? Right now, we are just opening the doors of the appliances to get into the drawers but we are afraid it will be an issue when we go to sell in a few years.

 

[barkley]

so are the new appliances larger in depth than the prior?

 

[sam_gordon]

So…we decided to buy all new appliances for our kitchen. We went and picked out what we wanted and they brought them out and installed them. Well, we didn’t even think about the handles being an issue. The range handle and the dishwasher handle get in the way of opening the drawers beside them because they are both in corners. Without returning the appliances, which I don't even think we could do, changing our cabinets around, which we aren’t willing to do, what can we do to fix this situation? The appliances that we had before weren’t an issue so we didn’t even think about it. Is there even anything we CAN do? Right now, we are just opening the doors of the appliances to get into the drawers but we are afraid it will be an issue when we go to sell in a few years.

The same thing happened to us when we replaced our dishwasher a couple of years ago. Fortunately the only drawer blocked is our "junk drawer", so it's not a constant issue. If we keep our home another 10+ years, the next dishwasher won't have a handle. Until then, we just live with it.

 

[thinkerbell]

so are the new appliances larger in depth than the prior?

No. The new range has the knobs on the front so the handle is a bit lower than the old one was. The previous dishwasher didn’t have a handle and the new one does. It is just the handles that get in the way so we can open the doors of the appliances and get into the drawers but we can’t open them when the appliances are closed.

 

[thinkerbell]

The same thing happened to us when we replaced our dishwasher a couple of years ago. Fortunately the only drawer blocked is our "junk drawer", so it's not a constant issue. If we keep our home another 10+ years, the next dishwasher won't have a handle. Until then, we just live with it.

I guess that is what we will be doing. We switched the pot holder drawer to the one by the stove since that is our least used drawer.. The one by the dishwasher is our utensil drawer. We are limited to what we can change though because we have a very small kitchen. I was so hoping some random diser could tell me an easy fix. I feel sure there isn’t one though.

 

[tvguy]

That is something people can overlook when buying new appliances and probably should think about.
My son and DIL moved and were shocked to find that their refrigerator from their previous house was too big for the space in the kitchen in the new house. So they have a huge high end refrigerator in their garage, and had to buy a new smaller one for in the house.

 

[mrodgers]

That is something people can overlook when buying new appliances and probably should think about.
My son and DIL moved and were shocked to find that their refrigerator from their previous house was too big for the space in the kitchen in the new house. So they have a huge high end refrigerator in their garage, and had to buy a new smaller one for in the house.

Fridge is my dilemma. I have I think 23 inches between the current 80's style 17 cu ft fridge with top freezer and the corner of the countertop to walk through. I need a new fridge, but also need freezer capacity. I prefer a bottom freezer for the freezer capacity and not needing to get down on my hands and knees to get into the fridge.

I think a 21 cu ft will work, but can't find any. It's all expensive huge fridges or the very basic it seems.