Apologize for the redundant questioning on this subject – looking for some strong opinions borne from real world experience on our last major unresolved layout decision: Where to put the dishwasher?
I'm designing a donut-coffee shop for a first time business owner. Several people said in my previous post that the owners should hire a consultant, and that was my advice to them too. They've now done that – they've hired a consultant! She also is selling/leasing them all of their coffee related equipment.
We've resolved a lot design issues with the consultant's input, but she was unwavering on her wanting the commercial undercounter dishwasher to go in the back – in the kitchen (donuts) area in our case.
I was unsure when we first began the design (never having worked in cafe or coffee shop), but after talking with numerous baristas and owners around town, the consensus was 100% out front, by both those who currently had their dishwasher out front and those who had it in the back.
I had a 3-way conference with the owner and the consultant yesterday, and when I had any question about the advice she had given to my client previously, she simply replied, whatever the client wants to do – she would not discuss her reasoning behind any of her recommendations. And the majority of her suggestions were unquestionably very good, but if she could tell us more about the criteria behind them, they could help us shape the final design.
In my last posts on this subject, three people came out strongly in favor of out front, with a few qualifications, such as locating the dishwasher were steam won't effect displays and not interfere with workflow, etc.
My client wants to believe someone – I'm puzzled as to why there could be such could be such a black and white distinction between the recommendations of people currently working as a baristas and the expert. Anyone want to weight in with their own experience on the best undercounter dishwasher location? Ever worked at a place with it out front and another place with it in the back?
**Clarification – there will be only one dishwasher in the entire shop – I'm showing two possible places to locate it. The shop will have glass cups, ceramic cups, and small plates for customers. We have already inquired with the health department to verify that a single basin FOH sink can be used to rinse dishes – any FOH sink drains will have an air-gap and drain to a grease trap.
Here's the latest plan:
by ElianPDX
Dining and Cooking