The Dishwasher Decision (That Reveals Everything About Your Remodel)

There’s a moment in almost every remodeling project where a homeowner says something like…“I don’t really care. Just pick whatever works.” And on the surface, that sounds reasonable. Efficient, even. You’re trusting the professional. You’re keeping things moving. But that one sentence can quietly create a ripple effect you don’t see until much later. Because in home design, there are no truly “small” decisions.

 Let’s take something that seems almost laughably simple… where the dishwasher goes in relation to the sink. Left or right. That’s it. A 50/50 choice. 

And yet, that decision influences how you move through your kitchen every single day. It affects how you scrape plates, how you load dishes, how you navigate around other people, how your routine flows when you’re tired or distracted or hosting friends. It becomes part of your muscle memory. Which is to say, it becomes part of your life. 

Now multiply that by hundreds of decisions. This is where things get interesting. Because homeowners often assume that designers want them to weigh in on everything for the sake of the design. For aesthetics. For perfection. But that’s not actually what’s happening. The real reason professionals ask questions… even about things that seem minor… is because those answers reveal patterns. They uncover how you think. How you move. What you value. What bothers you. What you’ve loved or hated in past homes. Without that input, decisions become guesses, educated guesses, maybe guesses all the same. 

Sometimes those guesses work out just fine but sometimes they don’t. Not in a dramatic, life-ruining way… but in a subtle, persistent friction that shows up every day. 

That slight annoyance when something feels just a little off. It's that extra step you didn’t need to take or that moment where you think, “I wish this were different,” but you can’t quite explain why. This is why “I don’t care” is rarely as true as it sounds. What most homeowners mean is…“I don’t want to think about every single detail" and that’s completely valid. The goal isn’t to overwhelm you with decisions. It’s to help you engage with the ones that actually impact your experience. 

A good design process doesn’t hand you a blank slate and say, “You decide everything.” It guides you by narrowing the options and focusing you on what matters. But there are still moments where your input is essential because the decision is personal.

So when to stepping back completely feels like the way to go, it’s worth pausing for a second and remember this: Your preferences, even the small ones, are often the difference between a home that works and a home that truly fits.

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This post pairs nicely with our 
"What Does the Client Actually Control?" episode
over on DH: The Podcast