Not in the wrong way, that is.

One month ago, my sister decided to change all the furniture in her kitchen. Just the furniture, not the big appliances.

That was the plan, at least. Instead, just after ordering and paying the new cabinets, she found out that the “old”, still perfectly working dishwasher that she intended to keep would just not fit into the new cabinets.

So, she bought a compatible dishwasher, and gave me the old one as a gift, because mine had started acting up in the same days.

How was this possible?

The exchange was not just possible, but easy to do, for three very precise reasons.

First, shape and size of undercounter kitchen appliances are standardized. They will, that is, go into any cabinet model of any brand, except some very corner cases like my sisters'.

The second and most important reason is in this photograph:

That’s one of the holes in the dishwasher front panel on which you can lock the connector of the outer, visible panel that has the same look of the rest of your furniture.

All undercounter dishwashers have the same “locking holes” for removable door panels, always of the same shape, size, number and position.

And all the makers of kitchen cabinets for all price ranges make door panels with the proper connectors for those locking holes.

Third, maybe less obvious but also crucial reason: while pretty recent, that dishwasher is not “smart”. It has no useless Wi-Fi connectivity for “upgrades” that more often than not are security risks.

And it has no “capability” to be controlled by a phone, that is no risk ever that I may have to change an otherwise perfectly working phone just to remain able to switch between Intensive and Half-Load programs.

In other words, I could save money, and we could easily not send a dishwasher to the dumpster, exactly because that dishwasher is one of those that still have all of the good, real innovation (=standard size and panel connectors) and none of the dumb, fake, “wash your dishes through the cloud” kind.

Think about it, the next time you need an appliance.