Where does your dehydrator live?

[Ariannah]

I am purchasing the 9-tray Excalibur, and I am wondering where do you put it when it is running? Countertop? Separate place in the kitchen? For those of you who have a big square one, where do you use it? I have a large enough kitchen, but I'd like to know what works out best.

[jennplas]

congrats on getting the dehydrator! thats the one i have and love it. my new kitchen is now big enough for the dehydrator so i love having it on my counter. all my appliances fit on the counter so i am so happy!

however wheni make onion bread or crackers, i must put the dehydrator outside if the weather is nice or in the basement if it isnt because my husband reacts to the smell of the onions. His eyes get watery and he sneezes all the time. my daughter and i dont react at all so it is strange.

:)

jennP

[CJB]

I have a small kitchen and I, too, have just purchased an excaliber and am waiting for it to arrive. I have an electric stove that I am no longer using :) and have decided that I'm going to unplug the stove and get a piece of plywood cut to fit the top of the stove so I will have more counter space. I think that putting the dehydrator on the old stove is somehow fitting.

[mbf]

Oh perfect post !

Mine is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday ! I can't wait, I have my recipes ready and going shopping for cracker ingredients today ! I only got the 5 tray, I am not sure I will use it enough ?!?

But I too was wondering where to put mine and if it was the the type of appliance that needed an open space for air flow ?

MBF

[Sharon in Colorado]

The Excalibur is bulky, no matter what size it takes up the same amount of countertop space.

It is also on the noisy side.

So I keep mine in a separate room from the kitchen. We have a pantry off the kitchen and it is on a chrome stand.

[Revvell]

I have a large enough kitchen now so I put it in a corner under a cabinet. Seems to be o.k. there as far as airflow.

R.

[Punky]

I have the 9-tray Excaliber too.
I keep it in my laundry room on the counter in there.
I have a counter and cabinets in there and it fits perfectly.
It would fit in my kitchen too, but I didn't want it too cluttery looking
since I have a lot of kitchen appliances for my *cooked* family.

[Sunshine9]

my dehydrator lives in the basement, so nobody has to hear it and so the counters stay free so i can use them for choppin and grindin! :)

[calee]

I have an electric range with the recessed coils and a flat surface. I keep my dehydrator right on the range where it's handy for turning things etc. I don't have the excaliber yet, just a big round one that I bought at a yard sale last year. It does the trick for me right now.

[dhammala]

I have a small microwave type stand from the local mega store. I keep the dehydrator on there so it is out of the way in the kitchen. The model I have is an older round one with 6 trays.. it is pretty quiet so we don't mind it in our small kitchen.

[LisaDS88]

I have a 9-tray Excalibur. I bought a microwave stand for it. Most microwave stands aren't deep/wide enough, but I finally found one at Target that fits it perfectly and has a storage cabinet underneath for the teflex sheets. It's great because I wouldn't have anywhere else to put teflex sheet without rolling them up like wrapping paper (then they wouldn't lay flat when you use them). This way I keep them stored flat right under the Excalibur.

[kmik]

I'm lucky and have a butler pantry where I've got my 9 tray, and my vitamix, and my cuisinart, and all my raw staples in the cabinets... it's a sweet setup... I've spoiled myself ;)

My mom has a small kitchen with an electric stove, that is now her dehydrator stand.

You're gunna love it!!!

[twinyoga]

I am expecting my 5 tray Excalibur to arrive Tuesday. We can have a dehydrating party!

I'm planning on putting it on some counter space in my kitchen. But the utility/laundry room is a good idea, too.

[ReneeSC]

We catty-cornered our 9-tray to allow for airflow - so it won't overheat ( like Rev ) - it has it's own corner. All of the other prep equipment are on that same counterspace because that is where the builder of this 50 year old home put the ONLY plug in the kitchen prep area. ( shakes head... )

I "could" put it in the rather spacious-to-me laundry room, and might do that for company sake or onion cracker things - but, we're mainly keeping our's in the kitchen so it can warm it up. LOL

We're on natural gas heat ( put in when natural gas was a dime a gallon ). Well, it's gone up almost 80 percent this year, and that would mean about a 600.00+ dollar a month HEATING bill ( our electric is separate ). Ummmmm..NOT!
So, we're ceramic space heating instead, and 50 percent of our homeschooling space ( tv for algebra/geometry DVD's and classroom boards ) are located on the other side of the kitchen from the prep area.

I'm buying us funky mukluks ( no, really. lol) I found some .. So, we can crowd around the dehydrator dressed in mukluks, triple sweaters and ear muffs.. ...waiting for pizza.

[Jo-anne]

I have the 9 tray deydrator and mine sits on the kitchen cabine beside my fridge, it not only works fine there but people think it's a microwave LOL !

[firefly]

I have a 9-tray Excalibur that I keep in my computer room/office on top of a double-wide filing cabinet. The office is at the front of the house, which doesn't get as much of the heat, so my dehydrator doubles as a heater! :) Having it in the office also allows me to sleep without hearing the hum....

[tracyinfo]

I placed mine on top of the refrigerator. I needed my counterspace back! I was concerned that as I was lifting the trays up or down, I might spill, but so far, no spills and everything is great. I plan to keep it there for a while.

Blessings.

[levamssg]

My 9-tray excalibur lives on top of the microwave. We used to have two microwaves ... but since I went raw, I replaced mine with the dehydrator. Hubby is still a carnivore and uses his micro, so putting the dehydrator on top puts it at eye level for me and frees up that counter space for the vitamix and juicer. Works great.

Now that the weather has cooled down - the dehydrator is going non stop & keeps the kitchen nice and cozy.

[Sasha1200]

my dehydrator's in the living room! lol.

[eachpeachpearplum]

I have just posted LOTS of pictures as a reply to "Sharon in Colorado's" thread, Photos of Raw Kitchens which shows where my dehydrator lives.

Cheers

[Mystical]

Mine fit perfectly in the space where the microwave was - built into the cabinet. People assume it is a microwave, because that's what they expect to see. A friend had the greatest stumped look on his face when I removed the door of the Excaliber to show him it was a dehydrator. Priceless!

[Ariannah]

Thank you to everyone for your input. I think I should like to place the dehydrator on the microwave shelf, and move the microwave to somewhere else. (It rarely, but still does, get use from other family members). The specs on the dehydrator, however, indicate that it is 19" deep. However, my shelf is 16.75 inches deep. making the dehydrator edge go over by about 2 inches. Will the weight of the rest of it (22 pounds) hold it on securely? I don't mind the slight overhang of 2 inches (our large microwave hangs over by one inch), as long as it should hold securely with food dehydrating on it and such. What do you all think?

If I wind up not putting it there, I could sacrifice some of my counter space (I have TONS but I like it that way ;) ), putting it on the stove is not an option at this point (one can only hope, though :D ), and I also have some space in the dining room (adjoined open to the kitchen - one big open space) where I could put a sturdy table and put it. So either the dining area or the microwave stand is what I'm thinking of.

[Sharon in Colorado]

The overhang is perfect because it will be easier to remove the cover.

[CAdreamer]

Mine is in the laundry room because I don't like the constant noise it makes.
If I was gone a lot, like to work, it would be okay inthe kitchen, but it's a bit annoying to listen to it all day.