The following describes only washing machines or dishwashers installed close to the kitchen sink. You will first need to make holes in the side of the kitchen unit under the sink to take the supply and drain hoses.
The washing machine will have to be connected to the water supply pipes using self-cutting taps. These come in three sections: the two sections of the body part are clamped together on each pipe and secured to the wall with screws if required, and then the tap is screwed into the body. As you do this, a sharp cutter on the far end of the tap makes a hole in the side of the pipe to allow water to flow through when the tap is opened. The hoses (red for hot, blue for cold) are then screwed on to the taps and attached to the washing machine. The machine is ready for use once the taps are opened. If the hoses supplied with the washing machine are too short, you will have to replace them with longer ones.
You will then have to connect the washing-machine drain hose. You will normally need to fit a replacement waste trap that can take two connections under the kitchen sink, unless the existing trap has a blanked off section ready to take an extra connection. There are two main ways in which a replacement waste trap will connect to your machine - check the machine's instructions to see which is allowed. The more common method involves adding a short vertical standpipe to the trap into which the washing-machine drain hose can be hooked. The second method is to use a plastic connecting device called a tapered spigot, on to which the machine's drain hose is pushed.
