Even though people and plants all need water in order to survive, water coming into contact with the wrong places if your home's structure can lead to very serious and expensive problems. If your dishwasher has leaked all over your home's kitchen floor and cabinets, then it is vital that you remove all of the water before it can create permanent damage such as dry rot problems and mold growth. 

To protect your kitchen from flood damage, follow these steps:

Step 1: Turn off the kitchen power so that you will not get shocked while you are working on the wet floor.

Step 2: Call a local water damage restoration company and have them send out a crew to professionally dry out the space and sanitize it to remove any mold or mildew spores that may be present.

Step 3: While waiting for professional help, use towels and soak up the bulk of the water that leaked from the dishwasher. A wet-dry shop vacuum or carpet cleaner also works very well and makes the project easier. Make sure that you also wipe down all of the cabinets and dry the cracks between where the kitchen cabinets meet the floor. If you do not remove all of the water at the base of the cabinets, then it will cause them to warp.

Step 4: Take all of your furniture out of the kitchen so that it will not be damaged by the water. Your wood table, chairs, or microwave stand can easily be damaged if they wick up the water into their wooden legs.

Step 5: In order to help move the humid air from the inside of your kitchen to the outdoors, open all of the windows and doors in your house. Run ceiling fans and any portable fans that you own as well, because the more air movement that you have inside of the house, then the faster the water will dry.

Step 6: If your kitchen has carpet, then you need to pull the carpet up in any area that it has gotten soaked with water. The pad under the carpet also needs to be pulled from the subfloor if it is wet. Wet carpet is generally never the same when it dries and often will have issues with offensive odors or water stains.

Finally, if your kitchen has a solid vinyl floor, then you will likely be able to get away with just drying it well and having the professionals remove any excess moisture from the house. Laminate and hardwood flooring will depend upon their type and how much water intrusion was below the flooring's planks.