$9 dishwasher makeover

So we rent our humble abode. And most things about it are great, but something that has been bothering me since we moved in two years ago was this:

The top of the portable dishwasher. It has stains, burns and who knows what else. No matter how many times I disinfect it I feel like it's still too dirty to be in a kitchen. The back corner where the veneer came off and showed the particleboard was the worst part. See:

My wonderful husband sanded everything and wiped it down. We were supposed to have a level surface so we filled the damaged part with wood filler.

We bought 6 linoleum tiles with adhesive on the back. I didn't want to deal with any additional glue and we figured we wouldn't be walking on it so just the adhesive that was on it would be fine. It said to measure from the middle of the room and go out, so I measured from the middle of the dishwasher and went out. The pencil lines are kind of faint but here's a picture anyway.

I peeled off the paper backing, lined up the linoleum tile with the lines I drew, and put it in place. I rolled over it with a rolling pin to press it down sufficiently. For some reason I didn't take a picture of  just the center tile in, but here it is about half done. The tiles are 12"x12" and the dishwasher is 25" wide. The area I left in the front was 5.5" so I would have a tile to fit exactly in front with nothing to waste.

I had some issues with cutting the tiles at first because I didn't understand how to measure each of the cuts. The directions said to line up a bunch of tiles and cut them some magical way. Eventually I figured it out (not enough to explain it) but I messed up measuring this one:

 I just used a utility knife to score a line and then I bent along that line until it broke. Oh, and these are all the tools I used:

Wood Filler and a knife to fill that crappy back part. A pencil and ruler to draw the grid lines. The utility knife and pliers to score and break the linoleum. I also used the ruler as a straight edge to aid in scoring the linoleum. The place where the cord and hoses come out needed a special cut. I used a page from a magazine to make a template.

I laid the template on the tile and cut out the space I needed to. It was a little tricky meeting up in the corners but it worked out.

I have no idea why this loaded upside down but you get
the idea. If anyone knows why it did this please let me know.

Here it is with the piece cut out. The template worked better than I thought it would. It helped that I was near the end of the project.

Again, upside down, I don't know why. I've tried everything.

For my first linoleum tile laying project, I think it went pretty well. Here's the final result:

And, so you can appreciate the total transformation, a beautiful before and after:

Not too shabby for $6 worth of linoleum tiles and a $3 tube of wood filler. I feel better about having food near this surface. It really brightened up the room too. What do you think? Do you have any questions about the process?