Dishwashers

[Dandelion]

My dishwasher has decided that it no longer wishes to clean all my dishes and I'm desperate to get a new one before it really gives up. So tell me - which brand do you have and what do you love/hate about it? I'm thinking about the Whirlpool Gold.

[jerseyangel]

I've had a Whirlpool dishwasher in a previous home and was very satisfied with it. Less so with GE.

I currently have a 6 year old Kitchen Aid, and would not recommend this brand. It's quiet, but to get rinsed dishes clean I have to use the highest scrub cycle and the silverware never dries completely and it seems to collect water at the bottom of the silverware rack--so if I want to remove it to empty, it drips water all over everything.

We've only lived here 5 months, and I don't know how long this has been happening before we got here, but it also drips black oil occasionally onto the floor.

It may not be long for this world

[celiac-mommy]

We just put in this one, I LOVE it!

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[Dandelion]

My mother-in-law has a Kitchen Aid and she practically has to wash her dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. Not interested in doing that at all. I figure if you have to go to all that trouble you might as well just put soap on them and finish up the job.

Besides the Whirlpool I was looking at Bosch. Ok, I will admit that their new commercial has peaked my interest. Also the Maytag that the guy sticks the whole cake in and everything comes out clean. What I find really confusing is Consumer Reports. They will give a good rating to a dishwasher and then when you read the consumer reviews everyone will say they hate it.

I am willing to spend a good amount of money on the dishwasher. It's one of two of my "can't live without" appliances.

[jerseyangel]

My mother-in-law has a Kitchen Aid and she practically has to wash her dishes before putting them into the dishwasher.

I'm glad it's not just me!

Good luck with whatever you decide to go with

[Guhlia]

I have a Maytag. Although it cleans better than any other dishwasher I've ever had, the door has fallen off once and the handle on the door keeps sticking making it very hard to get the dishwasher open. Other than that, I love it! We rinse our dishes and scrub baking pans and such, but it gets everything else off. It even gets our forks clean when there's stuff caked on them.

[Glutenfreefamily]

I have a maytag and love it. We have no problems and never have to prewash.

[pixiegirl]

Wow I have the top of the line Kitchen Aid and all my friends and family are amazed that I don't even rinse my dishes before putting them in. I don't really even scrape them unless there are bones or lots of food left. I do wash everything on the pots and pan cycle but I do that because it heats the water up to over 190 degrees to kill germs (occasionally we have the dog pre-wash a dish!). (not all dishwashers have the super heating cycle)

Last night I had a crock pot dinner (short ribs) and the crock was a mess, I put it in with 2 other pans the rice cooker insert (which managed to burn the rice to the bottom) and tons of dishes. I just emptied it and every thing was spotless. I love that dishwasher, I've had a few top of the line dishwasher (that one with drawers) and they didn't clean at all.

This kitchen Aid wasn't cheap however.

Susan

[Cheri A]

Wow, so many dissatisfied KA owners.

Sorry that your dishwasher needs to be replaced. We had to replace our Whirlpool dishwasher in January. It was only six years old and developed a CRACK in the tub. I have no idea how that happened, it was at the back of the tub. We debated between the BOSCH and the KA. After what happened, DH wanted a stainless tub. The BOSCH is much smaller interior, but it came down the price for us. Make sure you shop around and remember that some places will match prices. We ended up buying at Best Buy and getting a price match from Sears to save $100.00. They also took away our old dishwasher for free. Sears was out of stock. This is the one we bought.

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I have not had any problems getting my dishes clean, and it is so quiet. I do pre-rinse my dishes, but do not scrub them at all. I did notice that the rinse-aid stuff really helps in the drying. If that runs out, I have water standing on the cups and wet silverware, although no standing water. I love the delay feature and use that every night. Good luck!!

[Dandelion]

Thanks so much for all the replies! My mind is whirling from all the different options out there. I gave my poor old dishwasher another chance last night and woke up to an odd white residue all over everything plus some dirty things. Has anyone tried to repair a dishwasher? I wonder if it's worth it.

[CCM]

Just wanted to add another one to consider: we have a great LG dishwasher we got two years ago. Stainless interior will not stain. Fits a ton of dishes, pots and pans, and has adjustable shelves in case you end up with taller items. No prewash or even prerinse needed. I regularly do pots/pans on the normal cycle and they turn out fine. It is incredibly quiet, you may not even realize it is running (one of my favorite features). I have noticed that dishes turn out best with particular dishwasher detergents, I am having trouble with residue when I use the more natural "eco" dishwasher detergents. So I am conflicted as to my options here...the whole point of throwing everything in the dishwasher now is that they come out free of gluten residue!

[jayhawkmom]

I read this post and I think how happy I'd be if we could just rip ours out of the wall and use it for more cabinet space. *sigh* My husband, however, will not allow that... as he has a very near and dear relationship with our dishwasher.

I'm afraid of them. (not literally) I wash by hand. He wants the drainer out of the 2nd bowl while I want more cabinet space. Neither one of us can win.

No real reason for this post, I'm just babbling....

[CarlaB]

When I redid my kitchen, I splurged on a high end dishwasher .... Miele.

It has surprised me WAY beyond my expectations! My dishes look like new compared to before! I used to hand wash wine glasses, but I put them right in the dishwasher and they come out sparkling! We barely rinse the dishes before we put them in.

[Lisa16]

The house I bought came with a higher end Kenmore-- it is fantastic. I will replace it with another Kenmore when it bites the big one.

Lisa

[nmw]

Check Consumer Reports website for a complete report on dishwashers. I visit before any large item purchase to get reviews and comparisons.

[celiac-mommy]

Thanks so much for all the replies! My mind is whirling from all the different options out there. I gave my poor old dishwasher another chance last night and woke up to an odd white residue all over everything plus some dirty things. Has anyone tried to repair a dishwasher? I wonder if it's worth it.

I was getting the residue also with our other dishwasher, so I switched soaps-from the Seventh Generation eco friendly to Cascade complete and I started using a rinsing agent--Target's Jet-Dry, that helped a lot. We remodeled the kitchen, so I splurged on professional series appliances.

Another thing to consider is the finish. If you go stainless steel, watch out for the finishes. The brushed stainless cleans up easily, the non-brushed (but still has some texture to it) is a jerk to get and keep clean. My housekeeper even gave up on our fridge! Our dishwasher, range and microwave are all the same brand (Frigidaire) and although the finish looks almost identical, it's NOT!!

[Dandelion]

Every time I think I've made a decision on this I change my mind. I'm so nervous that I'm going to make some huge mistake and pick out a terrible dishwasher. I'm terrible at making big purchases and usually wind up second guessing myself.

We're going to hit up Home Depot, the Expo and Lowes this weekend. A co-worker told me that you can return anything to Home Depot. I don't know if that's true, but it's worth looking into.

Thanks again for the advice! You guys are great.

[CCM]

I would second one of the previous comments about checking into the ratings from Consumer Reports for appliances. Reliability was key to use, customer satisfaction etc. We chose LG, and have been happy with it, but only discovered afterwards that the closest company able to service it in case of a problem is two hours away (we live in Utah). I am happy to say we have had no problems.

[home-based-mom]

Just in case you haven't made up your mind yet . . . .

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