# We Need a New Dishwasher--Recommendations



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, y'all are good at this stuff.

What dishwashers do you all have that you love. We need a new one, ours is 16 years old, something is leaking and we figured by the time we had a plumber in to fix whatever, we might as well just get a new one.

Recommendations?

Betsy
who discovered last night the basement utility room was flooded and water was dripping from the ceiling.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I have a 16-year old Kitchen Aide so I know there are lots of new things out there with more bells and whistles, but if I ever have to replace it I will return to this manufacturer.  It still looks new, works great, has settings from quick wash, delicate china, and on to a sterilize setting.  The best recommendation is that after 16 years of heavy use (minimum one cycle a day), it is absolutely silent when running.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

At Consumer Reports Kenmore/Whirlpool brands tend to get good ratings.

Go for one that has an "Energy Star" label and keep the receipt.  There's a tax deduction available on the VA tax return.


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## docjered (Apr 12, 2009)

Sorry for your misfortune. I use a Whirlpool and love it. Whirlpool also seems to be the only brand that has the silverware tray in the door, which leaves loads of room for dishes, ergo, less wash cycles. My last two have been Whirlpools. Unfortunately, it is the only brand I don't sell at Home Depot. LOL


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I am reading a Consumer Reports article...

Whirlpool makes Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Gladiator products. They make some of Kenmore (Sears) dishwashers, but not all. Bosch makes some Kenmore dishwashers, too, as does GE.

If you look at Kenmore dishwashers, look at the model number. If the prefix is 110 or 665, then it is manufactured by Whirlpool. If it is 363, it is made by GE. 630 is Bosch. 

Whirlpool also makes appliances for IKEA, including dishwashers.

It says that Whirlpool bought Maytag (along with a bunch of other companies) so I would assume that means they make Maytag dishwashers?

My mother has always sworn by KitchenAid. She had a Maytag for awhile but went back to KitchenAid.

We have a GE and it's fine. I had to get this one because GE is the only company that makes a washer that fits under the kitchen sink (I have a very small space for a washer). If I had a choice, I'd get a KitchenAid or Whirlpool, or maybe Kenmore.

My best advice is to get a washer with the extra heating element to heat up the water extra hot.

L


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Have had several brands over the years.
I tend to treat dishwashers and food disposers the same - replace them every so many years as soon as they become noisy.
In 2003 we bought a Kitchen Aid mid range model. Stainless steel drum (which the technicians tell me does nothing different, looks pretty, is sometimes quieter than the plastic) and stainless front.  
I should add that as Ann has pointed out Sears Kenmore models (which are often high-rated) have at least the insides of a Whilpool.  And if you open them up the pump/motor is identical to the one in the Kitchen Aid.
I say this because I just replaced the pump/motor in mine. Not sure what went wrong but it got very noisy and it cost me less to buy a new pump/motor at Tribles and put it in myself than even thinking about a new one.  Cause the baskets tend to cost $200 on almost any model.
Bottom line is that I really like the Kitchen Aid.
But go to any retail online (even Amazon) and read the reviews by current owners.
I did that with the current Kenmore best price model - a little highend, definitely with the same pump/motor as Kitchen Aid.  It has a clean zone that includes the three washing spinners but also 6 sprayers from the back.  The owners reviews almost all said that the sprayers in the back clog up and stop working within a year.  I was surprised at how unanimous the comments were.  And most of them liked the dishwasher.  Just had the same problem within a year. 
Good Luck.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

FWIW --

Mine's a Kitchen Aid. It came with my house when I bought it 17 years ago. The previous owner kindly pointed out that it had been installed when they had renovated the kitchen ten years before, and that they used it _a lot_ so he didn't think it would last very much longer.

27 years old now, one minor repair about 10 years ago, and works just fine. Starting to get a bit noisier, but not worrisome noises.

When it's time to replace it, as with all my appliances, I'll trust Consumer Reports -- it's never steered me wrong.

Happy shopping!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks, lots of good info!  We love KitchenAid, good to hear the positive comments.  Our current one is KitchenAid and has lasted 16 years.  My husband doesn't like the silverware-in-door models, and since he mostly does the dishes, I'm willing to let him get what he likes.  Quiet is good, too.

Betsy


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

My dishwasher is very noisy and very expensive, my DH is our dishwasher, and has been for the 23+ years we have been married.

Maybe there are skins for dishwashers?  If you mention Leslie getting a KitchenAid mixer maybe you would get a discount?


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

It could be something as simple as a leaky hose needing replaced, if it otherwise works fine I'd probably call the repair man. Unless you just as itching for a reason to get a new one


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## Marine Mom (Mar 19, 2009)

I recommend a *Bosch* (or the one they make for Kenmore) _unequivocally_!!!

We give our dishwashers industrial usage--I cook for six (used to be nine) and run it three times a day.

--It uses little water, and the corresponding less soap required. 
--Everything comes out spotless
--There is no heating element so nothing melts
--It is _*QUIET*_!!!

We have an open floor plan, where the television is less than ten feet from the kitchen. We used to be in the habit of waiting till bedtime to turn on the DW if we were going to watch anything on TV, since we couldn't hear some of the dialog. Well, no more! You have to literally be right next to it to even tell it is running.

The GardenWeb forums were very helpful to me as I was doing my research, about a year ago: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/appl/

This is the best dishwasher I have ever used, and I've been a mom for 27 years! 
I love my Bosch!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Rasputina said:


> It could be something as simple as a leaky hose needing replaced, if it otherwise works fine I'd probably call the repair man. Unless you just as itching for a reason to get a new one


My husband and I have been batting this around. Given the age of the dishwasher, we're thinking we'd be better off applying the repair cost to a new machine.....but we're still thinking.



Anju No. 469 said:


> My dishwasher is very noisy and very expensive, my DH is our dishwasher, and has been for the 23+ years we have been married.
> 
> Maybe there are skins for dishwashers? If you mention Leslie getting a KitchenAid mixer maybe you would get a discount?


My hubby is my dishwasher too, and if he wants a tool to help him, I'm all for it, LOL! I'll look into the skins!

Marine Mom, thanks for the recommendation and the tip, and welcome to KindleBoards, I don't remember talking with you before!

Betsy


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## Marine Mom (Mar 19, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Marine Mom, thanks for the recommendation and the tip, and welcome to KindleBoards, I don't remember talking with you before!
> 
> Betsy


Thanks! Yeah, I've been mostly a lurker, hanging out a little in the accessories board and picking up tips and info here and there, not often having anything to contribute. I have also made a couple of trades on the Barter/Sell board as well.
Couldn't resist chiming in here about the dishwasher here though. I feel about my Bosch the way some here feel about their Oberons.  When something works exactly as it should it's a beautiful thing! Just wanted to pass it along...


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I just bought a new one last week, it wasn't in stock so I haven't picked it up yet.... It's the same one my father just installed for himself, he likes it a lot, and it is very quiet. It was on sale for $540 last week.



Right now I have an 11 year old KitchenAid. It has flat buttons on the front panel, and they don't want to work much any more. I have to slam the door shut a few times before the button I want will turn on.


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

I am not particular about name brands and tend to go by features. Before I moved to Vermont, I had a house with a dishwasher and the one feature I thought I would NEVER use and that I now would insist on is a delay cycle. When I had a house, I also had a teenage son who stood under the shower in the morning until the water ran cold. But once I discovered the delay cycle, I would load the machine and set it to wash at about 2 am when there was lots of hot water!

patrisha


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## Pencepon (Nov 14, 2008)

We have a Kenmore, several years old and I don't know who manufactured it. But it's very quiet, and it has nylon racks. The advantage of those is that they do *not* have a metal interior with a plastic coating that can get scratched and cut, allowing the metal interior to rust and break. They are the same material all the way through. So I would definitely recommend looking for nylon racks (they are gray rather than white), as the interior of our dishwasher looks absolutely new.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

I had a Whirlpool back in Houston and thought it was pretty good, but the GE Profile that our builder put in the new house is absolutely the best dishwasher I have ever had. After a couple of washes, my plates and glasses look brand new! I realize the water has something to do with that, but I don't have to pre-wash the dishes like I did before and it is so quiet that you can barely tell it is running.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Great info, I'm learning a lot...


Checking out ones I'm interested in online....

Betsy


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## kdawna (Feb 16, 2009)

Thanks for the Bosch suggestion.
    We have a Maytag with push pad buttons. The hold button (you have to push for several seconds to keep the children from being able to change the settings), tore ages ago. Also the electronic "board" (??) that controls the  push pad panel had to be replaced. It won't start unless I stick a table knife in the top of the door. It is not very quiet. 
Kdawna


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I thought Bosch just made spark plugs, very interesting!

Betsy


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## dixielogs (Dec 14, 2008)

we have the drawer dishwasher by KA and love them!


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## sixnsolid (Mar 13, 2009)

I have a Miele.  It is my friend


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

dixielogs said:


> we have the drawer dishwasher by KA and love them!


I saw the drawer dishwasher by KA online and wondered what the advantage was?

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Update:  our dishwasher has seemed to heal itself, no more leaks, so we're storing all this feedback for the time being, thanks for all the info!

Betsy


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> I saw the drawer dishwasher by KA online and wondered what the advantage was?
> 
> Betsy


I'd like to see the answer to this if someone wouldn't mind...I hate my dishwasher, it doesn't clean well and it tends to get water leaking into the bottom over a period of a few days and I just want to replace it and be done with it, so I've been following this thread with interest as well. Never heard of a dishwasher with a drawer before seeing the mention in here before... 

Glad to hear yours is working well now, Betsy!


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## dixielogs (Dec 14, 2008)

first, if you are one who puts pots in the DW, you prolly won't like the drawers.  I do not ever put pots in there, so no biggie.  Supposedly, each drawer holds about 70% of what a dishwasher holds.  Again, I never cram.  I like the not bending over, I like having it opened halfway, I love running small loads whenever and still having an open DW for loading.  I abhor dishes sitting in the sink so this solves that


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## rla1996 (Oct 28, 2008)

Steph H said:


> I'd like to see the answer to this if someone wouldn't mind...I hate my dishwasher, it doesn't clean well and it tends to get water leaking into the bottom over a period of a few days and I just want to replace it and be done with it, so I've been following this thread with interest as well. Never heard of a dishwasher with a drawer before seeing the mention in here before...
> 
> Glad to hear yours is working well now, Betsy!


I had the same problems with my first dishwasher (it was a lower end Cheap Model) when it finally died I went to Sears and bought a Kenmore (i think it is) with a built in food grinder, top rack water splasher thingy, and a sanitize cycle. Sure it cost me about $100 more than the cheap one but it works SOOOOO much better. Specially for me, as I'm one of those people who NEVER rinses anything before I put it in there, and I tend to overload. In the year that I've had it I've yet to have something come out of it with any kind of food still on it.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

rla1996 said:


> Specially for me, as I'm one of those people who NEVER rinses anything before I put it in there, and I tend to overload. In the year that I've had it I've yet to have something come out of it with any kind of food still on it.


This sounds like an idea for a silly poll! If I'm going to be running it right away, I don't bother to rinse them before putting things in the dishwasher. . .though I will scrape off large chunks. Of course, with it just being two of us, sometimes the dishwasher doesn't get run for several days; if I know they're likely to sit there a while I'll rinse things. . . .or just wash them by hand if I know I'll want them sooner. It's not that the machine wouldn't clean 'em, but if they're not rinsed it can get smelly. . .

I have a friend who basically washes everything before putting it in,even though she's going to run it right away. I've never understood that. . .if I'm going to wash it, it just goes in the drainer the 'clean dishes' side of the sink.

And does anyone else have a DH who doesn't seem to know how to open the door of the thing to put dishes in it?


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> And does anyone else have a DH who doesn't seem to know how to open the door of the thing to put dishes in it?


I think it's some kind of gender-specific gene coding.

The counterpart is our inability to see that we already own several pairs of shoes in the particular color we're eyeing.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Susan in VA said:


> I think it's some kind of gender-specific gene coding.
> 
> The counterpart is our inability to see that we already own several pairs of shoes in the particular color we're eyeing.


Well pilgrim here's how I see it.
Some other guy posted that he is the dishwarer user in his family.
So am I. My wife and daughter don't even know which direction the dishes should be inserted in.
When we bought our KitchenAid it was then, and is now, known as Geoff's appliance. Even though I also like to cook a lot. The stove is sometimes "ours", but the dishwasher is "mine".

And I like to think that I am ALL MAN.......a little grey around the edges now, though.
Just sayin......


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

geoffthomas said:


> My wife and daughter don't even know which direction the dishes should be inserted in.


LOL! We had a Major Discussion about that point once... 

My parents have been married for 49 years. Until my father retired, my mother did all the housework (she worked only part-time, so that worked out fine for them). Then when he retired, he took over about half of the housework. He now insists that she doesn't know how to load the dishwasher properly <g>. So she lets him do it...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

DH and DS are both very good at doing something exceedingly badly so that I just don't ask them any more.  But I can play that game too when they want help with something I don't want to do. . . . . .


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

geoffthomas said:


> Well pilgrim here's how I see it.
> Some other guy posted that he is the dishwarer user in his family.
> So am I. My wife and daughter don't even know which direction the dishes should be inserted in.


At a family gathering, my two daughters-in-law and I were all discussing how our husbands rearranged the dishes we put in the dishwasher, so apparently my husband isn't the only dish washer in the family.


Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Hmmm.  So it's not a gender thing. . . .it's a compatibility issue.  Clearly, for a successful relationship, one of you has to be the 'dishwasher my way' person and the other the 'hands off' one.

Good to know.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Just like one person has to like driving and the other has to be capable of navigating.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Not to totally hijack this thread, because many have said it was useful, but I'm the navigator in my family.

Betsy


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## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

I also have a Bosch which we bought when we remodeled our kitchen. I chose it specifically because I wanted a quite dishwasher. Our old one was louder than all get out. 

My sister-in-law has 3 Miele dishwasher drawers in her vacation home, which run constantly. I didn't choose them because my neighbor had problems with hers leaking. My SIL has had no problems of which I am aware and they get hard usage during vacation times because of the number of people they entertain up there. 

EllenR


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

We're really intrigued by all the reports of the Bosch...when we do replace the one we have, we're definitely going to look at Bosch.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Not to totally hijack this thread, because many have said it was useful, but I'm the navigator in my family.
> 
> Betsy


I prefer being the driver. . . .but I'm o.k. with him driving. (It took me along time to be comfortable with my son driving -- guess which of us did the required road time with him.) He's definitely the better parallel parker. I think I drive more fuel efficiently.

I'm also the better navigator since I can scan faster and can look at the map and the signs coming up sort of at the same time. It takes him longer to find something on a page or to process a sign he sees on the road, which means it takes longer to connect up that. . .hey, that was our turn back there.

If we know where we're going I usually drive -- unless it's the way home after we've been out to dinner because I've usually had a drink or two and he has not -- if it's a place we've never been, he drives and I navigate.

Oh, and I don't drive his truck. I can. . .just don't like to.

There was a short article in the Post last week about an odd phenomenon observed at 'kiss and ride' lots and other places where people get dropped off and picked up. Man drives car to lot. Turns off car, takes keys and gets out while woman gets out of the passenger side and walks around to the drivers side. Then she gets her own keys out and gets in and drives away. The reverse happens at the end of the day: she drives the car to the pick up spot but gets out and lets him drive home. I do not understand this behavior. . . .but the article made me laugh because I'd noticed it years ago at the Pentagon. In fact, I joke with my husband that, when he picks ME up, he should get out and let me drive home.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I do not understand this behavior. . . .but the article made me laugh because I'd noticed it years ago at the Pentagon.


I missed that article, I'll have to find it!! It's absolutely true... I do airport runs twice a week (drop-off on Sundays, pick-up on Fridays) and we've noticed that it holds true there too.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's the link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/10/AR2009051002125.html?nav=rss_metro/columnists


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

thanks!


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## sigrosenblum (Dec 22, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> OK, y'all are good at this stuff.
> 
> What dishwashers do you all have that you love. We need a new one, ours is 16 years old, something is leaking and we figured by the time we had a plumber in to fix whatever, we might as well just get a new one.
> 
> ...


If you're still looking, I suggest a Kitchen Aid We've had three of them over many, many years. And before the last one I did hours of research on every known brand.

Here are my conclusions.

1. If you check epinions, you will find that everyone has a horror story about every brand.

2. Those same brands also get raves from other owners.

3. It is impossible to make a rational choice based on the testimony of others on the Web.

4. On the assumption that Kitchen Aid, which had served us so well in the past, might continue to do the same, we bought another.

5. Setting aside the fact that the delivery people dented the inside and that the service who hooked it up goofed badly and the thing leaked--when we got it running, it was quite dependable. But--I must say--as with every thing else, it does not clean as well as the very first KA we had eons ago, when they made things to last.

6. Would we buy the KA again? Yes.

Good luck!


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