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View Full Version : Need a new dishwasher. Looking for reviews



Kev Williams
05-03-2016, 4:15 PM
Our GE isn't cleaning worth a darn, and whenever I fling open the door as fast as I can while it's running, all I see is water dripping. Most dishwashers when you do this are still spraying water halfway decent for a split second. Not this one.

In the old days I'd tear into it and see what the problem might be. It's about 12 years old, so I'd rather just yank it and put in one that works.

So, which ones work? And don't?

Don't need a bunch of frills, just needs to wash, rinse and dry, reasonably quietly...

Thanks in advance!

Adam Herman
05-03-2016, 4:26 PM
Run a few cups of vinigar through it, may help.

we like our kitchen aid branded ones, they seem to work well. find a used place around. I paid 60 of one of them, and 200 for another, put them in my rental and our own house.

Al Launier
05-03-2016, 4:45 PM
I was a 34 year GE employee who enjoyed the employee discounts when purchasing major appliances. However, when it came to dishwashers we decided to go with BOSCH and couldn't be happier. runs so quiet we can't hear it; it loads/unloads easily; cleans exceptionally well; and looks great.

Scott Brandstetter
05-03-2016, 6:58 PM
Bosch, Bosch, and Bosch. Like Al said, can't hear it run, and you don't have to rinse one dish at all, in fact, they discourage it.

Ken Fitzgerald
05-03-2016, 7:26 PM
We bought a Miele last year. I can stand next to it and hold a conversation while it's running.

Brett Luna
05-03-2016, 8:06 PM
Our Kitchenaid has been a good one. Not deathly quiet but quiet all the same. We strongly considered a Bosch but the KA had better organization.

Malcolm Schweizer
05-03-2016, 8:24 PM
I have two dishwashers: one named Amy, and the other named Petra. I can't really say they are very quiet, and they can be rather costly, but they do a great job.

Eduard Nemirovsky
05-03-2016, 8:27 PM
I have two dishwashers: one named Amy, and the other named Petra. I can't really say they are very quiet, and they can be rather costly, but they do a great job. but they use much more water :)))

Brian Elfert
05-03-2016, 8:50 PM
I don't currently have a dishwasher, but I have a spot for one. I rarely used the one in my previous house so I eventually opted not to get one for now since I live alone.

I was thinking about buying a dishwasher when a big appliance retailer here in town was having their big warehouse sale. I started looking at reviews online and just about every model, even expensive ones, have lots of negative reviews. After reading the reviews I decided to skip spending $600 to $800 on a dishwasher. The reviews were mostly it broke shortly after warranty or it doesn't clean well. Now, I know people are more likely to write bad reviews than good ones, but there were so darn many of them. I had planned that I was probably going to get a Bosch, but even those had a lot of bad reviews.

Bruce Page
05-03-2016, 8:56 PM
We've been very happy with our 4 year old Kitchen Aide. It does a great job of cleaning and you can't even hear it running. Our old Kenmore wasn't much quieter than my shop compressor. . .

dennis thompson
05-03-2016, 9:25 PM
We bought a Bosch last month to replace our old Bosch, works great and is so quiet they had to put a light on it so you know it's running.

Kev Williams
05-03-2016, 10:04 PM
Our GE is a 'whisper'-something, it's always been pretty quiet. Always worked pretty good too, until the past few months. I should probably look at the thing, probably something stupid like a loose hose clamp... ;)

I wouldn't mind a higher-end unit, but $800+ is a bit much. There's just 2 of us, and it only gets used maybe 3 times a week..

Stephen Tashiro
05-03-2016, 10:38 PM
We should discuss fundamental dishwater dichotomies. For example, which is best - a chopper or a strainer ?

Morey St. Denis
05-03-2016, 11:50 PM
Best suggestion is to insist that your candidate new dishwasher have a stainless steel interior liner, then whatever features and price range best suits your budget. A lot of product can be eliminated based on what exterior color you need to match any existing kitchen decor. A lot of the "bisque" or "almond" hues have been eliminated with the unfortunate popularity of stainless exterior cladding. You need Hot water to properly clean and sanitize your dishware, utensils, pots & pans. Time was when I had to build an in-line on-demand 240V 3KW electronic water preheater immediately before the dishwasher just to get the water supply line up to fully 180 degrees by the start of every wash & rinse cycle. The older models just took the water at whatever temperature happened to be in the lines and with fill volume relatively small, if your water heater was any distance from the kitchen, each fill would complete just around the time cooled water finally got purged from the lines. Most now have resistance coil heaters inside to preheat the fill water and provide steam assist drying. Plastic liners can't take that heat proximity and after a few years will too soon develop cracks and begin to leak.

You will want an insulated stainless steel liner for long term heat and leak resistance. Miele and Bosch are certainly the preferred European imports when budget allows, but keep in mind that our domestic funds have to go though a monetary unit exchange in terms of dollars to euros. Miele is without quality comparison, but hardly looks competitive just considering their substantial burden of prevailing exchange rates into Euros or Deutschmarks. Chinese and Korean currency is kept artificially devalued by their respective governments so their appliances always vigorously compete at the economy pricing level.

Jim Koepke
05-04-2016, 2:12 AM
We have had a Bosch for over 7 years and are quite happy with the quality.

One suggestion I have often heard about shopping for a dishwasher is to take some of your kitchen ware along to see how it fits. There are different methods used for loading silverware, glasses, cups and other items which can have an effect on usefulness in different situations.


In the old days I'd tear into it and see what the problem might be. It's about 12 years old, so I'd rather just yank it and put in one that works.

I would at least make sure the spin arm wasn't blocked or jammed and if it is attached to the shelf that the point where it plugs in is in order. It might be simple enough to give you another year or two of service while you shop around.

jtk

Robert Engel
05-04-2016, 7:36 AM
We have a Bosch and love it. Extremely quiet.

Rich Riddle
05-04-2016, 8:31 AM
Another vote for Bosch.

roger wiegand
05-04-2016, 9:42 AM
New ones, on average, even very expensive ones. are pretty unsatisfactory. They take forever to run a cycle and too many key parts are breakable plastic. Mostly they don't work as well as old ones.

Before going down that road I'd clean the chopper filter down in the sump. You have to disassemble pretty far to get there, there are good youtube videos showing it. I just did mine, removing toothpicks, plastic twist-ties, a bottlecap, and a few other unidentifiable plastic items and the performance of the machine improved very dramatically. Why they hide an item that needs to be cleaned so deep in the machine, requiring two different oddball screwdrivers (two sizes of torx) to disassemble, is a mystery. This is a filter screen that comes after the big visible filter right below the spinning arm, it's the final block to keep too big stuff out of the chopper. The chopper screen on mine was also 70% occluded.

Shawn Pixley
05-04-2016, 9:53 AM
We have a new Bosch and love it.

Gordon Eyre
05-04-2016, 10:53 AM
I to have a new Bosch and it is the best dishwasher I have ever owned. Very quiet and cleans great.

Wade Lippman
05-04-2016, 11:05 AM
Best suggestion is to insist that your candidate new dishwasher have a stainless steel interior liner,

I agree with this! For whatever reason, they are much quieter than plastic interiors.

John Fenn
05-04-2016, 11:06 AM
Replaced our Kitchen Aid with a Bosch three or four years ago. Bosch has a little bit smaller interior but other than that it is much better than Kitchen Aid. Quieter, washes dishes better and the Kitchen Aid didn't last very long about 5 years. Since the dishwasher is one of the most used appliances in the house, I wanted a good one and found it in Bosch. Definitely would recommend Bosch over Kitchen Aid.

Jerome Stanek
05-04-2016, 11:43 AM
I have a 63 year old one that I would never trade in. She loves doing the dishes

Bill McNiel
05-04-2016, 12:11 PM
Bosch - just make sure you get a model with the illuminated panel on the front so you know when it is running. Our 7 yr old Bosch is ridiculously quiet.

Matt Marsh
05-04-2016, 2:29 PM
Another happy Bosch owner!

Stew Hagerty
05-04-2016, 2:34 PM
Hands Down BOSCH!!!!

Jim Tobias
05-04-2016, 3:07 PM
Replaced a Kitchenaid with a Siemens. It is so quiet I opened it once or twice when it was running. :(
We've had it several years and no problems.....still quiet and still cleaning great!

Jim

Peter Kelly
05-04-2016, 3:19 PM
I'd avoid Samsung. The new one we have at the office here has been broken for more days than it has worked in the past year. Warrantied service technicians are in absolutely no rush to fix anything.

Could also look around the Gardenweb Appliances Forum for recommendations:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/appl

Izzy Camire
05-04-2016, 5:27 PM
We have a Kitchen-Aid and have had it for 18 years still works great. Probably not as quiet as the new ones. We chose Kitchen-Aid because the racks were wide open. The water for the upper rack comes out of the back of the machine. No question we could load more dishes per load in this than any other we saw.

BOB OLINGER
05-05-2016, 9:53 AM
We bought a Bosch last month to replace our old Bosch, works great and is so quiet they had to put a light on it so you know it's running.

Identical situation with us!

John Neel
05-05-2016, 2:26 PM
Kitchenaid seems to have about three different machines with variations on the three. They sell for about, $500, $1000, or a bit less than $2000. We bought a midrange one last month. It is very quiet. We often don't realize it is running. The interior is stainless. It is easier to arrange dishes in it than in our previous dishwasher and it holds significantly more dishes. When open, the door seems lower to the floor which appears to be part of the reason it holds more and is easier to load. It cleans dishes perfectly. We have experienced about 12 different dishwashers, more if you consider some we only used for a week or two on vacation. This is the best. Of course it's also the first time we didn't buy in the lower price range.

Jon Nuckles
05-05-2016, 6:53 PM
We recently bought a Miele. We were leaning toward a Bosch, but a family member had two of them break very early in their lives. The Miele is very quiet, but I'd say the cleaning is only ok. It is also difficult to keep glasses from tipping over during the was cycle.

Kev Williams
05-05-2016, 7:37 PM
Maytag? anyone? anyone? ;)

I went to the Home Depot by me last night, they have this Maytag:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Maytag-Top-Control-Dishwasher-in-Monochromatic-Stainless-Steel-with-Stainless-Steel-Tub-and-Steam-Cleaning-MDB8969SDM/205311985 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Maytag-Top-Control-Dishwasher-in-Monochromatic-Stainless-Steel-with-Stainless-Steel-Tub-and-Steam-Cleaning-MDB8969SDM/205311985)

for $517 if memory serves. Looked pretty decent by my eye... My last dishwasher in our old house was a Maytag, it was going strong at 10+ years old when we sold the place...

Mike Berrevoets
05-05-2016, 9:40 PM
We have that maytag. But it is still wrapped up in the garage waiting for the kitchen remodel to be done. Probably a few months yet before it will be installed so I can't say whether it is quiet or cleans well.

John Neel
05-05-2016, 9:41 PM
We were replacing a Maytag with the Kitchenaid. Neither I nor the repairman could fix a leak on the 20 year old Maytag. The Maytag was a best buy when purchased, but it was noisy, not a perfect washer of dishes, and it was not easy to arrange a load. The Kitchenaid I referenced above, is much better as I described, but it costs almost twice as much.

Morey St. Denis
05-06-2016, 7:15 AM
Maytag designed appliances actually haven't existed for more than a decade!
Maytag®, Amana®, Hoover®, Jenn-Air®
now are all just brand names owned and manufactured by the Whirlpool® Corporation...

Memorable dialog from a film once had Sylvester Stallone awakening from a long cryogenic sleep, only to learn: "In the future, All restaurants will be Taco-Bell®"

The dishwashing machine earlier mentioned, purchased and installed more than a quarter century ago, was a real Maytag. I wouldn't say that it was particularly quiet, but gave long reliable service and great performance once I had supercharged it with a 3 to 4 KW electronic on-demand 180o regulated water pre-heater under the kitchen sink, just upstream of its stainless flex-hose supply inlet. Recall that I did replace the pump shaft seal once after about ten years (a good ceramic face-seal design) and periodically mucked-out and cleaned its sump filter, of course. I removed and kept the 240VAC local fuse box and that compact EeMax tankless water heater when I moved and sold that house. Always admired the intelligent and convenient lay-out of its dish and glassware racks. As to the issue of expecting hushed quietness from dishwashers, I have always made a practice of switching it on only just before bed-time at the other end of the house.

Kev Williams
05-06-2016, 10:47 AM
I have nothing against Whirlpool- 2 years ago I replaced a 20+ year old Whirlpool washer-dryer pair. There wasn't a thing wrong with either of them, I just wanted to buy the wife front-loaders. Which happen to be Whirlpool Duets! We're also on our 3rd JennAire, a drop-in ceramic 5-burner cooktop. It replaced a 30 year old JennAire electric cooktop, that I have stored since nothing was wrong with it either, keeping it for a future outdoor cook station (I found the new one in a clearance room at 85% off the original price). We also had a gas/electric JennAire in our other house. I'm sure only the new one is a Whirlpool model, but that said, I can't remember having issues with Whirlpool appliances!

Jon Nuckles
05-06-2016, 11:23 AM
The Whirlpool lines mentioned above are not all equivalent. Each one is aimed at a certain market and price point. If I recall correctly, Maytag is one of the lower lines. I don't know if that means poorer performance or reliability than you have experienced with Jenn-Aire or Whirlpool, or just fewer bells and whistles.

Mike Hollingsworth
05-06-2016, 11:46 AM
When we remodeled 5 years ago we replaced a mehle with a new one. We miss the old one.

Jim Becker
05-06-2016, 8:44 PM
We chose Kitchenaid because of the interior configuration in the "competition" between it and Bosch. Both are great brands.

Kev Williams
05-08-2016, 11:00 PM
Many thanks to all!

So I went to HD a few days ago and they had all of 8 dishwashers to look at, two $300ish, two $500ish, and four $$$ish... The 2 middle road'ers weren't bad, one was the Maytag...

So yesterday I went to Best Buy, they had about 10 on display, couple of ok Fridgidaire's, LG's, same type of pricing...

About a block away was Lowes, and they had a nice selection, several Bosch, LG, Whirlpool, GE, Maytag-- They even had a Bosch in the $450 range, but..

...like most of what I saw that I'd buy, they were almost identical inside to one we have. Getting an adjustable rack adds about $100, an SS interior another $150, and a 3rd rack another $150... Sheesh...

So I went home, grabbed my nut drivers, and took off the sprayers on the one at home. Lo and behold, the middle sprayer had several pieces of white gasket in it, covering up a few holes, and both end holes were plugged, and the end holes are the 'propulsion' holes that make the sprayer turn. The other holes spray almost straight up. When checking previously, the top & bottom sprayers were turning, but not the middle. Found a couple more pieces in the other sprayers too.

Got 'er back together, and NOW when I fling the door open, there's still water gushing from the sprayers, and they're ALL turning now!

Ran a load of dishes and they got clean!

As for the gasket pieces, it's not the door-seal gasket, it's pieces of a white rubber 'water diverter' gasket I guess, it ran along the bottom of the door inside... I need to check a parts list and see just what it is and it's function is. Most of it's gone, but the thing doesn't leak so I'm not too worried...

Anyway, I just couldn't bring myself to spend $600+ to barely upgrade what we have, or $450 to replace and not upgrade at all. 20 minutes with a 5/16 nut driver and flushing out the sprayers and it seems to work fine! I'm happy! :)

Jim Koepke
05-09-2016, 12:48 AM
Anyway, I just couldn't bring myself to spend $600+ to barely upgrade what we have, or $450 to replace and not upgrade at all. 20 minutes with a 5/16 nut driver and flushing out the sprayers and it seems to work fine! I'm happy!

Great! I have kicked myself a few times for getting rid of something I could have likely fixed. Mostly cars when they get a whole lot of needy in a short period of time.

I'd probably still be driving that old 1957 VW bus if I hadn't gotten mad at it for needing work on the brakes.

jtk

Stephen Tashiro
05-09-2016, 10:46 AM
As for the gasket pieces, it's not the door-seal gasket, it's pieces of a white rubber 'water diverter' gasket I guess,

If you see pieces of the gasket missing, I guess you are correct. However, if you try to excel as a recycler by washing cans in the dishwasher, the white pieces may be fragments of paper from the can labels. Even if you tear off most of the labels from cans before washing them, small patches remain.

Kev Williams
05-09-2016, 3:11 PM
it's called a 'short body door seal', the main seal is still all there it seems, but there was a 3/8" or so 'lip' protruding from the main seal, most of that's is gone. The seal itself probably isn't too far behind..