Calling all Dishwasher Aficionado's! - Wanting to Buy New

[coreyare]

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP! This machine worked GREAT on its maiden wash as I've seen folk call it Plowed through cooked on rice with ease.

Took us a while to get it in operating order due to delays with getting the kitchen buttoned back up, but it WORKS

We used the cascade pack things that are blue and purple with powdered stuff inside, and that worked GREAT!

Only shortcoming was mild tea stains that were stuck on, but it did GREAT for everything else.

Again, thank you EVERYONE!

 

[whirlcool]

For tea stains we bought a bag of the Oxi-Clean Dishwasher pods. It will easily remove coffee/tea residue from your cups.

 

[coreyare]

Again, thanks for your help everyone, this unit really powers through icky dishes, and yes we did scrape the excess off before washing

 

[appnut]

I would have not even "scrape the excess off before washing".  That's minimal pieces of food soil for this dishwasher!!!

 

[artcurus]

Read the fine print, apparently "Heated Dry" is not an option on many of the lower end to mid range models. A victim of the eco nazis.

I've been using a combination/either or/ of Finish Powerballs and Cascade Professional/Fryer Boil Out (same product).

When I replaced the dishwasher at the other house, we got a good deal on a GE stainless steel unit about like this, it was a $700 dishwasher that we got for $300 because it was overstock for an appliance company that bought in bulk for local builders in the area. They lost the contract.

My only complaint is the two freaking hour wash time and the still occasional food debris. I really don't understand why wash times are insane on these new appliances. While the amount of water is greatly reduced, the time to wash is greatly expanded. And most of the time they STILL don't clean as well as older dishwashers.

http://www.sears.com/ge-24inch-built-in-dishwasher-stainless-steel/p-02212033000P?sid=IDx01192011x000001&kpid=02212033000&kispla=02212033000P&kpid=02212033000&mktRedirect=y

 

[logixx]

That's not a real GE dishwasher, though. It's a rebadged unit sold under countless brands. Our landlord put one of these in the kitchen of our apartment and I hated it. 

 

[coreyare]

@appnut, you're right! sadly this fancy DW is not too fond of parsley flakes

@artcurus YES I KNOW the eco folks make it so that this unit takes 90-255 minutes for an auto load depending on soil levels and options selected, though I never use the heated options to to our abundance of plastic wares. Compared to our 85' kenmore DW which had this by default even for a bottom barrel machine.

 

[appnut]

DW is not too fond of parsley flakes

"Never use the heated options due to our abundance of plastic ware"  I have a 7 year old Kenmore Elite Tall Tub that's the sibling of your new dishwasher.  Spinach is the most difficult to remove.  I find only the Pots & Pans Cycle (your Power Blast) cycle will take care of that.  I have a bunch of plastic too and still use the PnP cycle, even high temp boost, but I won't use heated dry on those loads.  Heated dry is what does the damage in my experience. 

 

[mark_wpduet]

I never use heated

dry either. Most of the time (if I'm able) I open it as soon as it's done, give the racks a shake, and it an hour or so everything is dry. If you need dishes right away then I guess the dry cycle would come in handy. It's so funny because growing up, we were forbidden to ever use the dry cycle on our GE dishwasher because my parents said it would make the electric bill go through the roof, which I don't think is really true.

 

[DADoES]

 
Ran a similar dish through last night 10/22 (although the greenery wasn't involved) that had been sitting since Fri night 10/17.  Came out fine.  Cascade Complete powder (old stock with phosphates).

 

[abcomatic]

to keep or not to keep, that is the question (dishwasher).

I am thinking about getting a new dishwasher and it looks like the Maytag is the choice. I was just at the store about 2 hrs. ago. I use Bubble Bandit dishwashing detergent in my Whirlpool now and love it. My Whirlpool is fine, nothing wrong with it, but I bought it in 2005. Should I keep it or get a new one? Any advice on that would be a good idea. Thanks, Gary

 

[BoschExxcel]

Keep it if it works fine and you still like it!

 

[petek]

What the two hour plus wash times really equate to is 90 minutes of soaking akin to leaving them soaking in the sink before you load them in the machine. Keep anything wet that long and most of the food is bound to roll off with minimal water and power usage.

 

[murando531]

Older is always better. Is your Whirlpool a tall tub or a standard tub? If it's the standard, it's most likely a PowerClean, and in that case don't EVER get rid of it until it all but dissolves into dust, but with common sense and good care that should never happen. If it's a tall tub, you're still in good shape, as they are still phenomenal performers, though slightly less powerful than the PowerClean and they take a little longer. If you post some pictures, that will give us a better idea.

The new Maytag is a great machine in comparison to what's on the sales floors now. They were revamped in the middle of this year. The pre-2014 models used the Point Voyager platform, the same that the Whirlpool/KitchenAid/Kenmore machines are built on with anything before this new “HE” version. The difference between the Maytags and its sisters was that while it used the same motor/pump/basically everything as the WP/KM/KA’s, the computer managed time, water, and heat more efficiently. It purges heavy soil from the accumulator while washing without having to do a complete water change, so that if dishes aren’t dirty enough to really need a prewash, it turns the initial fill into the main wash. The hard food disposal is also a four blade chopper rather than two.

The newest version has been updated to use the same “plumbing” inside as the new WP/KA/KM resource-saver models, such as the pump location, the pump assembly, and the supply tubes to the upper rack, but they removed the flow diverter, meaning all arms are powered at once, and they added an accumulator filter in place of the manual filter along with keeping the four-blade chopper, which means that the pulverized debris is pulled out the drain during the mid-wash purges and during the drain itself. The wash arms have smaller diameter spray holes, but the motor is still a full-sized ~1/3HP motor just like the previous PV model, whereas the new WP built machines use the equivalent of what the drain pump motor is in a washing machine.

 

[mtoronto]

They are all the same!!!!

Maytag, Whirlpool, Whirlpool Gold, Kitchenaid, Kenmore, Kenmore Elite, Amana, Jenn-Air and Magic Chef are all the SAME brand. They are all manufactured under the exact same company, Whirlpool!

The only difference between these models are all cosmetic and rack layout.

All in all, they are all garbage!

Check out Miele or Bosch. Both are very reliable.

Not sure about the new GE machines, as GE has just re-designed their factories.

 

[joeypete]

I just purchased a new Frigidaire and love it so far. It's very quiet and cleans super well. Over the years I've had almost exclusively GE models and they were bullett proof and cleaned very well too. I haven't tried the new models but their lower priced ones and the Hotpoint's are basically the same as the older high end GE models. Noisy, but you can always add sound insulation. I've heard great things about Bosch too but they are on the pricier side. Maytag is built by Whirlpool and WP has an excellent reliability rating.

Good luck with your search!