Have I not been giving this dishwasher enough credit??

[ultralux88]

Well I’ve been toying with the idea of finding a vintage Kitchenaid Superba of some variety, or (GASP!!) a Thermador with the steam cycle. I wanted something that would wash plates without any scraping or rinsing, and all that good stuff. So afta Lot of reading on here I read about some saying the Whirlpool PowerClean is an excellent machine. I know the dishwasher we have is a Whirlpool, and that unless Mom loaded it badly, which she is known to do, not a dirty dish has ever come out of it, and I’ve never seen food recirculating in the wash and there’s absolutely no filter to clean. Now I believe that it may be a powerclean machine, looks like it to me! I’m starting to feel I need to give the machine more credit and maybe stop scraping everything off the plates? Also stoped on the way to work and bought what I told the cashier I was calling the dishwasher sampler platter, jet dry LemiShine powder and Finish tablets, got a second smaller thing of the tablets and LemiShine to take over to the house where my vintage Kitchenaid portable is for now, and some LemiShine detergent tablets just cause I saw them on the shelf... Also coming in their own thread soon, LemiShining the global wash, and the casserole dish challenge. Will be trying a fully soiled casserole dish in the Powerclean, the global wash, and my vintage Kitchenaid and see what gets cleanest...

 

[electronicontrl]

I'm not sure....

How to answer your question but I like the avocado KitchenAid in your profile pic.

 

[cycla-fabric]

Well I will say that the Whirlpool will clean the bowl much better than the KitchenAid will. We have a Whirlpool Power Clean as our daily driver and it is over 20 years old with not a single repair and it cleans like crazy, if anything comes out not clean it maybe a spoon or such if the basket on the door is filled to capacity. We also have a backup Kitchenaid KDS17, and I have tried that with a Bob load, and that had a corning ware item in it that sat over nite before the machine was turned on. Well everything in the Kitchenaid came clean but the corning ware bowl which was not very dirty, that was still dirty, I blame the short wash period of the Kitchenaid, as the detergent didn't have a good enough chance of attacking the food dirt as the wash period was only 10 min. But good luck, let us know what happens. But an overnight stand before you wash is a true indication of how good it will wash off the dried food stuff.

Doug

 

[ultralux88]

The wash arm seal/bearings wore down in this one after 13 years, so I had to replace those and the upper one came with a whole new wash arm. It’s been working better again, but it was doing a very sorry job for a while there. It’ll actually make the dishes rattle since I replaced all the worn out stuff.

 

[joeypete]

Both are good machines, but like any, you need to load properly. I find that the vintage KA's are more forgiving because of their intense wash action. I can jam my full and everything comes out perfect. I use good detergent though, Cascade Complete powder...which now I have mixed with Fryer Boil Out for some phosphorus content.

 

[Chetlaham]

"I read about some saying the Whirlpool PowerClean is an excellent machine"

You read wrong, excellent is a woeful understatement. More like the best dishwasher ever made hands down. I think you are suffering from "taken for granted" syndrome. You don't appreciate a bar of gold or a diamond until its gone. Do you have any idea what I would give for your machine as new, or new in box?

As for being worn down these were to good for the consumer if there is such a thing: Some people frequently abused power cleans treating them as garbage disposals and trash bins. I've taken some apart absolutely filled with twist ties, broken glass, bottle caps, seeds, stickers, foil... even found a rusty nail in one. Drain hose clogging was another frequent issue. People would not scrap to any degree and I can see why. You could literally fill the machine with food still on the plates and everything comes out without a trace. Not even anything at the bottom unless it was ridiculously huge like a fork or a spoon.

Keep what you have- and don't ever assume you will get better than this. You will not. Celebrate that you have the best cleaning dishwasher in existence.