Help purchasing new dishwasher

[aimeemarie12]

Hello all! You all steered me in the right direction in our purchase of a set of Speed Queens last year and I absolutely love them. Now I am here to learn about purchasing a new dishwasher.

We are a family of four so lots of dishes to be washed. Have very hard water hope to get a softener somewhere down the road but just moved into new home. What are good brands and models? My primary concern is that dreaded white film that ends up on dishes if I don't use Lemishine.

Thanks in advance.

 

[washer111]

If you have the money....

Go for something nice and highend. No, I'm not talking about those Samsung's, LG's, Frigidaires and what-not (The "Singing" dishwashers), something like Bosch, Miele or Asko. 

 

If you search my username here in the Deluxe forums, you'll see I've posted quite a lot about my F&P Dishdrawers, as has another member. Mine is going on 1.5 years without any major trouble (We've had the drain filter replaced, as it separated). Performance is very good too - though others may disagree.

 

If you are willing to go 2nd hand, try a Kenmore or Whirlpool with the PowerClean module - as they are quite renowned for good cleaning ability and food disposal on here. Most dishwashers you will find also have manual clean filters - no disposal or self cleaning filters and don't use enough water or powerful enough pumps to do the job properly... If buying 2nd hand AVOID ENERGY STAR (Unless its a Kenmore or Whirlpool with the PowerClean!)

 

[mtn1584]

I love my Speed Queens, but for a dishwasher, I feel, and some people might bite my head off, I highly recommend a KitchenAid/Maytag/Whirlpool family brand of dishwasher! My choice is the KA. I have a Maytag portable, my brother has my old KA, and ma has a newer WP. All work well, make sure you use Finish, not Cascade for great results!
Mike

 

[aladude]

We bought a top-of-the-line GE Profile tall-tub in early 2010 and it works like a dream. It's super easy to load and dead quiet. Ours has the smart dispense system and disposal, I highly recommend it.

 

[aimeemarie12]

Guess I should have included budget---600-700. Currently looking into this one:

http://www.sears.com/kenmore-24inch...p-02215693000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

Thoughts? Will not buy GE. Bosch seems rated well but most reviews say small inside which is not for our family.

 

[foraloysius]

Here are some interesting reviews:

http://www.dishwashersinfo.com/

 

[retropia]

If you have hard water, you won't be satisfied with any dishwasher, new or old, unless you have a way to combat the hard water. (I speak from personal experience.) Your dishes won't get very clean, and you'll have the white film problem. I think your options are:

-Get a whole-house water softener
-Get a dishwasher that has a built-in water softener
-Use dishwasher detergent that still has phosphates in it, such as Cascade Institutional.

Consumer Reports has also reported good results with the non-phosphated Cascade Complete Action Pacs.

Once you decide how to handle your hard water problem, then it should clarify what particular dishwashers to consider.

 

[petek]

Personally I've had it with any Whirlpool manufactured machines, which the Kenmore you're looking at is, after our Kitchenaid (whirpool) broke down after 11 months just before the warranty expired (I've since bought the extended warranty). The previous KA wasn't any better. It's the twice burned 3 times shy thing I suppose.

I would definitely be looking at a Bosch next time, they get high ratings in CR. Don't be fooled by the euro machines "being smaller" you can't tell by looking and the designs like we had in our Miele was actually much easier to load and fit just as much inside. You may notice the tines are closer together though so if you have plates that are somewhat deeper than normal could be a concern.. You could, maybe should take one of your regular dinner plates and cereal bowls with you when you go shopping to see how well they stand up in the different machines.

The machine you're looking at didn't get a recommendation in CR but they say it should still be considered. They say it washed excellent, the noise level was good, etc so I'm not really sure why it didn't get recommended where some of the less expensive plastic tub Kenmores did get recommended. As well it's very similar to the stainless tub Whirpools and Kitchenaids, many of those were recommended.

Just my opinion but I think these days it's wise to consider the extended warranty on a dishwasher.

 

[mixfinder]

Bosch

Bosch Bosch Bosch. Did I say Bosch?

 

[pierreandreply4]

me i would go with the kenmore ultra wash dishwasher with smart wash cycle and turbo zone option the brand tag say kenmore elite

 

[aimeemarie12]

I will definitely go look at some Bosch's....that's what I thought I would get before I started really researching.

 

[dustin92]

Well, I can't really recommend a dishwasher (you are going in the right direction with Bosch), but I can recommend a detergent. We have rock hard water, and I use either Cascade Platinum pacs, or Cascade Complete pacs. We don't need to use Lemishine with either of those and our dishes always come out sparkling. I personally never rinse the dishes before they go into the dishwasher, just scrape off any large pieces of food.

 

[mrb627]

Another 4 Bosch

During the time that I had a Bosch dishwasher, I enjoyed using it. I especially liked the 30 minute quick wash. By the time you finished cleaning up the kitchen, dishes are done and can be dried and put away.

My Miele wont let me run the express wash, comes up and says my water isn't hot enough from the tap.

Malcolm

 

[petek]

Malcolm. Have you run a really dirty thru the Bosch quick wash and if so what was the result?

 

[aimeemarie12]

I actually bought the Cascade Platinum this week...still had the white film and chalky feeling...but I gotta say with the CP pac and a Lemishine pac....great results in an older Maytag jetclean. Honestly this machine is cleaning well (but I practically wash dishes before they go in.) But it has a small leak coming from the door at the bottom.

I do have a Blomberg dealer here but I dont know if i was that impressed. Actually liked a Samsung he had but should I stay away? I believe it was a 400 series.
He did not have many bosch bc he is waiting for new ones in may--anyone know anything about those?

 

[petek]

CR gives Blomberg a mediocre (their term) in washing ability on heavily soiled dishes and on noise level. The only excellents it received were energy use and ease of use. That would be enough to deter me.
Samsung is repair prone according to their analysis but then look at my Kitchenaid experience which rates not that bad in that regard lol.

 

[aimeemarie12]

Someone posted a website earlier in the thread which I looked at, and it rates this one very well. I saw someone else say in a different thread, maybe on gardenweb, that their sister has it and loves it...but reviews aren't great on Sears website.

http://www.dishwashersinfo.com/content/kitchenaid-kuds30fxss-2.htm

 

[mysteryclock]

Bosch here - replaced a KA TT that tried (repeatedly) to catch on fire. We also have rock-hard water where I live and the built-in softener has been nothing short of a revelation! Now, instead of having to add Lemi-shine (while risking ruining some things) to every load to counter limescale buildup, I put the dishes in, add a Quantum PB tab, and press the button. As long as the salt and rinse-aid dispensers are kept full, everything comes out clean and very shiny clear first time, every time.

The model I purchased is linked in below. Couple of things to note - it is an ADA compliant one so the tub is a bit higher, and appears (at first glance) to be far far smaller than our old TT. But with careful loading I can get at least 90+% of what I used to cram into the KA into it, no problem. Also, it does not dry plastics as well as the old KA used to, for whatever reason. Dishes, plates and silverware are all bone dry but for some reason certain plastics still have water all over them when it is done. No big deal, just have to towel those off. The flip-side of this is that there's no exposed heater element so I never have to risk having something melting on it if it is blown off the top rack (like medicine cups, etc.)

Maintaining the filter is a snap. I take it out and clean it whenever I'm prompted to add either salt or rinse aid, and that seems entirely sufficient.

http://www.sears.com/bosch-24inch-built-in-dishwasher-stainless/p-02216793000P

 

[washer111]

Will add here that our detergents in Aus still have 30% > phosphates in the
. When our softener died, Finish Tabs ( any sort) worked great in our dishdrawer - which had no softener built on, no rinsing dishes. Water was 25grains or around 359 ppm of hardness. That was 2011 when it was brand new. Still working great