if you had to chose a dishwasher today what would you go with modern or vintage

[ea56]

At the risk of being branded an AW heretic, I’ll vote for no dishwasher right now. A week ago, I turned on my 10 month old Whirlpool dishwasher loaded to the hilt with a couple of days worth of unrinsed dishes and left the house for a walk. When I returned the clean light was on. I opened the door and found that the dishwasher had filled with water, but the water hadn’t sprayed the dirty dishes. And with the heated dry selected the food had baked on all the dishes!

So, I had to wash them all by hand, after soaking them to get the baked on food off. Up to this point I have been very pleased with this dishwasher. I called Whirlpool and they set me up with an appt. for a service tech to come on the 4th of April, between 8am and 4pm, and the tech was located almost 70 miles away. On Tues. the 3rd they called and now wanted to come between 4 and 7pm. I told them to cancel the appt., and I called Whirlpool back, got a great service rep who listened to my concern and set me up with an appt. with a service rep only 5 miles away, for 4-18.

In the meantime, I’ve rediscovered the theraputic satisfaction of doing our dishes by hand, and I’ll have the dishwasher repaired, but probably won’t use it much anymore, if at all. The dishes seem to be cleaner, especially the glassware, and they are all done at once, I don’t have to latter on go back to the kitchen and unload the dishwasher. I like to complete tasks from beginning to end. And having to go back later to unload the dishwasher just prolongs my “MIldred Pierce’n” inthe kitchen.

I’ve had a dishwasher since 1987, and I never thought that these words would ever leave my mouth. But this is our second diswasher in less that 3 years, and I’m really disappointed with the quality that I see in whats being produced these days. So, for the foreseeable future I’m going to just do our dishes the tried and true old fashioned way. Another plus, is that this task helps me to release my anxiety over the current state of our union.

So, all’s well that ends well. I’m currently using the dishwasher to store the dish drainer and drain board when they aren’t in use, very handy storage space, even if that's not its intended purpose.
Eddie

 

[chachp]

Too radical for me...

 

 

 

[ultralux88]

Too radical for me too! LOL I’m vehemently opposed to washing dishes by hand, a good dishwasher should be even more thorough and they sanitize dishes with water hotter than we humans can stand to touch. I learned how to wash things by hand but I also was taught that a dishwasher is preferable, hand washing is for those rare things that won’t fit or when you need one or two items immediately. We don’t buy non dishwasher safe dishes or cookware so that’s not an issue...

 

[pierreandreply4]

i prefer to clean my dishes in the dishwasher

to be honest I prefer using the dishewasher than wash by hand here how my dishwasher works if I use normal cycle with heat dry no water heating option cycle is 1 hour 23 minutes 1hour 46 minute if using the wash bottle option on heavy with all option its 2 hours 93 minutes almost 3 hours

 

[appnut]

Well, I refuse to be without a dishwasher.  Last fall I was without my dishwasher for almost 6 weeks because the distribution valve died.  (Then I later found out my very hard water helped kill it and the pump died a week after the valve was replaced).  The last tech to install the new pump had worked as a repair tech for 30 years.  He advised me to use Lemi Shine dishwasher cleaner once a month rather than the the Affresh because I need something stronger with my water conditions.  So now I do that and also add Finish booster in addition to my pod and put some Cascade Complete gel in the prewash.  My loads are always pretty soiled after 2-4 days (after all I AM Mr. BobLoad).  My water heater is set at 120 degrees and even though I run the tap right before I turn on the machine, the prewash water is between tepid and warm at best.  I rarely use high-temp option.  I use Smart Wash or Normal most of the time and no heat dry.  Default times for those two cycles are 1:40 and 1:52.  But by the time the dishwasher adjusts the cycle and target temp because of soil level, that stretches out to about 2:42 to 2:58 minutes and I usually get 3 post wash rinses automatically due to soil.  Default for Pots & Pans is 2:16 and with high-temp that is 2:40.  That cycle usually finishes 2-5 minutes less than the initial default times. If I do occasionally use&#92 heated dry, I use the extended heated dry and that adds 1:26 minutes. 

 

Rarely run the dishwasher when I'm not awake.  The day the distribution valve failed, I'd loaded it up with filthy dishes after doing a bunch of cooking and had timed it such that the cycle would be finished by the time I left for work the next day.  I cam out for breakfast the next morning and didn't hear the usual slight sound of water spraying from wash arms.  I'd selected TurboZone and thought may it was in that phase.  (But it didn't change for the rest of the cycle).  turns out it never changed from the initial TZ jet use in prewash.  The detergent pod was still perched atop the bottom rack handle where it had landed on when the dispenser opened.  I waited until I got home from work to open it up.  Original dish soil level.  I had to wash the damn load by hand.  Every night I talked to my partner on the phone he got an earful of just how much I hate washing dishes by hand and eating/drinking from disposable plastic/paper/foam items is unacceptable.  And when I got my water bill, he really got an ear full.  Using the dishwasher saves me several hundred gallons of water a month.  Plus, I don't wash by hand as well as the dishwasher does anyway.   Doing dishes by hand is not therapeudic for me at all.  Also with no rinse policy, I have less chance of accidentally dropping and breaking something, which can also happen with washing by hand. 

 

[toploader55]

Hi.
Well, I am learning my new Air Book and can't copy and paste yet.

There are Miele Dishwashers starting at around $899.00.

If I had to go Brand New, Miele would be my choice. They hold a ton and clean well.

 

[iowabear]

One thing I sure remember about the old dishwashers is how incredibly hot the dishes were at the end of drying cycle.  Bone dry and too hot to touch. Rinse aid not required!

 

[frigilux]

Eddie: I am certainly sorry to hear your 10-month old Whirlpool has already had a failure, in part because I have the same (albeit portable) dishwasher! Except for the ungodly racket, I really like it. Cleans everything beautifully on the 1-hour cycle. I would imagine it's a bit quieter when installed undercounter.

As for washing by hand, regulars here will recall I hadn't planned to get a dishwasher upon moving to the apartment last summer. That notion didn't last long, LOL.

 

[ea56]

Eugene

I hope that you don’t have the same problem. Like is said before, I’ve had a dishwasher since 1987, and never had any operational problems until this one and the GE immediately before this one, The main complaint I had with my dishwashers before these last two was the coating on the racks wearing out and the racks rusting.

I agree with you about the one hour cycle, it works very well, at least when the dishwasher itself is working. I’ve absolutely no patience for these new DW’s with the 2 1/2 to 3 hr., or longer cycles.

I recall how you weren’t crazy about doing dishes by hand when you moved to your apt. I’m surprised that this hasn’t been a problem for me. Even the Easter dishes, with company wasn’t a hassle. I had them all done in less than 20 mins, and put away. Normally I find everyday dinner dishes can be done in about 10 mins, including putting them away. I use rubber gloves with full on hot tap water and don’t get burnt. The dishes are dry by the time I’ve finished stacking the rinsed dishes in the rack and draining the dishwater and cleaning the sink. I quick hit with a fresh dishtowel and they’re ready to put away.

I grew in a home with out a dishwasher and never lived in a home with one until I was 36 years old,so its not a foreign process for me. When we got our first place with a DW we felt like Wezzie and George Jefferson, move’n on up!

I may eventually change my mind about doing the dishes by hand, but in the meantime I’m strangely enjoying it, maybe it reminds me of being young again, LOL. When life hands you lemons make that lemonade, as the saying goes.
Eddie

 

[rapunzel]

I prefer vintage for its aesthetic, variety, ingenuity and imagination. Now all modern products look generic. The designs are all based on computer generated templates, shared engineering and technology platforms and whatever unimaginative cosmetic flourishes are added by the product design teams - they are about as exciting as a cup of cold milky tea with that fatty skin floating on top. We live in the age of UGLY uniformity. It permeates all of society right from the top down to the lowest of the low human life forms. We pay accolades to mediocrity and reward the talentless. One only has to look at music, art, fashion, entertainment and politics and there we have the sum of this great repository of centuries of human imagination, experiences and endeavours being reduced to rationalist economics, where everything is focused on increasing profits over all else. Even freedom and democracy. These are very sad and dangerous times. If current trends continue to flourish, we will all end up living in a world of monochromatic minimalism - drab and nasty. We'll all just be little grey mice turning the wheels of a global economy that feeds the indulgences of the ueber rich.

 

[westingguelph]

I'm sorry to hear about ea56 problem with the 10 month old Whirlpool as I have that exact same dishwasher and I love it. This is one of the first newer dishwashers I've had that really cleans dishes fairly quietly in a timely manner. This one replaced a Maytag Quiet II that was a disaster and a GE before that which never worked properly from the first day. Funny though this one is just coming up to the 10 month mark...eeek. If you do decide to get it repaired or Whirlpool comes to the rescue (doubtful) please let us know how it turns out.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Going back to washing dishes by hand?! Oh no!

If you are one of those folk who simply have to jump out of your seat as soon as the dishwasher finishes, in order to unload it, then modern machines will probably drive you up the bloody wall.

What we do is switch the machine on in the evening, say 8:00pm, let it run its cycle, switch it off before going to bed, leave the machine closed, wake up to dry dishes and unload in the morning. Obviously if you're a working soul, depending on what your mornings are like rushing about to get to your work, then the unloading might be delayed until the evening. Either way the dishes are dry. Simples.

 

[ea56]

Re: Reply #’s 29 and 30

Brian, I agree with you about the 1 hour cycle, it does work really well, and thats why I bought this dishwasher. I want to get things finished in a timely manner. And I never used all the various cycle choices on other dishwashers. So this one fits my needs perfectly. I will be having it repaired as its under warranty. As it stands now I’ll probably choose to continue doing the dishes by hand most of the time.

Rolls_rapide, I’ve thought about using the delay start, but then there is no way to run the hot water tap until the water is max. hot before the DW starts, so most of the initial water entering the DW would be cold, and these new DW’s really need to start with water that is as hot as possible. Also, when I get up, the last thing I want to do is unload a DW. I know, I’m anally retentive! When I leave my kitchen I want it to be neat, tidy and in order. The 1 hour cycle fits my needs best for a DW.

Ideally, we could still get DW’s like they made in the late 40’s and early 50’s that advertised completing the cycle in 30 mins or less. All the new appliances have cycles that go on seemingly forever, to conserve water. I’m just not the kind of person that wants wait for 2 or 3 hrs. for the dishes to be clean, and then when I’m relaxed, watching a movie or show have to get up and unload the damn thing. And if I don’t find doing the dishes by hand to onerous, thats a plus for me. If the DW hadn’t broken down last week I would probably never have rediscovered that doing dishes by hand is something that works better for me.

Everyone runs their own cribs differently.

Eddie

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Quality

This is why I purchased the Bosch instead of another Whirlpool. I can actually buy discounted Whirlpool products through a family member, but I felt that the quality was a better factor than the price. The Bosch has left me impressed with its build quality and thought that has been put into it. Earlier I mentioned the rack design being odd, but another thing is the tray they have in the second rack for tablets to dissolve. I found that it wasn't dissolving quickly enough, so I removed it. Now the tablet falls to the bottom of the tub and dissolves just as quick as in the Whirlpool.

 

[ultralux88]

I just can’t pass up a good excuse to play with an applianc!

Some family have a Whirlpool Gold that’s about the same age as yours that died, so far no real issues with it. It’s cycle is so long, 4:30, that usually the machine can’t get the after dinner dishes unloded until the morning anyway in most cases. The one hour wash is OK, but not overly thorough, and add 30 minutes if you want the dry cycle too. Tim’ brother in law feels like the 8 hour soak and clean gets the best results, I’m never there when the dishes get unloaded in the morning, but I can say they will regularly over load the thing in the worst way, but sadly they’re a bunch of Lilly livered dish rinsers (LOL) so I can’t say it really qualifies as a Bobload unless I load it. I’ve been known to cry out in panic “don’t you dare rinse that plate!” I’ve been using my KDA5 there lately so I can get more dirty dish time with it, and so I get the satisfaction of unloading and looking at the dishes after, as it only runs for 45 minutes and it’s done. Sadly someone loaded up something rather fucci and it put a large glob of something nasty and greasy in the filter and left a gag reflex triggering film on EVERYTHING run in the last cycle they ran in it. Half of that stuff seemed clean and the rest went through the Kitchenaid with the remaining dirty dishes in the sink, and I heavily loaded the Whirlpool with Lemishine and ran it empty on the 8 hour soak and clean, will find out today how it came out...

 

[logixx]

I don't care if it's vintage or modern, as long as it is quiet (below 45 dB). I don't like noisy appliances. I almost always run the dishwasher in the evening and unload it as soon as it's done (my modern Bosch takes 79 minutes on the auto cycle and a max of 95 minutes on Pots/Pans with Sani).

Can't fault the performance of their dishwashers.

 

[ultralux88]

Bosch does seem to have the best wash cycle time of he modern machines.

 

[seedub]

Bob, Why Don't You Have a Water Softener?

I paid $5k for mine, but I consider it a worthwhile investment.

 

[lordkenmore]

I've been without a dishwasher for several years. At times, I'd say I'd be happy with anything, as long as it wasn't a total piece of worthless junk...

 

I don't have much personal experience to rely on for making a decision. I've only used 2 dishwashers (surprisingly), and the oldest was made in the early 90s. That dishwasher would qualify for Imperial by age, but still feels "modern" to me...

 

Older machines, though, would be more fun--particularly if in a long forgotten color. And if I ever did a dream kitchen, it would quite likely be vintage themed. I'm intrigued by the Kenmore Roto Rack, although I'm not sure I'd want a D&M dishwasher to be a daily driver...

 

Newer dishwashers, though, have better parts availability. (Of course, some here--including me in my most cynical moments--might say you need lots of parts available because stuff is so poorly made now!) The newest dishwashers would probably be a better match for the detergents of today.

 

 

 

 

 

[lordkenmore]

theraputic satisfaction of doing our dishes by hand

 

This reminded me of passage from an old novel (Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley) that I read many years ago, which talked about washing dishes. I did some research, and found the book on Project Gutenberg. The character talking here owns a bookstore:


 

 

 "Then it occurred to me that here was just the relaxation I needed. I had been worrying over the mental strain of being surrounded all day long by vociferous books, crying out at me their conflicting views as to the glories and agonies of life. Why not make dish-washing my balm and poultice?

 

"When one views a stubborn fact from a new angle, it is amazing how all its contours and edges change shape! Immediately my dishpan began to glow with a kind of philosophic halo! The warm, soapy water became a sovereign medicine to retract hot blood from the head; the homely act of washing and drying cups and saucers became a symbol of the order and cleanliness that man imposes on the unruly world about him."