After 2 weeks of using the KDTM604KPS, I figured I would give a review of my newest purchase. As many of you know, stopmeister72 recently had his machine’s filter explode, which is seemingly common. However, murando531 and Lorainfurniture have had excellent experiences with their machines. Despite this, I didn’t have the desire to purchase another Bosch given how unique the KA machines are, but also with the sentimental value and heritage of KA/Hobart running in my family. So, I went ahead and bit the bullet.
I purchased the machine from Menards and had to wait a little longer than expected since the machine had to be special ordered. Once I finally received the email, I went straight to Menards after work and picked her up! Installation was a little more time consuming than expected. Though, our power line for the dishwasher is shorter than it should be. The Bosch still excels as the easiest dishwasher I have ever installed, next the KUDS25 because of all the space under the tub, and probably the KDTM in 3rd. It wasn’t horrible, but small and stable hands are best.
Initial impressions from the machine are top notch! Quality is better than expected. Dare I say PC levels of quality. Very solid, sturdy, and ergonomic. Considering most new appliances aren’t like this, consider me very impressed. The racks roll smoothly and have a high character of quality and refinement. Loading so far has been easy. The only spot that has been an issue has been with the third rack on the right hand side. Large sauce or cooking spoons don’t seem to fit as well as they should. However, if you take the basket out, they fit perfectly. Rectangular Pyrex dishes fit well here, too. The fact that 6 tall glass cups and about 5-6 mugs can fit on the left hand side of the 3rd rack frees up a lot of space for the second rack. Speaking of the third rack, the spinning spray arms have cleaned all items in this area perfectly. However, they are a little annoying. More on that later. Second rack is very easy to load and holds quite a bit. In particular, the right side of the second rack can hold small plates, large bowls, and taller tumblers or Yetis without issue. This is a big deal for us. Normally taller cups need to be placed in the bottom rack of either the Bosch or the PC. This isn’t an issue anymore. The first rack is nice, but I feel that the tines are somewhat far apart, which limits the overall potential capacity of plates. It does seem to feel a bit small. With the silverware basket in place, you can only fit 2 large saucepans and about 8 plates before the bottom rack is full. Considering I could do the same with the PC, and hold more with the Bosch, that is a little disappointing. I think the adjusting row of racks in the front is a great concept, but I will likely follow suit of what murando531 has done, and zip tie the rack in the optimal position. The silverware basket takes a little getting used to, but ultimately is placed in a prime spot for excellent cleaning, and the spots that keep the silverware separated and prevent nesting are a nice touch.
The first cycle of the machine was Prowash with High Temp wash and ProDry off. Initially, I was shocked to barely hear the machine filling, but the real shock is to hear how quiet this machine is while running. It easily is the quietest dishwasher I have ever used. Many have said that their Bosch was quieter, but mine wasn't. The loudest part of the machine running is the drain. However, water spraying inside of stainless pots is by far the loudest part of the washing process. The motor is far more quiet than I expected. There are some complaints of motor noise, but it just sounds like a quiet refrigerator compressor IMHO. I did not stay to monitor number of fills or length of this wash, but the machine did perform a prewash with a moderately soiled load. In the morning, the load was completely clean and bone dry after the fan ran for the full 8 hours.
However, recently I was able to sit and ‘watch’ the entire wash cycle. Prowash, High Temp wash, ProDry OFF:
2:32 Initial
Prewash (9:10-9:28) - Ended 2:14
Prewash 2 (9:29-9:35) - Ended 2:06
Mainwash (9:36 - 10:43) - Ended 0:51
Detergent dispensed 2:03
Rinse 1 (10:44 - 10:54 ) - Ended 0:40
Purge (fill & drain only) - Ended 0:39
Purge (fill, recirc bottom rack twice, and drain) - Ended 0:39
Final Rinse (11:00 - 11:25) - Ended - 0:07
Dry (11:26 - 11:33) - Ended -
Fan ON – 11:33
All items from this moderately soiled load were spotless and bone dry. But I was beyond shocked to see a second prewash. This was the only time I have ever experienced this. The first load ran in the machine had heavier soils, but I did not stand around to see if it performed a 2nd prewash. Same goes for the purges as well. These are different than the ‘Eco Rinses’ that murando531 has described. Water use would be approximately 5.8 gallons for this cycle. Quite a bit more than expected.
However, while babysitting this load, I found that my third rack has the ubiquitous rotating spray tube noise. It is loud enough that it gets your attention but is not obtrusive. If there is any other noise such as TV, fans, and some other appliances. I likely will not do anything about it since it only occurs occasionally. Also, I had to add a knife to the load while the machine was running. Water from the bottom spray arm shot a good 3 feet across the kitchen onto the floor. This machine has far more pressure than expected. The fan for drying is not loud at all and sounds like a computer fan.
I have also ran Normal with ProDry off, and the main wash was about 1:20, detergent dispensed after about 10 minutes, the ‘Eco Rinse’ was about 3 minutes long and rotates through all racks while spraying for about 3 seconds per level. No sounds of cavitation while that is occurring. Then followed by the final rinse that is about 25-30 minutes long. No prewash. This cycle would have used approximately 2.4 gallons of water and left no yibbles, cloudy glasses, or residue anywhere.
I did run a ProWash with ProDry ON, and the load was completely dry as expected, even though we emptied the machine immediately after the cycle ended. I really like how the blue LED while washing turns to red when heated dry is selected. That is a nice touch.
This machine seems to do the best on silverware that I have ever experienced. The Bosch did good, the PC did good, but silverware here seems to be polished and never has any residue that is easily wiped off.
So far, this machine has exceeded my expectations. I will give occasional updates on it in the future!
I purchased the machine from Menards and had to wait a little longer than expected since the machine had to be special ordered. Once I finally received the email, I went straight to Menards after work and picked her up! Installation was a little more time consuming than expected. Though, our power line for the dishwasher is shorter than it should be. The Bosch still excels as the easiest dishwasher I have ever installed, next the KUDS25 because of all the space under the tub, and probably the KDTM in 3rd. It wasn’t horrible, but small and stable hands are best.
Initial impressions from the machine are top notch! Quality is better than expected. Dare I say PC levels of quality. Very solid, sturdy, and ergonomic. Considering most new appliances aren’t like this, consider me very impressed. The racks roll smoothly and have a high character of quality and refinement. Loading so far has been easy. The only spot that has been an issue has been with the third rack on the right hand side. Large sauce or cooking spoons don’t seem to fit as well as they should. However, if you take the basket out, they fit perfectly. Rectangular Pyrex dishes fit well here, too. The fact that 6 tall glass cups and about 5-6 mugs can fit on the left hand side of the 3rd rack frees up a lot of space for the second rack. Speaking of the third rack, the spinning spray arms have cleaned all items in this area perfectly. However, they are a little annoying. More on that later. Second rack is very easy to load and holds quite a bit. In particular, the right side of the second rack can hold small plates, large bowls, and taller tumblers or Yetis without issue. This is a big deal for us. Normally taller cups need to be placed in the bottom rack of either the Bosch or the PC. This isn’t an issue anymore. The first rack is nice, but I feel that the tines are somewhat far apart, which limits the overall potential capacity of plates. It does seem to feel a bit small. With the silverware basket in place, you can only fit 2 large saucepans and about 8 plates before the bottom rack is full. Considering I could do the same with the PC, and hold more with the Bosch, that is a little disappointing. I think the adjusting row of racks in the front is a great concept, but I will likely follow suit of what murando531 has done, and zip tie the rack in the optimal position. The silverware basket takes a little getting used to, but ultimately is placed in a prime spot for excellent cleaning, and the spots that keep the silverware separated and prevent nesting are a nice touch.
The first cycle of the machine was Prowash with High Temp wash and ProDry off. Initially, I was shocked to barely hear the machine filling, but the real shock is to hear how quiet this machine is while running. It easily is the quietest dishwasher I have ever used. Many have said that their Bosch was quieter, but mine wasn't. The loudest part of the machine running is the drain. However, water spraying inside of stainless pots is by far the loudest part of the washing process. The motor is far more quiet than I expected. There are some complaints of motor noise, but it just sounds like a quiet refrigerator compressor IMHO. I did not stay to monitor number of fills or length of this wash, but the machine did perform a prewash with a moderately soiled load. In the morning, the load was completely clean and bone dry after the fan ran for the full 8 hours.
However, recently I was able to sit and ‘watch’ the entire wash cycle. Prowash, High Temp wash, ProDry OFF:
2:32 Initial
Prewash (9:10-9:28) - Ended 2:14
Prewash 2 (9:29-9:35) - Ended 2:06
Mainwash (9:36 - 10:43) - Ended 0:51
Detergent dispensed 2:03
Rinse 1 (10:44 - 10:54 ) - Ended 0:40
Purge (fill & drain only) - Ended 0:39
Purge (fill, recirc bottom rack twice, and drain) - Ended 0:39
Final Rinse (11:00 - 11:25) - Ended - 0:07
Dry (11:26 - 11:33) - Ended -
Fan ON – 11:33
All items from this moderately soiled load were spotless and bone dry. But I was beyond shocked to see a second prewash. This was the only time I have ever experienced this. The first load ran in the machine had heavier soils, but I did not stand around to see if it performed a 2nd prewash. Same goes for the purges as well. These are different than the ‘Eco Rinses’ that murando531 has described. Water use would be approximately 5.8 gallons for this cycle. Quite a bit more than expected.
However, while babysitting this load, I found that my third rack has the ubiquitous rotating spray tube noise. It is loud enough that it gets your attention but is not obtrusive. If there is any other noise such as TV, fans, and some other appliances. I likely will not do anything about it since it only occurs occasionally. Also, I had to add a knife to the load while the machine was running. Water from the bottom spray arm shot a good 3 feet across the kitchen onto the floor. This machine has far more pressure than expected. The fan for drying is not loud at all and sounds like a computer fan.
I have also ran Normal with ProDry off, and the main wash was about 1:20, detergent dispensed after about 10 minutes, the ‘Eco Rinse’ was about 3 minutes long and rotates through all racks while spraying for about 3 seconds per level. No sounds of cavitation while that is occurring. Then followed by the final rinse that is about 25-30 minutes long. No prewash. This cycle would have used approximately 2.4 gallons of water and left no yibbles, cloudy glasses, or residue anywhere.
I did run a ProWash with ProDry ON, and the load was completely dry as expected, even though we emptied the machine immediately after the cycle ended. I really like how the blue LED while washing turns to red when heated dry is selected. That is a nice touch.
This machine seems to do the best on silverware that I have ever experienced. The Bosch did good, the PC did good, but silverware here seems to be polished and never has any residue that is easily wiped off.
So far, this machine has exceeded my expectations. I will give occasional updates on it in the future!
