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jkbff

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Something I never do is go into an appliance store and just purchase something... I think and think and think then I over analyze and think and think and .. just go around and around about it..

Today, I went against that.. Sorta.. I bought a Maytag MDB8959SBS... The lady I buy my appliances from knows me very well.. She said I'll hold one in a box for you and go think about it for a while... You can't return it...

So, After talking to her a few times after leaving... What do you guys think of this model compared to the BOL KitchenAid machines they offer?

What was drawing me to the Maytag besides the gorgeous stainless steel was the big Designed and Assembled in America sticker on every product in the store.

KitchenAid, being a Whirlpool company as well as Maytag, is made in America correct? Why aren't they advertising that point?

My biggest concerns... The KitchenAid hydrosweep vs the arm in the Maytag.. What will clean better?

Where the machine is being installed, I don't care about DBA ratings etc.. I'll be lucky if it is installed permanently in the next 5 years.. Are the motors the same between the lines, Im going to presume they use the same racks etc, so what really are the differences?

The way Maytag and Kitchenaid have their sites setup confuses the hell out of me when it comes to specs and options. I think they do it so you can't shop between brands like that.

Help!? lol.
 
Just like GE american initiative

The parts come from all over these days. Precious little is 100% made here. Even gusset jeans, made in TN, are sewn on machines that come from..........Europe and Japan.

Even the SQ has a motor assembled in Mexico. All your outside condensing A?C units have fan motors made in or assembled in Mexico.

Entry level Autolite spark plugs come from China.

Yet NGK is made in Japan or here.

Nearly 100% of your wiring harnesses on vehicles come from Mexico or Thailand.

What scares me though is how little me make in the way of machine tools, the things that make the stuff we buy or use.

Boeing's technological triumph or multi billion dollar boondoggle (depending on your perspective) has roughly 45% of the parts from someplace else and for the first time ever, the wings come from Japan rather than Renton.

I'd be curious to know where all the majors source their steel for the cabinets. AK is a big player in this field. So is NKK and Servestal.
 
Looks like even the lowest priced KA looks like it now has a filter rather than a soft food chopper. Looks like Maytag s the only brand left that still doesn't have a filter that needs to be checked. The most intense cycle on the Maytag uses a whopping 12.7 gallons of water. I am curious what it does differently to allow it to use that much water. I think Combo52 has made a comment the 4-way hydrospeep 4-warm has pressure not as high because it's trying to distribute that small pumped water into 4 arms rather than 2. I think with this energy star pump, it's more of a gimmick and illusion harking back to what was a real KitchenAid than it actually delivers any worthwhile power over the Maytag.
 
Hydrosweep vs. Regular Arm:

In this situation, I would probably suggest both would be roughly equal in terms of washing performance.

Why?

Since you probably have the same or similar number of holes to blast the dirt off with - but with the extra piping you do need more water to keep the flow up to par - so the machine may vary the wash-arms more often, resulting in longer cycle times.

 

Bob, I think the reason Maytag can get away with such traditional water usage for a Pots cycle would probably result from the cycle not being an 'everyday' cycle, or it includes several options people typically won't bother using (Hi-Temp, Sani, Heavy Soil Modifiers etc).

Personally, I'd be quite curious about the number of water changes on heaviest cycle. I have a gut feeling here that Maytag (Or Whirlpool) is using a variable-speed pump that can "lift its game" when given a higher fill level.

In other words, your typical "Normal" or "Energy Saver" cycles may have a fairly equivalent number of water changes, but the levels are reduced and pumping power reigned in somewhat to achieve a better energy rating. Perhaps several Self-Cleaning Filter "purge points" are also removed from the sequence and can only occur at the end of the Main-Wash, rather than at several other points during the Pre-Washes and Main-Wash.

 

From my point of view, I'd buy the Maytag, purely because of the Self-Cleaning filter and food-chopper. I think everyone is aware of what goes into our dishwasher sometimes - cleaning up that mess if I don't use the Heavy cycle on a regular basis just ISN'T pretty... It seems that Oatmeal, Apple-Sauce and Physillium Husk make wonderful "filter mucous" that just won't clear once it starts to buildup (Bluegh!)
 
Ah...

 

If it were just used to attain a better energy efficiency rating, perhaps they wouldn't mention it?

 

If the machine uses more water though, either there are more water changes/purges, or something allows the pump to move more water. With that in mind, I'm guessing a water diverter cycling on lesser cycles, but more water allows it to stay completely open on the most intense cycles.
 
I understand the Kitchenaid is assembled here in the USA. The Maytag and Kitchenaid machines are different animals. The upper end Maytags use better racks than the BOL, but the Kitchenaid is a premium brand with the rack handles, and rack adjusters.

Maytag uses more water, up to 11 gallons in a wash depending on the cycle.

Kitchenaid was the #1 rated machine last year when I bought.

 
My eyes got the better of me... The floor manager came up and said since I'm not mounting it into a cabinet when I first get it, if I run it a few times and don't like it I can exchange it for a KitchenAid..

I bought it, they loaded it in my Lincoln and away I went..

I texted a friend to see if he'd help me unload it but he was busy so I carried it into the house slid it down the stairs and unboxed it by my self.

They gave me a u shaped bracket for the drain pipe since he knew I'd have it drain into a mop sink. They also gave me all the fittings he thought I'd need as well as a cord. The cord wasn't what I was wanting so I told him he could keep it, I took a 40' commercial vacuum cord home to use because I'm not going through my little circuit breaker issue again. I got it all wired and have the plumbing hooked up to the mop sink and ran a rinse only cycle. I have some stuff stacked on top of the tub so it won't tip over when the door is open and the trays are out and loaded.

This thing, just sitting on the floor against the wall is super quiet.. like.. wow... So, it fills for a little while, then the pump kicks in and out a few times, then the pump kicks in and it fills the same amount of time filling the bottom of the tub completely...

It stops and goes every so often like the manual says it would and then drains.. when it drains, the pump starts, stops, starts and I watch the drain hose fill and start to drain, then the pump either shuts off or slows down until an air bubble travels back down then the pump starts again.

I dunno, but when it starts the cycle and starts and stops, at some points it sounds like its speeding up and putting more pressure out.. Is it trying to see if there is food in the water or something? The way it acts reminds of when my samsung front loader washer starts a cycle...

The floor manager pointed me to the demo for Whirlpool that has the guy putting a cake and frozen pizza in the machine and said I should try that to see if this machine is what I want...

I have a crock pot in the fridge with some dip that needs to go.. I'm half tempted to dump it in and see what the darn thing does.. You know.. for science..

The other thing that made me really want this machine is that they said that all three arms are used during the cycle at the same time. They don't start and stop to switch between upper and lower.




 
Also made in America: GE dishwashers. I like my PDT750, which has GE's new wash system. It is super-quiet (rated at 42 decibels to the Maytag's 50 decibels) and cleans like a champ. It does cost several hundred more than the Maytag you're purchasing.

In my world: The ultimate dishwasher would be my former LG combined with the quietness of the GE and the reliability of a Bosch or Whirlpool.

The GE's racks aren't as beefy as the LG's, and there is no interior lighting (which I actually miss, believe it or not). The LG's racks glided silently, whereas the GE's make a cheap-sounding scrape as they travel the rails. The interior is a few inches smaller, too. These things aren't a deal-breaker by any means...but I do notice the difference.

The GE has sensors (one on the tub; one on the floor) which, if triggered by leaks, will drain & shut off the machine while sounding an alarm. If the LG had that feature, my kitchen wouldn't have suffered damage to the subflooring.
 
I started its Maiden load a little bit ago.. I had run a normal cycle with the affresh tablet that came with it to clean the tub and get rid of the just made smell.. I fell asleep while the normal cycle was running so here I started doing dishes at 2 am... :/

Anyways, I loaded up the baskets... I love how my odd shaped bowls fit in the upper rack... The tines bow out instead of being straight up and down so they catch the lips of the bowls and hold them.. I can put 5 big bowls down the middle.. My KDS58 couldn't hold a lot of bowls in the top rack.

I started the cycle, I put it on Jet Clean plus steam, with HiTemp, SaniRinse, ToughScrub, Heated Dry and Steam Sanitize. I can only imagine how long the cycle takes, but I put some pretty gunked up stuff in there.. If the plastic comes out clean, I'll be sold.. I'm not worried about the ceramics or metals because of the steam... When you use steam and detergent, a lot can be accomplished on true materials... The plastics are what I'm concerned with.

I listened for a while as the first cycle ran.. It starts and stops in 4's when you open the door.. Not sure what thats about.. Then it runs, then it drains a bit of water as it fills the same time. It does everything in 4's. It drained I'd say a quarter of the water each time to fill it while it was draining. After that it dumped all the water completely then filled for the wash cycle.. I had decided that it didn't look like things were going to explode or fall apart so I went back into my apartment and decided to write this.

I LOVE how the top rack feels when it slides out. It is so graceful, even when loaded with lots of stainless cookware, ceramic bowls and heavy glass tumblers.

I finally have stem racks for my martini glasses... I feel a hangover coming on soon! ;-)

I just wished Maytag made a metal enclosure for this machine so I could have it stay freestanding..

This machine is not shy on using water at all.... ... I mean wow.. lol I watch that mop sink fill and drain and it looks like I'm running my KDS58.

This machine, even not mounted is beautiful. I love stainless, and this has an expose stainless tub wrapped with a batting of some kind.. I'm tempted to unhook the batting and save it till it is installed.. The stainless sparkles on the outside but it is covered up with dynomat. I can't get over how quiet it is. It just sounds like a calm rain shower, and thats freestanding not mounted to anything.

I'm going to check on finding that Ikea Dishwasher stand that was made at one point..

What scares me the most is the ease I had to let that much money go for this machine... I need to have my head examined ... These dollar amounts are becoming meaningless and that .. horrifies me.
 
well it was a chocolate cake only, but this is the deal Kenmore had when I got my UltraWash in 1988....but the exclusion was this machine was FREE if it could not remove every speck of that cake....but then, why would you want a machine that could not clean?, even if for FREE!.....

I was up for the challenge, and can't count how many cakes I baked and frosted.....and gone every time.....dammit!....lol

is it possible to find a portable and switch the cabinet over to the new one?...granted mine is a convertible, but underneath is the actual undercounter unit, I can take the top and side panels off, or leave them on for undercounter use....just a thought
 
I kept looking at pictures on reviews etc, and it dawned on me... This machine has the fittings that close either top or bottom depending what position the top rack is in...

Meaning... I can take the rack out and I won't have a flood of water shooting at the door..

So, I looked at the rack and I found that there are 4 press points and the rack releases.. No screws, no pins, just press here and presto... That means I can wash my tea jar, my buffet pans and my large cutting board!!!

So excited!
 
A removable upper rack is a great feature to have. It's one that you may not use all the time, but when you need to, it really is handy.

I have a huge 7-gallon Rubbermaid food storage container that gets used only a couple of times a year, and it's great to be able to remove the upper rack and toss it in the dishwasher, as it's far too large to be washed in the kitchen sink.

The two previous dishwashers (a Maytag and an LG) had a removable upper rack. The new GE does not, unfortunately.

Glad you're enjoying your shiny new Maytag! It's always fun to play with a new appliance.
 
Hydrosweep

That's what it lookes likenow. The bar underneath the top rack has sprayers at each end, activated by the Pro Scrub option - "to reach into tall items". It says "KitchenAid 1919" on the top of the Hydrosweep arm, which is now shaped like an X.

 

(c) access.whirlpool.com/wdl/

logixx++2-17-2014-14-37-17.jpg
 

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