mid-price ($500) dishwasher plus 30" fridge question

[spookiness]

Occasional lurker and infrequent poster. Buying condo which will need select appliance upgrades. Whats a decent stainless steel front dishwasher for about $500 bucks these days? Front controls preferred. About 4 or 5 years ago I put a Maytag in my former house, and was pleased with it (but it wasn't an Ultra Wash, which I had & loved). At the time I think it was about $400 and a plastic tub. Noise not a huge concern, but prefer a hard food disposal.

Other issue is a fridge. For appearance sake considering single door bottom, or french door, BUT I'm limited to 30" wide. Not a lot of models to look at in person. IKEA french door "NUTID" is intriguing, although not the biggest by CF (19.7). Yes, it is WP, but I like the handle design and lack of branding on the outside. It curiously has a chilled water tap inside on the left. WP & Maytag clone models don't have this feature, KitchenAid does. NUTID is priced between WP & Maytag, but seems to have similar styling and identical features as KitchenAid, for a lot less money. 5 year warranty seems nice to have. GE makes a 30" FD at 20.8CF, but haven't seen one in person, and LG & Samsung make FD units claiming 21.8 and are attractively priced but those brands make me nervous (for home appliances). Thoughts?

 

[combo52]

Get a current Maytag DW, it will nicely meet all your requirements and is also one of the most reliable DWs on the market currently.

 

If you want a 30" bottom freezer, get a WP , Maytag or Amana, get one that is built in the US, the Mexican built WP bottom freezer products are not holding up well. If possible skip the french door design unless your kitchen space is so tight that you can not open a one piece door. The FD design is not only less energy efficient, more troublesome but most of all wastes a lot of usable space inside.

 

Skip ALL other bottom ref brands, GEs are just Samsung's, they are very troublesome and they have a very dangerous design as the compressor area is all plastic and could be a major fire hazard.

 

[panthera]

John (combo52)

Said it all, nothing to add.

Well, one thing - any working vintage dishwasher or refrigerator will work better and outlast either new appliance by decades.

Unless it absolutely MUST be 'stainless steel', the Whirlpool alternatives are better in every way. Whether we're talking about the tub or the front panels.