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Plastic tubs are fine,,,,

I've had a tall tub GE PDW model with a plastic tub for 7 years now, with no stain or yellowing problems whatsoever. Its a decent priced machine and more than quiet enough for most peoples likings. Stainless steel dishwasher tubs give more of a commercial appearance, but I feel they aren't necessary.
 
A Fisher & Paykel DishDrawer.

I second that. Have had mine for nearly two years now and absolutely love it.
 
SS also does not discolour the way plastic and some porcelai

SS does spot, scratch and start to look grubby over time. Polypropylene is a plastic that has many industrial and product applications and it is virtually as impervious and durable as stainless steel. I've never had any issues with discoloration, smells or other problems. I would think that the production and disposal of SS tubs is less environementally friendly than plastic and it makes no difference to a dishwasher's overall performance.
 
Larry, I just thought of something. The new Kenmore UltraWash HE now uses the alternating spray levels like your old Frigidaire PrecisionWash did.
 
Stainless steel can and is indeed recycled. From my experience working in the Plastics industry...Polypropylene is a fantastic material as long as its all virgin and no regrind gets mixed into it. To cut costs many manufacturers will pulverize defective components and remold them again. This can lead to lamination where the tubs can literally be "peeled" apart layer after layer. I cook alot of red sauces for pasta have experienced discoloration with a plastic tub. Before Cascade came out with the red be gone tube...which I cant find anymore...I just lived with a reddish orange tub.
Stainless on the other hand is quite durable and so far have not seen any scratches on either Miele dishwashers that I have. I am sure that in time they may happen.
 
Most of what I've seen with Stainless tubs is usually limescale or else a yellowy blue mark that looks like when you've overheated a saucepan. I've only seen the yellowy blue mark at around the 15-20 year old mark. Otherwise the 10 or so Dishwashers that I've had at various stages of my life have always had SS tubs in near perfect condition apart from the occaisional light scratches.

It obviously depends on the quality of the Stainless Steel. The grade that dishwashers were made out of used to be impervious for the life of the machine. The stainless steel that's coming out of China and Korea is highly unlikely to have the same lifespan as the Australian or European made stuff.

Mum still has her almost 30yo Dishlex, with the original Lifetime Guarentee on the Stainless Steel tub. The tub is perfect in all aspects so it should be good for another 20 years.
 
The Plastic in the Dishdrawers seems to be different

To the plastic in earlier Plastic Tub dishwashers.

We still have Michaels Mothers Simpson Dishwasher from 1976, which was a Plastic Tubbed Bosch made in West Germany. Its never been used, but the plastic seems to be a much softer more vulnerable type than what you find in a Dishdrawer?

Has Polypropylene been the plastic of choice in American dishwashers over the last 20-30 years, or was there an earlier plastic that was more prone to staining?
 
In theory good stainless steel tubs on washing machines or dishwashers should outlast the lifespan of the unit, but much would depend upon the quality of the metal. Porcelian coated enamel on the otherhand if not done well would rust and break down often while the machine still otherwise had life left. Also dropping a heavy object such as a saucepan on a porcelain tub could cause a ding or chip. If the matter was not attended to, that chip would expose the metal underneath and start to rust. While there are various paints to "touch up" chipped porcelain, there is no way to re-enamel those tubs once they are installed. Suppose one could take the unit apart and send the tub out for such things, but that must cost dear.

IIRC Hoover touted Polypropylene tubs in it's plastic tubbed twin tub units. Words such as "sanitary" were used in adverts lauding the benefits of the material.

One good thing about polypropylene is it is not affected by caustic detergents and or chlorine bleach, both of where were/are heavily used in dishwasher and laundry detergents.
 
Years ago, like more than a decade, there was a threat from the guvament to ban chlorine bleach in dishwasher detergents. Without the bleach, white plastic tubs discolored badly. Maytag switched their higher end machines to stainless steel tubs, but even before the advent of the tall tubs, they switched back to plastic. Maybe that package of bleach for periodic whitening sold next to the rinse agents was enough of a solution for people using a detergent without bleach and there are still detergents with chlorine bleach to keep plastic tubs white.

Cleanteam: The Whirlpool acquisition of Maytag has had no effect on the Maytag dishwasher plant. The machines are Maytags. The major change was made to the standard tub Maytag. It was replaced by the WP standard tub machine so that it now has a full wash arm UNDER the top rack.
 
I have several clients with these GE tall-tub dishwashers and all of them are not happy. Terry has one in his new house in Florida and also, not happy with it's performance. Having had little personal experience with them, I can't say for certain, but I'm staying away. The Smart Dispense system is a curious addition, but I question it's reliability or ability to shake the contents before dispensing - as is necessary with many of the liquid detergents that tend to separate in storage. ;-)

The European/Aus/NZ manufacturers have been making high efficiency machines for decades and seem to have it down pretty well. American manufacturers are still going through what seems to be a few birthing complications to get the designs working right although it seems they're pretty close. The removal of phosphates from dishwasher detergents in 2010 should throw a wrench into the works so it will be interesting to see what changes are yet to come.

Consumer Reports reliability data is as skewed as the rest of their "testing" data. Reader surveys can be interpreted in many ways - just like any political or soft-drink polling data. For example, a simple door-latch defect that requires a service call when a machine is new counts as much in the survey as any other repair - regardless of the cost or complexity of the problem. Their data also doesn't take in to account the "service calls" that are made to instruct the user how to operate the machine or administer a quick 'Hooked on Phonics' course on how to read the manual.
 
Believe me doc, that little thing? I wont even feel it.

You? Such a burly macho manly-man (NOTE: ZERO SARCASM HERE) taking a prickin' in the ..... OMG!

(Ducks and runs.....)
 
Maytag = No,had too many repairs,did not load well,long cycles.
Bosch = No,does not load well,cycles are too long
Fischer Pakel = No, too many reports of repairs.
Miele = Not sure,never used one.
GE = No,if it has the pop up wash tower in the middle.
Kenmore = Yes,very happy with my last Kenmore Elite portable.
Easy loading,liked the silverware basket,shorter
wash cycles,cleaned well.
Kitchenaid = Yes,very happy with all of the Kitchenaids I have
ever used. Easy loading,shorter cycles,quiet.
It is rare that you hear bad stories about Kitchen
aids.
Things to consider:

Noise= Will it be near a tv? Do you run your dishwasher just
before you go to bed? Get the quiet pack insulaton if
noise is an issue.

Loading = Where are you going to put the long spatuala,the
large pot and the fragile wine glass. Adjustable
racks,utensil trays,wine glass holders can make
your dishwash much more user friendly. I have found
I like silverware baskets that are long and run along
the front of the lower rack the best. Then I can put
a big pot right in the middle of the lower rack.
Cycles = I like short cycles with sani wash feature. They are
faster and hot!

Stainless vs Plastic : Because I do not pre rinse anything. I
toss red sauce and all right in I prefer
Stainless. My GE platic tub was always
orange.

Filters = It makes a difference! Be sure to get one with good
filtration. Bottom of the line models you will have
chunks of food left on your dishes.

I use a lot of different dishwashers. I cook a lot at different peoples houses so I get exposed to some different brands. Hope the info is helpful.

Jim
 
I have a GE very similar to the one you pictured

CleanteamofNY, I a the GE a model or two down from the one you pictured. I'm very fussy about my dishes and as I have previously posted it is extremely rare to have anything come out of this machine that is other than perfectly clean.

Personally I'd stay away from any machine with built in detergent dispensers. Seems to me a problem waiting to happen, plus I like to control how much detergent I use. Sometimes I cut back if the load is small or fairly clean, and double up in other situations. I guess we as a culture are getting too lazy to reach over and pick up a box and pour some detergent in a cup. Just a few decades ago 90% of the population stood there and hand washed the dishes.
 
900 dollars

if i had 900 dollars to spend on a dishwasher............i would buy an OLDER kitchenaid off of ebay and pocket the rest!!!!!!!!!
 
Badata, Got to agree with you. My all time favorite dishwasher was a 1978 Kitchenaid Superba. Not sure what model it was. A KD something... It was by far the easiest to load,cleaned extreamly well,never had to repair it.

Jim
 
It's done!

I was torn between Bosch model# SHE55M06UC and the Kenmore model# 13789 and the Bosch nearly won me over
but the delivery would have been on the 5th of Feb., and that was out of the question!
So the Kenmore won all because delivery is tomorrow and the size of the tub is way bigger than the Bosch.
 
A friend of mine has about a 3-year old GE Profile PDW7800 dishwasher. He's pretty disapppointed with the performance on really grungy grungy stuff. And this was with Pots & Pans and prewash cycle/option selected. Any ideas? Kinda goes against some GE TT experiences mentioned here. Andrew, thoughts???
 
The electronic age

Bob,

I was really rooting for the Bosch because of the door seems to have very sturdy feel to it.
To explain; the door on the Kenmore has a flexi feel while the Bosch is like one sheet of 1/4" steel plate, very stiff from corner to corner.
Not only that, the Bosch also has a cleaner look than the Kenmore with a countdown timer that I really wanted in a dishwasher.

Oh well, If Barbie don't like it, she'll send Ken to return it!

Since we have the same machine just wish me luck and trade with me a few tips for best performances.
Thanks.
 

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