Help me pick a dishwasher

... and if any of you says "just use the wife" I reserve the right to slap you.

Needs:
- standard 24" built-in style
- able to take a custom front panel to match our cabinets
- um... needs to be a good one.

I'm going dizzy looking on the web. Seems as though the custom front panel thing isn't common these days. Home Depot has exactly ONE, its custom order only, and its $1400. Lowe's has ten, all custom order, cheapest one is $800 and rated terribly.

As long as its a concealed-button model with the steam vent on top instead of the front face, can I remove the front face and use my panel instead?

We have a Bosch. It does dishwasher things and does them quietly. It's been trouble free so far.

Do you have a Fry's near you?

Another Bosch here - very very quiet and gets the contents clean. I don't know if they do custom front panels.

If we're just shouting brands of dishwasher with no regard to your specifications, I love my Samsung. Ok, sometimes it's too quiet, I can't tell when it's done!

Search for reports of circuit board fires then buy one that you cant find anything about? It seems to be a not all that uncommon occurrence, and can be anything from a 1/2 inch hole burned in the board and a nasty smell in your house for 6 months like what happened to us, or a new house, like some of the reports i read. I think these were one of the few i couldnt find any reports of that happening.

http://www.us-appliance.com/21427564.html?gdftrk=gdfV21216_a_7c444_a_7c4564_a_7c21427564&gclid=CMjrhM7Qga8CFWYZQgodeTZg3g

Bosch, end of story. Whichever one is the cheapest panel front, just make sure it has the full stainless interior. Buy it at an appliance dealer, not a big box. They make a line for the big box stores that is built cheaper with more plastic, but you can usually get the better line from an independent dealer for less anyway.

Josh wrote: Bosch, end of story. Whichever one is the cheapest panel front, just make sure it has the full stainless interior. Buy it at an appliance dealer, not a big box. They make a line for the big box stores that is built cheaper with more plastic, but you can usually get the better line from an independent dealer for less anyway.

I have also read that Bosch is the best.... but none are advertised as being panel-front compatible. ... well, that's not true.... none under $900, and I refuse to pay $900 for a dishwasher. The ones I've seen in person may be able to be hacked/modified, but at the high risk of voiding any warranty.

any dishwasher can take a custom panel...

measure panel size, order a door front that size with your cabinets, glue to front of dishwasher.

i've replaced tons of dishwashers, the quality has nothing to do with the stainless box or plastic box as the guts are all what fails, not the box. it depends how long you're going to stay. last time you moved you were in texas for a year right? if this is another case of that, get the cheapest one they have. if not get the second or third cheapest. chances are it will last as long as the most expensive one.

I recall from our last purchase that the European models want you to scrape the dishes more carefully than domestic models, since they don't have a disposer blade built in.

I have a Maytag, works ok, but it is very poorly laid out as far as dish arrangement. It will accept about 300 saucers, with almost no room for bowls, little room for glasses, 6 full size plates. Next time I am going to pay close attention to the interior layout.

patgizz wrote: any dishwasher can take a custom panel... measure panel size, order a door front that size with your cabinets, glue to front of dishwasher.

I agree, but there are a few caveats to that. It has to have a steam vent that is not on the front, must be self-latching, must have concealed controls... yadda yadda. For instance, this dishwasher:

Would be super easy. Whereas this dishwasher would be darn near impossible:

i've replaced tons of dishwashers, the quality has nothing to do with the stainless box or plastic box as the guts are all what fails, not the box. it depends how long you're going to stay. last time you moved you were in texas for a year right? if this is another case of that, get the cheapest one they have. if not get the second or third cheapest. chances are it will last as long as the most expensive one.

Texas for a few years, but we rented. Now we own our first home and plan on staying for a much longer time. I don't need lots of bells and whistles or 354 different wash cycles. I need to put dirty dishes in, push a button, get clean dishes out later.

I have a Jenn Air.

It is a POS. It came with the house and looks nice but does not clean unless lightly loaded. The plastic bits inside deteriorated and had to be replaced in less than 4yrs.

Avoid.

I have a GE. The first one we had died at 10 years old, the second I made them replace days after I put it in it was so bad. Quality control was terrible. Missing spot welds, bent frames, warped the whole thing. I keep buying them, though, I have some pull with GE.

Since they pulled phosphates from the detergent, none of them are any damn good.

That being said, I have a GE made Kenmore which took 3 deliveries to get one that wasn't berkeleyed up somehow. Then this one developed a laek at the top of the drum where the sprinkler head resides. Lots of teflon tape and sealant later it works fine.

The cascade multicolored "nuggets" are the only soap I find that actually cleans anything. They'll turn cast aluminum black too - bye bye tortilla press.

In reply to curtis73:

Nothing panel front is cheap. That's just the way it is, and it has nothing to do with how much it costs to make one, and everything to do with the fact that the people who want panel front usually don't ask how much it costs. This is true of just about every fixture/appliance in a home; beyond a certain point things don't cost more because they're better or they cost more to make, they just cost more because nobody's asking what the price is (and to a certain extent, the people buying these products WANT them to cost more so they can be the only ones who have them). It kind of disgusts me when I am working on plans that include individual appliances that sell for more than I make in a year, but I don't see this changing anytime soon.

Now that I think of it, if you just want a DW that works and don't care much about brand or features, you might check your local Habitat Re-Store. Most of the appliances they get in in my area are 5-10ish year old high-end stuff that is being replaced because it's not stylish anymore, not because it's worn out. I've seen several panel front DWs in good shape in mine for under $500. Almost any panel front model is going to be a top-line unit underneath.

By the way, if you, against my advice, want a GE anything, I can get you a mammoth deal. Pick a part number and PM me. I'll get you a price.

BOSCH is the best hands down. but they are not cheap.

my parents had an ASKO that was amazing, they replaced it after 15yrs with a kenmore elite that is even better. you have to put your ear ON the dishwasher to tell if its running.

stay away from LG! they look great, but it is the worst dishwasher i have ever used. and it was $700!

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I have a Jenn Air. It is a POS. It came with the house and looks nice but does not clean unless lightly loaded. The plastic bits inside deteriorated and had to be replaced in less than 4yrs. Avoid.

Our builder put one of these Junkers in our house too. We were given a s/s $900 Used kenmore model that is quieter and works great.

curtis73 wrote: ... and if any of you says "just use the wife" I reserve the right to slap you.

my Mom always said that she raised 5 dishwashers

when my kenmore caught fire in the middle of the night I had to get a craigslist special.

So....I've got an '85 model GE with one big knob and fake woodgrain trim. Its louder than a race engine and shakes like a small block chevy about to pitch a rod. Seriously, you'd have to be outside to be unaware it's running, I think I'm starting to get hearing loss.

But it get the dishes clean, and it was free. It actually cleans better than any dishwasher I've ever used. I think it would wash your finger prints off your hands.

and If I want a custom front, Lowe's sells sheetmetal screws and plywood.

Consumer reports said that they all clean well enough that its a toss-up, but I've owned enough to know that they all seem to clean really well when brand new, but then they start sucking after an undisclosed random period of time. I do know that hard water will kill them (and your dishes) pretty quickly but that shouldn't be an issue here. Our well is actually pretty soft. If it is an issue, I have no problems installing a water softener. They aren't that expensive.

At any rate... I still want one of those Bosch dishwashers, but I think I'm going to take a screwdriver to the store. I have a Bosch polo that I can wear and pretend like I'm a vendor. Gotta love SEMA freebies. I just want to pull the face off of the door and make sure I will be able to put my panel on it.

Of course I could put my panel on any dishwasher, but there are dimensions to be concerned with. I don't want it to just be a dishwasher with a matching panel, I want it to look like another cabinet door so it has to line up perfectly. I just spent a ton of money on re-doing the whole kitchen and I would hate for the last step to look like a panel glued onto a dishwasher.

If you want it to look exactly like the other cabinets I think you're going to have to spend the big bucks.

Whenever I had someone like you come in to buy a dishwasher, we had to custom order a unit, and they're never cheap. They're specifically called "Panel-ready" dishwashers. Here are all the Sears-sold panel-ready dishwashers. I did have a guy try to fasten a custom panel to a cheapish control-top model and he wasn't happy. Besides, most models with controls on top are just as expensive as a true panel-ready unit.

I'll second the Bosch recommendation. KitchenAid used to be good as well.

curtis73 wrote: I just spent a ton of money on re-doing the whole kitchen and I would hate for the last step to look like a panel glued onto a dishwasher.

Suck it up and pay for a panel ready one, then. Or start trolling craigslist and the re-store. The problem with screwing a front to a normal DW is that they are designed so that the door is either flush with or a little bit proud of the cabinet fronts in a typical installation. Stick a panel on that and it's going to stick out even further, and it might impede the opening of the door. You might be able to get away with it if you have enough cabinet depth to shove the thing back another inch or so, but you might not, and the mounting system may not be designed to install it deeper.

The guy who wouldn't spend $84 to properly dispose of C&D waste isn't going to drop big geetas on a panel front dishwasher.