learn me dishwashers

So we need a new one. Ours is a 6 year old Maytag which has been berkeleyed for two years. Maytag and the repair guys all said if you just change this little part or use that special soap it will be fine. But of course its not. The pump was berkeleyed two years ago and it is still berkeleyed. It does not build enough pressure anymore to properly clean the top row. So fine, I will buy another one, but I would like to get something a little better built. my moms Maytag dryer just quit and it is 45 years old. Clearly not the same corporate philosophy at work there these days.

So when I go online to look at reviews the tend to be starry eyed newbies who have no long term experience to speak of. I wonder if any of you all have bought a 24 inch dishwasher in the last 3 to 5 years that you are still happy with. I know I will not be able to get the same one but perhaps one brand is more reliable than the rest. I don't need 40 different wash cycles and I don't give a E36 M3 how energy efficient it is. It has to wash the hell out of dirty dishes, not piss water all over our hardwood floor, dry everything, hold a days worth of dishes and last more than 4 berkeleying years. Doesn't seem too much to ask.

I believe what you need to know is "Bosch." I will add that our Roper has been good for us. It has lasted 14 years so far, far longer than any other dishwasher I've ever owned. But the Bosch is what everyone says is fantastic. The Roper is about due for replacement. The rack is rusting out. I'll look for a Bosch when it's time.

I have a Frigidaire, and when it works right it does a great job. It just stops half way through the wash cycle occasionally. I think they are all made to be disposable anymore, unless you spend the money for something super heavy duty.

My Kenmore works great but is noisy.

I'm thinking Bosch next time.

I have a KitchenAid that I like and that works very well. It's about 4 years old (the previous 1 was 30) so I don't have very long range history with it, but it works fine and is showing no negative symptoms.

Two of my sisters have Bosches, and both like them a lot. They are effective and QUIET - like, is this thing running quiet. The only caveat is they are S-L-O-W. A load of dishes takes the better part of 3 hours, without the full dry. And as D1500 says, they need to sit closed overnight for completely dry, spot free dishes.

Whatever you do, do not wash parts in it. They might get REALLY clean, but your wife does not appreciate a clean intake manifold next to her pyrex. That's what I know about dishwashers.

If you take everything out of the Maytag and clean everything out of every screen and wand and squirter, it will work ok for a while.

All I want out of a dishwasher is a removable screen kind of like what a dryer has, or a real grinder to make the chunks go away. I hate undoing the dozen torx head screws to clean the screens in mine.

I've had mine for twelve years. She does a good job but can be expensive to keep quiet.

I somehow knew Wally would be the first one to go down that road

Streetwiseguy wrote: If you take everything out of the Maytag and clean everything out of every screen and wand and squirter, it will work ok for a while. All I want out of a dishwasher is a removable screen kind of like what a dryer has, or a real grinder to make the chunks go away. I hate undoing the dozen torx head screws to clean the screens in mine.

Nope. Pump is shot. I can take it apart and reassemble it blindfolded.

My wife is liking the Kitchen Aids. They actually have a removable screen. I don't think she has looked at any Bosches yet.

We have a Whirlpool that, as far as I know, they built the house around back in 2000 or thereabouts. I can tell you for certain that it has been in the house since we moved in around 2004 or so. Recently, I was ready to replace it, but found that our problems were solved when I took the arm out of the bottom and cleaned the calcium deposits out of it with a bamboo skewer and compressed air -- basically there were little nuggets that were clogging the jets, preventing the arms from spinning. Other than that, it has worked in a satisfactory manner for us, however, if I'm going to watch TV in the evening, I have to carefully schedule when we start the machine because it is very loud. My mom & dad have a Bosch and it is just wonderful -- so quiet, gets things very clean, and has a very nice rack (heh heh). It has to have some sort of heated dry cycle because the dishes come out too hot to unload without pot holders, but it does seem to take a very long time to work through a cycle.

So we want them simple, that can wash a lot of really dirty crap, quietly, for a long time, with a nice rack, that doesnt degrade as the years go by? What are we talking about again? Oh and low cost and maintenance and not super wide.

mndsm wrote: So we want them simple, that can wash a lot of really dirty crap, quietly, for a long time, with a nice rack, that doesnt degrade as the years go by? What are we talking about again? Oh and low cost and maintenance and not super wide.

Not going there.

i have a 2nd had kenmore, gotta be around 10 years old downstairs and a sears around the same age upstairs. i find the kenmore takes it time doing the dishes, still faster then my wife. My cousin built a new places a few months back and his bosch unit is top of the line and does his dishes in half the time my sears or kenmore take. that and its shine chrome.

I have had my bosch for about 6 years. It works very well, but the drying happens via heating the water very hot. if you open the door it will not dry as Datsun1500 said. we like it and would get another. we find that putting a cup of vinager in the dishwasher every months helps keeps everything clean.

I have a Bosch and so does my mother. Hers has been going for 12 years cleaning very well and the only thing my brother washed off his plates were bones. My Bosch is newer at 2 years old and probably the best dishwasher I've ever owned. The automatic cycle is 2 hours and 10 minutes. The high end KitchenAid is made by Bosch, they have a filter in the bottom to catch large food instead of a grinder.

We had a Whirlpool Gold installed about 10 years ago to replace the berkelyed portable job the PO had tried to make permanent. About 4 or 5 years ago, I had to replace the pump and was able to upgrade to a unit from a higher priced model. It's ridiculously quiet but the dry cycle has been less than adequate for about the past 4 months or so.

I have a Kitchenaid that's just over a year old. I paid nearly $1k for it, since I wanted stainless appearance to match the rest of our turn-of-the-century (2000) kitchen, and I wanted it same day.

In short, it sucks. It's leaking through a little rubber washer in the bottom of the tub that is only available as a $100 assembly. The front panel controls will change or cancel the cycle even if you just happen to brush past the front of the dishwasher. Religious use of the "control lock" helps to mitigate this, but the design of the unit is piss poor all around. The racks inside are flimsy. This particular model (KUDE20) is frequently lambasted on the internet on various review sites. The only nice thing I can say about it is that it is fairly quiet.

My perhaps somewhat cynical advice would be to buy the cheapest one you can stand. Figure on replacing it in a few years (if you're lucky).

My wife and I bought a Bosch about 4 years ago and still love it. It was close to a thousand bucks. But damn is it quiet, and it does a great job on the dishes, and it fits a ton of stuff inside. The cycle takes a long time (just under 2 hours) and it beeps when it's done - you then have to open it and let the dishes steam for a bit to finish drying.

Datsun1500 wrote: The main issue with Bosch is they do not have heated drying. You must leave it closed until the dishes drip dry or you get spots.

It's true, but it's sort of an advantage and sort of a disadvantage. The advantages are that the bottom of the dishwasher is smooth and stays very clean without the heating element there. It also doesn't melt plastic ware so you can put things labelled "top rack only" on the bottom rack. But like I said above, you have to let the long cycle complete then open it and let them air out a bit.

Also, made in USA!

Weirdly of the American brands, some were made in Germany. Like we're running an appliance manufacturing exchange student program.

Oh, the new ones have a third rack, very top, for long thin things like spatulas, knives, etc. Your wife would probably flip seeing that. It's awesome. It's almost enough to make me wish we needed another one.

dculberson wrote: Oh, the new ones have a third rack, very top, for long thin things like spatulas, knives, etc. Your wife would probably flip seeing that. It's awesome. It's almost enough to make me wish we needed another one.

We have the "third rack" on our new Bosch. It makes the ladies swoon.

I might have saved myself a lot of trouble and expense when I was single - instead of flowers and chocolates, I could have simply displayed my "third rack" and I'd have been fighting off the co-eds with a spatula.

Datsun1500 wrote: Here is the important question, how much do you want to spend? The $800 one is not close to the $1500 one no matter what the brand.

I don't really have a budget. If I buy a 1200 dollar dishwasher will it last twice as long as the 600 dollar one?

I think we need to go shopping for a bosch.

We have the third rack Bosch at work and it is not quiet...it is silent. As in it makes zero noise at all. They actually have a red LED that shines on the floor so you know it is running. We wash coffee mugs and nothing more, so I can't testify to it's cleaning prowess, but it is the top of the line out there and seems worth every penny.

At home, I have a new Maytag. After reading every review out there, no dishwasher is perfect. You have to choose between features and wether you want a screen or chopper. The screen models force you to lift out a screened basket every load and some people prefer that. The Maytag that I have uses a chopper blade to chew up stuff and that works better for my family. It also had a very powerful washer motor to really get stuff cleaned and it works as advertised. 6 months on it so far, and no issues.

Dishwasher efficiencies are highly affected by the water and soaps used. Don't buy the Porsche GT3 and use lawnmower engine oil in the engine because it was on sale and expect optimal results.

That said. I would go with KENMORE. They have a million versions of them so you can get the one that has the features that you want. Bosch is good too.

All of them clean just fine. I don't know if more money buys reliability but I do know it buys more features.

After seeing the prices of a new dishwasher, I think I'm going to stick with ours and replace the thermal fuses when they blow (about one per year).