Shopping for Dishwashers

[table4three]

DH and I are going to be replacing our kitchen appliances soon. I've been looking at dishwashers and have been looking through consumer reports. They comment on the stainless vs plastic tub but do not comment on the pros/cons of each.

Anyone have input about the pros/cons of the stainless vs plastic tub?

Thanks!

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[drsweetie]

We have one with a plastic tub and the thing I can say about it is that it stains, just like other plastic products (like Tupperware) will do. We have some streaks on the plastic that I'm pretty sure came from tomato sauce that will probably never come out. Of course, this is mostly my fault because I'm usually too lazy to rinse off the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. :)

Something I'd encourage you to investigate while dishwasher shopping is the length of the wash cycles -- we have a Kenmore something-or-other and even on the "Water Miser" setting, it takes FOREVER to get through a wash cycle.

Ellen

[crl]

Stainless doesn't stain and is, I think, more durable. We have a low-end Bosch from about 3 1/2 years ago with a stainless interior. We've been very happy with it.

Good luck with your shopping!

[mudder17]

Ditto on the staining and durability. We have an LG Dishwasher that we LOVE, and although it does have a long washing cycle (2+ hours), that doesn't really bother us. The other features make it all worthwhile.


Eileen

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Kaya's a cousin! 10/1/05, 5lb13oz

[fmm72]

I second the Bosch brand. We have a low-end Bosch as well, but I think it has been rated highly in Consumer Reports for the past few years. It is a great dishwasher-get things spotlessly clean, is quiet (important to me after living with a dishwasher that was so loud I had to leave the house!) and uses very little water (3 gallons per wash I think). It is a stainless interior and it still looks brand new after 2 years of 2-3 times/weekly use. The one "must" with it is that you have to use jet-dry or the stuff just doesn't dry well. But I highly recommend it. My mom has a GE and it is so bad she'd rather wash by hand then bother with it!

[table4three]

Thanks for the replies everyone. We have to go see these in real life now and try to sort this out. We are moving into a new home in April and replacing all the kitchen appliances. I'm excited, but the choices are overwhelming!

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[kellyotn]

The biggie for us was QUIET. Our house is very open and our old one was just too loud. I didn't care how long the cycle is, as long as its quiet. ;) Ours is a Maytag QuietSeries something. The outside is stainless steel, inside plastic. We didn't want to spend a lot so were fine with plastic, I think it was around $600 from Sears (the stainless adding $100 or so). It also has a delayed start, which is nice, though we rarely use it b/c it is so quiet. If our old one would have had a delayed start we'd have always used it.

One thing I regret is not taking one of our plates to Sears. They have a very, very wide brim on them. I was worried about getting a dishwasher with decent racks for these darn plates. DH thought taking the plate was "weird" so we didn't, and yes, they don't fit well and it drives me bonkers! It does have other features that I like - clips for light items, flip down sides to hold wine glasses, very angled racks for glasses so water doesn't pool on the bottoms, etc.

I've heard great things about the Bosch's & LG's too. I also think they are very nice looking!

[brittone2]

We installed a low end Bosch at our old house and loved it. It had a stainless tub, and it was very very quiet. We usually ran it on an economy cycle and it was 77 mins if I remember right. We really didn't have to prerinse and things came clean more consistently than any other dishwasher I've had in the past. The regular cycle was pretty long, but I don't mind that as long as I'm not rewashing things to get them clean.

I think a few people have mentioned that consumer reports gives them not that great reviews but we looooved ours and I miss it dearly :)