Update: New Dishwasher Recommendations, Please

[writermama]

On Update: Yes, I know everyone must be loosing sleep wondering what happened with my dishwasher search. DH and I took DD1 and DD2 dishwasher shopping Saturday morning. We went to Expo and planned stops at Lowes and a local appliance shop.

Walked into Expo, decided on a Bosch model that we both thought was wonderful and were planning to comparison shop that around a bit. We asked how long it would take to get and the salesman said 2 weeks. Eeek.

So we took a second look at a -- surprise -- Jenn Air (now made by different people than my disappointing 8 year old one). It was a top-of-the-line that had been used in a display kitchen. (google JDB 1250AWP to see pictures if you're interested). It was greatly reduced -- cost about 2/3 as much as the Bosch I wanted ... and then the salesman realized it was due to be marked down to 50% off as of that day. With the total price less than half the Bosch and the dishwasher ready to take home that night instead of two weeks of handwashing, it was an easy decision.

My review: It's quieter than the old one, looks very cool in my kitchen, and holds more stuff though I'm still learning how to load it. I am thrilled how things worked out, however, if it was full price and the Bosch was full price and the wait was the same ... I would have gone with the Bosch.

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I am sad to report that, as of 7 pm last night, my dishwasher of 8 years has given up the ghost. The good news is, I get to get a new and improved one.

Does anyone have recommendations for a nice, new dishwasher. The old one was a Jenn Aire provided by the builder -- though that used to be a good name, we've been uniformly disappointed by all of our Jenn Aire appliances, so I'm not wild about that brand now. DH was looking at Bosch models last night.

[o_mom]

Eagerly watching... the one that came with our house is pathetic..

I am torn - the Bosch ones are highly regarded and more affordable. However, they get some bad reviews for drying. They don't have a heating element, so there is no heated dry. That doesn't really bother me as we never use that feature. However, they don't have a vent, either, so I'm not sure where the steam goes and if it is going to be significantly different than a regular washer without the dry cycle. Supposedly they are smaller inside, too. I need to take a few of my big everyday items to Lowes and try to fit them in.

Some of the Kenmore DWs are made by Bosch, so you may want to compare there (http://www.appliance411.com/parts/sears.shtml). Our last DW was a Maytag that was good for fitting all the dishes in, but the actual cleaning wasn't so great (tall glasses in certain positions would get crud on them).

[KpbS]

We've been pretty happy w/ our Bosch. It was not a fancy model and is now about 3 year old. It is super quiet and I love the quick wash feature. The cycle is only about 32 min. long. Since we put our dishes in relatively clean, it is more than adequate. I hate the waste of water+energy that is inherent in the design of most dishwashers. The lack of a heated dry is definitely something to consider though. We didn't use it before and don't miss it usually.

hth

[belovedgandp]

I suffered with a bottom of the line builder installed dishwasher for almost 7 years. It lived 10 which surprised me. I kept hoping it would die on me.

We have the lowest level of Kitchenaid washer you can buy and still get a stainless steel interior. It's much quieter than our old one, but louder now than when we bought it three years ago. But I can still turn it on an have a conversation in the kitchen or hear the TV in the adjacent family room. I love the fact that my dishes are actually dry. I used to have to put two dish towels out and line up all the plastic on them to dry in the morning because there was always water on them. Now everything is actually clean and dry!

[kransden]

I have a Kenmore Elite w/ Quiet Guard. It rocks! My new house came w/ a builder low end Whirlpool. It didn't have an adjustable top rack. I just hated the battle. (Make sure to buy an adjustable rack dw) So we dumped it and got this one. I scape my plates, never wash them, and presto the magic box cleans them. It is wonderful. If is fairly quiet, easy to use, and I would buy it again in a heartbeat. I have had it for over a year now. It also has a turbo setting, but I never need to use that. My only issue is it does take a long time to wash the dishes, but that seems to be the case for most of the newer dw. On the other hand, my dishes are always clean.

Beware Bosch, they say they are quiet, BUT they don't have a grinder. So you have to clean the gunk out of the bottom yourself -YUCK! I'll take my louder dw with a grinder and skip that step :).

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

My first ( cheapie) Bosch wasa awesome. The one I have no is loud!!!

[firsttimemama]

If you end up going with Kenmore I think I read something on slickdeals yesterday/today about 28% off kenmore at sears.. soon? now? this weekend?
Sorry it's foggy - just do a search on slickdeals.net

[mytwosons]

It's my understanding the lowest end Bosch doesn't have a grinder/disposal, but the others do. That being said, I rinse really yucky dishes and then don't have to pick stuff out of the catch-all. I don't miss the dry cycle at all...We run ours every night when we go to bed and everything is dry when we unload in the morning. When we first got it, I was standing in front of the running machine, talking to my mom on the phone. She couldn't hear it, even when I held the phone up to the machine.

[egoldber]

I have an Asko that we got as a floor model clearance and I swear I am in love with it LOL!!! It is soooo quiet. I never rinse, just chunk the big stuff in the sink. Mine has a grinder and I never have to empty the filter. Well except the couple times I accidentally left a paper napkin on a plate before putting it in there.....

[kellij]

Our Maytag bit the dust THE DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING!!! It was only 2 years old. Not a good time to lose your dw! We bought a kenmore that is made by Bosch. I LOVE LOVE it!!! It is so incredible. It's so quiet and things are so much cleaner! I'm thrilled our Maytag broke, I didn't realize how awful it was until I got a dw that actually works.

The key with the drying is that you absolutely have to use that blue liquid stuff, I can't remember what it's called. It won't dry without it. With it, it's perfectly dry.

We actually got it from a Sears Dent and Ding center. I think we saved about 600-700 that way.

[LD92599]

We put in a Bosch (the 2nd cheapest one) in November and LOVE IT. No problems yet and it's sooooo quiet.

If you go w/ Lowe's be sure to get the 10% off coupon on lowesmoving.com. They will also price match (as will sears, etc).

[o_mom]

The key with the drying is that you absolutely have to use that blue liquid stuff, I can't remember what it's called. It won't dry without it. With it, it's perfectly dry.



Do you have to use the JetDry?

I got mixed answers on this and really don't want to buy the stuff. We have softened water and never use JetDry or the heated dry option on our current DW. The dishes aren't bone dry, but everything but the plastic is dry enough to put away shortly after the cycle ends and I usaully just shake off the plastic and put it away. This was the case with our Maytag (plastic tub) and the current KitchenAid (SS tub). I just can't get anyone to explain if the Bosch drying without the rinse aid will be any different. :confused:

[galvjen]

Our Maytag, ~4 yrs old, is ok. It cleans well, grinds food, and dries decently.

I dream of something quieter. The Kitchen Aid we've been around is MUCH quieter but the silverware baskets on the door aren't ideal in my opinion.

[kellij]

We HAVE to buy the JetDry. In fact, if you don't have it in there, it tells you to add it. I mean, the dishes were soaking wet without it. Supposedly the heat from the water is what dries the dishes off. Maybe your water gets hot enough to do it without the jet dry, or it might not bother you. I like to be able to put the dishes away without having to wait or hand dry. You might want to call the company and see what they say since you have soft water.

It may be noteworthy that it doesn't use much of it. I bought a big thing of it at Sam's, at the end of Nov. and we're still on it. I typically wash dishes once to twice a day.

[shilo]

we killed our builder's special GE that had been here since our townhouse was built 14 years ago, last summer. we replaced it with the fisher & paykel dish drawers. love them. we do one drawer every other night, alternating. so one get's emptied, and the other gets filled and run. the little fold down shelves are great for all the sippy cup lids and the basket sections are big enough for valves without needing a separate bottle-parts type basket. i can fit everything in the drawers that i used to be able to fit in the conventional GE, altho the salesman said some people complain it doesn't fit large pots well - but we do our pots and pans by hand, so no biggie. it is expensive, but oh so quiet and efficient (my DH tracks our energy usage and we saw a pretty big decline when we switched over - we did the fridge at the same time tho). it also was a big cut in our water usage. it has a great locking feature to prevent our 3 yr. old from accidentally starting it. it does take some doing to get it leveled if you do the install yourself (like we did), but when it's level it's super quiet - as in, i run it while company is still over and we have a great room style kitchen/dining/living room. we like them so much, we are putting them into the house we're building.

ETA: all that said, i think one of the _most_ important consideration you should take into acct. is what kind of dishwasher user you are. if you are a throw everything in unrinsed, chunks and all kind of user, you definitely want to find a dw with a grinder/disposal built in to handle that. if you are a rinse the chunks kind of user, this is probably overkill and there may be a quieter, more efficient machine out there to meet your needs. we rinse b/c we only do a load every other day, so i don't want stuck on bits hanging out overnight to stink things up. the drawers handle any residue (katsup, egg, baked on grease on pyrex, etc.) just fine, but if i were to leave behind a lot of food/chunks, it would definitely clog the filter if it wasn't emptied regularly. that said, the filter on these drawers is very easy to get to and just requires rinsing under the running tap water. also, one other thing i thought of, these drawers do not have a heat dry cycle. so if you follow the manual and leave them shut for 30 min. after the cycle, most everything will be dry except for the plastics, which may still have a few drips on them, especially kids cups which seem to have the concave bases where water can collect ;).

lori

[ThreeofUs]

We have a Bosch, basic model. It was one of the few dishwashers that heated the water internally to a high enough temperature to sterilize the dishes. It works very well.

Of course, its drying is middlin' because of the evaporative drying. I have never cared about this, and have always had to dry my dishes somewhat when they come out of the washer, so it doesn't matter to me.

Good luck!