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Best dishwasher


Michael M

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Still love my Bosch. Almost a year later and it is still awesome. No problems what-so-ever and barely notice it is on.

John

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Definitely do not get a Frigidaire. I made the mistake of getting one last year when my old Kenmore died.

I can't wash as many dishes in it and it doesn't always clean things as well as it should. It is quiet and has racks for stemware, a plus but if I had it to do over I would spend a little more and get something better.

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I had a Kenmore in my old house (not the top of the line model). It did a great job of cleaning - no rinsing necessary, but was noisier that I like. I think the top end Kenmore's have more insullation and would be quieter.

We moved into a new house last month & it has a Fridgidaire. I hate it - why? Let me count the ways...................

- It has a rack in the door for utensils that neither gets them clean, or dry

- When you open the door the steam vents in the front drip water all over the hardwood floor.

- It is noisy. We have a very open plan kitchen, great room and the noise is annoying. I want a dishwasher that I can run while sitting at the table.

- It does not clean the dishes, I am back to rinsing....................

I have several friends that have high end Kitchen Aids. They are very quiet. large capacity, and do a great job. I think that dollar for dollar that would be my choice. I am hoping that my new one will break down soon, so I have an excuse for a new one!

Life is short, eat dessert first

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Let me add to the support for Kitchen Aid. Ours is very quiet. It has the stainless tub and I can get a lot of stuff in it. I can even get the racks from my WSM in it. It was easy to install and we are very happy with it. Would certainly echo phlawless in her anaylsis of the KitchenAid

Edited by lancastermike (log)
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KitchenAid, here. I think I've got the same model as Phawless speaks of -- mine is a Superba. It's so quiet you have to touch it to see if it's running*, holds lots and lots of stuff, has adjustable racks for tall pots, and cleans china and scrubs pots, just beautifully.

(*You can also buy this dishwasher with the controls on the front of the panel, which my husband loudly informs me each time he thinks it's not running and opens the door mid-cycle! :laugh: )

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Have a Fisher/Paykel, double drawer, stainless for 4 years. I like the single drawer feature for small loads (2 member household) and water/energy conservation, not super quiet but OK. Cleans well but has had 2 service calls in this period, 1. the computer chip controller for one drawer went belly up so service replaced both, I suspect this was a factory issue, hence the replacement of both, 2. a retainer strip of plastic that holds back the H2O lines got caught up in the top drawer lid causing a leak (minor) that triggered a warning and non operation of unit. Service call $45 to remove the offending plastic. The seal for the lid was intact. I'd give it a 6 on the 1-10 scale, 10 being tops.

Raoul

"I drink to make other people interesting".

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We have a GE Profile from 2000. It definitely gets the dishes clean (although I pre-rinse/wash, so nothing is ever very dirty), but is a bit loud. No repairs needed in 6 years. I've just started using the speed cycle instead of the full wash and everything comes out just as clean, which means more energy saved. Clearly, I should have been doing that all along. If I had to replace it today, though, from the comments here I'd lean towards a Kitchenaid.

I'd also like to have a washer than can take care of Riedel stemware; one of the worse things about hosting a dinner party is having to hand wash and dry all the glassware afterwards. There is a china/crystal setting on our GE, but I haven't been brave enough to use it yet.

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I'm seriously considering buying a used restaurant-grade Hobart. Loud as hell, but really gets 'em clean and it only runs for about 90 sec.

This whole love/hate thing would be a lot easier if it was just hate.

Bring me your finest food, stuffed with your second finest!

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I started the thread originally, and ended up with one of the higher end Kitchen Aids. It's one step up from the highest, looking like Phlawless described it. It's incredibly quiet. It has a third rack at the top for silverware, making unnecesary the silverware basket, so the first rack can hold a huge amount. I love this thing. Grinder included, so no emptying of filters.

The noisiest sound is when the soap dispenser opens and the soap tablet falls.

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I've just ordered a Miele La Perla for my new kitchen. Yes, I have a Miele now, and I'm not really happy with it. But it's about 12 years old. the new one has the upper cutlery tray, which is also split to allow you to put tall stemware in the top rack. the bottom is taller than mine and it looks like my sheet pans and stock pots will fit. The tines fold down in the new Miele, but they don't in my current one.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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I'm happy with the Miele Platinum. It has a top cutlery rack, vertically adjustable racks for tall items, a heater to boost temperature to 160 and, best of all, I never have to pre-rinse. In fact, the instructions specifically state not to do it because the enzime detergent needs the dirt to effectively clean the dishes.

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I'm seriously considering buying a used restaurant-grade Hobart.  Loud as hell, but really gets 'em clean and it only runs for about 90 sec.

you know, i looked into that myself, for the kitchen renovation we're going to be doing next spring-ish. and you know, i just couldn't justify the price.

i mean, at its most basic level, a dishwasher only costs a couple hundred bucks, and shouldn't be THAT much of an issue assuming you're just replacing one and not starting from scratch.

and then you get into the higher end bosches and mieles, that are closer to a thousand. it's a good amount of money, to be sure, but not generally budget-busting if you expect it to last.

step up one more time to the fisher/paykel or kitchen aid drawers, and you're starting in the $1200 range, and that makes you think twice. after all, our kenmore dishwasher, which works fine and is pretty quiet but not inaudible, cost about $450. that's over 2.5 times the price.

so anyway, i thought to myself, hey i'm springing, why not get a restaurant-style one-tray, one-minute dishwasher? everything would be done in a minute, every night!

then i found out they start around $3500. and yeah, that pretty much shot down that idea. i considered hitting up the auctions for restaurants that are going out of business, and haven't ruled that out, but basically i've decided against it for the moment, since we just got this one a couple years ago...

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I have a Hobart. I wanted it because I was doing a lot of canning and it will sterilize the jars very efficiently.

It is true, even with the high-density sound proofing material and installed on a dense rubber mat, it sounds like a 747 taking off. However the complete cycle is just 90s seconds and I love it. It cleans everything nicely. It came with two racks or trays, one with pegs which holds plates, saucers, pan lids, grill racks from my barbecue and a combination rack that holds just about anything. I bought additional racks for stemware, cups, etc. Because it is easier to load the racks on the counter and place them into the dishwasher, not so much bending.

It is not at all like a consumer dishwasher. The racks are not part of the machine per se. This isn't a Hobart, but this is what it looks like commercial dishwasher with plate rack.

The cycle, once the dishwasher is programmed, starts as soon as the door is closed and the cycle is finished by the time I have the next rack loaded. I have a stainless steel cart with two lower shelves and the top on which the racks just fit, so I can pull the washed rack out and stick another inside.

It isn't practical for normal home use, but I was doing some catering, wanted to have my kitchen certified for commercial use and it was necessary and I could write it off as a business expense.

I do know a couple of families who also have commerical units but one family has 9 children, the other has 11. For them it is a matter of survival or sanity. For me it was more like vanity, if I am to be perfectly honest.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I installed a Miele this past spring. It is the quietest and best dishwasher I have had. Yes, the lack of drying cycle can be a slight PITA but my electricity bill reflects the savings. The mostest and bestest feature besides the quietness is the cutlery rack at the top. The Meile takes my largest pots but my large sheet pans do need to be washed by hand a minor inconvenience as I am not much of a baker.

"Flay your Suffolk bought-this-morning sole with organic hand-cracked pepper and blasted salt. Thrill each side for four minutes at torchmark haut. Interrogate a lemon. Embarrass any tough roots from the samphire. Then bamboozle till it's al dente with that certain je ne sais quoi."

Arabella Weir as Minty Marchmont - Posh Nosh

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We have had our Fisher Paykel drawers for 7 years now - we installed them in December 1999. I love them for the convenience of being able to run cycles independently when we entertain. Our dining room and kitchen are contiguous so we clear each course straight into the drawer press the button and wash while we eat so I can vouch for how quiet they are. They hold lots of 'stuff'. When we were doing the reno I hauled a basket of dishes, wine glasses and drinking glasses to the kitchen appliance showroom and kept trying dishwashers to see which one could take the type of loads we were using in those days (kids are now in university so it has changed dramatically). Trust me - the salespeople weren't thrilled with us but I took no notice and made my point but seeing how much some DWs couldn't hold. As it was so long ago, the main difference then was the European models that didn't seem to be designed for North American needs. I would recommend trying your dishes in the DW you want before you buy.

And for us the space saving feature of 2 dishwashers in the same space as one was very important. My sister recently redid her kitchen and she got 2 Miele dishwashers as it was about the same price to have a second DW as the cabinets. She has 3 teenagers and swears by 2 dishwashers when you have a bunch of kids.

And, last not but least, I love the fact that the top drawer, which is the one I use the most, is at waist height so I load and unload the dishwasher without bending down.

As for cleaning - we think they do a great job. We don't rinse and have had no problems. As I said at the outset, because we entertain a lot I was determined to have 2 dishwashers so I always had somewhere to load dirty dishes into when we have guests. I hate dishes on the counter. And because I wasn't going to give up any of the other appliances I had planned in the kitchen I couldn't have 2 traditional DWs. So our primary motivation was space saving. Even if I didn't need to worry about space I would buy these again for all their conveniences.

Cheers,

Karole

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Reasons?

Michael, I notice that you never received any "reasons".

We have had a series of GE dishwashers that have given good, long term service. It would be nice if it was quieter, but the reliability and effectiveness have been very good.

--------------------

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Pete/Houston

SOAC . . .

. . "for the discreet and refined enjoyment of uncommon wine . .

. . . . and victuals and the companionship accruing thereto" . . . .

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  • 3 months later...

Has anyone purchased a dishwasher along the lines of the Stainless Steel Kenmore Elite 24 in. Double Drawer Dishwasher?

It has two drawers so you have options depending on how much you need to wash. Are two drawers overkill? It's quite pricey.

It's supposed to fit into the same space as a regular dishwasher so it makes me wonder if the two-drawer design gives you less interior space than a single door dishwasher.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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  • 1 month later...

Bumping this again because I'm about to replace my broken 9-year-old Asko. I loved the way the Asko worked, when it worked, but it broke down more than once, and getting it serviced is no mean feat where I am--also very expensive. Any recent thoughts on basic 24" dishwashers? The Asko was very quiet, used impressively little water for a load, and had nicelydesigned racks. But I'm not sure we need to go that high-end.

Thanks in advance for any reports.

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I've been using our new Miele La Perla for several months now, and I love it. The top cutlery rack is grat for getting silverware out of the bottom and has a split rack so if I've got tall wine glasses I can take out one of the racks.

The second rack has an easily adjustable height feature, so I can raise or lower it if I've got tall pots and such in the bottom rack. Both the middle and bottom racks have removable inserts so I can take them out to put in tall pots, or leave them in for dishes, but it has a vase holder that goes in or out and several other features that I like. Several different cycles but the ones I use the most are "China and Crystal, economy, normal and pots and pans. All work well. The economy cycle does't dry as well though. It is so quiet I never know it's on.

On the down side, the cycles seem to be quite long.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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I've been using our new Miele La Perla for several months now, and I love it.  The top cutlery rack is grat for getting silverware out of the bottom and has a split rack so if I've got tall wine glasses I can take out one of the racks.

The second rack has an easily adjustable height feature, so I can raise or lower it if I've got tall pots and such in the bottom rack.  Both the middle and bottom racks have removable inserts so I can take them out to put in tall pots, or leave them in for dishes, but it has a vase holder that goes in or out and several other features that I like.  Several different cycles but the ones I use the most are "China and Crystal, economy, normal and pots and pans.  All work well.  The economy cycle does't dry as well though.  It is so quiet I never know it's on.

On the down side, the cycles seem to be quite long.

I don't think you should down-play the length of the cycles b/c it can be a HUGE pain in the neck when you're trying to cook for a dinner party. Our Miele is amazingly quiet (I mean--AMAZINGLY--I can never tell if it's running and the little red light just under the counter edge is very difficult to see unless you bend over to look at it head on), but it takes FOREVER to run a load--like 3 hours or more. :wacko:

Yes, I love the cutlery rack, the adjustable height of the top rack, and the quiet, but I wouldn't get one again because it just takes too damned long to run a load of dishes, especially when I'm trying to power through loads to get ready for 12 dinner guests (and the dishes they'll generate).

You can, however, run the dishwasher with the middle rack completely removed (don't know if it's recommended in the owner's guide or not) which allows me to wash tall pots and pans if I'm feeling really lazy.

We also have a F/P drawer in the bar in the basement which I'm relatively happy with. It too is very quiet (not as quiet as the Miele, but better than the GE Profile we had before) and seems to do a good job, but we don't really use it enough to give it a good run for its money.

The GE Profile was a disaster. Did a terrible job of cleaning and after 5 years of normal use, the seals all dissolved and started leaking black/green gunk all over the dishes and the floor. Replaced it with the Miele, but I'm having serious envy of the commercial style described above.

Feast then thy heart, for what the heart has had, the hand of no heir shall ever hold.
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One of the reasons I got the Hobart was the length of the cycle, even without using the drying feature on regular dishwashers - which I never used for crystal because I always had water spots with it.

The Hobart water force is much, much stronger but it uses much less water.

It will come with two trays, one has pegs, for plates, saucers. The other is a combination one for other stuff. I bought extras, including cup trays and glass trays, for which I also bought covers - This keeps lightweigt crystal and cups/mugs from being blown out of the tray by the force of the water from the lower arm. The regular glass trays for tumblers, etc., have slanted bottoms so the glasses set at an angle and the sides of each compartment keep them in place.

The expense is considerable but it will outlast 5 or 6 (or more) "consumer" dishwashers.

When I moved to this house in 1988 I put in a new Whirlpool. In 1991 I replaced it with a GE which was a whole tree-full of lemons, never worked well. In 1994 when the kitchen was remodeled I had the top of the line Kenmore (before they introduced the "Elite" line).

I hated it. It would not clean pots and pans, casseroles and the top rack could not be lowered enough to hold my crystal stemware.

After a marathon baking session in November 1996 I had had it with that dishwasher after having to scrub a bunch of loaf pans by hand, after they had been through the washer and the next batch I ran had stuff that looked like cake crumbs in all the nooks and crannies.

I ended up washing everything by hand and using the dishwasher as a drying rack.

Early the next morning I drove down to a dealer who carries commercial appliances and bought the Hobart.

I have never regretted spending all that money.

It does sound like a 747 taking off when it is running, but the cycle is 90 seconds! I can live with 1 1/2 minutes of noise. When I have a bunch of dishes, pots and pans, or when I am sterilizing jars for canning, I can have all the trays on the counter, load them without having to bend over for a prolonged period.

Shove a tray into the washer - run the cycle, pull the tray out and set it on a towel on the counter (or on a rolling stainless steel cart with three shelves), shove the next one in the washer and so on.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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The longest cycle for me has been the normal cycle at 1 hour and 58 minutes. It's definately long. the economy is much less but doesn't dry as well, and the short program for very lightly soiled dishes is only 30 minutes. But yes, it can be a pain. If I'd had room, I'd have put in two dishwaswers, since mine seems to run all day long!

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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