I’m in the market for a new dishwasher. Mine still works but isn’t cleaning super well despite using various products to help with that. At 20 years old, I doubt it is worth the cost of servicing. At 20 years since I last made a purchase I am unaware of what I should look for.
Current model is KitchenAid, stainless interior. No complaints because it has served us well but not very quiet.
Wish list: Quiet, Standard instead of drawers. Other than that, I’m flexible including price. Not sure how often I’d use a bunch of gadgets/features, though, if those run the price up.
My mother has Bosch and isn’t happy with it (reliability, the bottom rack is really low, and the layout/lack of flexibility of the rack configuration is less than ideal) so I’m a little biased against that brand although I understand they get good reviews.
I’ve used Samsung and Thermador in vacation rentals and was impressed by how quiet they were but maybe that’s the standard these days.
We love our Bosch. So quiet and everything gets really clean. I have a hard time retraining my husband not to wash the dishes before they go in the dishwasher. Maybe its the model.
Bosch. I don’t know what model we have exactly but all the control buttone are on the top of the door so the panel you see is completely solid and easy to keep clean. It’s so quiet, it actually shines a red light onto the floor so you know it’s running!
High five on seeing the challenges of loading a Bosch. Ours is quiet and cleans well, but loading it is nightmare; huge gaps in the racks, trouble with taller glasses having the space and support to stand, and dinner dishes on the edges hit side walls. Very inefficient. After this, I’ll bring a few sample dishware items next time I dishwasher shop. Happy finding!
I have a new (1-2 years?) Bosch. Lower level model, no extra bells and whistles. It is amazing. Very quiet, dishes cleaned well, no complaints. I took a plate and bowl when I shopped to see how my personal dishes would load into the next dishwasher. I’ve found a way to load the Bosch that works well for us.
The Thermador I used in the rental was the same with quietness, control panel on the top of inside door. It’s light was blue instead of red. We had a hard time figuring out it if we had set it to run correctly at first until we clued into the light thing because we couldn’t hear it. Old dogs, new tricks.
Yeah, they’re all pretty quiet right now. I have a KitchenAid that we got five years ago and, while it does the job, I’m not wild about it. Weird loading, and supposedly I’m to clean the filter every week. Yeah, right. I suspect you’ll find a variety of opinions on a variety of brands.
But the noise level of them is wonderful these days.
I never had a dishwasher I liked, that actually washed the dishes…until about 2 months ago. My new one is a Whirlpool. Has a stainless steel tub. Silverware rack in the door. (Took some getting used to, but frees up more space for more dishes.) Hidden controls. Cycle is long, but it is quiet. I have a big family, lots of dishes. I always had to rinse the dishes well before putting them into my old dishwashers over the years. This one really washes the dishes without rinsing! I never knew this was possible.
Just say NO to Bosch. Crap. Thermador DW used to be made by Bosch… I gather the newer models now come with leak stop tech which is standard on many others.
If you don’t want to pay for a Milele, get another KitchenAid with the third flatware shelf. Made in the USA. Super quiet.
I have a no nonsense Miele with controls and display on the front. Only use the express wash as it does a great job in 30-40 minutes (depends on how much it needs to heat the incoming water). Dishes come out dry despite the condensing drying tech and no rinse agent.
I know @BunsenBurner hates Bosch…but we love ours. All of our neighbors have Bosch also…and love it. In fact we were talking and we all agree that really the only new appliance we all liked was our Bosch dishwashers.
All of us hated our fridges.
Kitchenaid is not like it was 20 years ago.
Agree with @VeryHappy most are very quiet now. The only way we know ours is running is there is a red light that shines on the floor.
Within the past 2 years, we bought and installed in 4 different homes:
2 Bosch DW (the gift recipient’s choice, not ours - she regretted it as the condensing drying in it is subpar, much worse than in our old dishwasher)
1 Miele Futura
1 KichenAid (forgot the model)
I also love my Bosch. 10 years old and works as well as the day we bought it. Super quite. Never rinse (and barely scrap) anything before putting it in dishwasher and everything comes out clean as a whistle.
Okay, so I just watched a little video of the Miele utensil drawer. Pretty cool but looks a little OCD as well. Does it take a lot longer to load a bunch of cutlery in there, especially if you have a bunch of it? I’m used to just dropping it in baskets (tines side up to please the husband ) as opposed to placing each piece in its own little compartment. I have a feeling my husband will groove on that feature but he’s not the only one who loads and unloads.
Not at all, @doschicos. Love it. Little things like plastic lids and caps can also go there without any fears of them being mangled during the wash. It makes unloading a snap as the silverware is already semi-sorted. And no “dang, the spoons got stuck together and did not get washed” issues either. And no need to make sure the knives are all facing down and the rest of the silverware is half up half down. Moreover, delicate silverware that gets scratched if washed in a big bunch can be washed in that third tray.
We had a kitchen aid (caught on fire - which apparently they can all do), but we replaced it with another KitchenAid. We took our dishes with us, and the Bosch didn’t work well with our dishes (the things you put dishes into are very close together and our plates are fairly thick) and other appliances are KitchenAid, so choice wasn’t hard. We have one that supposedly doesn’t need the filter cleaned (or maybe it does once a year), but I didn’t know dishwashers had filters to clean.
Both Kitchenaids were fine - we’ve had no problems. Both were fairly quiet, but new one is really quiet.
We don’t have the third rack - I can’t remember why we opted not to get it.
Third rack may be like heated seats… you don’t know you need it until you have it.
KitchenAid here, probably 5-6 years old. It is very quiet, dishes only need scraping not rinsing but my kids and dh can’t seem to get in that habit. Dh swears they need rinsing even after I put a casserole dish with caked on stuff in that came out spotless. I opted not to get the third rack mainly b/c the dishwasher was an unplanned expense right before Christmas and I didn’t think it was worth the extra cost. In hindsight, I wish I had splurged as over time, the extra cost would’ve been worth it. There have been many times I wished I had a little extra room for large serving utensils. But, I have certainly lived without it.
I have the third rack and don’t use it for everyday cutlery but rather spatulas and wooden spoons that are otherwise too tall to fit in the cutlery tray - also for sport bottle tops.
