<p>We’ve had a spate of family emergencies over the last month, and I honestly don’t have a shred of mental energy left to make one more decision, so I’m leaving this up to you!</p>
<p>Dishwasher is 11 years old, currently spewing water all over the kitchen floor. Probably just needs a new gasket, but when I add up the cost of a service call (not a do-it-yourself type, nor is H) and replacement part, I’m thinking it would be best to just buy a new one. The bottom rack is falling apart and the replacement runs about $185 (I know!), so that’s another expense if we keep it. So, shall I try to rescue the old heap, or buy a new one, and if the latter, what are your recommendations, keeping in mind that the rest of the appliances are standard issue GE, not top of the line, that we plan to sell the house within the next couple of years, so don’t want to pay up for a model that will last another 11 years, and that mostly I run the dishwasher at night, so no need to pay up for quiet operation.</p>
<p>Since it’s 11 years old and likely going to have other problems rather soon, get a new one.</p>
<p>You’re right to be concerned about spending a couple hundred on a repair job when in 6-18 months, you could be facing a larger repair bill for the same appliance.</p>
<p>Exact same thing happened to me a few days ago. Had an 11 year old GE that started leaking. Was probalby the gasket, but do not have the specific tools required to remove. Also thinking of moving in next 1 to 2 years. Replaced it with another GE. Actually, got my moneys worth on the old GE.</p>
<p>I think you should buy an unit that is in line with all the other appliances in the kitchen. If it is all GE, replace it with GE. If it is all white, replace it white. It will show better when you sell the house. If you were not selling, it does not matter which brand. Mine broke 10 years ago and I went to costco picked up the cheapest one and its been working ever since. We did not sell the house, nevertheless.</p>
<p>When you buy a new one, now you must also get an extended warranty. I never used to bother with that extra expense and appliances lasted forever. Now, appliances are junk, and as you have learned service calls are prohibitively expensive. Our extended warranties have saved us a lot of money and grief. (Dryer and dishwasher the past 3 years)</p>
<p>MommaJ - just had the same discussion with DH. We have WAY too much stuff going on right now - but something is up with the dishwasher. The water is pooling in the machine. We bought it when D was in nursery school and she graduated from college in the spring. We decided we should replace before we come home to water in the basement from the washer leaking through the floor!!</p>
<p>I am just going to march into a small, local family appliance store and pick one out. I will time myself and let you know how long it takes to make a decision. Less than 15 minutes I would guess.</p>
<p>Just get a new one I say … a new one will use like half as much water as a 10 year old model due to increased stringency of government standards regarding water usage and energy efficiency.</p>
<p>We have well water so the water usage is not a big issue–also, our nest is empty the majority of the year, so we don’t use the DW every day. But you’ve convinced me to replace it, and my local Sears has a Kenmore in stock that Consumer Reports rates well and that is modestly priced (who knew you could spend upwards of $1000 for a dishwasher?–for that kind of money, I would demand that it put the clean dishes away).</p>
<p>This very interesting article in this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine explains why I don’t want to spend any time on this decision:</p>
<p>Sometimes the easiest decisions are the “emergency, water all over the floor” ones, because you don’t have time to obsess over minute details. Our 17 year old oven finally died on Sunday evening. Spent half an hour with a recent Consumer Report, was at Sears when they opened the doors Monday morning, ordered a replacement and was back home 40 minutes later. </p>
<p>Pick a consumer info site you trust, pick a nearby appliance store with live, knowledgeable employees, and stick with whatever budget you think is reasonable. Buy one of the highest rated appliances with the best rated repair history that matches your budget, and don’t over think it.</p>
<p>MommaJ, I just read your excellent article on decision fatigue, and realized that over the years I’ve structured my life in a way that subconsciously eliminates as many decisions as possible. When our stove broke, I already knew that first I’d look through the Consumer Reports that we save for a year, and that I would head for our local Sears because it is close, and has appliance sales people who I trust. I went there with a list of three top ranked stoves in my price range and a promise to myself that any of those three would be fine. (your article taught me that it was also an advantage that I did all of this early in the morning, and on a full stomach.)</p>
<p>Great article. Please post it on the regular parent forum. It explains why the college application process is so exhausting for so many people.</p>
<p>MommaJ, great article. Thanks for that. Good luck with the new dishwasher. We replaced an 11 year old model with a new GE that, quite simply, stinks. I’m pretty sure we’ll be replacing it (it’s now 4 years old) with a different model. I did not, unfortunately, purchase an extended warranty. As NJres has suggested, the newer appliances just aren’t made as well as the old ones. Seems I’ll be getting that warranty with the next one…</p>
<p>We replaced ours a few years ago with a Bosch, which has been great and quiet. I believe it was around $700 at the time. I would highly recommend Bosch.</p>
<p>New dishwashers do not wash well at all because they are not allowed to be built to wash, they are being built to save water. Everybody forgot what dishwasher is designed to do. That includes the most expensive. So, we decided to buy the quietest, since none of them wash anyway and just live with dirty dishes. You cannot hear when Electrolux works at all. The only dishwasher that I knew to wash well was the one that we owned about 25 year ago. I could pile up many layers on top of each other and use 15 min. cycle, my dishes were very clean because old dishwashers were allowed to use enough water. It was very noisy, but I could tolerate it for 15 min. Now I have to run 144 min cycle (oh, ye, talking about saving…by my estimate you save much more running 15 min. vs 144 min.) and I do not dare to pile up, no way, I cannot hear it, it looks awesome, but it does not wash dishes, forget it, just get used to dirty ones. We were told that this is the best that you can buy, it might be either Swedish or German.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that restrictions on phosphates in dishwasher detergent were also responsible for current poor cleaning results. Since we have a well, I resent being stuck with shower head, toilet and now dishwasher water use limits that are pointless in our circumstances. It’s my water, I paid for the pump and pay for the electricity to pump it out of my property, and I should be able to use it as I like–even if I drain the well and have to pay to dig a new one, it’s no one’s problem but mine.</p>