Help me choose a good dishwasher.

Our dishwasher has crapped out after three years and no longer functions. It has never worked properly and I think that we need to get something that works properly. Our requirements are simple. I’d like to keep it under $600.00 if possible but am willing to entertain a higher cost.

It needs to:

  1. Clean the dishes. Our previous one really didn’t do this well. If I didn’t pre rinse the dishes, there was no point.

  2. Be stainless to match the other appliances.

  3. I would like to use it to clean my son’s formula bottles.

  4. See point 1.

We have a JennAir, and my husband loves it (he does the bulk of the dishes)! He used to sell dishwashers when he was working for Sears and knew exactly the one he wanted. It is really quiet, and has a sanitize option. We purchased it just under two years ago.

Playing with the “narrow by” options at sears.com, they have 47 stainless-fronted dishwashers under $600. The one thing you can’t filter for is if they have an NSF sanitize cycle, which is what you’ll want for those formula bottles.

You didn’t mention them, but two nifty things to look for are a tall tub, and no center spray tower. A control lockout option will be useful as soon as your son is walking and getting into everything.

Right now, Sears has a bunch of dishwashers on sale - go there and search for 02219423000 for one that probably fits you desires (assuming you don’t hate Maytag). It’s on sale now for $458, and installation will be another $150. They seem to flip-flop every couple of months - either discounting the appliances or offering free installation.

eh, do you really need a sanitize cycle? I mean, dishwashers have to get to some ungodly temp anyhow, I am pretty sure the stuff gets sanitized.

I’d check consumersearch.com, I have used them in the past and found their recommendations pretty reliable. If you google “dishwasher reviews” they are usually the second or third hit.

Whatever you do, don’t buy a Frigidaire. Ours broke down when it was just a bit over a year old, and a little research on the internet confirmed that this wasn’t an isolated incident. Sure, the prices are great, but when you have to spend couple hundred bucks to replace a defective latch each year, it’s not worth it.

On the other hand, I can’t say enough good things about the Miele we bought to replace it. It holds a surprising amount of stuff, is so quiet that you can barely tell it’s running, and there’s a separate cutlery rack up top so that we don’t have to deal with a basket taking up space and our cutlery doesn’t get all banged up in the wash. Worth every penny we paid for it (~$1200, which included $200 to get it delivered and hooked up, and the old one carted away).

The only downside (aside from price), is that most of the Mieles probably don’t get hot enough to sanitize a baby bottle the way the old-style diswashers do - athey just use residual heat to dry your dishes instead of a heating element, as it’s more energy-efficient.

Funny you should mention Frigidaire. :mad::stuck_out_tongue: Guess what brand the piece of shit dishwasher we need to replace is.

So everybody, whats the straight dope on the sanitize cycle. Do I need this or is it just a flashy buzzword. How is this different from the heat cycle of a regular dishwasher.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone and keep them coming. I will follow this thread with avid interest, although I may not respond as often as I like since I am home and he really really likes to play with Daddy.

By heat cycle, you mean heated drying?

The regular cycle in a dishwasher only uses water as hot as what your water heater puts out - usually about 120 degrees. The sanitize cycle kicks up the water temperature to about 170.

If I were you, I’d look through your Consumers Report (if you don’t subscribe, they have copies at your library) and then try to find one of the models that they classify as “best buy”. Usually, by the time you read the test, the model that is recommended will be anything between 1-3 years old. And that is a GOOD thing, because it means taht, if you look throught the Internet for it, you will usually be able to get it a lot cheaper then listed because shops want to get rid of slighly older models.

That is my MO wheneven I have to buy a larger household machine, and it has never failed me yet.

Any dishwasher will do that. The bottles shoudl go in the top rack, and they fit nicely over the wire thingies there. For the tits and caps, you can buy plastic boxes like this one for under 5 dollars.

My dishwasher broke down the other day…

… I gave her a handkerchief and told her to get it together.

(Arf!)

G’morning!

We just bought a new one ourselves and didn’t have to think about it. We also bought a washer, drier, and garbarator too. After a decade of choosing all the wrong appliances we tried Sears (Kenmore) and thirty years later wouldn’t think of looking elsewhere. They back up everything they sell and what they sell lasts, or that’s been our experience and that of most of our friends.

FWIW - Jess.

If you’re paranoid about sanitizing the baby bottles, there are plenty of other options. For us, the best one was the microwave. For microwave sanitizing, you have two options: bags, or a tray. We started with bags, which they sell in the aisle with all the baby stuff. Basically, it’s a ziplock-style bag that you can put your stuff in, along with some water. Microwave the bag, and steam sterilizes your bottles/nipples/breast pump/whatever.

If the bags aren’t your style, you can get a tray-type thing, which is a domed plastic dealie that looks sort of like a Tupperware cake keeper. Inside is a tray to keep things out of the water below. Same deal as the bags: put your stuff on the tray and add some water, lock down the lid, and microwave for a few minutes. The steam (and pressure build-up) takes care of any creepy-crawlies. Both of these methods, needless to say, are a lot faster than running a dishwasher cycle, and it’s no sweat to clean the bottles out with a bottle brush instead of counting on a dishwasher to do the work.

Oh, and you can also get a dedicated tabletop appliance to do your steam sterilizing, but that’s expensive and just adds to your kitchen clutter. The microwave sterilizers are more than adequate.

Now, having completed that hijack, let’s talk dishwashers. The absolute #1 most important thing is: silence. Get the quietest one you can find. After that, it mostly depends on what you want. These days it seems that only the “builder’s grade” models have towers, so it shouldn’t be hard to avoid those. A stainless-steel interior is nice, but adds to cost. Most models in the range you’re looking at will have delay timers, which are also very good to have, and as mentioned earlier a front panel lock will come in handy when the little one starts walking (our 20 month old has already turned on the dishwasher several times, when my wife has forgotten to engage the lock).

Don’t be too dazzled by extras like a “china cycle” unless somehow you can imagine using it all the time. One option you might want to consider is the ability to run a “top rack only” cycle when you have just a small load; it saves water and takes less time. Also, check out how adjustable the interior space is; it’s very nice to be able to, for example, fold down portions of the rack for large pots, or snap out part of the silverware holder to make more room for dishes, or lower the top rack to make room for tall glasses, that sort of thing.

But first and foremost, go for silence. The less you notice your dishwasher, the more you’ll love it.

After my last dishwasher, all I care about is cleaning stuff well and reliability, silence is ok but not key as the kitchen is in the back of the house away from the dining room and the living room.

We have one of those microwave sterilizers which I adore as it makes it easy to sterilize all the bottles after I wash them. We have the bags, but I am somewhat less fond of them.

What experience do you all have with Maytags and GEs. Frigidaire is out because of my last one.

I will go with both Jenn Air (fantastic) and Frigidaire (sucks). My first one was a Frigidaire. It arbitrarily decided to stick in the wash cycle. I had suds EVERYwhere. Replaced it with another Frigidaire. Same thing. Replaced it with a Whirlpool. Didn’t get the glasses clean (top rack).

Finally found the Jenn Air. It is now approximately ten years old and is a workhorse. Some of the tines are starting to rust and that makes me sad.

All good advice…we wish we had paid a few extra bucks for a thicker door (silence is a factor as kitchen and television room next to each other).

However, word of warning:

Do not turn on dishwasher when you go to bed or leave the house! A woman I used to work with had bought a new dishwasher, and it wasn’t cheap. She had had it about 6 months, turned it on, sent hubby and kids to bed and was just about to go to bed herself when the smoke alarm went off. Ten minutes later, the fire department was there putting out the fire caused by the dishwasher in her kitchen! Major damage to kitchen.

I had my own fire start with a clothes dryer (see post from a couple years past), but then after hearing her story, I no longer turn on any major appliance of that ilk if I am not in the house, or not awake.

This is not true. My dishwasher, an Admiral, does not have a sanitize cycle but has the option of heating the water during the wash cycle. I need this because the DW is a LONG way from the water heater, and even f I run the water hot before the primary cyce, the secondary cycle will be done with cold water and not get the dishes clean.

I would recommend against this. The DW I bought was liste a s a best buy, and I bought it based on that. It doesn’t clean very well, and when I checked the ratings more closely, I noticed it was not rated well for cleaning (but it was rated well for energy efficiency and quietness).

How a dishwasher that doesn’t clean dishes can rate as a best buy is beyond me, but apparently CR doesn’t think too carefuly about their methodologies. This is why I suggested consumersearch, where they take several reviewing sites, including CR, and use them in aggregate to make recommendations.

CR rates cordless phones, too. You know what they don’t rate them on? How far from the base unit you can go…real smart guys, those CR folks.

We installed the white version of this Kenmore a couple of years ago, and we loved it (we sold the house). We’ll probably replace the one in the new house in a year or two, with this one.

Nice points -
Stainless steel tub - doesn’t get scratched up like the plastic tubs
Tall tub - There is more space inside
Adjustable top rack - We’ve got a bunch of tall glasses, we could drop down the top rack to make room for them
Good interior layout, fits lots of stuff
Quiet

And the thing just felt solid. Our current one feels cheap, and I keep expecting the door to fall off.

I ordered that Kenmore online yesterday, because they said they could deliver it by the 23rd. I just got an email trying to schedule a delivery on the 26th. I called the customer service number, and after getting transferred three times, the woman I spoke with gave me some doublespeak that the “earliest available delivery date” doesn’t mean there’s a delivery date available. Then she tried to say it wasn’t in my area even though you enter a zip code to get the available date. Even now, the website still has an earliest available delivery date of the 24th for my zip code.

Canceled my order and I’ll never try to order from Sears again. Fuck 'em.

Can’t omagine a dishwasher dying at 3 yrs - although I’m single, household of one, heavy microwave user, etc., my last one was still going 23 years after install.
About the stainless front - I expect that fad to die shortly. As the dishwasher is a permanent install, having last years color will be the proverbial sore thumb.
See if changable front panels are still around - the option to change color could be handy.
With a spare panel, anybody with a spray gun can make it look much better with your new decor.

If you can get a Miele, they are amazing. They put the silverware in a 3rd rack at the very top, leaving lots of room for dishes in the lower 2 racks. Fine German engineering. We have on in Europe and are looking to add one in the US if we end up getting a second home there.