My built-in Kitchen Aid dishwasher died yesterday and I want to replace it with a new one, not fix it. I think my son-in-law will do it for me, but I want to know how hard it is before I ask.
I have never done it myself, but apparently replacement is not too tough. Try this to see if it’s too much to ask of him.
Most dishwashers are relatively easy to replace…depends on the installation. Your son-in-law will need access to a good assortment of hand tools, along with a basic knowledge of electricity.
Make certain he runs the new unit through a couple complete cycles, looking for leaks before he leaves.
Not hard at all–pretty much all of them work for minimum wage.
DMC and bare gave good advice. I have replaced several and it is a fairly easy job. The only thing that I can add is, make sure that it is plumb, level, and well anchored to the cabinet. Also, if the shutoff valves to the sink are old, now is the time to check them and replace if necessary.
Yep, it’s pretty simple.
The important steps are in no particular order:
The DW is attached to the countertop with two screws on the top underside of the counter at the front…it makes it easier to remove the unit if you remove these. 
Make sure the water shutoff actually works before unhooking hoses.
Make sure you have the correct attachments from the new DW to the old drain.
Confirm that the new dishwasher has the same type of electrical connection as the old one. If you have an older KitchenAid, it will just be a whip. Most all American DW’s also use a whip that needs to be hard wired in. It isn’t too hard, just follow the directions and you’ll be fine.
Check that the drain line is not kinked, bent or damaged when you slide in the new unit, this is a Bad Thing and can result in large quantities of water on your floor!
Most DW’s come with pretty good instructions so it should not be a problem.
I’d recommend another KitchenAid, even the cheaper ones are very very dependable and easy to maintain.
Generally, it’s not too hard.
But, from experience, I can tell you some of the troubles you could run in to.
The physical placement of the thing is the biggest concern. A lot of times it’s not as simple as ‘yank the old one out, put the new one in’, and that can give you headaches. Has new flooring been installed in the kitchen since the unit was installed? If so, this guarantees you need to lift the counter tops to pull the old one and can make leveling the new one a pain.
Have cabinets been replaced since the install of the old unit? I have seen cabinet replacements that have made it impossible to remove the old dishwasher without removing a cabinet section first.
Those are the biggest concerns, but then there’s always plumbing issues.
Is your son-in-law handy with pipe soldering? I would bet a valve is going to need to be replaced somewhere. It’s just the nature of the job. Another issue that surprised me when I replaced one of these in one of my old houses, is when I went to detach the drain hose from the dispose-all the inlet housing disintegrated, so I had the additional cost of a dispose-all.
Not meaning to scare you off the project, just giving you a heads up on some stuff you could run in too.
And remember, make sure the breaker is turned off before touching anything electrical. If in doubt, call a pro.
It’s true that any job of this nature will likely throw up some surprises, and will therefore require more tools and much more time than if everything went right. However, soldering isn’t necessary: a valve can be replaced with a compression joint and all you need is the new valve, a little pipe cutter (they’re cheap and easy to use) and a Stilson wrench.
We recently replaced a Maytag with a Maytag. It was really simple, but would’ve been a lot more difficult had we not gone with another Maytag. Our house is fairly old, and a lot of the things in it have that “custom” feel. So of course our feed and drain lines were hard-piped instead of being flex lines. Had we gone with another brand, we would’ve had to do some basic, but PITA replumbing, to get the lines in the right location.