Replacing the Dishwasher-Inexpensively.

The dishwasher has failed, and with real estate taxes on three properties due, $1200 of car repair on the credit card, we don’t have much free money at the moment.

I am interested in your opinions by manufacturer and model, of your favorite and most hated dishwashers costing less than $300.00.

You could just wash the dishes by hand for a while. I had a couple of used portables over the years, both worked well enough and cost about $100. For under the counter I don’t know what you get new for under $300, wouldn’t seem like they could be worth the money.

To ask the (possibly) obvious question…do you want to repair yours?
Other than the motor, many of the parts can be swapped out for a lot less than $300.

If you can debug the thing yourself, coming in under $300 is possible.

I don’t know how your unit is connected to water and power, but there are two screw up into the counter which hold it in place. Open door, find/remove screws, and pull unit straight out (except for water and power lines).

I suspect that a new unit for $300 is going to be something not worth installing,

New ones start at about $250, so you’re not going to find much differentiation among models. No fancy cycles beyond regular and “pots and pans,” no delay timer, and comparatively loud. Black, white, and maybe stainless steel for an extra $50. Personally, I would match the color to my other appliances and pick the model with the lowest decibel rating.

The problem is that sometimes it works. Repair would cost money, and if the guy lucked out as I do sometime, it worked and failed later, I’m out his fee and still have a failed dishwasher. The diagnostic function doesn’t work.

We are washing in the sink for a while.

Recommendations for good or ill are welcome, even solicited.

Craigslist if you live near a major city. You can often find brand new appliances at ridiculously cheap prices.

I’ve had luck checking CraigsList for someone doing a kitchen remodel. They will often let a used one go for $100 or less. It helps if you have access to a pickup truck, but if you find something, Home Depot will rent you a pickup for something like $20/hr.

As usedtobe mentioned, they are fairly easy to remove and install yourself as long as you know how to run a screwdriver and have some patience. Two screws hold it to the counter, the drain line connects under the sink, the water usually is connected to the sink’s hot water supply, and the electrical connections are typically under the bottom kick panel. The sink’s hot water supply should have a shut-off valve and the dishwasher should have its own circuit breaker. Shut off the power and shut off the water supply, then disconnect everything and pull it out. It helps if you have a buddy to help you, but I’ve done it by myself. Google for the installation manual for both the model you currently have and the one you will be replacing it with, and you should have all the information you need.

A couple of months ago, I was in your shoes. I was convinced the dishwasher had died. It stopped draining. I cleaned the filter, but it didn’t work. I could get a new drain pump, but I’d have to remove the unit to change it and I figured if I went to all that trouble, I’d be better off on replacing it with a new unit. The cheapest new one I was comfortable getting was about $850. Anything cheaper and I figured I would be better off just going with a CraigsList one. Anyway, when I disconnected the drain line I found the problem. A piece of broken glass had wedged itself in the drain line. I removed the obstruction, and everything was fine.

AJ Madison is a huge wholesale operation. They have very good prices for a real dealer (as opposed to somebody who happens to have something that fell off a truck).

$280 is their starting point:

Nnotice that most items have ratings. The cheapest do not. That may or may not be a tip-off.

Home Depot lets you filter by price. six dishwashers are listed in the 200 to $300 range. The Amana has a 4 star rating with 693 votes. It’s Energy Star qualified too.

None of the others in that range have any where near as many votes. Seems like reviewer votes is the best guide in a situation like this.

Check Lowes too and filter in that price range.

Thank you all.

Just be careful about getting cheap things from Home Depot, even from otherwise reputable brands. The Depot is big enough they can pressure manufacturers to give them super-cheap models just for them; often ‘super-cheap’ is the right term (plastic where the regular models have metal…). I’d double check it’s the exact same model number that Sears or someone else sells.
[I got a dishwasher on a 25% off sale from Home Depot, which got to pretty cheap, and it has worked fine, but I made sure it wasn’t a Home Depot only model]

We installed a cheap dishwasher once. This was 15 years ago, so maybe things have improved, but ours was crap. There really is a big quality difference between low and high end dishwashers. I’d be looking at Craigslist or your local Restore stores. Good luck.

We picked up a GE from Lowes two years ago for about $275, and it’s one of the better dishwashers I’ve ever had. Considering that its controls are electronic pushbuttons, it has boost/sanitize options and that it’s quiet, it was probably a year-end closeout, but it’s been doing great for us. The racks are plain-Jane, but it does everything we ask of it, including near-abuse like doing six to eight loads on Thanksgiving.

Whether you get a super cheap model or a super expensive one, be aware that the life expectancy of ANY dishwasher is nowhere near what it used to be. The averages seem to be 6-10 years now, and don’t think you can get significantly more lifespan out of a more expensive model as the fancy ones have more things to fail, and they’re more likely to be expensive electronic failures that require replacement of the entire circuit board or control panel. (assuming the parts are still available)

Thanks!

I agree. Before our kitchen remodel, we’d installed a $450-500 GE dishwasher to replace our really ancient Kenmore that finally gave up the ghost.

That thing sucked awfully. Left dishes greasy and required pre-cleaning, etc… even with the top of the line Cascade Platinum or Finish Quantum detergent. Worse than the 1990s one it replaced.

Fast forward about a year, and we replaced that with an expensive Maytag model ($800). Night and day; this one gets everything just as clean with cheap-ass Aldi, Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club detergent as it does with the more expensive stuff.

That said, I’ve had extremely good results with looking at appliances at the big-box stores and basically choosing the ones that have the best reviews, as long as they’re in my price range, and they have some minimum number of reviews- say 200 or so, so that a handful of really bad or good reviews isn’t skewing the average one direction or the other overly much.

Aye, there’s the rub. :slight_smile:

Went through this process a few months ago as well.

I was astonished at how skinny that drain hose is, and from that point forward I have made sure to scrape plates well.
I think there is some kind of food chopper in the mechanism, but no longer do I want to risk having the thing clog.

Removing and installing was not rocket science, but it was exacerbated by my contractor having used wood slats for a base instead of the leveling feet. No do-it-yourself job is straightforward, there is always something that adds the extra challenge to the process.

One other point: after reinstallation it was leaking a bit. That was remedied by making subtle adjustments in the alignment—if it is even the slightest bit out of square, the door seal won’t seal correctly. If that’s the case, check the frame and leveling to be sure it isn’t twisting.

ETA: Forgot to say that Home Depot has their best appliance sales in November (Black Friday all month) and July (4th of July all month), at least that’s what the guys say. I have a washer that I am nursing along until July for this precise reason.

I was called to repair Mama Plant’s dishwasher.
At what point do Mothers realize that their children are capable of performing such actions?

But I digress.

There are tiny hoses and pumps that become clogged with what Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) refers to in the bakery as “Dishwasher Stew”.
I, too clean dishes before submitting them to the dishwasher.

Hah… we went to install ours and found out that the opening wasn’t square, and had to take one of the feet totally off just to fit the stupid thing in, never mind leveling it.

Moron DIY people are the bane of otherwise good houses. And although the dishwasher opening issue wasn’t due to anything I had ever done, I can say that it’s infinitely more galling when the moron DIY person is yourself and you’re coming back years later to try and remedy something you messed up in the first place.