Dishwasher recommendations

July 23, 2012 7:57 AM

Looking for a good dishwasher, stumped by all the weird reviews.

We are looking to buy a good dishwasher with a max budget of $800. Top features needed are 1) no pre rinse required and 2) can do heavy duty cleaning. Brands we are looking at are GE, Whirlpool, Maytag. (We were told Bosch is terrible and has issues in keeping things clean)We looked at consumer reports and amazon reviews and it is really confusing as although some reports give these appliances a 4 star, users themselves are giving it a low one or 2 star. So pretty much conflicting reviews

Would love your personal experience with brands that yo/your family may have used in the past year (keeping to current models) and a name/model that you could recommend. Thank you.

posted by pakora1 to home & garden (36 answers total)

I've exclusively owned Bosch dishwashers, and they have all been stellar. Bosch for Wash is the motto that I've heard over the years -- and it's proven true.
posted by ellF at 8:00 AM on July 23, 2012 [3 favorites]

I think with dishwashers, as with many consumer devices primarily sold in physical retail stores, people who are satisfied with their dishwashers are not dying to run to Amazon and submit a positive review; while those who are dissatisfied will vent anywhere they can. I tend to take user reviews with a grain of salt (unless they're well written/reasoned explanations of why they don't like the item being reviewed).
posted by smitt at 8:03 AM on July 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yep. Bosch (or twin sister company Siemens) for dishwashers and refridgerators. Miele for washing machines and vacuum cleaners.
posted by likeso at 8:04 AM on July 23, 2012

Bosch!
posted by Rad_Boy at 8:05 AM on July 23, 2012

Well I have a Bosch and it has been terrible. Now there are two caveats. First, it is the lowest-end Bosch that was on the market when we bought it. Second, we have very hard water which seems to make the problem of getting the dishes clean even worse. However, the Whirlpool we had before the Bosch still got our dishes cleaner. We even pre-rinse our dishes and they still don't come out that clean.
posted by bove at 8:08 AM on July 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Bove notwithstanding, previously the conclusion was Bosch.
posted by alms at 8:09 AM on July 23, 2012

We (and other friends who have them) love our Miele.
posted by Runes at 8:11 AM on July 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

My Bosch was great. I now own a Smeg, which has also proved to be extremely good at cleaning stuff.
posted by pipeski at 8:12 AM on July 23, 2012

We loved the Maytag we had at our old house. We have a GE in the current house. It's loud, but it's done its job just fine for 10 years now.
posted by COD at 8:20 AM on July 23, 2012

Okay, something which may be of interest to the dishwasher-owning/buying public: a lot of people who say that various dishwashers "suck" may be blaming the WRONG THING (dun dun DUN!).

A few years ago (I dunno, two or three?), the composition of dishwasher detergent was changed. This was done to minimize/eliminate phosphates. Around this time, we noticed that our dishwasher supposedly began sucking big-time. As it was ancient, we replaced it. Sure enough, the NEW dishwasher ALSO appeared to utterly suck.

Turns out that it wasn't the dishwasher's fault: it was our hard water and the new-style detergents! We started adding a ton of Lemi Shine (note: I have no ties to the Lemi Shine corporation; I just think they make a damned fine product) and it fixed EVERYTHING. Per geeks on the internet, Lemi Shine is mostly just citric acid, so you could presumably try that, too.

I'm no dishwasher-and/or-internet-review expert, but I would venture a guess that at least a FEW of the people blasting their dishwashers' poor performance on the internets ACTUALLY have a problem with hard water, new detergents and no Lemi Shine goodness.
posted by julthumbscrew at 8:39 AM on July 23, 2012 [7 favorites]

We had a Fisher Paykel (was in the house when we bought it), Supposed to be the BEST.... It wasn't.....We replaced it with a mid range bosch.... So much better...... You have to use the right detergent... But it cleans well, super quiet.... I'd buy Bosch again.
posted by pearlybob at 8:45 AM on July 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have tried using the Lemi-Shine type stuff, as well as vinegar and other tricks and it hasn't really improved things. I realize that I may be having a uniquely bad experience. Again, the reason I had bought a Bosch was because it generally had the best reviews. One thing I have concluded is that I won't buy the lowest-end Bosch again.
posted by bove at 8:52 AM on July 23, 2012

We have a Kitchen Aid and it's doing a bang up job. We don't have to wash our dishes before putting them in and it's looks fantastic next to our Kitchen Aid Fridge. The cycle is pretty long, and it's not as quiet as some others, but for washy goodness, I'm very pleased.

Whirlpool makes Kitchen Aid and I believe the appliances at Ikea and Kenmore. I've had Whirlpool appliances in my various houses over the years and I've never had any problems whatsoever.

I would recommend going to the Sears Outlet to buy said dishwasher as the deals they have on appliances are stupidly great. Their site is really good since you can see what's in stock at the actual outlet you want to go to.

We bought our treadmill there and I was really pleased with how the transaction and delivery went. I am no fan of Sears as a rule, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I'll bet you can get a nifty unit for half of your $800 and they give you a 12 month manufacturer's warantee.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:52 AM on July 23, 2012 [4 favorites]

Bosch!

This from someone in the industry, basically said he wouldn't buy anything but. And he also mentioned that most of the other dishwashers are all built by the same company in the same factory.
posted by Cosine at 9:14 AM on July 23, 2012

Our Bosch is quiet and gets dishes clean but...

It needed a solder joint on its brain board repaired at around seven years. I fixed it myself, but it's a bad design that pulls lots of current through a tiny connection. Several less expensive Bosch models have caught fire and have been the subject of a recall. We wouldn't buy one again.
posted by fixedgear at 9:16 AM on July 23, 2012

Bosch! We splurged on a higher end model and I love it. No rinsing and I get squeaky clean dishes at the end of the cycle.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 9:18 AM on July 23, 2012

The same guy mentioned that if you have very soft water, as we do, you should cut back on your detergent by about 75%, we did so and the dishes are just as clean but with much less etching on glassware. (he said the same for soft water and clothes washers, a tablespoon of laundry soap, we did this as well and it has also improved things)
posted by Cosine at 9:18 AM on July 23, 2012

I have to nth Bosch. I have one bc the previous owners of my home installed it, so it's at least 9 years old. Don't know if Bosch has gone downhill since, but I adore my Bosch.

Mostly bc it's so damn quiet. Every time I got to my sister's house and she turns on her GE dishwasher, I feel like I have to take cover from the apparent air raid that has just begun.

No need to pre-rinse, pre-wash, pre-anything. Not one blip in nine years.
posted by Pocahontas at 9:21 AM on July 23, 2012

Oh, and from a NY Times article a few years ago, dishwasher repair folks recommend only filling the detergent halfway to prevent premature aging of your dishwasher.
posted by Pocahontas at 9:22 AM on July 23, 2012

We have a KitchenAid (we got it at HH Gregg, on a really good sale). We love it.

According to what I understand, the secret to a quiet dishwasher is that the inside is metal, not plastic. Ours is so quiet, I have to look at the lights to ensure it's actually running.
posted by Medieval Maven at 9:23 AM on July 23, 2012

Super happy with my Miele G4275SCSF Futura Classic... super quiet and does a great job of cleaning. Also very nicely designed, iow it looks great and is east to use.
posted by snaparapans at 9:31 AM on July 23, 2012

Like you, I had to buy a dishwasher and had no idea what I was doing. I just went and bought the most energy efficient dishwasher I could get for my budget. I beleive in the US this means you want an Energy Star dishwasher.

Contrary to Medieval Maven's experience, ours has a metal interior and is not quiet. (This is a plus point to me but I like white noise.)
posted by DarlingBri at 9:32 AM on July 23, 2012

Another strong vote for Bosch, by far the best dishwasher I've ever owned. We got a mid-level energy efficient model. Quiet, fast, super clean dishes. Don't omit the pre-rinse agent.
posted by bearwife at 9:52 AM on July 23, 2012

One problem with Consumer Reports is that they test new machines. They don't keep testing them in real-life use over time. That's why the user ratings on their site are often much lower than the tests seem to predict.

My parents had a low-end Bosch; I had a high-end one. Both were fine in the beginning, but after about four months, dishes stopped getting clean. Mine had other problems, and after 4 repairs, Sears took our Bosch back in exchange for a Kitchen-Aid. My brother's family has a low-end Bosch bought in the same time frame, and it works just fine.

I've had very good luck with three KitchenAid dishwashers, but they clean a lot better with the high temperature wash. With the standard cycle, the dishes look and feel clean, but sometimes have an odor, especially if there was any little bit of egg residue on something. Email me if you want model numbers. KitchenAid dishwashers aren't nearly as quiet and Bosch, but they're much quieter than they were 10 years ago. The noisy part of the cycle is the pump; the wash isn't bad at all, and the drying is silent.
posted by wryly at 10:10 AM on July 23, 2012

wryly: "One problem with Consumer Reports is that they test new machines. They don't keep testing them in real-life use over time."

An example: They recently rated a Hamilton Beach toaster as best toaster, but when I checked on Amazon it had a two-star user rating. Most of the reviews said something like "it was great at first, but two/three/six months in it just stopped working."
posted by Lexica at 10:38 AM on July 23, 2012

Our Whirlpool has been going strong for many years now. Had one warranty repair to replace the heating coil (but, that was initiated proactively by Whirlpool. It was working just fine.)

Quietness is more a function of how well it was installed under your counter, and how much sound-deadening wrap came on it.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:43 AM on July 23, 2012

We remodeled our kitchen a few years ago and got GE Profile dishwashers. They are horrible; extremely loud and don't clean well. I end up having to rewash something nearly every load. We just stayed at a vacation home that had a Bosch, and I loved it. Extremely quiet and cleaned great. If I had it to do over again I would go with Bosch.
posted by Bresciabouvier at 10:52 AM on July 23, 2012

I'm very happy with my KitchenAid model KUDS30FXss5, which I bought on sale for less than $1,000 a few months ago. It is quiet, doesn't have a filter I need to rinse, and gets everything clean.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:03 AM on July 23, 2012

I hate my KitchenAid with the fire of a thousand suns. I have tried different types of detergents, configurations, etc. and my dishes always wind up dirty. I now use it as a drying rack.

My office had a Miele, which was wonderful.
posted by snickerdoodle at 11:27 AM on July 23, 2012

Bosch from a surplus outlet. Has been great with no complaints. The only thing is to clean the filter in the bottom now and then. Otherwise, it has been working great with Finish or Kitchenaid soap packs.
posted by jadepearl at 11:31 AM on July 23, 2012

I like consumersearch for this kind of thing. Their primary source is still Consumer Reports and web store user reviews, but they summarize them into a few recommendations.
posted by teki at 12:37 PM on July 23, 2012

I find that a teaspoon of Oxyclean makes a world of difference in my dishwasher.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:12 PM on July 23, 2012

We'll be installing a Samsung soon. My fingers are crossed.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:14 PM on July 23, 2012

Tons of folks end up buying a Bosch or Miele and hating them because they don't buy the required salt for their dishwashers. Yes, it does make a huge difference.

I keep hoping that my horrid GE dishwasher will die so that I can justify a Bosch.
posted by barnone at 11:34 PM on July 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

The repairman who pronounced the Frigidaire dishwasher my house came with a money pit advised me to buy an LG, Samsung, or any Bosch above the entry level models. He claimed that Bosch was pressured to make several more affordable models, and those do not hold up over time.
posted by joan cusack the second at 11:57 PM on July 23, 2012

Quick update

We bought a Bosch and it has, as of yet, worked beautifully!! I have never seen our dishes so clean even when we scrubbed the steel pots ourselves. It is pretty amazing because I was not sure that any dishwasher could do this! Very surprised as we were very apprehensive about buying Bosch.

Minor issue was the drying but that seems to be taken care of now. Thanks for all your input.
posted by pakora1 at 4:24 PM on October 2, 2012 [2 favorites]