Dishwasher - need a new one, anyone go through the pain?

[Scott Flamm]

I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old. I figure in a few years we can replace the dishwasher with them. Cheaper in the short term but more expensive in the long term!

[Ole Anderson]

The detergent pouches Finish (Quantum) and Finish (Powerball) as well as Cascade (Complete All in 1) rated at the top in the CR report. Cheap detergent can erode the finish on the glassware. We use the Cascade product in our older Frigidaire Gallery and are pleased with the performance.

Don't overlook the importance of water quality when considering dishwasher performance. Hardness and iron will hurt the end result.

[Jerrimy Snook]

I looked at the reviews on CR but didn't find the units tested in the stores so we bought a Kenmore (generally score well anyway) that was on sale for around $500. It is quiet 47 or 49 db if I remember correctly. It cleans well when loaded correctly (we were told to follow the loading instructions). It has the stainless interior and nylon racks. If we run out of Jet Dry then the dishes don't get dry. It does not have fancy loading options but we don't have fancy things to load.

[Phil Thien]

We had a GE up until a couple of years ago. It was unbelievably noisy.

It died.

We replaced it with a Bosch. The Bosch is so quiet I can barely hear it running. Love the thing.

[John Lohmann]

One thing nobody mentioned is the insulation on our Kitchenaid is twice as think on the Whirlpool that replaced& put it on the Whirlpool, you could probably buy upgraded insulation on Amazon, but I've never looked

[Jim Koepke]

Here is another vote for Bosh and for not putting dishes with large amounts of food attached into the dishwasher.

At least scrape them first. The only time our filter needed cleaning was when the wife was watching TV while loading the dishwasher and ended up putting some plastic wrap an jars with labels in the rack.

My experience with CR has been they are not always the best at picking the winners. Many of the models get changed before publication. The people are not always all working together on looking at the products. Different teams may be reviewing different products without any cross checking of findings.

I know many years ago they gave one appliance a bad rating and another a "best value" rating. They were the same appliance with one having a private label being the only difference.

I have seen similar cases of their not understanding the products they reviewed.

jtk

[Peter Elliott]

Awesome thread guys.. great info, tips, pro/cons.

Ya, we ruled out Miele.. $$$ was just over the top.

So, I went lowes, sat down with my appliance guy who I have been dealing with for about 8yrs and ordered a Bosch.

I took the Consumer Reports (April 2012) Bosch Ascenta #1 choice. Ended up getting stainless version for the same as Black/White.
Then took another 5% off with using the lowes card.

I did (rarely ever!!) take the extended warranty. It was $70 and now I get a full 3yr warranty. I figured $35 a yr was a good investment for the extra 2yrs

Total came to $600 plus an $15 install kit. Glad I went with the install kit too, it had new hose, fittings, etc. The bosch came with a new drain line.

Took all of 45mins putting it in. Bosch certainly has made it pretty simple to install.

Thanks again and we're back up and running!
-Peter