If your dishwasher actually washes dishes.....

[S. C.]

Maytag quiet series. Not quiet, but no complaints with how it cleans.

 

[spacemountainmom]

I have a portable dishwasher since my 1959 rambler was not built to include a dishwasher..........ah, someday.

It is a Maytag and works very well if you give it the right soap. It is partial to Cascade or Finish gel packs. I used to buy whatever was cheapest and was not happy with the results. It is loud as all get out, but that's the breaks.

My mom has a top of the line Kenmore and still has to wash her dishes before using the dishwasher....why bother?

I agree with pp who said to check your dinnerware before you buy. I have both Corelle and Fiestaware. The fiesta bowls are awkward and require that I space them in every other spot. I had the same problem with my old dishwasher and imagine I will have that issue with any dishwasher.

 

[mickeyboat]

I have to agree that the detergent makes the difference. We were ready to ditch our kenmore elite until we tried finish tablets. Now our dishes come out really well

 

[dis-happy]

New ones aren't as good, they're now made to use less water, plus the change in dish detergents...bad combo for a lot of people. I'm keeping my 10 year old Kenmore forever. Previous owner put it in and I love it, top of the line. Very quiet and can run a load in 28 minutes if I choose the quick setting.

 

[2Poodles]

Love my 6 year old Bosch. It's quiet and dishes always come out clean. Never had a problem with it. My old Kitchenaid cleaned the dishes but sounded like an organ grinder. Bosch is so quiet you hardly even know it running.

 

[marcyinPA]

We have a Kenmore too...it was about $350 or so. Got it a couple of years ago, when the door of our other dishwasher broke off and we needed a new one ASAP. Of course, our budget wasn't prepared.

We have had no problems at all with the Kenmore. Sometimes some things don't get clean, but that is more of a loading issue (I notice it when the kids load the dishwasher...they just don't care!! I'm a little type-A about how I load it!)

 

[SaraJayne]

Like I mentioned earlier, we have a Bosch. The features I love about it (other than it being quiet) is it has a half load cycle, if the dishwasher is only half full. I've never used it though, because I wait until it's full to run a load.

It also has a quick wash, which runs start to finish in 35 mins. Unless I have a lot of nasty pots and pans, I use this cycle.

It also has a regular wash cycle, which takes about an hour and a half to finish.

It has a couple other cycle options I've never used, too.

I guess I'm more of a basic dishwasher type girl.

 

[ameraumi]

I have a Maytag, and love it, BUT....I recently learned that a lot of these issues are more related to the dishwasher detergent than the actual dishwasher itself. Most dishwahser detergent used to have phosphates in them, but they are being phased out for environmental reasons. A lot of the phosphate-free detergents don't work as well, but I have found that a lot of the 2-in 1 tablets with rinse aid do work a little better. I am currently using the electrasol tablets, and they work pretty well, but you STILL need to add jet dry in addition to what is included in the tablet.

I have found that is the exact reason why my dishes are not coming out as clean! I started adding a product called Lemi-Shine to the detergent and it is cleaning so much better. And I have read that powder detergent is better at cleaning than tablets and gels.

 

[DisneyCher]

I like my KitchenAid and I use the detergent tabs with the powerball. It usually takes us 3 days give or take to fill it, and I turn it on at night. It is so much quieter than the old Kenmore one that came with the house, and it does a much better cleaning job, too.

 

[KDIPIAZZ]

I adore my Miele! PP's who recommended that you try other detergents are spot-on. I use Electro-Sol (of Finish now, I suppose) and very seldom have everything not spotless.

 

[DVC-Don]

Bosch 500. Very, very quiet too. Got it about a year and a half ago. It replaced a Fridgidaire that sounded like a dump truck dumping a load of scrap metal when it ran.

 

[Rabscuttle]

We have a Kenmore from Sears. It wasn't a lot of money (around $300). I put dishes in without rinsing but I do scrape the pieces off. It a little loud so I use the timer and run it at night while we're sleeping. My DD has oatmeal every morning. Her bowl sits in the dishwasher about 18 hours before it's washed and it comes out clean!

That's about what we paid for ours and I loved the way it cleaned, and loaded....much better than I like my current, new Bosch.

 

[Seahunt]

We are using the Finish Quantum tabs which seem to work.

Oh yeah ITA the Quantum tablets are the bomb, they work soooo well

The only problems I have had with them was 1) the first time I bought them I couldn't figure our how to open them - the tablets felt like they had a plastic wrapper on them - well duh, finally read that the entire tablet goes in just as it is , and 2) next time bought "regular" Finish tablets, forgot to get the ones marked "Quantum" and those weren't nearly as good.

Dishwasher-wise Bosch (super quiet). The only thing that worried me was in the owners manual it said that it didn't have a built in food grinder in the base like all my others did, and that I would have to manually clean the screen every so often, but that turned out to be no biggie. Nothing much was ever there and the screen just snapped out, rinsed it off and voila, done.

 

[hambirg]

I'm going to chime in and agree with the Kenmore posts. I LOVE my dishwasher. It is basically the Whirlpool Gold, but branded as Kenmore. My Mom has an upper model Maytag and my dishwasher is much better. She just brought me some Cascade tabs that didn't do a good job in her dishwasher and I haven't had any problems using them in mine. My SIL has a Bosch. It is VERY quiet, much quieter than mine. BUT I don't think it gets her dishes any cleaner considering what she paid for it. She rinses all her dishes before she loads them, and her dishwasher has a baaaaad smell. I don't have to rinse and mine smells fine. JMHO.