anybody knows about dishwashers?

[e9999]

mine is slowly dying and is about 20 years old. Time to change I think.

Any general advice on buying dishwashers?

Also, it is a built-in within a kitchen cabinet / counter, with wood laceplates. What's the skinny on getting a matching wood faceplate?

(It is 24" wide, which I understand is a standard width, thankfully.)

TIA

 

[archie]

Consumer reports would have some good reviews(might have current back issues with dishwashers at library). I installed a GE in my sister's newly renovated kitchen and like the low noise it made. Matching the wood panel is not so hard because you could bring the panel to the store to color match the stain to the wood. Bring the panel to the lumbar yard first to indentify and buy the wood. If they don't have it at a lumber yard, go to a specialty woodworking store that sells wood for cabinets and furniture makers. After cutting the wood you'll have alot of leftover scraps to try out the stain to match to the panel at the paint/stain store. Don't forget to look at the stain in indoor and outdoor light,because things might have a different hue/tint. Good Luck!

 

[VFRMAN]

We built a new house a couple years ago and put a spendy LG ($1000+) dishwasher in. First one leaked right from the start. The replacement never dried anything. Switched to a GE with Smart Dispense(nice option. Just fill up the reservoir with liquid detergent and never touch it til the light comes on). It's worked like a champ ever since.

That's about all I know about dishwashers. We like our LG fridge though, but the rest is GE Profile. Seems decent. Good luck.

 

[trainrech]

We hate our Maytag (I wanted Bosch or Maeir (sp?) but the wife "won"). Parents and brother have Bosch and really like them.

 

[D'Animal]

The techician who repaired ours said that most of the top ends brands are designed to last 10 years. The cheaper ones will not last as long.

If you got 20 years out of yours, you are doing great.

 

[jjbodean1970]

just did a complete kitchen remodel and went with the kitchenaid designed to put a panel on it. so far so good, does a great job and is quiet.

 

[haystax]

I just bought all of the appliances for the new house. We researched everything and really spent some time trying to get to the bottom of who makes what and what brands are really re-badged etc...

Decided on the Bosch dishwasher, not sure which model but not the absolute top of the line. I have heard nothing but good about the dishwashers from friends who own them and from the store in Idaho that carries almost every brand and services them all.

We were also looking at Kitchen Aid and went with them for refer, oven, cooktop and Bosch for the clothes washer and dryer as well as dishwasher. Looking at Zephyr for a vent hood.

The drawer style dishwashers are super cool, almost went that route but we rarely have an empty dishwasher as it is, couldn't see the real benefit in our household for one. Fisher & Paykel as well as Electrolux are putting out some good stuff but it is hard to get an idea of longevity on these brands so we shied away.

Good luck

 

[AJP]

To squeeze a little more life out of it, I managed to do some minor repairs on a Maytag (replaced the fan - pretty simple) and that lasted about 24 years ... worked fine and might have gone another 24 years but was very loud - this was the type of quality Maytag built its reputation on!

We looked at them all (including Miele etc) and ended up with a higher end KitchenAid - they have a sanitizer feature and the built in garburator .. and the better ones are very quiet. So far no problems - my brother in law and several other acquaintences have them and all seem pretty happy to date.

If you can run 240V to the location another option is the commercial Hobart's - we needed to install one to satisfy code in a daycare several years ago and the supplier said they were putting a lot of them in high end homes - they are sure quick!! although don't know about energy use.

My limited experience with Euro machines is my sister in laws Miele - very quiet but very pricey - same performance as the KitchenAid and another Euro unit that was in a condo that lost all the little parts (soap dispenser door) latch screws etc and were VERY pricey to repair and hard to find parts.

Personally I think machines like the Miele are very good quality but a little too complicated for their own good. I am a "do-it-yourselfer" with very modest talents so take all this with a grain of salt!!

 

[jjbodean1970]

fwiw, this is the kitchenaid that we installed:

KitchenAid®: Dishwashers

not the top, top of the line, but then again, we didnt feel we needed ALL the extra settings and cycles. i have used 2 of them so far out of all of them

 

[beaufort-fj60]

you should be able to reuse the wood faceplate. It usually slides in along a track on the dishwashers door frame.