Dishwasher recommendations?

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I may be the only person on the list with a "modded" dishwasher but I'll pass it along in hopes it helps others. If you look at the consumer ratings one of the things you pay a lot of money for is quiet models 'cause everyone likes to brag about it when guests are over and such. But often lower models clean just as well at $150 less.

Last year, we replaced our dishwasher with a middle of the line Kenmore that was just as I described - highly rated for everything except noise. Looking at it when I got home, I realized the thing is essentially a plastic box that resonates when you spray water against the insides - like firing a hose into a 55 gallon drum. So I took off to the hardware store and bought 3 cans of that spray on expanding foam and 10 feet of self adhesive foam weather strip. There are two types - one that expands a lot and one that does not. Be sure you get the latter. Pulled the washer into the garage, sprayed down the plastic box taking care not to fire foam into obviously stupid spots, or on things that one day might need servicing. Then put the weather strip around the edges that mate with the counter and installed it. For good measure, I put weather strip around the metal plate that fills the space by the floor and put a chunk of foam under the unit that I had laying around - foam rubber.

Installed it as normal and the thing is dead quiet. You can barely hear the swish of water 10 feet away and for $12 I think it's quieter than even the super quiet models in the store.

DougM
 
IdahoDoug said:
I may be the only person on the list with a "modded" dishwasher but I'll pass it along in hopes it helps others. If you look at the consumer ratings one of the things you pay a lot of money for is quiet models 'cause everyone likes to brag about it when guests are over and such. But often lower models clean just as well at $150 less.

Last year, we replaced our dishwasher with a middle of the line Kenmore that was just as I described - highly rated for everything except noise. Looking at it when I got home, I realized the thing is essentially a plastic box that resonates when you spray water against the insides - like firing a hose into a 55 gallon drum. So I took off to the hardware store and bought 3 cans of that spray on expanding foam and 10 feet of self adhesive foam weather strip. There are two types - one that expands a lot and one that does not. Be sure you get the latter. Pulled the washer into the garage, sprayed down the plastic box taking care not to fire foam into obviously stupid spots, or on things that one day might need servicing. Then put the weather strip around the edges that mate with the counter and installed it. For good measure, I put weather strip around the metal plate that fills the space by the floor and put a chunk of foam under the unit that I had laying around - foam rubber.

Installed it as normal and the thing is dead quiet. You can barely hear the swish of water 10 feet away and for $12 I think it's quieter than even the super quiet models in the store.

DougM
Click to expand...


Oh oh, what's next Doug, a bumper and winch?

:hillbilly:


We bought the top of the line Kitchen aid, based not on how quiet it is, but after extensive research, how well it cleaned and the rack layout. It's amazing in it's cleaning ability, and it's also as quiet as you described yours to be. It was covered in fiberglass insulation, so if someone wanted to quiet down their noisy dishwasher, that is what the mfgrs use.

And, down in the front, right behind the metal trim piece, are two pieces of fiberglass batting. One is about an inch thick, attached to the back side of the panel, the 2nd is about 3" thick, right behind it. I think a good % of the noise comes from underneath where all the guts are.
 
Our house came with GE Monogram dishwasher. 8-years old and works quite nicely. My only gripe and they "fixed it" sometime after we got ours: They moved the controls to the top instead of the front.
 
Adding on to this thread, we're shopping for all new appliances for our kitchen now. Pretty well decided on the fridge, range, and OTR microwave, so now it's just the dishwasher. Getting conflicting info from various stores, thought I'd see if anybody here has insight...

We are on a well, and our water has iron in it. Not a huge amount, but enough that it starts to stain the toilets after a few weeks, I have to change the water service filter about every 3 months (I use 5 micron cartridges). Our current dishwasher is a Kenmore, nothing special, only about 4 years old and it's already broken down once. Inside is white plastic, and we have to scrub the rust out of it about every 6-8 months so it doesn't look gross. I can tell that eventually the brown stain will invade the plastic tub and it won't scrub off, not happy about that.

Question is about stainless interiors. CR says don't bother with the expense. Most of the places we've been have told us the stainless tub will not show any rust, it won't stick to it. But a couple of other stores have told us that it will also get gross and rusty, it won't make any difference. Who to believe?

Looking hard at the Bosch...
 
I'm on a well but it's pretty good water and have the stainless Bosch, no staining, stink or issues, same with the washer. I do tend to replace hot water heaters every 5 years or so though. You may want to look into a potassium promagenate filter for the house, we had one at the old house that had an iron well. pretty easy to maintain, gets rid of rust pretty well.
 
Update on my Bosch dishwasher. It's starting to cloud the glass and plastic with a white film. Have the rising agent dispenser full of Jet-Dry and tried two different Cascade powder with no improvements.
 
our 5 year-old GE model sucks: NOISY :mad: and on the second set of racks, the plastic covering is coming off AGAIN already and we get rust stains on the flatware :bang:

our other GE model was part of a recall that required the service technician to remove ALL insulation in the front door :mad: talk about NOISY now :doh: :bang:

did I mention I hate GE :doh:

we have a KitchenAid in the big house and love it - very quiet and efficient - and a special heavy duty coating on the rack

leaning towards another KitchenAid now

BTW, the white film on glass comes from a combination of cheap glass and high temperatures - cleaning agents will not affect it
 
Our Kenmore has been reliable but we've only had it three years. It cleans the dishes and isn't loud enough to be a hinderance. I'm impressed with the MIL's Bosch. I was sitting less than 3 ft away and didn't realize it was running. Super quiet. Other than the LED you wouldn't know it was on. Reliability long term is questionable according to CR.
 
Still lovin' our Bosch. Not a speck of rust residue inside, and no film/haze on the glassware. Still amazed at how quiet it is.

I actually prefer not having the disposal/grinder doohickey, it has a filter that catches the big chunks that you clean out occasionally. I'd rather they not go to the septic tank.
 
KLF said:
Still lovin' our Bosch. Not a speck of rust residue inside, and no film/haze on the glassware. Still amazed at how quiet it is.

I actually prefer not having the disposal/grinder doohickey, it has a filter that catches the big chunks that you clean out occasionally. I'd rather they not go to the septic tank.
Click to expand...


what is your model number?
 
Skillet said:
oh, sh*t... can't use that one.

need a flush front. just sold my jenn-air because of that protruding handle.

once again, drawing board.
Click to expand...

ours is a flush mount Jeb, black exterior. Model# she46c06uc/33. I also like the filter deal, rarely do I have to dump it out because we prerinse alot. I have had the clouding issue with a few plastic cups but not all, I think it's because it super heats the water.
 
Our Bosch is back to putting out sparkling dishes again. After trying two different Cascade powders with ill results, we had success with the Finish tablets. I guess our city water changed in the summer to affect the cleaing from the Cascade powders.
 
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