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Need Recommendations For A New DIshwasher


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Our dishwasher died, and I am in need of recommendations for a new one.  I am not interested in the energy-saving ones that don't get dishes clean, don't have a drying cycle, and don't have an option for a truly hot-water wash.  Energy-saving is great, as long as my dishes get cleaned, sanitized, and dried.  Price is not a huge concern.  I think I am looking for the dishwasher version of a Speed Queen washer, LOL.

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I triple heart love my Bosch dishwasher. Mine is 4 years old, so I'm sure the models have changed. I got one of the middle level Bosch ones, I think it was 800 series. It has the stainless interior and the third rack. I LOVE the third rack and would pay $$$ extra for it. I researched the heck out of appliances 4-5 years ago, and that that time, the Bosch dishwasher was the hands down winner of all the reviews I could find. 

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stay away from kitchen aid.  i bought a top-of-the-line  . . . . it doesn't clean. (it's very quiet.)  

I am now rinsing dishes in a way i never did with my GE's (I liked my GE profile (top when I bought it) - but it died.  the racks were wonderfully flexible.  I've yet to find one as flexible.  it cleaned really well.

3rd racks are over-rated.

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I investigated this a few years back and finally made a purchase last year.

First of all, there is no Speed Queen in dishwashers, sad to say.

Based on reviews from this board I went to the store to buy a high end Bosch or a Miele.  I decided against both.  The Bosch had diagonal tines on the bottom rack that would have prevented me to washing, say, my spaghetti pot in it.  Unacceptable.  And the Miele required a fair amount of routine maintenance to nudge it into peak operation, kind of like a Mercedes car.  Plus the Miele looked SO overwhelmingly modern that it would have made the rest of my kitchen look glaringly dated, not just comfortably dated.

So I got the top of the line Kitchen Aid.  It is dead quiet.  It has a true hot water wash option.  It cleans my dishes extremely well, thanks to the multiple sprayers.  I find the top rack kind of useful.  And later in life if I can’t reach the bottom rack easily it has a top rack only wash cycle.  Plus there is enough room above the top rack to wash even dinner plates in it.  I really like it.

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I got this midlevel Kitchen Aid (only in white) and I love it so much. It cleans really well and can hold so many dishes. I am seriously thankful for it every day. I did not want the third rack because my silverware drawer is away from my dishwasher. I wanted a removeable basket. The dishes come out clean and dry except for a very small amount of water on the top of plastic cups. I can live with that. (I can dry all the water I need to with one strip of paper towel while unloading.) 

https://www.nfm.com/kitchenaid-built-in-dishwasher-with-prowash-cycle-and-printshield-finish-in-stainless-steel

 

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I'm in the market for a new dishwasher, too.  My FIL has a Bosch, and it's QUIET.  So I put the word out to my local homeschool group for names of Bosch repairmen in the area.  What came back to me were recommendation for all other brands of dishwashers...lol  I'd heard that Bosch was excellent, but if you can't find a local repairman, don't bother.  After asking my local group, our regular plumber/repairman, and google, it looks like we'll steer clear of Bosch.  

I'm looking at Whirlpool or Maytag, stainless steel interior, built-in disposal (heard most are a filtration basket now?), a good drying cycle, and quiet.  My top priority isn't energy-saving either.

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I have a mid level Bosch with stainless steel interior. We bought it a little over a year ago. It's okay. Impossible to load efficiently, but it gets the job done very satisfactorily. I really can't say about cycles, though. I set it on "auto" and let it do its thing. I've never had a dishwasher that didn't work well, though. Honestly, sometimes I wonder what I'm doing "wrong" because I've never had any appliance that hasn't worked satisfactorily. (And now I've probably jinxed myself . . .:laugh:)

ETA: We do seem to have "good" water here, though. Not particularly hard or soft. That probably makes a difference in dishwasher and washing machine performance.

Edited by Pawz4me
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I was asking the same question last February.

My biggest issue was that our old dishwasher literally sounded like a train going through our living room.   

I went with a mid-level stainless steel Bosch after much research and hand-wringing.   I agree with Paws4me that it's really difficult to load efficiently.   But other than that I do like it.   I rinse the dishes pretty well beforehand, it cleans well, and it's delightfully quiet.  

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8 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

If I may add a question, for those of you who have a Bosch, what about repairs?

Ours hasn't had any issues. But I guess I don't understand the question? The appliance repair places I know of around here all service Bosch, just like other major brands.

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1 minute ago, Pawz4me said:

Ours hasn't had any issues. But I guess I don't understand the question? The appliance repair places I know of around here all service Bosch, just like other major brands.

That's good it hasn't had any issues.  In my area a Bosch repairman is hard to come by so I'm wondering what others in similar situations have done if repairs are needed.

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I think our Bosch is 4 or 5 years old and we haven't needed any repairs. If something goes wrong, I expect my dh will get online, figure out what's broken, order a part, and repair it himself as he's done with all of our other appliances. We do have a repair place in town and we ordered the dishwasher through them so that would be an option. Dh has taken to ordering parts through them since he can get them faster with no shipping charges.

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I would like to add--at our cabin we have an old dishwasher that sounds like a garbage truck that is overloaded.  I hate how noisy it is, although it does get the dishes clean (not dry, though.) 

I had every intention of replacing it, but researching dishwashers made me decide to keep it going as long as possible.  It is at least 10-15 years old, and I expect that it will last longer than any new one on the market today.  I think that that is both sad and unacceptable, but there you have it.  #dodgedabullet

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Has Bosch changed their racks in the past few years?  I had a 2-3 year old Bosch at my last house and I could load that thing WAY up with almost every dish we owned....or so it seemed.  I do have Corelle so maybe that makes it easier.  I need a new dishwasher and one reason I loved my Bosch was because I could fit so much into it.  I don't want one if that has changed. 

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I have a Bosch and I don’t know what’s wrong with it but it doesn’t get things clean. We are basically prewashing. We are used to no dishwasher (this is our first after 5 houses/apartments) so it’s not a huge deal but I read everywhere that Bosch is supposed to be a great one, we inherit it with the house (can’t be more than 2 yes old) and the one thing it’s aupposed to do, it doesn’t do. Maybe we broke it. 

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5 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

I have a Bosch and I don’t know what’s wrong with it but it doesn’t get things clean. We are basically prewashing. We are used to no dishwasher (this is our first after 5 houses/apartments) so it’s not a huge deal but I read everywhere that Bosch is supposed to be a great one, we inherit it with the house (can’t be more than 2 yes old) and the one thing it’s aupposed to do, it doesn’t do. Maybe we broke it. 

Do you use the Finish Quantum gel pack things?  That is what was suggested for mine.

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OH!

Forgot to mention--our newish top of the line KA requires those 15X cleaning capsules, the liquid ones in the gel pack.

Also forgot to mention--up at the cabin our neighbors bought a Samsung appliance at Lowes.  They bought an extended warranty.  But the local service guys would not work on it, so when it failed very early in its life and Lowes wanted to fix it for them, there was literally no one who could do it.  So then after some churn around the extended warranty being essentially meaningless, Lowe's wanted to get them an entire replacement unit and swap it out.  They checked with the repair guy about what brands he IS willing to repair, and came up with Kenmore, Whirlpool, and Kitchen Aide.  So they told Lowe's they didn't want to be stuck with an appliance that could never get any service, and after more churn Lowe's gave them a Whirlpool of equal value and delivered it and hauled the Samsung off.

So, there is what those warranties say, and what they actually do, and sometimes those are two different things.

Edited by Carol in Cal.
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29 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

I have a Bosch and I don’t know what’s wrong with it but it doesn’t get things clean. We are basically prewashing. We are used to no dishwasher (this is our first after 5 houses/apartments) so it’s not a huge deal but I read everywhere that Bosch is supposed to be a great one, we inherit it with the house (can’t be more than 2 yes old) and the one thing it’s aupposed to do, it doesn’t do. Maybe we broke it. 

We had the same experience with the Bosch.  It barely washed anything, constantly moldy and gross on the inside, had to replace the sprayer arms at least once a year, and eventually we quit using it.  Suddenly one day it came back to life on its own, without anyone going near it, turning off and on randomly all day like a ghost was messing with me... and then the pump broke.

We ended up replacing it with a Maytag with the hard food disposer.  Much better.

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3 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I would like to add--at our cabin we have an old dishwasher that sounds like a garbage truck that is overloaded.  I hate how noisy it is, although it does get the dishes clean (not dry, though.) 

I had every intention of replacing it, but researching dishwashers made me decide to keep it going as long as possible.  It is at least 10-15 years old, and I expect that it will last longer than any new one on the market today.  I think that that is both sad and unacceptable, but there you have it.  #dodgedabullet

I am afraid of buying a new dishwasher because of what happened when we had to replace our old washing machine.  We bought a recommended HE top loader and before two years had passed, it started to leak.  This, after I spent the time we did have it cursing it for leaving my clothes dingy and not being able to get an adequate amount of actual hot water into the tub.  I finally replaced it with a Speed Queen and all is well now, but our money was wasted on that useless HE machine.  We have a Kitchen Aid dishwasher now that is noisy and I think is now dead (DH will have to check it out for sure), but when I replace it, I don't want to blow money on something that was recommended yet doesn't have the features I really want (real hot water, drying feature, etc...).

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We have a Bosch 300 series and love it. I have despised all other dishwashers we have ever had. The worst offender was our previous KitchenAid, which not only left the dishes dirty and covered in baked-on crud, but also had cheap, flimsy racks that fell apart.

Our Bosch works like a charm, even with our very hard water. I don't use any special detergent (just regular old Seventh Generation liquid), no rinse aid, and we set it to to the Speed60 cycle almost all the time and it gets everything clean. It is truly fabulous.

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51 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

No, usually Seventh generation liquid/gel. That’s another thing, when we use regular dishwasher soap the dishes smell like soap. 

I think using the recommended tabs makes a huge difference with new appliances. They are engineered to work together. I use the finish tabs and my Bosch works great. 

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1 hour ago, madteaparty said:

No, usually Seventh generation liquid/gel. That’s another thing, when we use regular dishwasher soap the dishes smell like soap. 

We have a Bosch mid level. At first I didn't like it because it left all sorts of soap on the dishes, bubbles on the bottom of the dishwasher, and didn't get the dishes particularly clean. I was having to rinse all the dishes by hand after they were cleaned in the dishwasher just to get the soap off. Even running the rinse cycle afterwards didn't help. So I started reducing the amount of detergent I put in. Eventually I learned that because we have soft water (due to a water softener), we needed significantly less soap. The pacs always left soap in the bottom, so I don't use them anymore. I use about 1/3 of the amount of detergent called for. I also don't use the finishing rinse, again due to the water softener. When my dishwasher tells me to add more, I put water in it so it doesn't increase the cycle length. I have also found that not rinsing the dirty dishes completely before loading makes for a cleaner load.

I hope some of this helps you. I chose the Bosch when our old dishwasher died because it was supposed to be good, but once we started using it, I didn't like it until I made the above changes. Now I really like it!

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4 minutes ago, wilrunner said:

We have a Bosch mid level. At first I didn't like it because it left all sorts of soap on the dishes, bubbles on the bottom of the dishwasher, and didn't get the dishes particularly clean. I was having to rinse all the dishes by hand after they were cleaned in the dishwasher just to get the soap off. Even running the rinse cycle afterwards didn't help. So I started reducing the amount of detergent I put in. Eventually I learned that because we have soft water (due to a water softener), we needed significantly less soap. The pacs always left soap in the bottom, so I don't use them anymore. I use about 1/3 of the amount of detergent called for. I also don't use the finishing rinse, again due to the water softener. When my dishwasher tells me to add more, I put water in it so it doesn't increase the cycle length. I have also found that not rinsing the dirty dishes completely before loading makes for a cleaner load.

I hope some of this helps you. I chose the Bosch when our old dishwasher died because it was supposed to be good, but once we started using it, I didn't like it until I made the above changes. Now I really like it!

Thanks. Issue is not really the rinsing, and I only occasionally use vinegar in the rinse dispenser.  The issue is dishes not getting clean. Major issue is for example my smoothie glasses with dried up blueberry bits in the bottom...

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44 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

Thanks. Issue is not really the rinsing, and I only occasionally use vinegar in the rinse dispenser.  The issue is dishes not getting clean. Major issue is for example my smoothie glasses with dried up blueberry bits in the bottom...

That's a bummer! I hope it miraculously starts cleaning better! I know the frustration of a supposedly good appliance that doesn't do what it's supposed to do!

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17 hours ago, Ottakee said:

Has Bosch changed their racks in the past few years?  I had a 2-3 year old Bosch at my last house and I could load that thing WAY up with almost every dish we owned....or so it seemed.  I do have Corelle so maybe that makes it easier.  I need a new dishwasher and one reason I loved my Bosch was because I could fit so much into it.  I don't want one if that has changed. 

When I stay with my dd, I can never figure out how to load the racks, so we just pile dishes in there willy nilly. I guess they come clean, but that rack situation is pretty much a deal breaker for me.

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4 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Thanks. Issue is not really the rinsing, and I only occasionally use vinegar in the rinse dispenser.  The issue is dishes not getting clean. Major issue is for example my smoothie glasses with dried up blueberry bits in the bottom...

I have used Amway's dishwasher pods for several years and am always happy with how clean everything is.

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I miss my Bosch. I’ve had two (in different houses), an entry level and a mid-level. They were so quiet I could hold a conversation while standing right next to it. I missed my first one so much that I replaced a nearly-new, but much crappier, dishwasher when I bought a different house. They cleaned well.

i rent now, and have no control over the appliances. The current dishwasher is a GE, and it’s fine but nothing special.

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I purchased the highest Bosch available at our local store, but I do not think it was Bosch's highest.  The inefficiency of loading it, especially the bottom rack is the only thing that bothers me.  We use the third, top rack for silverware, so the large silverware caddy that initially went in the bottom rack leaves an awkward space when removed.  I wish, oh how I wish I had kept the bottom rack from my previous dishwasher.  The racks from both were/are universal size, so they would have swapped.  It cleans fine and is quiet, though.

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On 1/22/2019 at 9:38 AM, Familia said:

  I wish, oh how I wish I had kept the bottom rack from my previous dishwasher.  The racks from both were/are universal size, so they would have swapped.  It cleans fine and is quiet, though.

 

What a great tip! Our Bosch arrives next week. I'll make sure we keep our old bottom rack in case I don't like the way it loads.

We did get one with the tines that fold down, so hopefully that will help.

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On 1/20/2019 at 12:41 PM, Pawz4me said:

ETA: We do seem to have "good" water here, though. Not particularly hard or soft. That probably makes a difference in dishwasher and washing machine performance.

Water quality makes a difference, but as others have pointed out, there are ways around it. With our super, super hard water and a water softener, we use the gel packs, and we run citric acid through an empty dishwasher periodically.

On 1/20/2019 at 8:37 PM, Ottakee said:

Has Bosch changed their racks in the past few years?  I had a 2-3 year old Bosch at my last house and I could load that thing WAY up with almost every dish we owned....or so it seemed.  I do have Corelle so maybe that makes it easier.  I need a new dishwasher and one reason I loved my Bosch was because I could fit so much into it.  I don't want one if that has changed. 

We have Corelle, and it fits really nicely in our Bosch (several years old). We can cram a ton of dishes in the machine.

My dishes come out hot and dry if I let it do its thing. Sometimes when it's chilly, I open it up while it's still warm to let the kitchen warm up and to get some humidity back in the air.

We've had nice Whirlpools in the past, and my parents have one that works well. 

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Neither I nor my mom are terribly impressed by her Bosch. It is insanely quiet though. She doesn’t like the way it loads, it don’t like how long it runs, and neither of us think it’s cleaning ability is all that. Fine, just nothing special. 

I’ve had a few GEs that I liked, two Whirlpools that failed and one disaster of a Frigidaire. 

I’d go GE, but nothing’s a Speed Queen. 

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19 hours ago, momofeat2 said:

 

What a great tip! Our Bosch arrives next week. I'll make sure we keep our old bottom rack in case I don't like the way it loads.

We did get one with the tines that fold down, so hopefully that will help.

Yes!  I really could kick myself now ... I had thought of keeping them ahead of time, but ... we had put the old dishwasher aside; it had stopped at the beginning of a cycle.  DH emptied it, drained it, and put it in the garage.  Well, after sitting for a few weeks, EEK!  Mold!!!  We just put it to the curb (where it was taken w/in a few minutes), but everything is washable, and we could have bleached/cleaned it.  One of my life regrets.

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