Any dishwasher recommendations?

[KarenNC]

Our dishwasher is horribly loud and doesn't do a very good job of actually cleaning the dishes, so we are considering replacing it shortly. It's roughly 5 years old, a GE Nautilus that I believe was installed when the house was built (we bought the house about 2.5 years ago). With our floorplan, it's in the middle of the main living space and sounds like a jet engine when we turn it on, making it difficult to watch a movie, etc. I know there are dishwashers out there that one can be standing beside and barely know they are on, so I believe we can do better than this.

I'm looking for something that is a efficient as possible and as quiet as possible while staying in the under $500 range. Typically we do not use the heat dry cycle on ours, if that makes any difference.

[Queen_Zarga]

This was recently discussed here (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8562)

[AFwife Claire]

Ours suddenly died a few weeks ago. We read up on dishwashers in the Consumer Reports at the library (I think one of the latest issues--March, I believe--has the article on dishwashers). A Kenmore was rated #1, although it was more like ~$700. That is the dishwasher we were planning on getting, except that over the course of about a week, we had the worst experience dealing with the salemen at Sears, so finally we just bought a Bosch from Lowes, LOL. It was really bizarre.

I will list off what ones Consumer Reports recommends in the top 20 that are $500 or less for you--that was you won't have to go to the library yourself! : )

7. Whirlpool DU1055XTS $350 (This is a CR Best Buy)
12. Kenmore 1373 $500
21. Whirlpool DU1100XTP [also DU1145XTP and 1148XTP] $450

Also, #10, which is Bosch SHE33MOUC ($540) is another CR Best Buy, although a little more expensive.

I think all the dishwashers are a lot quieter now, which is a good thing because what surprised me the most was how LONG all the cycle times are--close to 2 hours, sometimes longer! You need something quiet for that long!

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask me more questions! It's funny, after spending a lot of time buying an appliance, I feel like some kind of expert--decibel levels, silverware rack advantages and disadvantages in design, wash times, etc., etc., etc--I'm all over that right now! : )

[KarenNC]

Thanks for the link, and for the CR info. I, too, thought that all dishwashers were quieter now, which is why I was very surprised to find that this one was so noisy. The over 10 year old one in my old house was many orders of magnitude quieter, so I presumed that a relatively new one would be even better. Didn't work out that way, unfortunately. I had heard folks talk about "builder grade" appliances as sometimes problematic, so I suppose that is the issue here, though I would have expected better in this price range.

[Marie in Oh]

a Kitchen Aid and LOVE it. It is quiet, cleans my really dirty dishes and is super energy efficient. It has a dispoal in it, so it deals with the caked on food. We run our dishwasher 2-3 times a day, so the energy efficiency is great. It is also huge. It holds 14 place settings. It is the best thing in my new kitchen.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

I can't find the model number right now, but I love the "quick wash" feature on it. It completes a wash cycle in 30 min! And, it does an amazing job of cleaning the dishes in that short cycle. It is soooooo quiet compared to our old dishwasher; I can barely hear it running, and when I'm in the kitchen I don't feel like I have to yell over it to be heard at a normal conversational level.

[RoughCollie]

We bought a Bosch at Lowes and I like it. We paid about $650 for it, so it doesn't have all the bells & whistles the more expensive models do.

In the past we paid $300-$400 for dishwashers (Maytag and Kenmore) and had to get new ones every 3-4 years. We run the dishwasher 2-3 times a day, so we put them through their paces.

This time, I researched the issue and came away with the conclusion that a dishwasher in the $500 and up range would last longer. Some brands, like Asko, were purported to last 18 years or more. I didn't check out the prices or where to buy them because DH had his mind set on getting one at Lowes pronto.

http://www.askousa.com/dishwashers/index.html

We've only had this one for 6 months, and I have high hopes that it will last for 10 years. It takes a lot longer to wash the dishes (about 2 hours), though.

[LizzyBee]

I love my Bosch. It's quiet and it gets the dishes clean. We've had it about 3 years and had no problems with it.

[OnTheBrink]

I have a very inexpensive Roper (Whirlpool's "cheap" line) and it cleans better than Ex's new Bosch. I'm very pleased with it.

[Claire]

My Bosch is so quiet you can stand next to it and not know it's on. We've had it 3 years with no problems. It cleans extremely well too.

One thing I would advise is taking your actual dishes and silverware with you when you look at dishwashers, to make sure everything will fit. Our forks, for some reason, slide down in the Bosch carrier so I always have to stick the tines in the side.

[Jenstet]

We have had a Kenmore for 4 years now and it is pretty quiet. I don't think we paid more than $300 for it. My problem with it is that the silverware rack after about 4 months started breaking causing silverware to fall through. It frustrates me to no end, knives cutting the seal and catching on everything. Just last week the whole bottom of one section fell out. $60 to replace. I don't know if this is a common problem but there you go....

[Scarlett]

I just got a Whirlpool Gold Quiet Partner IV. I love, love, love it. It is 57 decibles which was the quietest one Whirlpool had I think. It was also next to the top of the line....retailed around $700 I think, but $100 of that is because it is stainless steel.

As for the noise factor, I also noticed how LOUD the one that just died was (compared to the older model in my old house)...but while researching I realized location of your dishwasher matters a lot. If you have it in an island, like I do, you will have less insulation overall and thus need to buy a quieter model.

[CLL]

The average dishwasher noise level is about 55 dbA, and the average dishwasher electricity usage is about 307 kWh. So if you're looking for an above average dishwasher in the $500 price range, these are the numbers to beat.

Here's a few dishwashers that have better than average noise and energy efficiency in this price range:

1) Frigidaire FGHD2433KB - 52 dBA noise, 283 kWh, and MSRP of $549
2) Frigidaire FGHD2433KW - 52 dBA noise, 283 kWh, and MSRP of $549
3) Frigidaire FGHD2461KB - 53 dBA noise, 283 kWh, and MSRP of $549
4) Frigidaire FGHD2461KW - 53 dBA noise, 283 kWh, and MSRP of $549
5) Bosch SHE4AM12UC - 53 dBA noise, 300 kWh, and MSRP of $549
6) Bosch SHE4AM16UC - 53 dBA noise, 300 kWh, and MSRP of $549
Source: Dishwasher Ratings (http://www.dishwasher-ratings.com)

There are some dishwashers that are ultra-quiet down to 40 dbA, but they cost several hundred dollars more.