Comments on: Your Turn: Self-Serving Major Appliance Survey

By: janet

janet — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:44:42 +0000

I can only tell you that you definitely do not want the type of dishwasher I have. Over my 25 years of marriage, we have moved about 17 times, most places being blessed with a dishwasher. To date, I have never had the kind of trouble and the lack of response from a manufacturer that I have had with GE. Yes, our brand-new home with our brand-new dishwasher has not worked well since day 1. I called the service people… had multiple visits… they indicated that probably I was loading it improperly or using too much soap, but that they couldn’t do anything to help me get it to clean the dishes! sorry for my rant, can you tell I am tired of re-washing everything?

So, DO NOT buy General Electric!!!

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:09:42 +0000

I too have a Maytag. When our old one finally died we decided to go with another Maytag because we had good luck with it. The old one started to stain our dishes. We decided to get a stainless steel tub. We had so much trouble with a horrible film buildup on our dishes that we never had with our old one. The dealer said that we needed to buy a liquid cleaner for it. Of course, it was very expensive and as far as I was concerned toxic. Then my husband decided to put some vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher. Not only do the dishes come out great but there is no buildup on the heating coil which we were getting worried about. So with every load, along with our dishwasher detergent in its regular place, we put about one third cup of vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher.

By: Lisa T.

Lisa T. — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:17:12 +0000

We bought a Maytag Quiet Series 300 two or three years ago. It generally works fine (we have a lot of lime in our water that causes issues with everything) but I’m satisfied and only wish I had another half-size dishwasher (my sister-in-law has one) to supplement it! I paid extra for a top rack that will raise up to accommodate especially large items on the bottom but I shouldn’t have bothered; we have never needed it.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:53:06 +0000

We purchased a GE dishwasher – mid line. I would never purchase another one. The installers (GE employees) hooked up the wiring incorrectly and it caught fire. They gave me an upgrade to the top of the line. The cycle takes forever – dishes and glasses are not always clean. I rinse with soap and dish brush before putting in the dishwasher. We have to use the dry cycle which takes forever. Our last one dried without the dry cycle. Even with the dry cycle the dishes are not always dry. Our history with GE appliances has been very good and we thought this would work out. Big mistake. Good luck getting your Maytag to work again.

By: Alice

Alice — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:39:02 +0000

I love my Kenmore, its about 5 years old but I wouldn’t give Sears my business. Long story and won’t get into it.

By: Mary Alger

Mary Alger — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:06:22 +0000

Hi, I have been married for 47 years and have had dishwashers for 40 of them. Started with a WasteKing. That was still going strong when we sold the house 4 years later after we bought it. Of course by then, I was hooked on a dishwasher and I had 4 little boys at that time. So we moved to the farm and bought another Waste King. That went for about 15 years. Had no calls on it. It just wore out. After much looking we went with a Maytag. By then had 7 boys and one daughter. It was the best dishwasher I ever had. The kids all loaded it and didn’t clean waste off the dishes but it had a waste cycle that back washed and the dishes came out clean as a whistle. I would get another in a snap.

By: Marie M

Marie M — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:30:06 +0000

When we moved into our house 7 years ago there was an older dishwasher that wasn’t working too well. Though I had NEVER had a dishwasher as a married woman (the old house had a very small kitchen with no room for a dishwasher), I was so happy to have one (since my 5th child was on the way). We went to Sears and, after careful deliberation, decided on a Kenmore. Two days after it was installed it broke. I immediately called the Sears repair line, and they scheduled the repair man to come out — a week later. I was a little miffed at that, since the thing was brand new, but I waited (and washed those dishes by hand). When the repairman came the next week he took a look and said, “It needs a new part. The new part won’t be in for two weeks.” I said, “Take the machine with you.” I then went to the local family owned store with very limited selection and asked the owner what brand he recommended. He said Maytag is the best in the dishwasher line. He also recommended one without all the “bells and whistles” which he said is the best for ANY appliance you buy (and my repairman concurs). Other thoughts:

1. If you use the pillow packs and find your machine is not cleaning well, it might be because the pillow packs can clog the machine. I now clean my machine regularly — all you do is pour a cup of vinegar in the bottom of the empty machine (I know, when is it ever empty??!!) and let it run through a wash cycle. If you want you can also pull off the rinse arms and the bottom center piece (where the water comes from and drains into) and clean out the gunk periodically. Amazing difference!
2. Go with a hometown appliance store rather than the big department stores or hardware stores. Much better service.

Danielle, I have also had the problem once or twice with the electronic control panel “freezing” up or flashing lights for me. Sometimes I just let it sit for a little while then come back and find it works fine. I think it has something to do with the child safety control. Also, we have a “light switch” on the wall that turns the electricity off and on for the dishwasher. I always keep it in the on position, but now and then someone will come along and turn it off!

I hope yours keeps working! If not, time to teach the kids a new chore!!

By: majellamom

majellamom — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:25:08 +0000

This is so funny! I was just checking your blog after getting out the appliance stores phone number because our dishwasher is having all sorts of issues…and we are so desperate that we are running it through the part of the wash cycle that works, then canceling it out and doing a rinse hold, then opening the racks (overnight and during naptime) to air dry the dishes…I hate handwashing!

Ours is a Kitchenaid that probably fell off the back of a truck (the guy that was redoing this house before we bought it was all about getting a deal…) so, we’ll have to see if the repair guy can fix it, or not…

I may be combing these comments very carefully soon, because I have a feeling we may be in the market for a new dishwasher!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:07:32 +0000

I hate to be a contrary voice, but I absolutely do not love my Bosch. When it’s running well (which it is currently) it does an ok job, but certainly no better than my Kenmore and it requires a whole lot more pre-rinsing. The spray arms have a tendency to get clogged up with little stuff (like kernels of corn) if you don’t pre-rinse completely, even though the selling point at the store was that this was a machine that didn’t require pre-rinsing. You also have to make super sure that you run the hot water before you start a load or the dishes really won’t get clean. With our old hot water heater we had real problems with the dishwasher. It’s been better since the new hot water heater was installed, but it stil doesn’t do as good a job as any of the 3 Kenmores I had before it (over the course of 32 years we’re on our 4th dishwasher and the first two were highly used Kenmores, the last one ran for us for nearly 20 years). The Bosch is quiet, I’ll give it that, but every time I have to carefully clean out the spray arms (which involves taking both them and one rack out of the machine and then using a sharp instrument and tweezers to pick the stuff out) I wish I had a Kenmore back.

By: Barb

Barb — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:45:49 +0000

I currently have a Maytag Quiet Series 300, and it’s hardly worth it. Unless the dishes are washed before going into the machine the items on the top rack are full of specks and gunk that sticks like glue. Only 4 years old and the racks are rusting, we’ve broken the handle twice and we’ve already replaced the control panel. Thank goodness dh is handy and did the repairs himself.
I’m saving my money for a Bosch.