Dishwashers:  we need a new one (built in).  Any advice on brands/models? 

bosch

^^What he said.  We have two of them and they were not the tippy top of the line uber quiet models but they are dependable and way quieter than ones I have had before.

Edited March 3, 201412 yr by Voltron

OK, Bosch it is.  

 

Sears, or should I buy it somewhere else (I assume the installation is straightforward enough that even the Sears guys can handle it)?  

I've bought 3 from sears in the last 10 years, and had sears install 2 of them (and my contractor in a remodel install the 3rd)

 

(3 houses)

Late but just in case,   Bosch.  Ours is very quiet and does an excellent job.  Installation is straightforward as long as you can speak a little German.

bosch

Just make sure you have a local service tech. Parts are also expensive. My parents have had to deal with those frustrations a few times.

I have a Miele and really like it. It is been going strong for 3+ years now.

you talk about bosch service availability and then suggest miele?

We have a GE that is going great after 7 years with no service.

Also Míele. About 14 years old and still going strong like the first day. I love the upper shelf for cutlery and the air condensation drying system. Extremely efficient with quite low energy consumption.

you talk about bosch service availability and then suggest miele?

My point was to make sure there's a good support in the area. Kind of like having a foreign car in the deep South.

That being said, I have had zero issues with mine, while my parents have had two issues with theirs.

Bosch is serviced by sears, and Houston is one of the largest cities in the country.

 

That said, check consumer reports, maybe their record is different than it was when I bought last, 6 years ago.  Sometimes companies get worse.

^ because I know where everyone lives

My parents got theirs based on consumer reports.

When I was looking for a dishwasher, it was down to Bosch, Whirlpool, and Kitchen Aid.  Not being able to try them out, I went with the Kitchen Aid because it still had a heating element and a food disposer.  I am sure Bosch is nice, but for what I wanted, they were too expensive, had very mixed reviews, and no heating element/disposer was a turn off.

Isn't that what grad students, interns, and PhD candidates are for?  

Yes, we have an official Bosch service center here so that is not a problem.  I'm sure the Miele dishwashers are nice but $$$$.  

 

I'm looking at the Bosch 500 series right now.  I would love to a have a quiet dw.  I am not that concerned about about efficiency since we don't run our dishwasher that often.  Three questions:

 

1) How well do the Bosch dry without the extra in tub heating element (I know it has a heating element for heating up the, what I think is cold, water)?

 

2) How well does the filter do, how often does one have to clean this out, how nasty does the filter get? 

 

3) Does it get smelly (I've seen some people complain about this)?

Edited March 4, 201412 yr by shellylh

Ours does a very good job drying everything very well.

I always pre-wash and rinse the dishes so the filter is always clean.

No smell what so ever. We do a load of dishes every day and in between I leave the door propped open about one inch to help dry out the interior. All these may or may not be the reason

there is no odor problem for us.

No smell what so ever. We do a load of dishes every day and in between I leave the door propped open about one inch to help dry out the interior. All these may or may not be the reason

there is no odor problem for us.

 

^ that

 

Treat it like you would a front load washer.

http://thesweethome.com/reviews/the-best-dishwasher/

I always pre-wash and rinse the dishes so the filter is always clean.

 

 

Wait, isn't the point of a dishwasher is so that you don't have to wash dishes by hand?  I usually do a quick rinse but there is no way I am going to get hubby to scrub down his plates... hence the question about the filter cleaning. 

My experience with dishwashers is that you have to get the gunk off first.  I do all those things, to, with the apartment dishwasher.

Most state that they clean better with some gunk on, that's not the same as dried on gunk.

With the better modern dishwashers you should only need to do basic food removal. But you're better off running it half full than waiting 2 days.

Most state that they clean better with some gunk on, that's not the same as dried on gunk.

Yeah, good point -- fresh gunk isn't as bad as dried on gunk, I run mine every 5 days or so (whenever necessary, but I don't wait until it's full full), hence the necessity to remove gunk, because by the time I run the dishwasher, it would be dried on.  (I usually remove it and put it in the dishwasher immediately.)

 

Also, I'm talking about older dishwashers, which, other than for a couple years in the early 90's, has been my experience.

I was going to state that in my first post - about the food removal.  I never had a Bosch, so I cannot speak from experience, but I'll be damned if I am going to pre-rinse every damn thing that goes in, so that is why the disposer was a selling point to me.  I have small kids, and I do the dishes once or twice a day.  If I have to clean a filter out from the dishwasher, I might as well just do the dishes by hand.

 

The bad news is that heating elements and food disposers are seemingly a thing of the past when I was hunting.  I understand the energy savings if the Bosch drying method works rather than using a heating element, but to not have a disposer on most models is just ridiculous.