Best Dishwashers

Best dishwashers have good looks, low noise

Luxury dishwashers -- units costing as much as $1,000 or more -- are typically quieter and more stylish than standard models. Stainless-steel wash tubs and hidden controls (the control buttons are placed along the top of the door instead of in front) are often the norm, which lend luxury models a sleeker, more seamless look. However, the existence of these extra bells and whistles doesn't automatically mean these products function better. According to expert tests, expensive dishwashers aren't any more effective at getting dishes clean, and they aren't more reliable than standard models. Unless you need a very quiet dishwasher or you're going for an ultra-modern look in your kitchen, a less expensive dishwasher will be just as likely to get your dishes clean.

Bosch dishwashers have always been popular with owners on kitchen-enthusiast and home-improvement websites. Bosch dishwashers generally have stainless-steel tubs, which are not prone to the discoloration that can occur with plastic tubs. One consideration is that Bosch dishwashers do not have self-cleaning filters with hard-food grinders. That means you'll occasionally need to dump out the filter -- something that's easy to do. And because there's no grinder, this makes Bosch dishwashers particularly quiet. Some other brands have taken a cue; we saw a few mainstream brands now skipping the food disposer. And in ConsumerReports.org's tests, other brands sometimes edge out Bosch when it comes to low noise.

Although Miele gets the highest ratings for overall customer satisfaction in the survey at J.D. Power and Associates, Bosch gets the same high rating for reliability according to owner surveys. It is the least repair-prone brand according to Britain's Which? magazine and Australia's Choice magazine, which regularly test dishwashers and publish the results of annual reliability surveys online. Furthermore, Bosch dishwashers are some of the quietest. However, they are also more expensive than most, and some users grouse that they're not worth the extra money.

The Bosch Integra 500 SHX45P05UC (*Est. $850) has the sleek look that's now common among dishwashers, with hidden controls and only a long tubular handle adorning the front. This Bosch dishwasher comes in stainless steel, but for about $50 less it's available in titanium (a sort of whitish silver color), black or white. This Energy Star-rated dishwasher has an adjustable top rack to accommodate items of all shapes and sizes. For small loads or just washing glasses, there's a special half-load cycle. The Ecosense wash cycle uses a sensor to determine how dirty your dishes are and then decides if a second fresh-water fill is needed. If not, this secondary cycle is eliminated. Foldable tines (which collapse easily to make room for casserole dishes, mixing bowls and other large items), a delay start and a quick-wash cycle add to flexibility. For added safety, this dishwasher does not have an exposed heating element. This Bosch dishwasher has a two-year warranty on parts and labor and a lifetime warranty against rust in the stainless-steel tub.

The Bosch dishwasher also dries dishes in an unusual way. It doesn't have a heated-dry cycle; it recycles the heat from the hot water used in cleaning. The condensation is then drained, and you never have steam when you open the dishwasher after a load. In comparison tests, the Bosch SHX45P05UC dishwasher gets excellent scores for cleaning and energy efficiency. In about two dozen owner reviews at Sears.com, this model maintains a high average rating of 4.5 out of 5; a few owners do miss the heated drying cycle, but otherwise reviews are excellent. It's the same story in user reviews at Viewpoint.com in more than 60 owner-written reviews.

The less expensive Maytag JetClean Plus MDB8959AWW (*Est. $600) comes in black or white, and in stainless steel for $150 more. Design-wise, this Maytag dishwasher looks almost identical to the Bosch dishwasher above, with hidden controls and a single long handle on the front. In the most thorough comparison test we found, the Maytag dishwasher isn't rated quite as well for cleaning or for noise. However, the black and white versions cost about $200 less than the similar looking Bosch Integra 500 SHX45P05UC dishwasher, and user reviews are equally good, with an equivalent high rating from about the same number of owners at Sears.com.

New to the market are dishwashers with a steam feature; steam-equipped appliances are nothing new -- we've seen plenty of steam washing machines and steam dryers on the market. But do dishwashers with a steam cycle work any better than standard models?

ConsumerReports.org tested four steam dishwashers in its last roundup (August 2010 issue) and found that the addition of steam made no difference in cleaning ability. The LG SteamDishwasher LDF7932ST (*Est. $900) is a new model with a steam feature; the manufacturer says that its steam function "delivers a burst of steam that's gentle enough to clean fragile dishware and yet powerful enough for heavy-duty cleaning." However, user reviews seem to agree with Consumer Reports -- hardly any owners comment on the effectiveness of the steam feature, and most don't even mention it in their comments.

Although the steam feature doesn't seem to attract much attention from owners, we found plenty of good reviews for this model. Design-wise, the LG dishwasher looks very similar to the Maytag and Bosch dishwashers discussed above, with a seamless door, hidden controls and a single long handle on the front. In expert reviews, this model gets the same excellent cleaning and efficiency scores as other highly rated dishwashers, and in user reviews, owners say that it's super quiet. Compared to the Bosch SHX45P05UC, the LG dishwasher at first seems to have a higher capacity -- but in user reviews, owners say this is because the tines for plates are closer together than on other dishwashers. That's fine for flatter plates but too narrow for chunkier, casual dinnerware. Many owners comment that there's a learning curve when it comes to loading this dishwasher efficiently, and some say the glassware holders are awkward.

Overall, when it comes to performance, the LG SteamDishwasher gets very good reviews; reliability is the biggest issue. In one owner survey, LG dishwashers as a brand are seriously dinged, with close to 25 percent of owners saying they've had repair issues. That's something we saw born out in user reviews at BestBuy.com and Amazon.com, where a large percentage of owners complain that their dishwashers have broken down, sometimes on numerous occasions.  The LG dishwasher comes in stainless steel, or in black or white for about $100 less.

The Maytag JetClean dishwasher above also has a steam feature, but it's hardly mentioned in any user reviews.