KitchenAid - Architect Series II 24" Built-In Dishwasher - Stainless steel
Model: KDTE704DSS
SKU: 5011253
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We purchased this dishwasher 3 weeks ago to replace a 5-year old Whirlpool that had begun leaking. First mistake: this "KitchenAid" dishwasher is made by Whirlpool. I never would've purchased the "premium" brand KitchenAid if I'd known it was made by the same people that made the poor unit it was replacing. The main problem with this dishwasher: the interior design is just terrible. Even though it's a standard size, the inside layout is so poor that we can't fit nearly the amount of dishes as any previous dishwasher we've had. The upper rack is adjustable to two different heights. If you set it on the upper setting, glasses won't fit in the upper rack because they bang into the silverware tray. If you set it on the lower setting, normal size plates won't fit in the lower rack. Which means you're basically hosed. We've spent 3 weeks trying every combination we can think of to fit in a standard load of plates and glasses, and it's just impossible. You can remove the silverware trays on the silverware rack, but you may as well then just buy a much cheaper dishwasher that doesn't have that feature. The store manager where we purchased it said to set one side of the upper rack high, and the other side low, so it would slide in "diagonally", allowing us to fit plates and glasses normally. But that won't work; the tabs that lock the rack into place won't engage if you try that. So you can just forget washing anything other than small cups and small plates in this dishwasher. Secondly, don't believe their hype about how "quiet" this dishwasher is. When it's washing, it's about as quiet as any regular dishwasher we've ever had (at probably less than half the price). But when the water is filling, which is frequently during the normal cycle, it's super loud. Loud enough to be heard in any room in the house. As for cleaning ability, it's about average on plates and glasses. We've tried silverware in both the upper tray, and in the removable holder on the lower rack, and silverware comes out less clean, and more spotty, in both locations compared to any other dishwasher we've ever had. The unit has a feature called "ProDry", which I guess is supposed to be a premium feature to ensure items come out dry despite the new energy efficiency standards which came into effect several years ago. But don't believe that one either: nothing that isn't loaded perfectly vertical, like a plate, comes out dry. We need to manually dry off probably half of the contents of each load, even after it's run overnight. Never had that problem in any previous dishwasher either. And the cycle time for normal wash is incredibly long. Almost 3 hours total, and then a fan runs for another few hours (assumedly to dry the items inside, which doesn't work). That fan is also loud enough to hear in the next room. Due to all these problems, we tried to return it just three days after it was installed, but the retailer wouldn't take it back. They said I would have to get approval from KitchenAid for that. So after over an hour on hold over the phone with KitchenAid, they told me I was out of luck, and they would not approve returning it, because it technically wasn't broken. The list price on this dishwasher is $1849. Obviously making it priced as an extremely high end unit. But as these problems make clear, this is an extremely poorly designed product. I wouldn't recommend it an even 1/3 of that price.
Posted by steve
The dishwasher was an open box but still it was warrantied and turns out it was missing a couple of essential parts that the installer did not catch and it took 2 weeks and some non helpful Best Buy employees but a very helpful Geek squad to get it to function. Now it works great and is very quiet. I recommend the actual product.
Posted by Laaten
The dishwasher is great! All the features are easy to use and the flexibility to arrange the shelves for any load is great.
Posted by Rant