Whirlpool - 24" Built-In Dishwasher - Stainless steel

With every new generation of appliances, you're always hoping and wishing for a product to "move the needle" forward, and be more effective than the previous generation. But with some things, it's hard to do that. This dishwasher falls in that camp when it comes to CLEANING. It only moves the needle in quietness and usability (space for stuff and ease of control usage). I had a Whirpool dishwasher previously that was ~10 years old and worked just fine, cleaning super dirty dishes well. This unit cleans equally as well. So long as you use enough soap, load properly, and use hot-enough water (making sure you run the faucet water until hot enough ---120 degrees F or greater!) then you'll be satisfied with the cleanliness of these dishes. Just like in the past, super stuck on stuff isn't coming off, etc. But, in order to achieve that super quiet design (my older unit was like a plane taking off!) they got rid of the food grinder. This means that now, sometimes I have little food bits lurking in the unit after the wash is done. The dishes are clean but corn niblets are on the door, or on the floor, etc. It's weird. But it sure is nice being able to hold a conversation while the unit is running! You'll definitely still hear this unit while it's running, by the way, but it's much quieter. I can hear a motor humming (slightly louder than the fridge, for example) but it's not awful. And the usability is primo! My old unit used to fill up so quickly because it only had two shelves. That third shelf is great for all my cooking implements and my tupperware lids...freeing up way more space down below for other goodies. And I love that you can adjust the height of the 2nd level shelf, another great bonus. Finally, the controls are a breeze to operate, but I would have preferred physical buttons to these capacitive touch buttons. The cap-touch buttons don't work if your fingers are wet, which is typically the case when I'm loading the washer...this necessitates the step of drying off the top panel and my fingers in order to make my selections. But it looks sleek, is obvious and clear to use, and works well.

So far I am very pleased with this dishwasher. This is the first week I've had it. I used the Best Buy installers and haul away service. The installers were very professional and quick. What I love about my new dishwasher: - Extremely quiet - don't really need the delay feature. The only somewhat noisy part is the gurgling when it drains. - Upper third rack for my good knives, large utensils, container lids and anything else you don't want getting lost during the cycle - Adjustable upper rack. I lower it for our stemware and raise it when I have large, tall items in the lower rack. - Stainless Steel Interior - Stemware "stabilizer" holders in upper rack to keep stemware in place - Smudge resistant finish - Glasses, dishes and flatware come out sparkling clean. I used manufacturer recommended products. Samples come with the dishwasher installation. (see below) Things to consider: - Plastic containers don't dry all the way even with high heat option - Manufacturer recommends Cascade Platinum pellets which are expensive - Manufacturer recommends rinse aide for every cycle - Manufacturer recommends "Afresh" to be used once per month to keep hard water deposits from building up. We have very hard water and can tell from the deposits on all of our faucets and fixtures. I didn't use the recommended products on my old dishwasher and probably should have. I guess you either pay along the way to keep the hard water from ruining appliances or buy appliances more frequently. I'm going to use Afresh for my washer too. I hope this helps.

This is an excellent dishwasher but I miss using the heat dry cycle for hand washed dishes. A standard eco friendly load takes about 4 hours but you can cut that down to about an hour by not using the that feature. We normally run the dishwasher at night so it doesn’t matter to us. Dishes are cleaner than the one it replaced so it was money well spent. Also, the little one cannot play with the controls. Once she figures it out, the lovkout mode will be useful. The extra tray at the top is handy but does not hold as much as we thought. We seem to get dish loads in there similar to the one it replaced. Don’t forget the rinse agent! The first few times we ran it, there was water on the sides and bottom because we did not use a rinse agent. It’s supposed to help with drying the excess water but I just crack the dishwasher open so it can air dry. More of an annoyance because it’s something else to test until we find a good brand. We’ll probably tackle that in a couple of months. Despite these minor things, we do not regret upgrading our (at least) 15 year old dishwasher.

Cleaning & Drying are no better than the $300 dollar builder grade. The only reason it's not one star is that it is semi-quiet. We had the Bosch 800 series in our previous house which is virtually the same cost. We never had a dirty or wet dish in the three years with the Bosch and the design was just good. With this whirlpool, the dishes are never dry and there's always dirty dishes left over. It's quieter, but not quiet. With the Bosch, the only indication it's running is the light. The only reason we bought the whirlpools was the builder only sold whirlpool and wife wanted the black stainless to match so we got the Whilrlpool dishwasher, refrigerator, range microwave and stove. We're selling and replacing all less than a year after moving in. Buy a Bosch dishwasher, not whirlpool, you'll thank me later.

...I moved from a rental unit where I lived for six years with an entry level Frigidaire dishwasher that cleaned EVERYTHING! I put in a baked mac & cheese Pyrex dish with burnt cheese around the edges. Came out SPOTLESS! With this Whirlpool dishwasher, with the same city water, same dishwashing pods, it barely removes rice starch from pots. I would always wonder why people rinsed dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, but now I see why! The third rack is useless so I took it out, but the rails are still there and prevents putting tall glasses on the edges of the top rack. If I had to do it again, I would just go with a higher level Frigidaire. This is my first and last Whirlpool purchase. I would replace it, but I bought the matching stove, microwave and french door fridge.

PROS: - Very quiet cleaning - Great cleaning features and options - countdown timer is fantastic to have - Advanced layout for easier loading and cleaning of wine glasses, large bowls, etc. - Stainless steel on the inside prevents grime and mold from growing CONS: - Parts inside feel cheap - easy to damage or break - The utensil basket on the door seems like a great idea, until you realize your utensils don't get as clean as they will actually being on the bottom rack - third top rack for lids and other items also seems like a good idea on paper, but does a poor job of cleaning Overall, we like our purchase, but this dishwasher is a bit "gimmicky". I also don't think this dishwasher is worth the extra $100 for the top rack.

Happy with the performance of the dishwasher. I do wipe down my dishes before putting them in so not sure how effective it is at taking the food off for those who don't. Had for only two months and one of the clips that holds top shelf in place snapped off during a cycle. Whirlpool did show up the next day to fix but what happens when i'm outside of the 1yr warranty period? Pros: very quite, love the top drawer for sharp knives and large utensils, like that you can put the utensils in the door to free up space on bottom shelf, like that the top shelf is adjustable to accommodate larger pots on the bottom Cons: requires you to use a rinse agent like cascade or the dishes will come out spotty, clip on top shelf broke after only 2 months of use

You can adjust the rack height and it also has a small top shelf that pulls out which is really nice for spatulas, etc. The two things that I don't like - the dryer function isn't great. No matter what we've done (longer dry cycle, adding the dryer liquid stuff) the dishes are never fully dry. Annoying, but not a deal breaker. Also, the main rack for cups, one of the end cap pieces came off the track, so every once in a while the wheels come off the track and you have to catch the rack before losing dishes on the floor. It matched the set of our other appliances so that's why we bought it. However, I would not buy this again if it broke.