Learn me about... dishwashers

There's some good previous discussions on dishwashers here, so thanks in advance for hive wisdom. Clearly, they aren't made like they used to and people's experiences vary widely.

We moved in August 1 and the house has a 2014 Samsung dishwasher that's broken twice. First repair $200 and now needs a $200 part. Replacing parts seems a slippery slope that won't end. I'm inclined to cut my losses on a 8.5 year old, not well-regarded appliance and get a new one. What do y'all think?

Recommendations on a replacement?
I like the idea of a basic, simple model.

This Whirpool has good reviews and not too pricey:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Whirlpool-24-in-Fingerprint-Resistant-Stainless-Steel-Top-Control-Built-In-Tall-Tub-Dishwasher-with-Third-Level-Rack-47-dBA-WDT750SAKZ/313574576
Other brands or models?

Where to purchase from?
Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowe's have same pricing and free delivery.
Any advantages to local appliance speciality stores, with presumably higher price?

I'll install it myself. The repair tech suggested selling the busted one on Craigslist with details of what it needs as a way to recoup some money, which I like.

Anything else? Thanks!

I've always been inclined to suggest a Bosch dishwasher. Some of the quietest ones on the market and at least 10 years ago really reliable. I've owned 2 in different houses and when we remodel our kitchen I plan on looking at them again.

I bought a Bosch recently on the forums advice.

It's quiet, sure, but it doesn't dry for E36 M3 and the racks are designed in a weird way that only holds about 2/3 of what the kitchenaide it replaced held. I also find the "heavy duty for baked on stuff" setting to be underwhelming. It had installation issues too, but I'll blame that on my Lowes installation team. 

For what I paid for it at Lowes I'm disappointed, but it does wash fairly well even without prerinse. 

That said, the kitchenaide it replaced was only 3.5 years old, owned by me for 2.5 years and was the longest working dishwasher I've ever had across multiple houses and apartments. I've only had a Bosch since Labor day, and I already had it warranty replaced from installer error, which took 5 weeks to happen. 

Ahh, late edit. Bosch model numbers are misleading. My model number starts with 800 something, but it's only a 300 series. 

Dishwashers suck.  My next one will be whatever they've got at Costco.  Whirlpool is a good brand as far as cost-to-value.  I might try Bosch if I was feeling spendy.

I've got one of the cheaper Bosch models you can find. They've got Ascenta, the 100 Series, the 300 Series (mine), 800 Series, and Benchmark (starts at $1800). I got both of mine for steals, as they were both used, and I paid about $300 for each. 

It does not have heated dry.

Plastics will not be dry, even if left for awhile.

Glass and Ceramics will dry, but they need some time after the cycle is finished. 

Loading it is...interesting. I've learned how to do it, but I can't help but feel it could benefit from better designed racks. 

Both of mine were trouble free and I installed both myself because if you can any work on a car, you can install a dishwasher. 

bought a Bosch 100-series less than a year ago.  really quiet.  some brands of pods don't fit the soap tray and will actually stop the soap door from opening.  sucks to wait 2 hours to find out your dishes just got a long-ass rinse and aren't clean. top tray for silverware is cool but doesn't clean any better than the bottom-rack basket did.

Just buy the Bosch. 8 out of 10 of us are going to recommend them. There is a reason for that. 

We just bought a Frigidaire when we remodeled our kitchen this spring. Why not a Bosch? Because my OCD meant that it had to match the nearby stove. We special ordered it to eliminate the third rack at the top so it is more like the one that we replaced.

We bought it from a local independent appliance dealer for less than Lowes or Home Depot. Free delivery, installed by the idiots that redid the kitchen.  Works great so far. Cleans well, is very quiet but it takes 3 freaking hours to complete a wash cycle. Our old dishwasher could do a load in less than 45 minutes.

Worried about longevity, we bought a reasonably priced extended warranty. The place we bought it from is the go to repair place in our area and they only like work on what they sell.

The old dishwasher was over ten years old and worked flawlessly,  it was just white and we upgraded to stainless.  I felt like I betrayed the poor thing putting it out on the curb for the garbage truck. I couldn't even find one person that wanted a used but working dishwasher. 

I am careful to disable heated dry whenever I change cycles, primarily for energy conservation, but also because if anything you loaded flies around and gets into contact with the element (plastic kitchen utensils are good at this) you have a stinky mess.

I don't have a problem with excess humidity, and in the winter I run a humidifier, so the water vapor is welcome.  If you pop open the door right after the cycle ends, the stuff is dry in half an hour or less.

We had a Jenn Air dishwasher that worked great for 15 years or so.  What killed it was the rack - the coating started failing and replacement racks were as much as a new dishwasher.

Ended up with a Whirlpool middle of the pack unit with a stainless steel tub.  It has worked fine for the last 5 years but did have a stupid part failure in the pump / macerator that took a bit to figure out.  Cheap fix once I did.  Liked how the Jenn Air loaded better, but the Whirlpool isn't terrible. 

Bought online.  I think it was about $450 delivered. Installed it myself. Took a couple of hours to pull the old one, then unpack and install the new one.

I regretfully bought a Whirlpool a few years ago. Actually bought all three kitchen appliances at the same time, so they would all be the same "family" and all look the same.

Within two years I had replaced the dishwasher's pump (which also took out my flooring), the turbidity sensor, and ultimately the heater which was no longer available on earth. I jettisoned it out into the back 40 and bought a Bosch 300-series. Twice I had to manually disassemble and unplug all the jets.

Have also replaced the Whirlpool stove/range because it crapped the bed too.

I am now eyeing up a replacement fridge very soon.

No love for Whirlpool here.

BOSCH number 2 first one lasted 25 yrs.....very QUIET......do it 

As of the last new one I bought (about 10 years ago) Bosch was the go-to flavor.  For my current house I bought a used GE for $25 that wasn't working.  Needed a new level/float sensor and it's been trudging along for 5 years now.  Certainly quiet, not that I specifically needed that feature.

Every dishwasher I have owned starts great, then sucks after a few years.  They'll stop cleaning dishes because any one of a hundred reasons - water too hard, water not hot enough, wrong dish detergent, the water heat booster dies, the jets get clogged, the filter isn't cleaned often enough, water too acidic, water too alkaline, moon phase misaligned.... My GE right now is pretty hopeless.  Prewashing is a necessity.  If I put a knife with butter on it in the dishwasher, it can't clean it in 90 minutes, but if I run it under the sprayer in the sink for 4 seconds, it's cleaner than the dishwasher would have made it.

Bosch does not have a heated dry, they drip dry. It's way more annoying than you'd think. As far as your current one, what needs to be replaced? There's only a few real parts on them, and you've already replaced one, replace this one, what's left to break?

We just bought a Bosch 300 series from Home Depot, but the supply is limited.  Best Buy hasn't been able to get them for months.  Kitchen Aid reviews well too and was on a $300 sale, but we just liked the Bosch better.  I've read about the drying issues, but that's not so much of a problem in Colorado.

That top rack seems a tad useless in pretty much all that have them.

I think that Bosch doesn't dry because of EU environmental/energy use regulations. 

Sample size of one here, but we had a pretty terrible experience with a Bosch Ascenta. Two drain motors failed, the soap dispenser failed, the entire front control panel cracked in the center under normal use,  the racks rusted to the point that tines actually fell off. Washing performance was mediocre and the rack design wasn't suited to American sized bowls. Also, I really hate having to manually clean a filter. We were able to keep it limping along for 7 years, I did the repairs myself and the parts prices weren't too terrible, but it was one long disappointment. I have no idea why Bosches are so highly rated, maybe ours was a rogue unit, but the Maytag we replaced it with is much better in every single way. I did read on the Yale Appliance blog that the Ascentas were less reliable than the higher end Bosches.  I guess it's a German engineering thing. (shrugs) 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

We were getting the LE Error, an apparently common incorrect reading saying the water is not fully draining or there's a leak. Replaced the sensor. A day after the 30-day warranty, started getting the error again. The repair tech, who seems to be a good 'kid' working for a disorganized company, says we need a $200 sump assembly. (I didn't talk with him directly.) I'm not sure what is left to break, but at 8 1/2 years on a product warranteed for 5, I worry that I'll find out everything left to break if I keep maintaining it.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful info. It does seem half of all new dishwashers are lemons, and none are as good as they were 10+ years ago.

I still sing the praises of the Bosch. Yes the drying is not as aggressive as the old school exposed heating element dishwashers but that also means you're using like 1/4 the energy and it's gentler on your dishes. "Top rack only" stuff can go in the bottom rack. No warping plastics. Etc. We run the dishwasher from 1 to 3 times a day (7 person household and meals are actually cooked) and it's been a trooper for 10 years at least. The only "repair" needed was a cleaning of a float switch area that got clogged up. I would go insane with a noisy dishwasher and if it didn't get the dishes clean we'd replace it immediately. But it does. So at least if you're willing to meet it halfway on the drying thing you'll likely be happy with the 800 series Bosch. 

Ours is an 800 series Bosch. It is flawless. I'm surprised to hear people having issues with drying. Ours will get the dishes almost too hot to handle during the dry cycle. 

The 3rd to rack is awesome for long utensils and small items that frequently end up falling through the other two racks. 

In reply to Toyman! :

It's really only the plastic stuff that doesn't dry for me. And it's not sopping wet it's just got drops on it and puddles on top. 15 seconds with a dish towel and everything is dry. That's worth it to me given the water and power savings. 

Toyman! said:

Ours is an 800 series Bosch. It is flawless. I'm surprised to hear people having issues with drying. Ours will get the dishes almost too hot to handle during the dry cycle. 

The 3rd to rack is awesome for long utensils and small items that frequently end up falling through the other two racks. 

Same. Dishes are always dry. 

Also, I just learned the top rack can be adjusted up and down in a second by pressing the tabs on the side. 

Had a Bosch, lasted 7 or 8 years. Bought a second generation Fisher and Paykel double dish drawer which has been pretty solid for the last 10 or so.

With all the offspring gone we "generally" use them to do double duty with the pantry - take clean dishes from one, use and place into the other for washing. 
 

We have quite good water and I have heard they don't like excessively "hard" water.

R

Recently picked up a 1yr old Bosch 800 series from FB Marketplace for $100.  "Wouldn't turn on, noisy before it quit" turned out to be the power plug had fallen out and there was a piece of plastic in the drain pump. One $45 pump later, and it's so damn good at its job I would have paid full price for it.  Buy the Bosch (or better), and enjoy forever. Even better, spare parts are somehow remarkably cheaper than the cheap-o dishwasher it replaced.