Our 20 year old dishwasher is finally on the way out. I still gets the
dishes clean, but age is taking its toll. Racks are rusting and some
"fingers" are gone and the drying fan no longer works. Cost of repair is
silly on a 20 year old machine.

After reading this newsgroup for some time and my own shopping around and
experience, we bought another KitchenAid. For anyone interested, here is how
I arrived at our choice.

Objective: Buy a good DW at reasonable price. Middle of the line will be
OK and cost effective. (Good intentions that went to hell)

I eliminated the mediocre reliability bands like GE, Hotpoint, etc, and
considered KA, Maytag, Whirlpool, and would look at others. After brief
looks, ruled out Asko, Fisher & Paykel because I just don't know much about
them. With the field narrowed, it came down to style and rack layout.
Ability to clean is a given as most any DW made today is superior to most
any DW made 20 years ago. Every brand of machine has had a couple of
lemons, every brand of machine has some 40 years old and still going strong
so I try to toss out the exceptions. Kenmore was not a contender because I
don't like buying anything from Sears.

Features:
Cycles -- we rarely use but once cycle so all are still in the running.
Noise -- most are plenty quiet for our use. All the better models are
very quiet.
Racks -- Maytag 3 rack was a contender until we talked to the dealer. He
no longer stocks it and customers have complained that the racks are too
small for dinner plates. All others seemed OK.
Reliability -- Dealer no longer stocks Bosh. Too many complaints.
Appearance -- Wife did not like the Whirlpool so we are down to Maytag and
KA.

Down to two brands, my wife preferred the appearance of the KA Architectural
series. I wanted white, she wanted SS, so we bought SS. I wanted the lower
end of the series, but she wanted the adjustable top rack. We ended up with
the top of the line model KUDS01FLSS. At least it was on sale for $60 off.

Local dealer will deliver, install, haul the old one away for $90 (for
comparison, Sears would charge $165 for that). A few years ago I'd have
done the job myself but I no longer crawl under my cars finding it much
easier to pay $25 for an oil change. Chose not to crawl under a DW.

It will be delivered Thursday. Dealer says it takes about 2 hours for 2 men
to install.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
. ..
Our 20 year old dishwasher is finally on the way out. I still gets the
dishes clean, but age is taking its toll. Racks are rusting and some
"fingers" are gone and the drying fan no longer works. Cost of repair is
silly on a 20 year old machine.

After reading this newsgroup for some time and my own shopping around and
experience, we bought another KitchenAid. For anyone interested, here is
how
I arrived at our choice.

Objective: Buy a good DW at reasonable price. Middle of the line will be
OK and cost effective. (Good intentions that went to hell)

I eliminated the mediocre reliability bands like GE, Hotpoint, etc, and
considered KA, Maytag, Whirlpool, and would look at others. After brief
looks, ruled out Asko, Fisher & Paykel because I just don't know much
about
them. With the field narrowed, it came down to style and rack layout.
Ability to clean is a given as most any DW made today is superior to most
any DW made 20 years ago. Every brand of machine has had a couple of
lemons, every brand of machine has some 40 years old and still going
strong
so I try to toss out the exceptions. Kenmore was not a contender because I
don't like buying anything from Sears.

Features:
Cycles -- we rarely use but once cycle so all are still in the running.
Noise -- most are plenty quiet for our use. All the better models are
very quiet.
Racks -- Maytag 3 rack was a contender until we talked to the dealer. He
no longer stocks it and customers have complained that the racks are too
small for dinner plates. All others seemed OK.
Reliability -- Dealer no longer stocks Bosh. Too many complaints.
Appearance -- Wife did not like the Whirlpool so we are down to Maytag
and
KA.

Down to two brands, my wife preferred the appearance of the KA
Architectural
series. I wanted white, she wanted SS, so we bought SS. I wanted the
lower
end of the series, but she wanted the adjustable top rack. We ended up
with
the top of the line model KUDS01FLSS. At least it was on sale for $60
off.

Local dealer will deliver, install, haul the old one away for $90 (for
comparison, Sears would charge $165 for that). A few years ago I'd have
done the job myself but I no longer crawl under my cars finding it much
easier to pay $25 for an oil change. Chose not to crawl under a DW.

It will be delivered Thursday. Dealer says it takes about 2 hours for 2
men
to install.
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome


Hi Ed,

Looks like a very nice dishwasher. Your story does remind of an old LA Law
episode when the character played by Jimmy Smits was car shopping and wanted
just good basic transportation. Believe he ended buying a Beamer or
something similar.

Chris is Pearland, TX who owns a builders grade piece of *&^& Jenn-Air
dishwasher. Bet it set the builder back maybe $100.00

"Christine" wrote in message
Hi Ed,

Looks like a very nice dishwasher. Your story does remind of an old LA
Law
episode when the character played by Jimmy Smits was car shopping and
wanted
just good basic transportation. Believe he ended buying a Beamer or
something similar.

Our economy depends on it.

Not everything I own is top of the line, but I do like the goodies that come
with the better models. My car is well equipped. One is now 13 years old
and I like driving it as much as the day I bought it. Had it been the cheap
version, it would have been traded a long time ago. My plan is to keep it
maybe two more years and my new car will become the old car at five years.

Better made appliances are cheaper in the long run also. Getting harder to
find such things though. Washer was replaced at 22 years, dryer is still
working.
Ed

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
. ..

"Christine" wrote in message
Hi Ed,

Looks like a very nice dishwasher. Your story does remind of an old LA
Law
episode when the character played by Jimmy Smits was car shopping and
wanted
just good basic transportation. Believe he ended buying a Beamer or
something similar.

Our economy depends on it.

Not everything I own is top of the line, but I do like the goodies that
come
with the better models. My car is well equipped. One is now 13 years old
and I like driving it as much as the day I bought it. Had it been the
cheap
version, it would have been traded a long time ago. My plan is to keep it
maybe two more years and my new car will become the old car at five years.

Better made appliances are cheaper in the long run also. Getting harder
to
find such things though. Washer was replaced at 22 years, dryer is still
working.
Ed


We rented then sold our house in Friendswood, TX to son. When we first
moved in the house builder's grade dishwasher died. We replaced it with a
top of line GE which after 15 yrs. (or more) is still going strong.

I wonder how long it will take for my builder's grade Jenn-Air dishwasher to
die. It's only 4 years old. When we built the house we upgraded the
built-in oven to a 30" Jenn-Air double oven with a convection oven on top
and got rid of the range hood and replaced it with microwave/vent fan.

A couple years ago we changed out the bottom of the line Magic Chef gas
cooktop to a nice much easier to clean glass (but still gas) cooktop. It's
great!

Chris in Pearland, TX

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in
:


"Christine" wrote in message
Hi Ed,

Looks like a very nice dishwasher. Your story does remind of an old
LA
Law
episode when the character played by Jimmy Smits was car shopping and
wanted
just good basic transportation. Believe he ended buying a Beamer or
something similar.

Our economy depends on it.

Not everything I own is top of the line, but I do like the goodies
that come with the better models. My car is well equipped. One is
now 13 years old and I like driving it as much as the day I bought it.
Had it been the cheap version, it would have been traded a long time
ago. My plan is to keep it maybe two more years and my new car will
become the old car at five years.

Better made appliances are cheaper in the long run also. Getting
harder to find such things though. Washer was replaced at 22 years,
dryer is still working.
Ed

There was a KitchenAid dishwasher installed in the new home my parents
bought in 1956. When my parents moved from there in 1992, it was still
washing perfectly and had never had a service call. It performed well in
spite of having no frills, as there was but one cycle and no soap cups.


--
Wayne in Phoenix

If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it.

Better made appliances are cheaper in the long run also. Getting harder to
find such things though. Washer was replaced at 22 years, dryer is still
working.

But longer lasting appliances are not necessarily cheaper in the long
run. I'm betting your new washer requires less soap & water.

--Chris