Dishwashers Discussions

1: If you've purchased dishwashers every 25 years, the last time you did so there wasn't the Internet, where people could make their complaints publicly visible to the world and making it appear as though every product made is a piece of garbage. Meanwhile, when's the last time you posted a positive review about any of your appliances? People like to complain, but they don't like to make complimentary reviews. That's human nature. Kitchen-Aid dishwashers are great machines, and I'm sure you'll like it.

2: You've been extremely lucky to have two dishwashers to each last at least 20 years.

3: As with anything, regular maintenance does help extend the dishwasher's lifespan. Things like Dishwasher Magic, annual preventive maintenance checks, and treating issues that arise when they arise rather than waiting for it to magically solve itself all assist in letting the dishwasher live a long, happy life. Be sure to take advantage of the annual check-ups.

4: Self-installation does not affect the protection agreement, except that any damage resulting from improper installation will not be covered, and installation of a replacement (if necessary) will not be covered, as it was not paid for initially.

Enjoy your new dishwasher!

I will enjoy the dishwasher.  That last KitchenAid had to be 30 yrs old, our 1st one had 2 owners before we got it. Had a car door handle as the dishwashers handle and the control to turn it off was on the bottom.  Great service from both of them.
Because it has been so many years before buying the new dishwasher you can't blame me for checking on what people are saying about the new dishwashers.  Yes, you are correct that I should keep in mind that some of the problems are human created and some are manufacturing problems.  I must sift out the pertinent information which might be of use should we have a problem.  
Thank you for re-enforcing my confidence in KitchenAid.  We do care for our appliances.  I have already taken note about the Dishwasher Magic.
This is my first posting on the internet and I will find time to post a complimentary reply about our new dishwasher after a fair trial run.  We also pleased with our many years of service from our Kenmore refrigeator, GE stove and Whirlpool washer and dryer.    
Please where can we get a printed copy of the Sears Warranty?   We still might get the 5 yr warranty!!
Thank you for being there.
JustPerplexed   

Sorry about forgetting the printed version. You can get it at any Sears store. Ask someone in appliances for a copy of the Master Protection Agreement. They'll be more than happy to give you one.

What is this Dishwasher Magic you speak of?

http://www.summitbrands.com/brands/Dishwashermagic.aspx

Thanks for your prompt response.  I will stop at the store today. 
JustPerplexed

BlueCrewGuyInMA said…

http://www.summitbrands.com/brands/Dishwashermagic.aspx

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Cool! Dishwasher washer. I've never heard of that before. They also make another one called Glisten.

It seems dishwasher purchases are a &quot***** shoot" I had a GE PRofile that lasted 5 maybe 6 years and a MAytag after that that lasted maybe 6 years and the Maytag did not clean well ... Both had problems with the latch, electronic key pads had to be replaced on both.  Of  course I use it at least once a day, if not 2 times a day, so maybe Iam above "normal" use? Now I'm in the market for another one ... seems the old cheap and loud Hotpoint I had in my Condo cleaned better and lasted longer! 

Higher price does not mean longer life since the the basic guts are the same across a large span of models within the same mfg.  with the price ranging  hundreds of $ more for basically cosmetic features.

So I may go Whirlpool  or  KEnmore (made by Whirlpool) or maybe LG ... 

BUY THE EXTENDED PLANS WITH THESE NEW DISHWASHERS IF YOU USE WASHER EVERYDAY THEY WILL BREAKDOWN!!!!!

 

Hi JustPerplexed! Welcome to the MySears community! I hope your first posting on the internet was a good experience. Looks like your questions were answered. We do appreciate your reviews (good and bad) and hope you will come back to tell us what you think of your new dishwasher as well as your existing appliances. Let me know if we can help you!

Hello SHC-Erin
Well this weekend with tell the tale about our new KitchenAid Dishwasher.  My husband is taking the old one out today, picking up the new one this afternoon, and installing it tomorrow after he gets home from work. 
We have decided to upgrade to the Sears 5 year warranty only because we are older and money is short for unsuspected surprises with appliances.  If we give the new KA the care we gave the last, it will also last many years.  Maybe not about 28 yrs or so, but hey, who knows?????
Great to hear from you Erin.   There is much information on this Discussion Board.

There is a lot of information on the discussion boards! We're glad to have it, so please keep the conversation and questions coming. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the new dishwasher!

HAAWILL,

Do a little research before you buy an LG. Cheaply built, many maintenance problems, poor customer service, etc. Type LG dishwasher in google and check the complaint sites. My nephew is a professional installer and says that he removes a lot of fairly new LG appliances due to poor operation, maintenance, customer service problems, etc.

Since I work on these machines on a daily basis, I have more than a passing knowledge about their maintenance. For the life of me, I can't figure out what in the hell a yearly check-up will do for your dishwasher, refrig, etc. other than pad the pocket of the repair people. On a dishwasher, the only thing the repair guy can do is check for a leak which any homeowner with a flashlight can do. Otherwise, you wait for it to break. If they (or you) detect a leak in the area of the motor, they can replace the impeller kit and save you about $100 bucks not having to replace the motor if they catch it in time which isn't likely (this is not true in all models, however). The biggest and most frequent motor/impeller problem by far that I see is in the tall tub Whirlpool/Kenmore/KitchenAid dishwashers. Almost all are built by Whirlpool using the exact same motor/pump design which is poorly engineered and designed to fail in a reasonably short period of time so they can sell you a new machine. Problem is that a 25 cent seal fails allowing a few drops of water to enter the front bearing on the motor. The bearing then rusts and starts to make a grinding noise which gets progressively louder until the motor finally seizes if the owner waits that long. Sears charges over $200 just to buy the moter/impeller and then you have to pay the labor for a service call and installation. The machine has to be uninstalled from the cabinets to do the repair. On the blogs, most people complain that the total repair bill is quoted at $400-$500. Once the machine is out of the cabinet, it takes about 2 minutes to replace the motor/impeller. I buy new Whirlpool OEM motor/impellers on line for $115 and it takes me about 2 minutes to replace the motor/impeller. I could do a better job of engineering so that the drips of water cannot get to the bearing and it would be very inexpensive. The other problem with all dishwashers is that the control board (printed circuit/logic board) goes out. I think that this is frequently due to lightening and/or an electrical surge. You can have a whole house surge protector installed but they are a little pricey. The good thing is that it protects all of your appliances and electronics. Some of the mfg's of surge protectors will pay to repair appliances, etc. if they are damaged due to a surge.

Hey lookn2myis-

Thanks for that helpful hint about the surge protector!  I never would have thought about how an electrical outage can affect appliances. 

 

I am looking to buy a Kenmore Elite Dishwasher #13122 and can not find any info on it to research it's performance. When I was at the Sear store on 6-24-09 the sales lady gave me this number. Any help to see how people have rated it??

Thank you.

I have personally bought a TV from Sears and had the protection agreement for a Projection TV and the bulbs apparently go out after so many years. I called Sears warranty and they told me they would send the bulb right away which I got and that me putting the bulb in right away was no prob because of the ease of doing so and that my warranty did not expire because of this.

Bond007-

Here is the diswasher-it says there are 32 reviews to check, also:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02213122000P?keyword=Kenmore+Elite+Dishwasher+%2313122&sLevel=0

Let us know if you end up purchasing this dishwasher and how it works out for you!

 

Hi Julie K.  Thanks so much for this link.  I put in the model #13122 in the  Sears search field and it said that it didn't find anything?  What did I do wrong?  Also I am a little on the fence about purchasing this model because of the mixed reviews.  The Sears sales associate said Consumer Reports rated this number one over all others with marketing materials showing this even over Whirlpool and Kitchen-aid.  It gets a little over whelming trying to figure out and trust what to buy.  For years my parents and myself would only buy GE as a rule.  But now you don't hear much about GE's quality or products being marketed?  I remember GE had some dishwashers that were recalled years ago. 

 I want it all.  Cleaning,reliability,quiet,long lasting, and able to accomodate a good amount of dishes for a family of 5. My Kitchen-aid has served us well for 23 years, but is showing it's age. I am just trying to buy a Dishwasher that has it all and great reviews, any suggestions other than this model?

Thanks in advance for any advise.

The best part about the protection agreements is the peace of mind that they provide, from problems big to small! My parents have had the agreements on their fridge and free-standing range since they got them in 1992, and its been nice because we could easily get the "little things" that you never expect fixed easily! In 17 years, on the fridge we've replaced the door handles and the bushings on the door (which tend to wear over time for obvious reasons!) and on the (electric) range we've only had to replace the glass cooktop twice (once because it cracked, and once because it went from hot to cold and shattered...oops!). My parents have kept renewing them though, because if there are any problems, they're covered...and knowing that if they can't fix it, then they will be replaced is like an unofficial "payment plan" for our next new appliances!

Good luck on your dishwasher purchase! We just recently replaced our old Whirlpool, which was approximately 17 years old, with a new Kenmore. You'll be pleasantly surprised with how much quieter they've gotten!!!

Hi Bond007 - There's a whole section of this site devoted to Dishwashers. There's a buying guide and several product reviews. Check it out: http://www.mysears.com/Dishwashers--3933

Please let us know if this helps you. We're always trying to improve and make sure our site is helpful for our customers.

Sears sells hundreds of thousands of this model every year. How many people do a review when things go as expected? Extremely few. How many people do a review when something goes wrong? Almost all of them. Unless something radically exceeds someone's expectations, they probably will never make a positive review, while almost every person who has a negative experience will write about it everywhere they can find. Remember that while reading reviews, and suddenly you'll understand why almost every product with more than a handful of reviews has such a mixed bag, and mostly negatives.

For further evidence of this, how many positive reviews for your appliance purchases have you written over the years? :)

I have a GE Potscrubber dishwasher that no longer drains.  I followed a discussion panel saying to check it for hose blockage and BlueCrewGuy said to remove the washer arm.  I had a build-up in hose that lead to garbage disposal and thoroughly cleared it. After running it again, same problem-won't drain.  On a positive note, the dishes on bottom & top are clean.  Removed washer arm and there's water, but I don't know what to do about it.  My guess would be the pump went and I'd be willing to invest in service rather than purchase new.  BUT, I'd like to know the age of my dishwasher to decide appropriately.  Can't locate a manufacturer's date.  The serial number is FZ765591B and it's Model GSD3410Z07AA.  Any way to give me a date with that info?  Much appreciated, Deb

Rather than going by age, I'd suggest calling 800 4 MY HOME (469 4663) and having a technician diagnose the problem. They'll give you an estimate for repairs, and if it's more than you're comfortable spending to repair, the technician can give you a coupon toward a new dishwasher to compensate for the trip charge. That way, you can have it repaired if you determine it's worthwhile, or replace it with no skin off your nose.

Inre: KitchenAid Model KUDE40CVBL
Just wanted to get back to you and say how pleased I am with the performance of my 3rd KitchenAid in 50 years. This one is much more quite, and like the old one cleans dishes thoroughly.  Adding the rinse aid really helps with the drying. 
 I like that this dishwasher has a much better selection of the Cycles and Options. I'm sure through the years I will be using most of them. 
I'll have to get use to the baskets. The rises at the base of the glass/cup areas are a little awkward to me at the moment. The glasses/cups  have to be straggling either side of the rise in the bottom of the rack to stay steady. The baskets on our old one were flat on the bottom. 
We also increased our warranty from 3 to 5 years.  
So, with proper maintenance and support from Sears we should have many good years of service ahead of us from our KitchenAid dishwasher.
JustPerplexed    

Good to hear, JustPerplexed! Thanks for checking in and giving us an update.

1312X is rated very highly by Consumer Reports, and is a fantastic dishwasher. Stainless interior, UltraWashHE triple-filtration system, TurboZone...pretty great machine.

You can always google for "Kenmore dishwasher 13122 reviews" (or 13123, 13124, 13129, 1312X) and get reviews from everywhere.

Did you enter #13122 or 13122? Using the pound sign (#) can screw up the search.

Can something be done on a brand new dishwasher to prevent the motor from rusting in the future?

I purchased a Kitchen Aid KUDSO1FLSS1 approximately 5 years ago. I paid top dollar for the features and the stainless. During the 2nd year the bottom rack had started to rust and swell through the coating. In the 3rd year the motor and pump assembly went out and was replaced under extended warranty. The replacement motor has now gone out, like the first motor. Repair technician advised that Kitchen Aid dishwasher(s) "especially the ones with quieting" have had lots of problems with thier motors failing. The motor shaft is actually made of nylon or some similar plastic, not steel. It will now cost over $300 for another motor. All motors and parts carry a "90 day" warranty. Guess that tells the consumer something important. Now faced with replacing or repairing. Would not recommend Kitchen Aid for reliability.

You wrote that "People like to complain, but they don't like to make complimentary reviews."  Up to a point, that makes sense, but it's contradicted by the many items on Sears' own website which have 5-star reviews.  Other popular websites like Amazon also have many highly-rated items.  So clearly, some people *do* like to write positve reviews.

Furthermore, it's not just that people are "complaining" when they write a negative review.  Rather, they're trying to alert other consumers to products that may be deficient so that they can avoid them.  This is an open exchange of information, and it's healthy.  People do it all the time when they talk about things they've bought, and it's really no different when they do it on the internet.

I doubt that anybody believes that "every product made is a piece of garbage," but most of us do believe that some manufacturers make better products than others.  That's what most consumers are trying to find out.  We're just trying to protect ourselves by buying something that's likely to be reliable and last for a few years.

My own experience with dishwashers (more than any other appliance) is that they do not last nearly as long as they used to.  I've been in my current home for 20 years, and am on my fourth dishwasher.  It's a Kenmore that replaced a Kenmore Elite that failed after a little over 5 years.  The new one, which I've had for less than a month, doesn't start properly and Sears service is coming out to (hopefully) fix it.  That doesn't mean Kenmore products are "garbage", but it does mean I'm disappointed that the quality isn't very good, especially compared to my Kenmore fridge and Whirlpool range.