More than two years after 149,000 dishwashers from multiple major brands — including Bosch and Kenmore — were recalled following reports that power cords could overheat and burst into flames, the safety campaign has been expanded to cover another 408,000 dishwashers. [More]
dishwashers
How To Load A Dishwasher
By 6.6.17
Think your dishwasher has it bad? To test this workhorse appliance, Consumer Reports slathers plates, cups, and silverware with an imposing mix of peanut butter, egg yolk, and other gooey stuff, then lets it all sit out overnight before running the wash cycle. Dishwashers that make our list of top dishwasher picks deliver sparkling results every time. [More]
Have You Stayed Current On Your Dishwasher-Loading Methods?
By 12.18.15
We’ve long emphasized the importance of not pre-rinsing dishes for your newer dishwasher, since modern appliances now assume that you don’t. What else has changed since you first learned how to line up plates facing the water jets and place knives facing down in the basket? A surprising amount, actually. [More]
Can You Safely Wash Fine China In The Dishwasher? Maybe.
By 12.17.15
When you have guests over for a fancy gathering, or you’re celebrating an important holiday, some families like to haul out china. Maybe it’s a family heirloom, or maybe it was a pricey wedding gift that you regret not exchanging for a KitchenAid mixer. Either way, the more guests you have, the more important this question becomes: can fine china go in the dishwasher? [More]
CPSC: 129,000 Dishwashers Recalled Over Power Cords That May Burst Into Flames
By 10.2.15
Because washing dishes shouldn’t result in a fiery inferno, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling 129,000 dishwashers in the U.S., after reports that power cords used for multiple brands can overheat and burst into flame. [More]
Sears Offers 30% Discount On Replacement For Defective Dishwasher, Then Forgets
By 12.29.14
A man in New Jersey had the wacky idea that buying a dishwasher meant that he would end up with a working dishwasher. Instead, he ended up with one that he says broke in the same way four times in four years. Sears offered him a 30% refund on a replacement appliance, if he purchased from Sears. Naturally, Sears forgot about this offer once he actually brought the dishwasher. [More]
The Hidden Action Inside Your Dishwasher Is Kind Of Boring
By 6.12.14
Fictional GE executive Jack Donaghy came up with the idea of transparent dishwasher doors, but it hasn’t yet become reality. This might be the next best thing, though. Last year, someone who owns a waterproof GoPro camera had a brilliant idea: devise a waterproof light source for inside the appliance, then film a wash cycle so we can all learn what is going on in there. [More]
These Dishwasher Additives Remove Gross Hard Water Stains
By 11.19.13
I love having deep royal blue glassware, but hard water stains look especially gross on dark-colored glass. Fortunately, detergent manufacturers are here to save us all from their new phosphate-free formulas with improved versions that pollute the environment less, but pollute our dishes more. Our sparkling colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports learned that additives meant to clean up this gross residue actually work. [More]
Here’s How To Cook In The Dishwasher & Get A Load Of Dishes Done At The Same Time
By 8.26.13
We’ve heard of people cleaning potatoes in the dishwasher or even cooking salmon in aluminum foil but is there a way to cook your heart out dishwasher style, without being super inefficient and wasting all that water and/or avoiding fish stink? Yes! Says the Internet. Yes indeed, there is. [More]
If You Need To Wash Your Floors, This Could Be The Dishwasher For You
By 7.2.13
If you’re up for some multi-tasking and have both dirty dishes and floors, man, has our sibling publications Consumer Reports got the dishwasher for you! They loaded up a Fagor dishwasher with dirty dishes and let it run, and five times the filter clogged with food, causing the dishwasher to add extra water that spilled out of the door. [More]
14 Months After Delivery, Sears Still Won’t Actually Install Dishwasher
By 4.18.13 — Updated: 4.29.13
Lots of people happily hand-wash their dishes because they don’t want a dishwasher. That’s not the case for one California man, who has washed his dishes by hand for more than a year even though he wants and can totally afford a dishwasher. In fact, he, um, had a dishwasher the whole time. It’s just that when he bought it from Sears, they sort of half-installed it and wandered off, and he couldn’t get anyone at Sears to help him. [More]
People Are Allegedly Preparing Salmon And Potatoes In The Dishwasher
By 8.31.12
Real Simple has a list of things you can and cannot put in your dishwasher (Caution: annoying slideshow.) One of the suggestions stood out. Potatoes…? [More]
Over 1 Million GE Dishwashers Recalled As Flames Shouldn't Be Part Of The Rinse Cycle
By 8.9.12
If it’s too hot, sure, you need to get out of the kitchen. But it shouldn’t be literally too hot because your dishwasher is on fire. To that end, GE is recalling around 1.3 million of its dishwashers due to a possibility for the heating elements to fail and cause fires. [More]
Sears Wants Me To Pay For Non-Installation Of Non-Working Dishwasher
By 7.16.12
Like many Americans, William thought that Sears was a solid, reputable retailer. After all, they’ve been in business for a century and it seems like everyone had Kenmore appliances in the vaguely defined past. Then a customer like William, who has vaguely positive feelings toward the brand, goes and actually makes a purchase from Sears. That’s when everything all goes to hell. In William’s case, Sears wants him to eat the installation fee on a dishwasher they delivered to him that never worked. [More]
Leaky Dishwasher Wrecks Hardwood Floor And Ceiling Below, Sears Shrugs
By 7.2.12
Sometimes, you buy a defective appliance and your only problem is that that the appliance doesn’t work. It’s sad, but you replace the item, either using a warranty or by purchasing a new one. Sometimes the company will stand in your way, and you have to fight them for a replacement. And then sometimes your defective appliance warps your hardwood floor, leaks through to your basement ceiling, and causes more than $4,000 worth of damage. That’s what happened to Nachos Grande and his wife (not his real name) when they bought a defective Whirlpool dishwasher from Sears. [More]
Everything This Appliance Delivery Service Could Screw Up, They Did
By 6.13.12
When Sears sent a delivery service to Stephen’s house with a new dishwasher and fridge, he didn’t have ridiculously high expectations. He did expect installers to show up, not damage the new appliances or his home, not remove items necessary to install the new appliances, and bring all of the items that he paid for. They managed none of these things. And they were late. Now it’s three weeks after the delivery, and he still doesn’t have a working dishwasher. [More]
Since When Does Stainless Steel Rust?
By 5.25.12
The point of stainless steel appliances, I always thought, is that they’re all shiny and metallic and don’t rust. The not rusting thing is kind of key. So he’s disappointed to see a smattering of rust spots on the front of the stainless steel Kitchenaid dishwasher that he bought less than a year ago. [More]
Comment Of The Day: Dishwasher, Clean Thyself
We’re reviving an old-school Consumerist feature last seen circa 2008: the Comment of the Day. On this morning’s post about cleaning ‘taters and cooking salmon in the dishwasher, commenter Pasketti observed that only a dishwasher that is itself clean can clean your potatoes properly. [More]