Remember the days of scrubbing your dishes clean before you put them in the dishwasher or else risk setting the table with grungy plates and platters? Or vacating your kitchen when your dishwasher was on, just to hear yourself speak? Those sorry days are long gone now with the new species of super-efficient, super-quiet dishwashers. The manufacturers’ motto may well be, “Take your time—and your kitchen back!” With new streamlined control panels and features that make a dishwasher easier to use, there’s a lot of reasons to head to the appliance store for a new dishwasher.

The Basics

Because more than half the households in America have dishwashers, it’s likely that you are already well-acquainted with the joys of using one. If so, you know that a dishwasher cuts valuable time off your chores, minimizes kitchen clutter and uses less water to do a better job than hand-washing.
Most built-in dishwashers are 24-inches wide, 35-inches high, and 24-inches deep, and are built into your cabinetry, usually next to your kitchen sink. Most hold about 8 full place settings and 6 serving pieces.
But compact 18-inch models, like the Danby Silhouette DDW 1806BSL ($350-$399), are also available. They’ll hold 4 place settings, and they are perfect for small kitchens and bar areas. The sides are unfinished since they will be concealed once installed.
Portable dishwashers, like the Kenmore model 17252 18-inch dishwasher ($450), usually hold 6 place settings, have finished sides, hook up to your kitchen faucet and sport butcher-block tops so you can use them as a work surface. They also have wheels so you can move them in and out of place.
Before you buy, the first consideration should be how often you expect to wash your dishes and what kind of dishes you’ll be washing. You’ll also want to take into consideration dishwashers with larger-sized tubs, flexible racks and special cycles; how loud your dishwasher will sound when it’s running; energy efficiency; and styling.

Size Matters

Fitting in 8 place settings in a standard 24-inch dishwasher is dandy unless you have an extra-large family or love to frequently cook for friends. Tall tubs and smart design can increase your capacity with some models going up to 12, 14 and even—in the case of the GE Profile Dishwasher Model PDW9980LSS ($1,429)—16 place settings. The Whirlpool Gold® Illustra ($649-$769), which holds 14, 5-piece place settings, and Eurotech’s EDW242C dishwasher for $599 which holds 12, 5-piece place settings.
When you’re shopping, you might want to take along some of your odd-sized dishes to see if they fit. Remember that the spray inside the dishwasher defines the dishwasher’s cleaning ability.
If your favorite mixing bowl blocks the top sprayer arm, you’re going to be soaping it up yourself.
Many dishwasher models give you the option of washing just one rack at a time, making flexible dishwashers, like the Frigidaire SpeedClean PLD3460RD ($699), a good choice for smaller families who occasionally need to wash larger loads.
For the ultimate in flexibility, check out the Briva In-Sink dishwasher ($1,799-$1,829) from KitchenAid. It fits in your sink, and you only need five place settings to be full. Because it’s smaller, it completes a cycle in about half the time of a standard dishwasher, and it can be used as a double sink or food preparation area when topped with the standard cutting board.
Other features that make it easy to load (and clean) your dishes include:
Stemware holders—small hooks that let you snap your stemware upright to reduce breakage;
Cutlery tray—a separate tray for your cutlery. Some have them on the inside of your dishwasher door. Miele dishwashers have the full-length tray as a third rack in all of its dishwashers. You can lay your cutlery flat for better cleaning. When your cutlery is clean, you can remove it, put the tray in your kitchen drawer, and replace it with a new tray.
Adjustable racks—useful to fit cookie sheets, a large serving bowl or Aunt Penny’s giant turkey platter after Thanksgiving dinner; Adjustable tines—let you further customize your dish placement.

Dishes that Sparkle

One of the most useful advances in dishwasher cleaning has been the development of soil sensors. Once a premium feature, it is now becoming standard, even on lower-priced models. Sensors adjust the water used and the length of the cycle to the amount of soil on your dishes by sensing how cloudy the wash water is. If the water is clear, the dishwasher knows the dishes are clean and moves on to the rinse stage of its cycle, ultimately saving on energy and water usage. Check out LG Electronics model LDF7811ST dishwasher for $999 and Frigidaire’s model GLD3450RD for about $550, which both have soil sensors.
Speaking of cycles, many dishwasher models offer a plethora to choose from to meet your every post-culinary need. Most cover normal, light and heavy loads, but higher-end models promise to get your glasses sparkling, your china shining, and your most soiled pots gleaming.
A few models that stand out include Kenmore’s Elite dishwasher for $749-$1,149 that has a fast wash option that cleans your dishes in just 30 minutes; Equator’s SB924 dishwasher for about $390 that has 7 wash programs including an intensive program for the toughest caked-on food; and most of Jenn-Air’s dishwashers, with a china/crystal cycle and rinse only cycle, which is perfect for your wine glasses after a dinner party.
The placement of the spray arms will determine the direction in which the water hits your dishes. Most units have arms at the top and between the trays. Others use a tower that comes up through the middle. Both models will clean your dishes equally, as long as you don’t block the spray arm with dishes.
If you want true sanitization, look for a dishwasher that has the National Sanitization Foundation’s stamp of approval (NSF). To get NSF designation, the sanitizing cycle needs to heat up to at least 180 degrees.
And for even cleaner dishes, hold off on the detergent. Bruce Shotland, sales associate at Clintonville Electric in Columbus, OH, says that newer dishwashers don’t have to have their soap compartments filled to the brim.
“I tell my customers to use the tab kind of soap and to break it in half,” he explains. “Heat and water movement is what gets dishes clean and you don’t need a lot of soap to do that.”
In hard water areas he recommends a rinse aid like Jet-Dry for about $5 to keep your dishes spotless. And when you load the washer, make sure that your dishes aren’t touching and that your spoons aren’t spooning each other in your silverware holder. You’ll reduce breakage and ensure that water hits every inch of your dishware.

Peace & Quiet

We want our dishwashers to be good at cleaning but we also want them to be quiet about it. No one wants to hear their dishwasher running or worse, interrupting a dinner conversation. Sue Bailey, Manager of Product Development for Major Appliances at Viking Range Corporation says their customers want dishwashers to do their job unobtrusively.
“In large numbers of high-end homes, the kitchen tends to be the focal point,” she explains. “The customer wants a dishwasher that is not only beautiful, but also one that can be used while entertaining in the kitchen.”
Three things cause dishwasher noise: the running motor, the food grinder and the sprayers hitting the dishes and interior walls. The quietest models will store the motor in the base of the machine instead of the tub. Further soundproofing can be had with extra insulation and a stainless-steel interior (which is quieter than plastic).
If you’re concerned about noise, consider where the dishwasher will be in your home, how often you will run it, and at what time of day. If your kitchen is near a bedroom or home office, for example, and you typically run a cycle in the evening to keep energy costs low, a quiet model is probably a good choice. If you plan to install the dishwasher in an island or peninsula in your kitchen, sound tends to be louder because there is no wall to insulate the noise—another reason to consider a quiet model.
Miele offers an acoustic rating system to ease customer confusion. They sell dishwashers in their Advanta series for around $1,300. Advanta has an acoustical rating of 1, being lowest on their quiet scale. The Miele La Perla line, on the other hand, has the highest acoustic rating of 5 and a price range of about $2,000. But quiet bargains can be had. Mr. Shotland says that most European models don’t use a food grinder, eliminating one source of noise. He points to the Bosch SHE43CO5UC ($599-$699) as a terrific mid-range dishwasher that won’t drive you out of your kitchen with its noise.
Asko dishwashers are also known to be exceptionally quiet, with special insulation that can reduce sound by up to 12 percent. They run about $699-$999, depending upon the finish and features.
For a little more, about $1,299, the Electrolux Icon dishwasher, with a special sound insulation package, will ensure a wash so quiet it will not disturb normal conversation.

It seems like an easy task, but do you know the proper way to use your dishwasher? It can mean the difference between clean dishes and those that may need a second wash. Here are some tips:

• Scrape off big chunks of food before you put your dishes in the dishwasher, but don’t worry about scrubbing them. Most dishwashers are designed to handle food particles. A dishwasher with a Garborator or Hard Food Disposal feature will virtually eliminate the need to pre-rinse dishes. Installed right in the unit, finely grinds and washes away excess food particles through a self-cleaning filter. If you’re unsure if this feature is included, don’t hesitate to ask the dealer before you buy.

• Position cookie sheets and large platters along the sides so they don’t prevent the water from reaching the other dishes.

• Reserve the top rack for plastic items, glasses and mugs (make sure that plastic items are dishwasher-safe). Set plates and bowls in the bottom rack. Stagger small plates with large ones.

• Be sure that your glassware is put on the prongs to prevent them from breaking.

• Put pots and dishes with baked-on food in the bottom rack facing down toward (but not blocking) the sprayer arm.

• Set silverware handles down, except for knives, which should be handles up in the silverware basket.
• Always separate silver from your stainless-steel utensils. Most silver manufacturers recommend that you not wash silver in a dishwasher to prevent rusting.

• Place your bowls down the center of the top rack.

• Separate your silverware (for example, don’t put all of your knives together, mix them in with your forks and spoons) to avoid the nesting of spoons and similar items. This ensures that all of your silverware—all parts of it—will get clean.

• Don’t use regular dish soap in your dishwasher, or you’ll be cleaning up suds from your kitchen floor!

• To prevent your mugs from pooling water on the top, set them at a slight angle.

• Position your glasses between the prongs, so that the water action is not hampered inside the glass.

• Unload the bottom rack first to prevent water from cups and saucers on the top rack from getting the dishes below wet.

• Not all items are dishwasher-safe! If you are not sure, look for instructions printed on the item, or read instruction pamphlets or tags. For example, pewter, brass and bronze can tarnish; wood may warp or crack; cast iron may rust, and gold-plated flatware may become discolored.

Happily a dishwasher not only makes life easier, it also makes your home more energy efficient. Running your full dishwasher once a day uses less energy than washing dishes by hand three times a day. And you don’t need to waste water to rinse the dishes before you load your dishwasher. Just scrape the plates, dump the drinks and you’re good to go. For more loading tips, see “How to Use Your Dishwasher.”
To increase your energy savings, look for dishwashers that have earned an Energy Star qualification. To get this distinction, dishwashers must use 20-percent less energy than the federal minimum standard and most save on water as well. Asko dishwashers are known to be very energy efficient. Model D3122XL (and other models as well) for about $750, has washing and drying sensors to adjust the water use to fit the load inside—usually less than 4 gallons per cycle (the average dishwasher uses 7 to 10 gallons).
Ariston’s L63 premier dishwasher for $599-$729, is energy efficient as well, costing only about $24 a year to run, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
Overall, while it might cost more at the outset, an Energy Star model should save you about a $100 across its lifetime, which is about 12 years.
Washing full loads make a difference, too, since according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, 80 percent of the energy used in washing dishes goes to heat up the water. In other words, as long as you’re heating for half, you may as well heat for whole.
A dishwasher with a dual motor can also help you save energy, time and water as one motor will drain, while the other fills the dishwasher with water. Check out GE Monogram’s 18-inch Spacemaker dishwasher, model ZBD1800GSS, for about $600.
Finally, most dishwashers come with a heated dry cycle, such as Maytag’s Jet Clean II dishwasher, for $499. Using that feature will certainly dry your dishes quickly, and is useful if you’re having a dinner party where you need to reuse the dishes. But to really save on energy, let your dishes air-dry. If your dishwasher does not have this feature, just prop the door open to let air circulate.

Cleaning in Style

Most dishwashers come in standard colors—cream, white, black, and stainless steel. Go further up the price range (about $700-$1,000 more) and many manufacturers like Asko, Thermador, Viking, Bosch, and Miele give you customizable door options in striking colors or trim-kit cabinetry to match your kitchen cupboards.
Hidden controls (called “integrated”) offer one-touch easy access and look fantastic, leaving a smooth finish at the front of the machine. Instead of buttons at the top of the front panel, hidden controls are built into the topmost edge of the door, virtually disappearing when the door is shut but easy to access. Miele prides itself on its dishwasher design with models like the Optima model #G2470SCVi ($1,500) with Incognito controls.
My husband’s grandmother used to say, “It begins when you sink in your arms and ends with your arms in your sink.” Fortunately, with today’s wide dishwasher options, we can go back to romance and leave the clean up to take care of itself.

As designers rethink standard kitchen design, dish drawers are becoming increasingly popular. New Zealand’s Fisher & Paykel debuted this dishwasher-in-a-drawer about 8 years ago and since then KitchenAid has jumped on the dish drawer band wagon.
Dish drawers work seamlessly in a kitchen, giving you flexibility both in your kitchen design and your lifestyle. Since drawers can be set next to each other instead of on top of each other, loading and unloading is a breeze. With the option of using one drawer at a time, there’s no need to run a half-empty washer. Also, having two drawers means you can run the right cycle every time—delicate in one drawer and pot scrubber in another.
Installation possibilities are limited only by your imagination and your needs. Put two dishwashers across the kitchen from each other making it easy to load one drawer near the food prep area and the other near the dining table, saving trips across the kitchen. Or put one on either side of your sink so you never need to bend down. It’s also a great option to use outside of the kitchen, like at a wet bar.
Each Fisher & Paykel DishDrawer™ washes up to 6 full place-settings (including dinner plates, salad plates, soup bowls, cups, saucers and silverware) with about 2.4 gallons of water. It operates with all of the bells and whistles of a full-size dishwasher including a child-safety lock, clean sensor, and extras like Self Diagnostics to let you know when your unit needs to be serviced. The DishDrawer premixes detergent to reduce wear on dishes and increase detergent effectiveness and has five regular and four economy cycles meet your every dishwashing need. The Double DishDrawer DD603 in black or white, with both a top and bottom drawer, has a suggested retail price of $999.
Kitchen Aid Drawer Dishwashers boast a sound reduction system, which promises to clean your dishes without disturbing your family. Five cycles let you wash heavy-duty pots and pans or Grandma’s heirloom crystal with ease and each drawer holds five full place settings. Removable inserts in the rack give you lots of flexibility when you’re loading. (Double drawer is about $1,299 with customized panels costing an additional $30 to $300).