Dishwashers - whirlpool vs kitchenaid, or keep looking?

Came across two on clearance/open box at Best Buy, but not if they are worth it or if I should keep watching for different mfg or models?

This will be to replace a 10 year old kenmore with plastic tub and racks that have a couple spots with peeling coating. I’ve had to reset it recently when it stopped mid cycle and had blinking lights.

In this corner we have the Whirlpool WDT750SAHZmarked down to $480. Seems good, but the typical online reviews, either love or hate it. 

In the other corner we have the KitchenAid KDFE104HPS marked down to $455. I remember as a kid that my Relatives in the plumbing business thought KitchenAid was the best, but that was 30+ years ago. Same deal on the reviews as the other one.

Are either of these going to last and leave me with time to do other things? Or will I be prewashing dishes in order to get things clean?

Is this Honda reliability, or will I be buying a Stainless steel biTurbo if I get one of these?

We got a Bosch to replace our GE. Super quiet. The only thing we hear when it is running is an occasional drain cycle. Based on our Whirlpool fiasco with our fridge we won't buy that brand again.

We're happy with the Bosch.

We went with a KitchenAid the last time around. Many newer Bosch owners complained about a smell from the Bosch dishwashers at the time, so we avoided Bosch for that reason.

The KitchenAid's been great, we've had it for 3-4 years already and really like it. It's quiet enough that we rarely notice that it's running. That's a great thing, as our kitchen is right off of the family room where we spend the majority of our time together.

We tried to get one of the less complicated KitchenAid dishwashers to apply the KISS philosophy, and haven't regretted it yet.

Wife likes the Bosch.  

She spent $950.

She’s happy.  

End of my recommendation.  

Very pleased with Bosch.

We had a Bosch for many many years.  It was easy to fix and easy to work on. When it finally got too old we were looking around for a replacement. We read reviews etc. and ended up getting a GE. We strongly wanted the Bosch but say good saving $300 in buying American felt like a good idea. Bad move. This thing is a piece of E36 M3, it doesn’t work anywhere near as well, doesn’t wash as well.  It’s much harder to work on. Something goes wrong regularly. It’s badly designed and put together. I almost can’t wait for it to die so I can get another Bosch. 

Another vote for Bosch. Make sure it's German made Bosch though, there are some of their lower end models made in Asia. 

We bought a Bosch nearly 10 years ago, it was faultless and still running fine when we sold the house a couple of months ago.  We cleaned the filter every week or 3 (a legitimate 2 minute job) and ran a bottle of dishwasher cleaner through it ever cople of months or so. Always used finish tablets and rinse aid as recommend by Bosch.

I have a 10 year old kitchen aide

i had it narrowed down to (same budget as yours) to a samsung or kitchen aide

after going to few stores, and talking to repair people and seeing how many returns and defects ... decided to add a couple of hundred to budget and bought a Bosch. Install saturday 

daeman said:

 a bottle of dishwasher cleaner through it ever cople of months or so. Always used finish tablets and rinse aid as recommend by Bosch.

I read this is key. Where did you buy them? 

mr2s2000elise said:

daeman said:

 a bottle of dishwasher cleaner through it ever cople of months or so. Always used finish tablets and rinse aid as recommend by Bosch.

I read this is key. Where did you buy them? 

Makes sense, internal blockage, sticking solenoids and clogged/blocked pumps are all pretty common failures. I was just getting them from the supermarket, But I'm in Australia so don't know what the availability is like in the US. I did have a quick look on Amazon and they've got it if you can't find it elsewhere.

This is the Cleaner I use

KitchenAid is Whirlpool for what it's worth. It's just their higher end line, so you might get a bit more sound deadening, or more features with the KitchenAid, but I bet those two dishwashers share about 90% of their hardware. So reliability, build quality, etc should be very similar between those two units.

When we bought all our appliances 3 years ago we went with Frigidaire  cause they are the only ones with U.S. based customer service/tech support

Bosch.

/thread

We had a Bosch, it never cleaned well and was junk honestly. The plastic 'gears' that drove the impellers kept crapping out. But it did look nice, and was impressively quiet. I got tired of trying to fix it. We replaced it with an older kitchen aid that was still kicking around. That thing is very loud, but has yet to break, and might also be able to blast chrome off a bumper. No more pre-wash for me!!!

I replaced my Whirlpool last year with a Bosch.  Incredibly quiet and cleans well.  No issues in a year, I love this thing.

We bought a Bosch recently.  Extremely quiet.  I don’t like the racks and it smells after a couple of days.  If doing again I might look at Kitchenaid.  

My wife wants to replace our 18 year old dishwasher as part of a multi-step kitchen update.   Thanks for this info. 

Kitchenaid ain't what it used to be.  Check Consumer Reports for reliability data.  I think other than noise level, one is about as good as another in terms of wash performance.

Above-average reliability and low noise would be my main selection criteria.  And of course, low price.

Another happy Bosch owner.  I barely hear the thing.

One thing to note (not an issue for my purchase decision), Bosch dries differently than samsung/kitchen aide, thus drying time is longer 

+15 for Bosch. Replaced a 2 year old Samsung that I had to pull out, take apart and fix every couple months with a Bosch and it’s been great for a few years now. No complaints. 

I love this forum because of this kind of wealth of information.... so I won't offer any 

I will suggest something, though.  In my research when I was buying a dishwasher, I discovered that at some  point or another, every brand was the best and every brand was subpar.  I was in the market for a used dishwasher (because cheapskate).  I would find one on CL that was (for instance) a 2015 model of GE, so I would google "best dishwashers 2015" and look through Cnet, tech radar, etc.  Then I would do the same for a 2017 Whirlpool I found... etc.

What I found was that it seemed for every couple of years, one brand held the top spot and then another brand took over, and yet another brand was plagued with recalls and failures.  Back in 2009 when I bought a new dishwasher, hands down the go-to was Bosch.  The 2016 GE I bought used was the best of the best in 2016.

What I'm saying is... Everyone above is probably correct.  In 2008 they bought a Bosch and it has been great, or in 2017 they bought a Whirlpool because they were rated the best, or in 1994 they bought a Maytag and it's still going strong.  Wtih dishwashers, it seems like we all buy the top-rated ones and we're happy.  Daeman's 10 year old Bosch is a testament to that smart buy... but is Bosch still the best?

I got a GE, because in the used vintages I was looking, they had the best reviews.  My main thing was that I wanted to put filthy dishes in, push a button, and get clean dishes out.  I don't need a sanitize mode, a pots and pans mode, an ECO mode.... dishes in, push button, walk away.  GE was the best in those years for that.

TL;DR... google it.  We will all give you advice based on what was the best brand when WE purchased.  But I have no clue what is good in 2019.

Plus 1 to Curtis. 

My mother has a Bosch. It sucks other than being quiet. She hates everything about it. Maybe it was a off year for them. 

The only company I would really pass on is Samsung. Their parts availability is poor at best. 

Wife and I have that exact same whirlpool.  Got it in white finish from the local Scratch n Dent - was around $400 out the door.  Had a scuff on the handle I took off with rubbing compound, otherwise new.

Works great, quieter than the Whirlpool we replaced that had a circuit board die.  Only pisser was the hose connection on the bottom was different than my old one so I needed a new hose.