RPGWW

So The (Glorious) Condo will be receiving into it a new dishwasher within relatively short order. Before the decision is finalized on what particular type receives the invitation, I ask the other members: Is there any feature or aspect of any particular dishwasher that you've found to be particularly useful/omissible/terrible? Most of the dishwashers I've ever used (well, all of them) have been purchased by others, and I've just had to work with or around their various idiosyncracies as a matter of fact, so I've never really had the occasion to think too deeply on what things are important in a washer of dishes, besides that it actually <i>wash</i> the dishes, something our current installation fails to do.

I POLL YOU FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE.

I've never bought a dishwasher, but when the time rolls around, I'd really like one of the models that has a sprayer under the top rack as well as at the bottom. That way the dishes up top actually get, y'know, clean.

Also, you should make sure the heating element at the bottom has some sort of grate or covering. That way, when you put in your plastic ladles and other lightweight things, they can fall down and not get burnt. That shit smells awful. And ruins your utensils. And smells awful.

I imagine it's a standard feature, but just in case it isn't, make sure that if your model comes with "heat dry" that you can turn it off. Unless you're in the habit of unloading the dishwasher the second it's done washing, it's probably not all that much of a convenience (I normally don't unload until I have to, by which time most dishes have drip-dried and the rest I can wipe down). The heating costs money and it warps your tupperware lids. Lame.

[edit] Oh, and I believe appliances like dishwashers are in the realm of overpriced goods you can haggle over. Whatever the sticker price is, you should be able to talk the salesman down. I may be wrong. The best person to ask about this is probably your mom, or if your mom is a sucker, someone else's mom. Or perhaps the internet.

Most dishwashers I've seen/worked with have all basically been more or less the same.

Also, I make sure not to overload the soap bin. It fouls up the machine and wastes your money, and that's sad. :(

It's a small thing, but one thing that's annoyed me about my current dishwasher is the bottom of the silverware basket is exactly wide enough for my forks' tines to slip through the gaps and basically jam the lower tray until I go through and find the fork that's jamming it and remove it. So you might want to make sure the silverware basket in the new one won't do that.

Other than that, I agree with Bes, most all I've seen have been pretty much the same.

I dare say that's your own fault for sticking the forks in tines first. But the advisory is appreciated on all fronts.