Kenmore Elite Ultra Wash Dishwasher Review

Growing More and More Disenchanted

I'm glad I didn't write up this review a few weeks after I got this dishwasher installed. I was much more enchanted with it then. Part of it is our poor water pressure, granted, but the fact it's already falling apart after just over a year is quite ridiculous.

My last dishwasher didn't fair to well either. I stopped using it for awhile when it wasn't cleaning the dishes very well, then tried it one day and it worked, so I resumed using it. After just a few days I realized why it hadn't been working well. The water was leaking down through the cabinet, through the floor, and into my basement. I suspended use again, and washed dishes by hand again while we waited to redo our kitchen.

It was one of the things I couldn't wait for. I wanted to be able to wash dishes in the dishwsher again. I'd about hand it washing by hand, especially when we were in the midst of redoing our kitchen. Now having a great room, I wanted it to be fairly quiet as well. The salesman told me that with this model I was picking out, I would barely be able to hear it, although he did admit it wasn't the quietest one there.

I have a hard time getting the water to rinse the dishes completely on the top rack, but I know that's a problem witth the water pressure in my house, so I"m forgiving that. I try to just run the dishwasher when no one is showering or washing clothes. Sometimes I have a litttle bit of film on my dishes, but again, we live in an area with really hard water, so I know that's not totally the fault of the dishwasher. I've experimented with different products to find ones that clean better. Sometimes it seems like the dishes are barely even cleaned, but it's hard for me to tell whehter that's the fault of my dishwasher, my water pressure, my hard water, or the loader of the dishwasher who happens to be my daughter.

I was really trying to work through all that, but what I just can't get past is that the buttons are falling off. The push buttons on the front that you use to select cycles, etc., are falling off. My daughter, who thinks Scotch tape cures all, has taped them back on. To me, that is just inexcusable for a unit that is barely more than a year old, for it to be falling apart like this. In addition, I have to turn my TV up two additional levels to hear it over the dishwasher. I disagree with that salesman, and it's not like I have sensitive hearing.

I expected so much more, Kenmore!