The best dishwasher

By Liam McCabe

This post was done in partnership with The Sweethome, a buyer’s guide to the best things for your home. Read the full article here.

After putting in 70 hours of research over the past two years, we’ve learned that pretty much any dishwasher can get your dishes clean when you use it properly. But we think paying a bit more for a machine that’s practically inaudible and easier to load is a worthy investment. That’s why we think the Bosch 500 Series is the best dishwasher for most people. One of the most affordable dishwashers with a third rack, it offers as much capacity and loading flexibility as models that cost a few hundred dollars more.

How we picked

An example of cheap racks. You get no variation in the spacing or angling of tines on the bottom rack, and no adjustable elements anywhere. Photo: Amana

We sought out models with the most flexible and intuitive racking options, as well as whisper-quiet operation and a reputation for reliability. The sweet spot for price is around $800 to $900. Dishwashers in this range are quiet, efficient, effective, and easy to load with lots of dishes of all shapes and sizes. Higher-end models don’t have many practical advantages over midrange dishwashers. Yes, expensive models are quieter, but midrange models are barely audible anyway.

Going into this guide, we knew we wouldn’t be able to test any dishwashers firsthand because we don’t have a testing facility. So, instead, we relied on reporting. We talked with a handful of experts from different parts of the industry. User reviews and comments were also a big part of our research.

We also got some hands-on time with a few models at appliance showrooms in the Boston metro area, including Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sears, and Yale Appliance + Lighting. This process helped us get a feel for each machine’s loading flexibility. To confirm our findings we consulted Reviewed.com and Consumer Reports—two entities that conduct extensive in-house performance testing—for published reviews of our favorite models.

Our pick

Minimalist design, minimal noise levels, and maximum capacity and versatility make the Bosch 500 Series our pick for the second year running.

The Bosch 500 Series is the best dishwasher for most people because it has the most flexible, capacious, and easy-to-load racks for the money; it also runs so quietly that you can barely hear it, and the company has a years-long track record for reliability, with a better-than-average warranty and service network. This model is both water- and energy-efficient, and it cleans as well as any top-tier dishwasher. The feature set is right on the sweet spot, as every feature is helpful, without any bloat to drive up the price.

Runner-up

Winning features of the KitchenAid KDTM354ESS include its no-maintenance filter system and traditional heat-dry option.

The KitchenAid KDTM354ESS is another quiet, efficient, and overall excellent dishwasher, yet it was made in a different style than our top pick. The main differences include a heat-dry option, a self-cleaning filter, and a power-washing zone that’s handy for loading large pans and casserole trays. In some situations, this model might be better at cleaning sticky, starchy food deposits, too. Its drawbacks? This KitchenAid dishwasher lacks a third rack, so it fits fewer dishes. It’s also a newer model, so we don’t have a clear picture of its reliability.

Budget pick

The Maytag MDB4949SDx has an all-stainless steel tub that helps it run more quietly than competing models at its price. It also has a fantastic average user rating across more than 10,000 reviews.

If you’re on a tighter budget, or if you prefer a more traditional American-style dishwasher with a heated dry cycle and a food grinder, the Maytag MDB4949SDx is the way to go. It’s one of the few dishwashers at such a low price with a stainless steel tub, which helps the machine keep the volume down and dry dishes more efficiently than dishwashers with plastic tubs. It has some of the best user ratings of any dishwasher at any price, including positive notes about reliability. Compared with our main pick, this Maytag holds fewer dishes, uses more energy, runs louder, and takes longer to finish its cycles. But it’s an excellent choice for the money.

For smaller kitchens

If your kitchen can’t fit a standard 24-incher, but you still want a built-in dishwasher, check out the Bosch 800 Series SPE68U55SS, essentially an 18-inch version of our main pick. Obviously it can’t hold as many dishes as its larger cousin, and it has no third rack. But the racking system is as flexible as you’ll find in this category, and it cleans well and runs quietly.

How to use your dishwasher the modern way

The 500 Series (as well as most other dishwashers today) captures food waste in a mesh filter. You should rinse it once a month to clear any built-up gunk.

If your new dishwasher isn’t working well or seems to be giving you trouble, try to tweak your habits before blaming the machine. Dishwashers and detergents don’t work like they used to, and old methods don’t always do the trick nowadays.

Modern dishwashers work only when they have dirty dishes in them. You don’t need to prerinse your dishes anymore. Seriously, you shouldn’t prerinse. Enzymes in detergents are basically inert until they come into contact with organic matter—that is, the dried marinara, globs of mustard, and bits of spinach stuck to your plates, bowls, and forks. So when your dishes are dirtier, more of the detergent activates faster, and the process of actually cleaning the dishes (rather than just getting them wet) begins sooner. But if your dishes are mostly clean at the start of a cycle, the detergent may not fully activate, and any residue may stay stuck on the dishes.

Next, you need to load the dishes in the proper parts of the racks. If you position dirty surfaces away from the wash arms or nest them too closely together, they won’t get clean. If that doesn’t solve your problems, try switching detergent or using a different amount. And always use rinse aid. Every new dishwasher has a rinse-aid dispenser because rinse aid is essentially mandatory if you want your dishwasher to work well these days, according to every industry person we talked to.

You’ll need to do a bit of low-effort upkeep a few times a year, such as cleaning the filter, to maintain the machine’s washing performance and prevent odors, too. (More on this in our full guide.) The good news is that once you get your new routine dialed in, you should be putting less effort into using your dishwasher than ever before.

This guide may have been updated by The Sweethome. To see the current recommendation, please go here.