Don't know what to say about your GE, however our Top of the Line Whirlpool dishwasher, which had several visits from the repairman while under warranty, has NEVER EVER dried a dish in it's life. I DO use Rinse Aid, although I feel that should not be a requirement. The previous builder-grade DW at least did actually dry, and it never needed rinse aid.

Next time I buy, I'll need to ask the salesman if the dish"washer" actually dries dishes as well. ):

FWIW...I, too, have several months-old top-line Whirlpool. It dries just fine. Deep depressions in cup or glass-tops, no. Everything else, yes. I regard this as normal/acceptable.

Most machines have option of heat or no-heat drying. Are you sure the heated dry button gets pushed?

valerieann: We have a Bosch and it does dry but if there are any depressions in the cups, that doesn't dry.

But I'm curious about the smell that you mentioned. We've had our Bosch since mid-Sept and it also produces a smell that seems to come up from the drain to which it is connected. It really smells awful. I wonder if others have had this issue and if there is a cause/solution.

I've read other posts in here over the years about other Bosch dishwasher owners that also had a smell from their unit. They said the way to resolve it was to make sure the drain hose has a high-loop before it connects to the sink. This way food that is going down the sink garbage disposal doesn't end up feeding into the dishwasher. And also keeps waste water from the dishwasher from backing up back in the unit.
So you might want to check and see if the drain has a high loop under the sink.

Pretty much any dishwasher, regardless of it having heated dry or not (or using Jet Dry) will leave some water on cups/mugs that have concave depressions on the bottom. There's really no way around this. My Miele (and all Mieles) don't have heated dry, as it uses the heat condensation from the water with rinse aid to dry the dishes. Everything in my unit comes out dry expect the depressions in cups/mugs and some tupperware items. It really is no big deal any only takes a few minutes to dry.

I agree about the depressions not drying no matter the model you own. I have a Kitchenaid Architect series, the next to the best in the series and it too, will leave some water on the top of some items which have depressions. I have found that the longer I wait to open the unit after it's done washing the more likely everything will be as dry as possible.

Also about the smell. I noticed this too when first using the machine. Someone suggested to try switching detergents, which I did. This seems to have helped.

Older DWs used to roast dishes (infact, some folks used to cook food in the DW because of how hot it would get). Now they don't so much. On mine I do just the opposite: I use unheated dry. When it finishes rinsing, I open the door, pull out the upper rack and go to bed. Everything is dry in the morning.

But when I use regular dry there will still be stuff in upside down or concave items.

as to the odor, it depends on its nature. many of the lower end machines are spray-coated on the outside with a tar-like substance for noise reduction. This stuff will outgass for a while when it is hot, but it goes away after a few months.

Echoing weedmeister ... heated drying nowadays isn't as hot as in the past due to energy concerns. Heating elements may be cycled on/off during the drying period instead of remaining on continuously, resulting in lower drying temps, which is why rinse aid is a necessity.. It's generally unrealistic to expect the load to be bone-dry immediately at cycle end. Prop the door ajar and leave it overnight for residual evaporation ... but even so, there will be some puddles left.

(Smell) Make sure their is a high loop from the drain of the DW to where it connects to the sink drain or disposal. It should be higher than where it connects to the sink. The smell could be dirty dish water backing up into the drain and back into the DW. Does it smell like wet dog?

"Older DWs used to roast dishes (infact, some folks used to cook food in the DW because of how hot it would get). "

Oh, for heaven's sake. What nonsense!

Why not just make your point and leave it at that?

Actually, people did do that, but people will cook food on their engine blocks too. People do all kinds of odd things.

I agree about checking the connection to the sink for the smell, unless the smell is just soapy clean locker room smell (which the escaping steam could smell like).

The lack of adequate drying in DW's is one of my big bugaboos, but I agree that little pools of water in the concave bottoms of mugs and glasses, and the turned up edges of containers, is normal. I've never had a dishwasher that consistently dried these. I've seen some that have the cups on strong angles, supposedly to drain, but it just makes the racks hard to load, and isn't enough of an angle to really make a difference.

Where I start I complain is where great big gobs of water stick all over the dishes. I have the GE Monogram, which probably isn't all that different from the basic GE. In order to get things really dry I have to use Heated Dry/ Added Heat/ Plastics Cycle. Some other combinations are adequate for some uses, but the glasses and plastics only get dry in the plastics cycle. If you have that, give it a try.

Dishwasher Fish Recipes

Yo, dadoes....LOL.

Hoping this may be observation as opposed to recommendation. Wondering if maybe you keep this info on your shelf next to the "Roadkill Cookbook".

Just make sure you're really using the heated dry option. It used to default to on and you had to turn it off if you didn't want it, but some DWs now default to off and you have to explicitly turn it on. Also, as others have said, no DW will dry the water in the indentation in cups and glasses.

Thank you so much for all the replies. I realize I'm just going to have to deal with the cups/glasses not getting bone dry...guess newer doesn't always mean better. As for the odor, I'm noticing it less and less so it probably was off-gassing as suggested.

Thanks all!

Valerie

Yo, valerieann...you've not yet described the characteristics of the "odor".

Glad it seems to be abating....but what kind of smell is/was it?

Never mind "newer/better".....the only way to accomplish the task you require would to bake the entire load. You're in good, sympathetic company. It has always been thus and always shall be.....unless/until the present laws of physics are changed.

These days newer often means worse - they don't make 'em like they used to - cheaper parts, more govt. stds. to comply with, etc.

It used to be dishwashers used 1000 watt heating elements. Now some are multi-wattage and use the higher wattage for water heating and lower watts for drying.

I know this is how my Kenmore Elite is 840 watt water heat
400 watt drying--so with a difference of 400 to 600 watts in drying this can be the reason for wetter dishes. Just something else to live with--like lower "hot wash" temps in newer washing machines--unless they have a heater.