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KitchenAid Dishwasher - repair or replace

15 years ago

We have a upper-end KitchenAid dishwasher that is about 12 years old. It works great and as it has a stainless steel inside it still looks near new. However, the dish baskets are coming apart, some of the vertical "rods" have broken off. Looking briefly on the web it appears a new main basket is about $100, and I would also consider replacing the upper basket, but haven't found it listed/priced.

Given the age of the dishwasher that is used 5 or 6 times a week I am not moved to spend upwards of $200 in replacement parts. I haven't looked but suspect a replacement KitchenAid would run over $1,200, however I can buy a Kennmore (on sale) with stainless for about $500. This seems to be a better choice, much as I hate to throw usable appliances (and other stuff) in the land fill/dump/solid-waste sytem.

Undecided.

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Comments (3)

asolo
15 years ago
Exact same thing happened to mom's KA at about the same time-in-service as yours. The racks basically began to rot away. Like you, I was astonished at the price of replacement racks.

My view of such things (other than disappointment with the rotting racks) is that my DW is an important use-every-day machine and I need it to be right. I bought new. I suggest you do, too. I think you'll find the new machines better overall anyway. You may have to adjust to longer cycle times.

I bought a $700.00 whirlpool mostly for the quiet. There are better/quieter ones but they get more and more expensive. From my experience and those of friends, they all wash just fine.
jerry_nj
Original Author
15 years ago
asolo,

Thanks, and the new machines are more energy efficient, less water and detergent use. Read up on DWs in Consumer Reports, usually a good source of "what's new". I hadn't included that in my initial thinking: new will implement energy saving features, yes at a much longer wash time, over two hours, wow. I don't know what my existing unit takes, but it must be under one hour, but must be a water "pig", i.e., uses more energy in 1/2 the time compared to new machines.
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We actually have two of these models, the other is now 7 years old at another house we own. We have always had good luck with KA appliances. Even after our bad experience with this one, we likely would have replaced it with another KA. Before this dishwasher we had an older Bosch that didn’t dry well (no heating element). My wife really likes this dishwasher. It cleans and dries well and holds a lot of dishes. We really didn’t want to replace it. Thanks also to everyone on this forum who posted pictures and comments. They were all very helpful. Forgot to mention the most important thing. Before attempting any appliance repair, be sure to get permission from your significant other! Mine couldn’t be happier.
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dan_dhrt
15 years ago
We bought our Bosche DW about a year ago because of the reduced noise it makes. Our kitchen, kitchen eating area and family room are all together so we were concerned about the noise from the dishwash when on after dinner impacting conversation and TV watching from the family room.

While more expensive than our previous $500 no name brand in our prior house (we just moved a eyar ago) we are glad we paid the extra money. One thing I don't like is that the upper rack only has an area on one side for cups / glasses; the other area is for bowls. We go through lots of glasses and are forever struggling to find spaces for them.

Hope that helps!
Dan

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