I need to rant!

I bought a FP DD605 double dish drawer back in 2008. It was great!

This year, after 13 years, it gave up the ghost. This wasn't surprising given its age. And the failure was a mental breakdown rather than something physical.

So I went back to FP looking for a replacement. I found they now had a lot of alternatives. I ended up selecting the DD24DAX9N, which was the closest I could find to my old DD605.

Unfortunately I have been disappointed! It seems to be less good in many respects, and aside from being newer I don't find anything *better* about it. I can't understand why they would do this. I understand how they might trade one feature off against another, but that doesn't seem the case here.

Of most note is that it doesn't hold nearly as many dishes as the old one. There is less vertical space. (Why? I think maybe the bottom of the rack is a bit higher off the bottom of the drawer.) I used to be able to get pint glasses under the upper shelf on the left and put a mug on the shelf above. With the new one a pint glass in that position won't allow the upper shelf to flip down, and the space above that shelf won't hold the same mugs.

I know some models have adjustable upper shelves. Mine doesn't have that option, but the racks still have the wire rails that support those shelves. Those rails get in the way of things placed on the upper shelves. And the upper shelves are also narrower. As a result I can only get a couple of small bowls or tiny glasses on those shelves where I could previously put a lot more.

Another aggravation is that there is no good place to put pint glasses. They fit on the second row from the left, but the way it is tilted they won't stay stable there. I have learned to slip them over some prongs on the left flip down lower rack. But that rack wants to flip down with them. I've learned to prop it up by putting a mug in that second row. But the end result is that I can only get three pint glasses in that area. With my old DD605 I could get 6 or more using the left two rows and still put things on the upper flip down shelf.

I also can't get as many bowls and plates on the right side as previously. Overall, I can only get 1/2 to 2/3 as much stuff in a drawer as before. By the time I can't fit more in it still looks sparsely filled, but I need to move on to the other drawer to fit what I have to wash.

I still like the style of two dish drawers. That form factor fits my life style. And I'm happy with the way it operates. But what I really want is a clone of my DD605.