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Clean Plate Club

Today’s dishwashers are quieter and more energy- and water-efficient than ever—giving you a little peace and quiet as well as peace of mind. The only thing they don’t do is unload the dishes themselves.

Ginny Evans’s childhood chore was to empty the dishwasher. These days, once she’s loaded one up, her job—–at least professionally—–is done. Evans graduated from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City in early 2006 and opened a personal cooking and catering business in San Francisco later that year. Cooking in clients’ homes, Evans has loaded her fair share and variety of dishwashers. “By the time you’re loading the dishes, you’ve already shopped for the ingredients and prepped, cooked, and served the meal,” she says. “You’re at your least forgiving when you’re at the dishwasher.” Her washer must-haves: a simple, uncluttered design; a top tray for cutlery; and an audible click when you close the door.
evans ginny portrait

Dishwashing used to entail a sink full of soapy suds and a good scrubbing brush—–and for some of us, it still does—–but now, the task can also be done with just a push of a button. Despite its apparent ease, using a dishwasher can be more complicated than putting in a little old-fashioned elbow grease. For example, should you use gel, powder, or tablet detergent? The experts say tablets. Should plastic spoons still be relegated to the top rack? If you have an old machine with a heat coil at the bottom, yes. Rinse before washing? The jury’s still out—–but Mom says you must.

Today’s dishwashers boast not only high-tech designs but a host of innovative features that make dishes cleaner. Water is warmed as it flows through heaters and softened with built-in salt depositories. Detergents are evenly distributed throughout the machine instead of clumping on the bottom. Plate holders and cup shelves fold out of the way, and entire racks can be removed for washing extratall pasta pots and cookie sheets.

New dishwashers are also being made with noise levels and energy efficiency as top priorities. The quietest machines come in at only 40 decibels (dB); a human talking voice is about 60 dB. The best-performing models use fewer than 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) each year and less than two gallons of water per load. To qualify for Energy Star certification, dishwashers must perform 25 percent better than National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) energy-efficiency standards—–though with nearly 750 qualified machines on the market, the percent-better figure helps differentiate the barely better from the greatly green appliances.

So set those greasy pans aside as we review five standard-size machines that will have your household arguing about who gets to be on dish duty.
 

  • g 2832 sci miele dishwasher

    G 2832 SCi by Miele

    Expert Opinion: I like this because it has a simple construction without any superfluous bells or whistles; it is easy to navigate. The rods that hold the plates are thicker and spaced farther apart than some machines but they allow more flexibility in how you arrange the dishes. I love the top tray for laying silverware down flat. I don’t like when I have to put the forks and knives in sharp ends up (though they clean better that way), because I always worry about my clients reaching in later and hurting themselves.

    What We Think: Its energy and water use are higher than most of the washers we tested, but this Miele features 11 wash programs so you can select the appropriate setting whether you just had appetizers with friends (reducing water usage to 1.2 gallons per load) or Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family. This is one of the few new machines where the control panel is still located on the front of the door rather than on its top edge, but with Miele, function trumps form.

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  • gaggenau dishwasher df261 760

    DF261-760 by Gaggenau

    Expert Opinion: This is very sleek, but it’s also a very quiet piece, not too showy. It’s beautifully put together; everything moves and rolls really easily. I like the angled third rack with the space for small bowls and silverware, in addition to the removable silverware basket. You can easily adjust the cup shelves for taller or shorter glasses, which is nice. The negative is the cost.

    What We Think: Gaggenau, Bosch, and Thermador are all owned by BSH. Each brand’s dishwashers are equipped with the same technology—–triple filtration systems, flow-through water heaters, self-adjusting water sensors—–but differ in design details and price tags. The Gaggenau’s glyphic control panel requires a manual to understand, so asking a helpful dinner guest to start a load is out of the question.

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  • shx68e15uc bosch dishwasher

    SHX68E15UC by Bosch

    Expert Opinion: I’d absolutely choose this one: It’s the quietest, uses very little energy and water, and has the angled top tray. I like that you can adjust the height of the middle rack or take it out completely; I can’t stand when regular dinner plates don’t fit on the bottom rack and this solves that problem. I’d lose the blue plastic on the racks, though.

    What We Think: The adjustable middle rack is a feature that spans the three BSH brands but the ease with which it, and all other adjustable parts, can be moved declines from the Gaggenau to Bosch to Thermador models. The Bosch is the quietest washer currently on the market and is the most energy- and water-efficient in our roundup, meaning the most savings on your utility bills.

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  • dwhd64e thermador dishwasher

    DWHD64E by Thermador

    Expert Opinion: This washer doesn’t have the top tray for cutlery, and the movable parts seem fragile. I think some people would prefer the raised buttons on the Thermador to the less tactile controls of some of the other machines—–the same people who prefer the Blackberry to the iPhone—–but I don’t like them.

    What We Think: Like most dishwashers today, the Thermador can be fully integrated into an existing kitchen design by adding custom panels, but unlike many models, its stainless steel option includes a choice between two handles, which is rare. While it performs well as a midrange dishwasher and is Energy Star–certified, it’s only in the middle of the pack for energy and water efficiency and is one of the loudest machines in our roundup.

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  • dd24dctx6 fisher paykel dishwasher

    DD24DCTX6 by Fisher & Paykel

    Expert Opinion: I like the idea of this dishwasher and want it to be the best, but it’s not. Doing one drawer at a time or two different cycles simultaneously is a great idea, but the tubs get really gross inside if you don’t regularly wash them, and suppliers report frequent needs to repair the parts.

    What We Think: Dish drawers are a fantastic concept but the technology doesn’t yet match the innovation. New models, like this one, hold plates up to 13 inches wide and have removable silverware baskets to allow for large pots and pans, but because the interiors are plastic, the maximum water temperature is lower than standard machines with stainless steel interiors, therefore it lacks a sanitize setting.

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