Excellent Elite: High End Built-in Dishwasher from Kenmore
Written: Mar 08 '01 (Updated Mar 09 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Cleaning: |
|
|
| Style: |
|
|
|
Pros: Cleans very well, more energy efficient than previous generation, looks good.
Cons: Can't handle tall stemware
The Bottom Line: Excellent cleaning, very easy to use, quiet, easy to keep clean. What more could you ask for?
|
|
|
| jsquarejj's Full Review: Kenmore 15872 Dishwasher |
Last October (2000), we replaced our 15-year old KitchenAid with a Sears Kenmore Elite built-in dishwasher (model number 15989). It wasn't our first choice, but it's what we ended up with after a minor hassle I'll relate later to those who are interested. Bottom line: we're very happy with the performance of this dishwasher.
Loading
All the dishwashers we looked at had approximately the same loading capacity (except Bosch, our first choice, which has higher capacity as a tradeoff for frequent manual filter cleaning). At first, we thought capacity was a bit of a problem, but that's because the Elite comes with various extra removable baskets and shelves. Once we decided which ones to leave in and which to leave out, capacity was no problem.
Silverware. There is a very large silverware caddie consisting of three sections with a total of eight separate compartments. Two sections have lids that can be closed to keep in very small, light items like shot glasses. If lots of silverware isn't your thing, you can remove one or both of the smaller sections. There's a separate corner caddie for tall items like long knives or spatulas, but you can also put large knives on a removable foldout shelf in the top rack.
Top rack. The top rack is very flexible. It has sections that accommodate items of various heights, and one side can even be adjusted upward or downward about an inch to trade space between the bottom and top racks. That special knife rack I mentioned also has notches to hold four stemware pieces in place, but as I said, we don't use it. You can put stemware of limited height on one side of the top rack, but the ability to handle stemware is not a strong point of this model (we wanted the Bosch because of its very deep top rack). The top rack also has two sets of fold-down tines to make room for larger items, and one set of adjustable tines to accommodate glasses or stemware of various diameters or hold smaller items in place. In addition, there are several flexible clips to hold very light items like plastic lids in place.
Bottom rack. The bottom rack is pretty standard, but two rows of tines can fold down to make room for pots. There's a removable small item basket with lid (we normally don't use this) in addition to the lidded sections of the silverware basket. Then there's the separate tall items basket I already mentioned.
Detergent and Rinse Aid
Detergent goes into a main wash section, whose door you close, and an open pre-wash section. There is a very convenient rinse aid dispenser with an easy to read EMPTY indicator and a seven way adjustment to match the amount of rinse aid to your water conditions. The factory setting worked fine for us. With daily use, we refill the rinse aid about every three or four months.
Cycles and Options
There are six different cycles: pots and pans, normal, water miser, china, quick wash, and quick rinse. The cycles are self explanatory except for the difference between normal and water miser. Water miser is suitable only for pre-rinsed and lightly soiled loads but it saves about 12 minutes and 2 gallons of water per load. We use the water miser cycle most of the time.
This dishwasher has a soil level sensor which supposedly determines how dirty the dishes are and adjusts cycle length and amount of water used accordingly. For example, the normal wash cycle varies from 70 to 90 minutes and 6.5 to 10.8 gallons of water depending on the soil level. The water miser cycle varies between 64 and 78 minutes and 4.6 to 8.6 gallons. I've never verified that soil sensing actually works.
There are also three options. WATER HEAT heats the water to 140 degrees during parts of the cycle to improve washing. SANI RINSE, raises the water temperature to 155 degrees for 10 minutes, which sanitizes dishes in accordance with various international standards. NO HEAT DRY saves energy and/or prevents plastic from melting by not turning on heat during the drying cycle.
There are two more convenience features. DELAY HOURS makes the dishwasher wait from 1 to 12 hours before it starts working. It can also remember your favorite settings and activate them when you press the FAVORITE CYCLE button.
The washer has a bunch of indicator lights, more than are really necessary. The ones I find useful are CLEAN, to indicate when the cycle is done, RINSE AID EMPTY, and the two-digit LED that shows the time remaining in the cycle.
Performance
Bottom line: cleaning performance is excellent, including for the most heavily soiled pots and pans. Energy use is better than our old dishwasher. We've actually noticed a consistent decrease in our electricity and gas consumption.
Noise
This dishwasher is so much quieter than our previous one that we're ecstatic. We no longer have to close the door between the kitchen and den to watch TV. It doesn't interfere with normal conversations, and we occasionally schedule it to run after we've gone to bed.
Care
This dishwasher has stainless steel inside, and it obviously stays very clean. We opted for the black front, and it cleans easily and quickly with a damp sponge. The are with the buttons is just flat plastic with the buttons beneath, so it's easy to clean, too.
Minor Annoyance
In the five months we've had the Kenmore, we've only had only one real annoyance. For some reason, almost every time we use it, a small amount of detergent ends up in the gap between the bottom of the door and top of the kick plate. Sometimes it falls to the floor, as well. There must be something wrong with the design of the bottom door seal, but I don't see what it is because, except for once when I opened the door at the peak of a wash period, no water has ever come out there.
Now, the Story
After doing our research, we decided to get a high-end Bosch dishwasher (about $935 installed less a $50 Bosch rebate and $35 Sears rebate, total $840). The installer walked into the kitchen, whipped out his tape measure, and within 15 seconds, told us the Bosch wouldn't fit, even with cabinet modifications. He suggested we get a Kenmore Elite, which had been our second choice, anyway.
The Kenmore cost $689 less a $35 installation rebate, a total of $654. But here's the icing on the cake. Since, we'd had to wait two weeks for installation of the Bosch, I had already sent in the paperwork for the Bosch rebate. My moral dilemma was resolved immediately when I confronted Bosch's automated customer service answering system. It hung up on me twice, so I decided to keep the $50. So we ended up getting a darn good dishwasher for $236 less than the cost of the dishwasher we originally wanted.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 654
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
jsquarejj
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Jim J
Location: Santa Cruz, California
Reviews written: 190
Trusted by: 78 members
About Me:
#7 in Personal Finance, #14 in Travel. My goal? Saving you money.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.