An addendum, we will probably use the dishwasher once a day at most.

I'm in the same boat, I've settled on the Bosch SHE3AR76UC ($539 right now at Best Buy free delivery - competitors usually price match...)

SHE3AR56UC is an alternate at $494 - but you loose 2 place settings of space, and a good bit of wash options... for a $45 price gap I decided on the upgrade.

Top control versions of both exist to, but it comes at a price premium (~$100-200 more)

I was originally looking at "special buy" dishwashers from home depot namely a GE and whirlpool model, but after seeing consumer reports rankings and being told the GE is last years problem prone model I changed my mind. I also had my eye on a Kitchenaid at Lowes around the $600 range - online reviews scared me away fast though (another problem prone model).

As far a must haves I really want stainless steel interior - helps with drying, energy efficiency, and noise. Another must have for me (most dishwashers have this now) is a soil sensor. Pluses are adjustable height racks, more spray nozzles, variable pressure nozzles, self cleaning filter... Bottom line is dishes should come out CLEAN, the Bosch models seem to get high marks for that at a reasonable price point.

Hope this helps

We picked up the top control Whirlpool from HD this week. It's on sale for $398. We were planning to buy a Bosch at first, but after seeing it at Sears, glad we didn't! The interior seemed tiny and it would not fit our big, square plates.

We wanted a SS interior, but for $398, we could deal with that being the only big concession. And the plastic interior isn't bad at all. It looks pretty nice. We installed it over the weekend and it was simple. It looks good, cleans well, and isn't loud. Delivery & haul-away are also free right now.

Here is a link that might be useful: $398 Whirlpool

Hi Manucha0931,

We bought the same Top Control Whirlpool Gold as xand83 in September, only it is in white. We are almost finished with our kitchen remodel and it was installed November 6th. We have used it often and so far we are very happy with it. It looks very nice and sleek, cleans the dishes very well, easy to use with lots of features. The swishing of the water when it washes is very quiet. The motor has a low drone, but it isn't annoying. I was pleased with the interior plastic tub, it is a pearl grey and looks nice and sturdy.

So far we have tried the Eco wash, Normal wash and Sensor wash. All have worked well. We use Cascade Complete Powder and a Rinse Aid. We leave the dishes in for an hour or so and they are dry and sparkly when we take them out. There may be a little pooling of water on mugs and some glasses but most DW do that. When the cycle is finished, there is a little blue light that lights up indicating clean and cycle is done. Compared to the 1970's DW we replaced this one is great! I hope that it will serve us for many years to come.

This DW is priced very well considering all the features that it has.

I hope that this helps. The current HD sale is a good price.

NWRain-Gal

Here is a link that might be useful: Our white Whirlpool DW from HD

This post was edited by NWRain-Gal on Fri, Nov 29, 13 at 5:52

I'm targeting $500-$600 dishwashers as well and am monitoring posts to see if they may sway me one way or another.

I was set on going for a KitchenAid to match the range and refrigerator, but after seeing horror stories in regards to rack wheels and burning thermal fuses on other websites 10 - 24 months out, I am going to opt for something other than a Whirlpool made machine.

I think the cycles and features will always vary by consumer, but as a staff level appliance engineer I can say you always get the best value from the base model, not unlike cars. Understanding how you use a dishwasher, assuming you have owned one in the past, will steer your into the feature set you need to suit your tastes.

My wants:
-black front, to match other kitchen appliances
-stainless steel interior; it was hard to remove hard water deposits and other salts from the interior of the plastic tub I had, especially after about year 8.
-quieter operation, targeting 52 dB or less, pretty much anything over $500 will hit this
-very basic cycles, I use the dishwasher as a sterilizing device, not so much for cleaning the dishes as they come off the table; seeing that Normal and 1hr cycle compose 95 to 98% of our cycles! I am unwilling to invest in lots of fancy jets for relatively clean dishes on the way in
-rarely use heat dry cycles; much easier to crack the door and let the moisture evaporate (of course with some touch up required occasionally)
-looking for a vertically positioned membrane switch activation; having designed stuff like this for 15 years, electronic switches in horizontal positions with lots of moisture nearby tend to lead to problems with condensation and shortened product lives

Bottom line, I am after the Toyota Camry of the dishwasher business, something that is reliable first, reasonable in cost, but without any frills. Hardest problem is trying to make assessment for reliability on relatively new market players or new machine designs.

For now, washing them the old fashioned way until I feel I have found the right one, unlike a refrigerator or range which must be dealt with on a very short timeline.

Do any of you live in major metropolitan areas where there are appliance stores that have things like scratch and dent sections or stores with bulk purchases and/or closeouts? We have scored some major deals at such places and have been able to get much nicer appliances than if we had just gone looking for a certain model at standard retail pricing.

Check out the 18 inch size. I'm becoming a believer of these smaller units. Have both the 24 and 18 in my house--almost never use the bigger one. Unless you have a big family, you just can't justify running a few plates every day in the big one.