Electrolux Dishwasher Review: pretty exterior, poor build quality inside... avoid

[Walter Sobchak]

{ redacted }

[Donuthole]

But Kelly Ripa is so hawt!

[cougjunkie]

Its European of course you should stay away from it.

Bosch is considered top of the line as well but they are not great either. They do not have built in disposals that is why they can advertise that they are the quietest in the industry. Who wants to clean a food trap every time they use their dishwasher?

[Color Me Badd Fan]

This is more a post out of frustration than anything else... but I'm serious about the title. Do not buy the Electrolux brand dishwasher unit (retail price: $1200).

We bought the Electrolux EWDW6505GS dishwasher in June 2008. We have had three major service problems in our short 18-month ownership... outrageous considering that it was sold as a "high-end" and "reliable" appliance. The first problem we had occurred just a couple months after we installed the dishwasher; it would report "Error 01" which is a leak detection error. We had someone come out (on Electrolux's dime) and they found some of the hose clamps were not sufficiently tightened from the factory. After the tech tightened them up, we haven't had the same problem since. However, it was very disconcerting to learn that it was a problem with the dishwasher as delivered... basically a brand-new appliance. The second problem we were having was with very loud noises during the drain cycle. We had a tech come out (again on Electrolux's dime) only to find that there was a grape stem in the drain pump. The tech said he had seen this happen because the filter at the bottom of the tub isn't sufficiently tight enough to block items such as grape stems from entering into the dishwasher's plumbing system. Another troubling discovery. Recently we have had an "Error - 08" show up on the WaveTouch panel which according to the manual says "Tactile or touch switch - Control board has verified a switch on the user interface board is bad or shorted". I called up Electrolux today. Cost to replace? $375 plus labor. So basically another $500 must be invested into this dishwasher after just 18 months of use. Aaargh!!

{/me kicks self} I should have bought the ASKO!

I cannot recommend the Electrolux dishwasher. It looks great, cleans very well, is really super quiet, but the build quality is very lacking... avoid and advise your friends to do likewise! And since that "WaveTouch" interface is common on almost all of the Electrolux appliances, I'd presume you would want to avoid those models as well.

cheers.

You have to pay $500 to fix the control panel on the dishwasher? Time to replace it with the most quiet GE or Whirlpool for about the same price. As a general rule, I avoid things that are overengineered in aspects that don't affect the central performance of the device.

I had a house built last year and had to shop for appliances. I was on a more limited budget than you and Electrolux didn't even enter into the equation for me. While researching it, it did seem to me that the marginal utility of the premium brands didn't justify the cost a lot of times (especially with refrigerators, stoves and water softeners; dishwashers and washing machines are a somewhat different story).

I'm also confused about the grape stem issue. My recollection is that most dishwashers have a grinder that takes in all the crap for the dishes and grinds them up before the water is flushed. It seems to me the grinder would do its work before the waste water went into the plumbing system (or maybe you're referring to the internal plumbing system that takes the crap off the dishes to the grinder).

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Its European of course you should stay away from it.

Bosch is considered top of the line as well but they are not great either. They do not have built in disposals that is why they can advertise that they are the quietest in the industry. Who wants to clean a food trap every time they use their dishwasher?

This explains my question regarding the issue with the grape stem. I didn't know that some of the quiet premium models attained some of their silence by not having a grinder/built-in disposal.

[Art Vandelay]

We recenly had to replace the crappy stock dishwasher that came with our house (when it was draining it sounded like a 747 taking off, we literally could not run it if company was over.) with a Kenmore Elite. It works great and is super quiet. Who knows how I will feel in 18 months, but so far I'm very pleased with the purchase.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

We recenly had to replace the crappy stock dishwasher that came with our house (when it was draining it sounded like a 747 taking off, we literally could not run it if company was over.) with a Kenmore Elite. It works great and is super quiet. Who knows how I will feel in 18 months, but so far I'm very pleased with the purchase.

The biggest crapshoot appliance purchase is a dishwasher. In my renting days, we universally had stock dishwashers and some were horrendous and some were great. I suspect that some of this had to do with the relative hardness of the water, I discovered that two different places I lived in about five miles apart had two totally different water sources and a substantial difference in the hardness of the water. I installed a cheap water softener (GE, purchased from Home Depot) that makes my washing machine and dishwasher seem like they perform well. My builder purchased appliances from this place that only sold GE appliances (I wasn't particularly thrilled with this). I upgraded the dishwasher above our allowance by getting a more quiet washer with adjustable tines. I skimped by not getting a stainless steel tub. The actual mechanics of the dishwasher are exactly the same as the cheapest one, but you end up paying about $200 more for more sound deadening material and a few hinges on the tines.