Sheri has January 7 off of work, and we need a new dishwasher, so we are going to order one to be installed for that day. That gives me a couple weeks to do my research and figure out where to buy it.

I always like to start off my analyzing past repair histories for brands. The two dishwasher brands with the best repair histories are Whirlpool in first place and Kenmore in second. Surprisingly KitchenAid placed third from last. Surprising because they are made my Whirlpool and their other products are usually fairly reliable. We have a KitchenAid washer and dryer and have not had a lick of trouble with either of them in over 11 years.

The latest Consumer Reports ratings have a Kenmore in the number 4 slot. Units from Bosch and Siemens are in the first through third positions, but I don’t like their repair histories. So I guess it is going to be a Kenmore.

The main feature I am interested in is a unit that heats the water. To sterilize dishes, the dishwasher requires the hottest water in the house. Keeping 50 gallons of water hot just for dishes is a waste of energy. If the dishwasher can heat the water to the required temperature on its own, you can set the hot water heater back to an appropriate level for the washing machine and showering and hand washing.

A plastic tub (rather than stainless steel) is fine with me, and I think a built in garbage grinder and self cleaning filter is just something to break in a few years. The only thing left to choose then is the interior rack configuration and the exterior appearance. I know I don’t want a stainless steel exterior. That just always looks dirty from finger prints. I guess white is the most neutral and easy to match.