I have a Maytag and have been very pleased with it. I always use the potwasher , high temperature wash and no dry.

I think with the new dishwashers, scraping is all that is needed when putting them in the dishwasher. I tried leaving dried-on chili on a couple of my dishes, and it worked fine. My washer is about 20 years old! I think the key is the dishwashing powder and the drying agent. Cascade is great, but expensive.

In my opinion, all new dishwashers do the job, or they couldn’t compete. 4 years ago I got brushed stainless steel appliances and I HATE them for water spots and streaks. Our Granddaughter got slate, it doesn’t show. The inventor of black stove tops isn’t on my friendly list either.

Where was my brain????????????? I said earlier Mayatag, but I just double checked and its a Whirlpool same as my refrigerator...........Sorry, but I really do like it and use it daily, along with those tablets that have the little ball in them.

Bosch. It's so quiet you can't hear it, so they put a red light on the bottom of it that shines onto the floor to let you know it's on. It has a speed cycle for 60 minutes and a 2 hour one, but I've never needed that longer one. The dishes come out really clean.

I did some research and bought a Kenmore Elite from Sears..... it is so quiet and gets dishes very clean....I love it

Love my Kitchen Aid, it is soooooo quiet

A dealer suggested that one thing that really helps is to run hot water from the tap before starting the dishwasher if it is is on the same water line. That way the dishwasher has the hottest water from the beginning of the cycle.

I would definitely not recommend the mid-range of KitchenAid. The silly thing is definitely quiet but we have had nothing but issues with it since it was purchased. Brain was replaced at least once. Now when it gets cranky we have to re-set the circuit breaker for that appliance before it will start again.

It does have a 'food disposer' incorporated so no pre-washing needed per se. It takes forever to complete a cycle but I think that is the norm now since everything is 'low water usage'. It gets dishes clean but we also have very hard water so have inherent problems due to that issue.

Our dealer - like illinois' - also recommended to run the tap water until it is at it's hottest before starting dishwasher as well for the same reasons.

While I won't recommend a brand because we can all get lemons, I WILL say that we bought one of the above mentioned brands at Lowes. We did not understand that the brand did not have a heater in it but dried the dishes with only a fan. Yes it was very quiet and the dishes were clean - but never completely dried! BUT -- what we did like is that Lowes has that 30 day return/exchange policy if you are not happy, and we utilized it to exchange ours for a different brand that does heat dry the dishes. So kudos to Lowes AND be sure to ask about how the dishes get dried. It is a big expense to end up being unhappy about...