Thanks for the Dishwasher, Kids! Product Review

Samsung Dishwasher found at Lowe's.  I love that store!

For Christmas this past year, our kids all chipped in and bought my husband and I a new Samsung Dishwasher as a gift.  First of all, let me say how much I love this new dishwasher. We had been without one for a while so this was such a wonderful and thoughtful gift that we were not expecting and the fact that they just did it all on their own made it even more special.  The day it was delivered was such an exciting day and for some reason, it made the house feel complete.  Weird, I know!

There are many people that I have spoken to who were shocked at my excitement about getting an appliance for a Christmas gift but I was shocked that they were shocked.  Apparently these people have never been without a dishwasher before!  One of the things about having a good dishwasher is that you don't have to pre-wash anything because this machine cleans even hard baked on food.

Now that I have had this dishwasher for about 4 weeks, I think I can speak to how well it works and how to use it to it's fullest capacity.  If you are looking for a new dishwasher, take a look at my list below so that you can see some of the options that are now available and how they can benefit you.  You don't have to get this particular model or brand of dishwasher, but you would be smart if you did!  It really is that good.

First I have to mention how quiet this dishwasher is.  My husband and I have looked at dishwashers many times over the last few years and learned about the rating system for the noise level on dishwashers. Our previous dishwasher was very loud and could be heard from all over the house.  If you were standing in the kitchen and talking to someone, you had to raise your voice up pretty high in order to be heard.  I did not like that but this dishwasher is rated 50 which is very quiet - like a running stream and yet, you really can't hear it when you are standing next to it!  It is noisiest when it drains but that just doesn't bother me.

For those people who have young children or grandchildren in the house, this dishwasher has a child lock on it so that you can lock the buttons on the front of the machine.  Once you lock the controls, children cannot accidentally start the dishwasher by pressing the bright and shiny buttons on the front panel!

The tines on the bottom rack are pretty close together so you can stack more plates and flatter dishware in that tray.  Some of the tines are slanted and some are standing straight up so that you have a variety of fill options.

The sprayers (one on the inside top of the machine, one underneath the top rack and one on the floor of the machine) are powerful enough to reach in between these dishes to get everything clean.

The bottom rack also allows you to remove the back tines so that you can load larger or odd size dishes for cleaning.

There are 2 separate silverware baskets that can be moved to different spots of the bottom rack or even removed if you don't need them.

The baskets also have lids that can be snapped into place to keep small utensils from popping out of the baskets or to stand your silverware in so that each utensil is separate from the others. I'm not sure that I will be using this feature as the dishwasher cleans so well, it gets everything clean even when it is jam packed full. And yes, I do jam pack it full because I don't want to waste water!

The top rack has two sets of wheels that it can rest on depending on how high or low you want that top rack to sit.  If you raise it up to the top level, you can put taller and larger dishes and pots on the bottom rack.  If you lower it the top rack, you can put taller stemware on the top rack and you don't have to worry about them getting caught on the top sprayer and breaking. Yes, I have done this before so I speak from experience.  It is not a good feeling.

Tines on the rack above are shown in adjusted position close-together.

Tines above are adjusted further apart to accommodate larger dishes.

The top rack also has two arms that fold down to hold in long stemware.

Some of the other cool features about this dishwasher are:

1. This dishwasher only uses about 4 gallons of water per wash.  That is fantastic!  
2. The heating element is hidden on the bottom of the unit so there is no possibility of melting your plastic ware. Yikes, I don't want to say how many of my plastic dishes have ended up on the bottom of my dishwasher in a purple/black mess! 
3. The interior tub is stainless steel to resist staining and helps the machine to retain heat for faster drying. 
4. It has a digital water leakage sensor that detects water leaks and shuts the machine off to prevent water damage.

I couldn't be happier with this dishwasher but I would love to hear how you feel about yours. What are some of the features that you find helpful in the dishwasher that you have?  If you could get a new one tomorrow, what would it be and why?

Happy dishwashing, everyone!