5 Dishwashers Across The Board In Terms Of Price And Efficiency, With All Sorts Of Features.
With prices for energy set to go up this year and again next year, we're thinking quite a bit about what "energy efficiency" means to us. We're looking at different appliances and methods around our homes and office to see what we can do to make things better. This week we're looking at energy-efficient dishwashers with 5 of the best on the market.
Each of the different dishwashers we're looking at has two additional ratings we wanted to consider in addition to their price. The first is the kilowatt per hour per year average. This is not actually how many kilowatts per hour you're using, as your blogger initially thought. A kilowatt-hour measures the energy an appliance uses in kilowatts per hour. For example, if you clean your floors with a 1,000-watt vacuum cleaner for one hour, you consume 1 kWh of energy. When you see kWh on your monthly energy bill, it’s a measurement of your electric appliances’ wattage and the amount of time you use them. So if you use that vacuum for 1 hour a week, for a full year, by the end of the year, you'd have used 52 kWh just for that vacuum.
The second rating is the water factor. The water factor is the number of gallons used per cycle per cubic food of the dishwasher. The lower that factor is, the more efficient the dishwasher is, and the lower your water bill... at least in relation to this. But every bit counts, right?
So since we're looking at Energy Efficiency this week, we wanted to include these numbers so that you can get a feel for not only what a dishwasher might cost you now but also over time.
LG 24-inch LDF454HT - Longest Warranty & Uses the least amount of water
Price $698 - 849
Energy Use (kWH/Year) 258 kWh/Year
Water Factor: 2.9
Quad wash - Washes from four different angles at once.
Silent work - Has a 3 stage filtration system to trap food particles as it works to reduce noise and make the dishwasher more efficient. And it tops out at 48 dBA.
Dynamic Dry - dries dishes faster and more thoroughly
3rd Rack- Offers a third rack for storing ladles, spatulas, knives, and the like. And with the careful setup of grooves, it protects your knives from being tossed and banged around.
App Connectivity - This title is so much more than just that. There is an NFC tag on the dishwasher that you can tap your phone against to transfer new cycles from your phone to your dishwasher. And more important, in our opinion, you can troubleshoot your dishwasher the same way.
We like this one for the silent work feature. The quieter a dishwasher is, the better, in our opinion.
Samsung StormWash DW80R5061US - Best Overall
Price $899–$1,100
Energy Use (kWH/Year): 239
Water Factor: 3.5
Storm Wash - Powerful rotating spray jets clean at every angle for tough-to-reach spots.
Auto Release Door - At the end of a wash cycle, the door opens to allow air to circulate more freely.
3rd Rack - A third rack for utensils, and it has extra teeth so that they don't rattle around.
Quiet Wash - 42 dba
Adjustable racks - The top rack can be moved up and down when washing larger items like pots, pans, and glassware.
For the Storm Wash, we were most interested in the Storm Wash feature. The dishwasher is supposed to be powerful enough to use rotating jets to reach everywhere, delicate enough that it doesn't damage your dishes. However, it's still got a water factor that is low enough to be considered energy efficient. We find that rather impressive.
Bosch SHE3AR72UC Ascenta 24" White Full Console Dishwasher - Strongest Brand Name & Best Budget Option
Price $549
Energy Use (kWH/Year) - 269
Water Factor: 3.2
PrecisionWash - precision arms target all of the stuck on food so that you don't have to do multiple washes.
Sanitize Options- The Sanitize Option operates at a higher temperature and can be selected to achieve the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) standards of cleanliness, eliminating 99.9% of bacteria, and enhances your drying results as well.
Goes though almost 500 different quality checks before being sent to market. So the price might not be as high as others on the list, but the quality is.
Sometimes you really do get a good option at lower prices. Although the Bosch doesn't have any of the features that our other dishwashers do, it's still a solid option that will last you for years, without breaking the bank, and that includes your electric and water bills.
Miele G 7366 SCVi SF AutoDos
Price: $2,199
Energy Use (kWH/Year)- 230
Water Factor: 3.2
AutoDos With Power disk - Analyzes the amount of dishes within a load and dispenses only the amount of detergent needed.
FlexLine Basket design - Racks have extra flexibility for dealing with dishes of different sizes.
Quick Wash - Washes dishes in 1 hour
All Dry Feature- Opens the door when a cycle is done
Offers Washing cycles for general dishwashing, fine china, children's dishes, high sanitization, for pots & pans, and for grates and filters.
Ecofeedback: Shows you the estimated amount of electricity and water used when you select a program on the display.
The Miele dishwasher has been on our radar for a while, and we're intrigued by the AutoDos feature the most. Although it's not a revolutionary concept in general, this is the first time we can think of it being applied to your dishwasher.
Frigidaire FGID2479SF 24" Energy Star Fully Integrated -
Price $1079
Energy Use (kWH/Year) - 270
Water Factor: 3.5
OrbitClean® Wash System Clean dishes with OrbitClean® Wash System, which uses four times more water coverage for a complete clean.
3rd Rack Serving utensils and tools are mealtime-ready with our Store-More™ removable third rack, which offers easy loading and unloading access.
Automatically Adjusts Cycles
DishSense™ Technology automatically adjusts the cycle time based on the level of clean that your dishes need for an efficient clean.
Status Indicator Floor Beams
Convenient LED Floor Beam Indicators illuminate the floor with a blue light when your dishes are washing and a green light when they are clean.
We swear we're not a bunch of cats pretending to be appliance technicians. We're just impressed by the status indicator and find it useful.
Which of these was your favorite? Which one fits your needs best? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. As always, we'd love to hear from you.
If you're not happy with the idea of buying a new dishwasher and would rather just fix the one you have, we can help. You can reach out to us on our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). At Appliance Rescue Service, we're here to help.