Most and Least Reliable Dishwasher Brands

Spend hundreds for a dishwasher and you expect it to work for many years. But roughly 15 percent of 2-year-old dishwashers break, according to our estimates. While models within a brand might vary, a Consumer Reports survey of 42,108 readers has found winners and losers in dishwasher brands overall.

The brass ring goes to Bosch, which stands out as among the more reliable dishwasher brands. At the other end is Samsung, the most repair-prone brand. GE and Frigidaire are more repair-prone than Bosch, Whirlpool and Miele, which land at the top of our chart. But Samsung alone stands out as a brand we cannot recommend even if a given model of that brand scores highly in performance.

Cost of Repairs

Our survey yielded other helpful information. Among dishwashers needing repairs, 56 percent were fixed within the first year of ownership. But of the dishwashers that either broke or stopped working as well as they once had, 45 percent were repeat offenders, having trouble more than once.

We even found a difference in repair costs among dishwasher brands for the respondents who paid for repairs. The median repair cost is $116 but to fix Samsung dishwashers, the median cost for repair, at $143, is markedly higher than for all other dishwasher brands. By contrast, Whirlpool’s $98 median repair costs are notably lower than other brands. 

Need a New Dishwasher?

Check out our dishwasher buying guide if you haven’t bought a dishwasher in a few years. Models worth considering from our dishwasher tests include the $1,080 KitchenAid KDTM354DSS, the $1,050 Kenmore Elite 14793, and the $700 Bosch Ascenta SHX3AR7[5]UC, a CR Best Buy.

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