Just wanted to share my experience in order to help others save time and trouble.
Last year I purchased an LG Model LDS5811ST dishwasher form Home Depot to replace my 20 year-old Kitchen Aid that came with the house I purchased a few years ago.
After the plumber connected the dishwasher, he tested it and it kept displaying an error code ie (input/intake error) indicating that the water supply was bad. After confirming that the water supply was OK, I decided to keep it for a few days and see if the error went away. It did.
After running the dishwasher several times, I found that It did a horrible job cleaning and actually left large, chunky deposits of soap on the dishes. There also appeared to be calcium deposits all over the dishes, especially on glass and stainless steel.
Thinking this could just be a lemon (because LG has a good reputation), I exchanged it for another of the same model, thanks to Home Depot's great return policy. This one did not have the ie error codes but had the identical problem with cleaning and leaving large chunks of soap on the dishes and calcium-like deposits. I thought this was strange because the old Kitchen Aid never had this problem.
Finally, I did some research and ended up going to Sears. After much searching and learning about who-makes-what dishwasher, I settled on a Kenmore Elite—actually made by Bosch. My research had shown that Bosch made the best dishwashers, hands down, but they were also the most expensive.
The Kenmore Elite model 630.1630 has the best dish-rack features I could find (by far) and looks pretty nice. The LG (above) was the nicest-looking dishwasher I found, but this was a close second.
This dishwasher has been fantastic. It cleans so well that I can put pans with burned-on food and put the dishwasher in normal or "scrub" mode and they will (except in a few extreme circumstances) come out perfectly clean. I also have no problem with soap/calcium deposits.
I compare the experience of owning this dishwasher like my experience of owning a Dyson vacuum cleaner—You know, one of those plastic space-age looking things that "doesn't lose suction". I actually enjoy vacuuming now. I'm not kidding. In the same way, I love running the dishwasher just to see how will it will get burned on stuff off. I know, I'm pretty pathetic <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> but my business associates and employees laugh at me when I say that I wish there was a glass front because I want to see what the heck is going on in there. I actually find myself opening it up several time during it's cycle just to see if I can find out what magic they are using to get burned-on food off of pans that would take me 15 minutes of scrubbing in the sink.
Well, I think you get the picture. This is a great machine, and is very quiet and attractive. It's a tiny bit louder than the LG was and is almost as attractive. I highly recommend it.
