A Great Dishwasher

The Whirlpool GU2455 dishwasher was purchased to replace a 32 year old Frigidare (by General Motors) unit that actually was manufactured by D&M (as were most dishwashers of most brands that weren't made by GE, Kitchen Aid or Whirlpool at that time). I researched and found that Frigidaire had purchased D&M after GM sold the brand to White Consolidated and later White to Electrolux and considered that brand along with GE, having owned a "Potscrubber" model in another house, Asko-Asea, Whirlpool, Bosch, Maytag, Amana and Kitchen Aid, while limiting the budget to around $500. Maytag bought Amana several years ago and their models were essentially similar inside (as are Jenn Aire). Although Whirlpool now owns the Maytag brands, the dishwashers are still Maytag. Whirlpool bought Kitchen Aid some time ago and many Sears Kenmore models are made by Whirlpool, with specialized features being the main difference and stainless steel interiors featured in all new Kitchen Aid models. Many mechanical portions of the units appear similar with the exception of the Kitchen aid 4 spoke wash arm vs. Whirlpool's two spoke arm.

The D&M based Frigidaire's that I had in the past lasted long but reviews elsewhere indicated that current reliability was not what it used to be. I noted that several Whirlpool units had a "Soak and Scrub" cycle, something that was originally introduced in Kitchen Aid dishwashers when they were manufactured by Hobart. Whirlpool was the only brand that has that feature now, as Kitchen Aid, Whirlpool and Sears feature a "Power Scour" or "Turbo Zone", where special jets in the back of the dishwasher can be turned on to give special treatment to dishes at the back of the bottom rack. The "Soak and Scrub" cycle works on everything that is in the dishwasher, not just a dish or two. And it actually works - by periodically spraying dishes for 4 hours while burned on crusts soak in the hot detergent, rather than in your sink. The unit then goes through a standard or pots and pans cycle to clean up. The acid test was to place burner pans and trim rings from the electric range in the unit - an unfair test - and see what happened. Truly amazing results. Casseroles with build up that has baked on for hours come clean. Only about 8 more ounces of water is used over the regular cycle to accomplish the soak cycle.

The GD2455 also features adjustable height nylon racks and has a gray interior. These are selling points to move one up to more expensive models that brings a store greater profit for something that really does not matter. The height adjustment is nice, but I don't remember damaging a vinyl coated rack in other dishwashers that have been owned that cause them to rust. The gray interior makes it is less likely for one to notice stains. Again, years of owning dishwashers with white interiors and washing plates, pots and pans with spaghetti sauce at least once per week never brought about noticeable stains to those interiors. The Whirlpool DU1100 is essentially the same unit with a white interior, vinyl racks no digital readout and no glass express cycle.

There is a 9 hour delay so one can load the unit and wash dishes at a later time. That feature was a consideration as the old dishwashers were noisy and an open kitchen is adjacent to a family room. The other reason to seek a delay timer was to wash when the electric rates are low as we have a discount night time rate. But this unit is so quiet that one can sleep on the other side of the counter. I noted that Whirlpool's quiet blankets were much thicker than GE's at a particular price point. Added technology to keep things quiet include operating the drain motors at a lower RPM to minimize drain gurgling sounds compared to older models and controlling intake water flow to minimize the sound of water rushing through the pipes.

Many models are the tall tub style and the towerless design of the wash system lets one wash more dishes than the older model. A rinse hold cycle lets one keep the dishes moist until a full wash is performed, but the unit performs so well with dirty dishes that the feature has been used intermittently.

There is a hard food disposer and you can basically throw everything in the unit without scraping plates (with the exception of say, bones - the manual says that the unit may be noisy when it processes eggshells and the like). Since the sink with a standard garbage disposer is next to the dishwasher and there is no need to dirty the water with tons of food waste, the internal dishwasher's garbage disposer doesn't get a heavy load. But we have never pre rinsed or washed dishes before using any dishwasher and just about everything goes in the dishwasher, including pots and pans.

Whirlpool has had silverware racks in the door for years, and I thought it to be a "sell them something" feature. But it does provide more room in the lower rack, you can place the basket in 2 locations in the lower rack if you want. The silver does comes out clean with the rack on the door, however. The only behaviour modifications necessary is to load the silverware either before of after the lower rack as it is obscured when the lower rack is out and to load knives and forks in the section sunder the detergent cups to avoid trapping of undissolved powder that can occur when spoons are in those sections. There are separators in 4 of the 6 silverware sections to prevent the trapping of soils in tableware.

The GE units had more 2nd level cup racks than the Whirlpool, but if anything other than cups are in the lower section, the spray can be blocked and washing efficiency is compromised. There are large wash arms under both racks as well as one at the top. Water is filtered and one can hear the unit cleaning the filter and disposing of soils from the disposer periodically during the cycle. An older dishwasher with only a soft food disposer used the upper arm to clear the junk from the tops of cups and the like, but occasionally there would still be soils on the tops of cups. The Whirlpool has left no food particles on anything. The upper rack can be adjusted to accommodate different sized items.

Whirlpool's Kitchen Aid discussion website recommends Cascade powdered detergent even though it came with a sample of Electrasol tabs. We've used Cascasde and Reeva (Aldi) powder in the unit and Cascade does a better job than the bargain brand. Haven't used gels yet but most professional and magazine tests indicate the performance of most gels is sub par to powders. Jet Dri has been used in our hard water and spotting is not a problem with the rinse aid.

The unit has a sensor that determines the dirtiness of the load, water temperature and adjusts the wash time to fit the conditions. When the extra hot wash feature is used, the wash time goes down. There also is a sani-ttempi rinse option. A Glass Express mode can give you a light wash in about 30 minutes.

Because dishwashers have to use less energy than older models, many units utilize interesting technology to accomplish the feat. Wash cycles are in the range of 60 to 99 minutes - a means to wash efficiently with less water - quite longer than the older units.

In use the unit has cleaned dishes virtually flawlessly. Crusted on casseroles come clean with the soak cycle and the only instances of unclean items have been where sprays have been blocked or silverware has nested together. As noted the DU1100 was the original consideration but I stopped at a builder and remodeler's showroom where one gets high end appliances such as Gaggenau, Aga, Wolf and Viking. Surprisingly the pricing was about $150 less than at the big box appliance stores, so I moved up to the GU2455 for less than the DU1100 costs at the other stores. The dishwasher is highly recommended.