The 5 Best Dishwashers of 2025 | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Andrea Barnes

Andrea Barnes is a writer covering large cleaning appliances. Each year for testing, she runs over 120 dish cycles and washes 120 loads of laundry.

We plan to test the latest lineup of Bosch dishwashers, as well as the Bosch models that are currently available at Costco, soon.

The dishwasher is one of the original labor-saving appliances. It also conserves water and energy. There are plenty of good dishwashers out there. But a great one—excellent at cleaning, easy to load, quiet, and reliable—goes above and beyond.

After scouring customer reviews and stress-testing more than 30 models, we recommend the Miele G5008 as the first dishwasher you should consider.

This entry-level Miele model delivers sparkling-clean dishes, and it’s quiet and easy to use. Miele is known for its reliability, durability, and owner satisfaction.

This model cleans almost as well as our top pick, and it’s better at drying. But the heated-dry cycles run long, and its racks aren’t quite as user-friendly.

This ultra-quiet model is an exceptional, speedy cleaner with upgraded features. It should prove a durable investment.

This sturdy dishwasher has a stainless steel tub and an effective wash system. It was the best dishwasher we tested that routinely goes on sale for less than $700. But its most effective cycles are longer than those of our other picks.

This stylish dishwasher offers multiple exterior and hardware finishes and two handle types. It’s an excellent, quiet cleaner, but its cycles can be long and its drying can fall short.

To stress-test dishwashers, we wash dishes that are smeared with tough-to-clean foods. This helps us identify the high achievers.

Adjustable racks with flexible layouts fit everything from tall pitchers to large pots. A third rack can be helpful.

Dishwashers reuse the same few gallons of water per cycle. An effective filter discards debris and helps prevent gritty dishes.

Sensors adjust cleaning time in real time. Dishwashers that clean in less than 90 minutes stand out.

This entry-level Miele model delivers sparkling-clean dishes, and it’s quiet and easy to use. Miele is known for its reliability, durability, and owner satisfaction.

Of the dishwashers we tested, the Miele G5008 offers the best combination of cleaning power, usability, and reliability. It consistently delivered sparkling dishes, no matter which dishwasher detergent we used. Its roughly hour-long Quick wash cycle ranked among the best of the hour-long cycles we tested; only our upgrade pick cleaned better in such a short amount of time.

The G5008 features a third rack and a height-adjustable middle rack. Its roomy bottom rack has a grid layout and a section with collapsible tines, allowing more flexibility for oddly shaped or large items, like big pots. (One quirk: You load the plates facing toward you, rather than toward the sides of the machine.)

The front control panel has large, easy-to-navigate buttons. At 44 decibels, this model is not the quietest we tested, but it easily fades into the background. This dishwasher does not have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity.

The G5008 is Energy Star–certified. Miele appliances are known for their durability and high rates of owner satisfaction (including in our appliance survey). This machine has a two-year warranty (standard for Miele) for parts and labor; a five-year extended warranty is available to purchase. The G5008 comes in one finish.

Advertisement

This model cleans almost as well as our top pick, and it’s better at drying. But the heated-dry cycles run long, and its racks aren’t quite as user-friendly.

The Maytag MDB8959SKZ is a solid machine and a strong cleaner. In our testing, it performed almost as well as our top pick. Notably, this dishwasher dries plastic items better than most models (including our top pick), thanks to its optional heated-dry cycles (but this can add 30 to 60 minutes to a wash cycle).

The MDB8959SKZ’s racks aren’t adjustable, but the large grid-style bottom rack offers a bit more loading flexibility than the front-facing racks of our top pick. The racks lack stemware holders, which our other picks include, and they don’t glide quite as smoothly as those of our other picks.

This dishwasher’s third rack is significantly deeper than that of our top pick. It’s designed to cradle mugs, glasses, and bowls, as well as larger flatware like spatulas, but it doesn’t have as much space for flatware.

The MDB8959SKZ is not Energy Star–certified. It is manufactured by Whirlpool Corporation, a company known for its reliability and easily replaceable parts. It has a one-year warranty for parts and labor and a 10-year warranty for its racks and stainless steel tub. This dishwasher comes in three finishes.

This ultra-quiet model is an exceptional, speedy cleaner with upgraded features. It should prove a durable investment.

The Miele G7216’s exceptional cleaning ability and elevated features—along with Miele’s reputation for reliability—make it worth the investment.

Of the dishwashers we tested, it delivered the cleanest dishes in the least amount of time, thanks to Miele’s QuickIntenseWash technology and the dishwasher’s Express Mode option (which shortens any cycle you choose). When we used Express Mode with a highly effective detergent, the G7216 completely cleaned even baked-on eggs in less than 90 minutes—something no other dishwasher we tested could do.

Its sturdy racks are roomy and glide smoothly. The middle rack is height-adjustable. Like our top pick, dishes are loaded facing you, which can be polarizing.

The door automatically opens at the end of the cycle, which expedites drying (plastic items included) and makes it easy to see when a cycle has finished. At 43 decibels, the G7216 was among the quietest dishwashers we tested; we could barely tell it was on.

The G7216 is Energy Star–certified. Like our top pick, it has a two-year warranty for parts and labor and an optional five-year extended warranty. This dishwasher comes in one finish.

This sturdy dishwasher has a stainless steel tub and an effective wash system. It was the best dishwasher we tested that routinely goes on sale for less than $700. But its most effective cycles are longer than those of our other picks.

Of the dishwashers we tested that typically cost under $700, the Whirlpool WDTA50 cleaned the best, and it even beat several more-expensive dishwashers at cleaning crusty casserole dishes, cake-batter-smeared spatulas, and glasses coated in Bloody Mary mix. It was also the easiest to load in its price category.

For the price, its features cannot be beat. This model has a full stainless steel tub (a hallmark of a quality dishwasher—most cheap models have plastic tubs). Its third and middle racks are height-adjustable. The middle and lower racks have collapsible and adjustable tines, which allow for easy loading.

Its shortest cycle is not as effective as that of our other picks, and its best wash cycles are long—often more than three hours. (If you run your dishwasher multiple times a day, consider our top or upgrade picks.) The WDTA50 does not have an interior light, and it is not Wi-Fi–enabled. It operates at a discreet 47 decibels, which is a bit louder than our other picks but quieter than a refrigerator.

This model is not Energy Star–certified. The Whirlpool Corporation is known for its reliability and easily replaceable parts. This dishwasher has a one-year warranty for parts and labor and a 10-year warranty for its racks and stainless steel tub. The WDTA50 comes in five finishes.

This stylish dishwasher offers multiple exterior and hardware finishes and two handle types. It’s an excellent, quiet cleaner, but its cycles can be long and its drying can fall short.

If you want a high-performing dishwasher that is meant to be seen, the Café CDT888 is a great choice. This dishwasher is available in four finishes, and you can choose from two handle types and six hardware finishes—the most customization of all our picks.

In testing, this thorough cleaner consistently and easily erased the messiest soils, including baked-on grease, burned milk, and a range of difficult stains (including oatmeal and avocado) from cutlery. It also dries dishes well, though the extra-dry option will lengthen a cleaning cycle by an hour.

The CDT888’s smooth-gliding racks have collapsible and adjustable tines. It has a third rack and an interior light (none of our other picks have this). It runs at a whisper-silent 39 decibels.

This model is both manufactured in the United States and Energy Star–certified. It comes with a one-year warranty for parts and labor.

Advertisement

Staff writer Andrea Barnes covers large cleaning appliances, and she conducted our two most recent rounds of dishwasher testing. She also provides tips for getting the most out of your dishwasher and laundry appliances, and she’s convinced multiple people to stop pre-rinsing their dishes.

For this guide:

In our most recent round of testing, we evaluated standard-size, 24-inch built-in dishwashers. (We did not test smaller, 18-inch built-in dishwashers. But the companies that make our picks do offer models in that size. If you need a portable dishwasher, we have a guide to those.) In this guide, we focused on traditional dishwashers, but newer designs, including built-in drawer-style dishwashers, are becoming more widely available.

You can read our full testing protocol.

Here’s a summary of what we evaluated:

If you use a good detergent and rinse aid, most dishwashers will clean well. Great cleaning performance stems from hard-to-measure factors like spray-arm geometry, energy management, cycle programming, soil-sensor algorithms, and filtration quality.

We take these things into account while conducting our in-depth stress-testing. Replicating the daily dish usage of a five-person household, we washed close to 100 items in each test load, including bowls slicked with oatmeal, plates painted with a patchwork of dried-on foods, flatware caked with avocado, and glassware smeared with lipstick.

Modern dishwashers reuse the same few gallons of water during a cycle, so they have fine filters that trap and eventually flush away food debris, to prevent it from being redistributed onto your dishes. (Our testing showed that newer, eco-friendly cycles that use less water require even better filtration.)

Filtration is tied to cleaning performance. If a dishwasher doesn’t have an effective filtration system, dishes will have a gritty residue at the end of a cycle. We conduct tests using foods in a variety of colors and textures, to help us measure how well a filter prevents food from splashing back onto dishes during the cycle. We noted how often filters needed to be cleaned.

Some dishwashers also have a food grinder, to further pulverize excess waste. We did not find that a grinder necessarily improved performance (two of our picks have one). And depending on the dishwasher, it can make a cycle much louder.

Many dishwashers we tested have a dizzying number of cleaning-cycle options with perplexing names like Aquaflex. Our testing showed that there wasn’t much difference among them, and most people will be better off using time- or sensor-based cycles, like Quick or Pots and Pans.

Cleaning cycles can run from around one hour to three and a half hours or longer. Modern dishwashers use sensors to adjust cleaning duration in real time, often adding an hour or more if dishes are particularly dirty. We paid close attention to cycle length and gave special consideration to dishwashers that efficiently cleaned everything in less than 90 minutes.

Dishwashers tend to dry metal, glass, and ceramic thoroughly. But few models are particularly good at drying plastic cups and containers. In each of our test loads, we included multiple plastic items, to determine how each machine handled the task.

We assessed the flexibility of rack layouts and how well they accommodated dishes both big (a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish, a 2-liter pitcher) and small (ramekins, chopsticks). We took note of how smoothly the racks operated. A height-adjustable upper (or middle) rack helps make space for tall items, like long-stemmed wine glasses, or large cookware. We made sure that these racks lock easily into place so they don’t collapse mid-cycle (we’ve had this happen during testing).

Dishwasher manuals include advice on how to most efficiently load specific layouts, which we followed during testing after loading blindly for a few cycles.

We examined the warranties of all the dishwashers we tested. A one-year warranty is standard. We gave extra points to models with longer warranties. To get a sense of reliability, in addition to our own appliance survey, we analyzed thousands of customer reviews using FindOurView, an AI-driven tool. We also referenced the Designer Appliances blog. We spoke with service repair technicians and owners of independent appliance stores, and we also dove into online appliance forums, including on Reddit.

In our experience, dishwashers that fall around 45 decibels on average are practically silent (unless you’re standing right next to them). Noise starts to get bothersome at around 55 decibels. Dishwashers with stainless steel tubs are typically quieter than those with plastic or hybrid (plastic and stainless steel) tubs. Noise levels can also differ between cycles, such as Gentle or Heavy. Using an app, we measured decibels at various points in a cycle. While the measurements didn’t always match the advertised decibel level, nothing went over 55 decibels.

Remember to take manufacturer-reported decibel ratings with a grain of salt. Though a rating is measured by the industry’s standardized noise test, it’s an average of the entire cycle, which alternates between louder periods (when the dishwasher is draining water) and quieter periods (when it’s drying dishes).

Modern dishwashers tend to be very efficient. Until recently, many dishwashers qualified as Energy Star–certified, which means that, on average, they use 12% less energy and 30% less water than standard dishwashers. New qualification criteria for dishwashers were released in July 2023, and many dishwashers no longer qualify for Energy Star certification. Our top pick (the Miele G5008), upgrade pick (the Miele G7216), and best-for pick (the Café CDT888) are all Energy Star–certified under the new standards.

In almost any scenario, whether or not they are Energy Star–certified, dishwashers save significant amounts of water and energy compared with hand-washing dishes, which guzzles between 9 and 27 gallons of water (depending on your wash style) and up to double the water-heating energy.

Advertisement

This entry-level Miele model delivers sparkling-clean dishes, and it’s quiet and easy to use. Miele is known for its reliability, durability, and owner satisfaction.

The Miele G5008 offers a great combination of cleaning performance, user friendliness, energy efficiency, and reliability. In our reader survey, and within the broader industry, Miele ranks as the dishwasher manufacturer with the highest owner satisfaction rate. You’ll have a hard time finding a better dishwasher without spending significantly more.

It’s an excellent cleaner. This dishwasher cleaned very well in our tests, regardless of what detergent we used. The Quick cycle (which uses sensors to determine the size of the load and set the time) is one of the most effective hour-long cycles we tested, making quick work of baked egg, stubborn grease splatter, and tomato juice. Just a handful of machines we tried performed similarly, and only our upgrade pick cleaned better.

It cleans faster than most other dishwashers. Even the messiest loads of dishes rarely took longer than two and a half hours to wash. While many people run their dishwashers overnight, short cycles are convenient if you have a busy household with lots of dish turnover.

It has a streamlined design, with manual buttons. The front control panel has a sleek, flat appearance and raised buttons, which are clearly marked. This design can be easier to use than a touch-sensitive control panel, which can be finicky when wet and difficult to navigate. (This model is not Wi-Fi– or Bluetooth-enabled; versions of our upgrade and best-for picks are.)

Its racks are spacious, easy to adjust, and intuitive to use. The G5008 is designed to fit 16 full place settings. The roomy middle rack can be lowered or raised to accommodate taller pots and pans, and the bottom rack has collapsible tines that allow for more loading flexibility, making room for oddly shaped items or large dishes. In our testing, we were able to fit many items into a single load.

A small rack atop the middle rack folds and unfolds to cradle stemware. This same rack can also be used to support teacups, ramekins, or other small dishes, expanding the loading capacity of this already-generous rack layout.

Its filter is low maintenance and easy to access. You should have to clean the filter only once a month or so. We rarely had to rinse the filter in testing. When we did, it was easy to access and clean. (Lower-maintenance filters are typically the product of a well-designed filtration system and excellent water-jet technology.)

It has the best initial warranty of any dishwasher we tested, and owners love it. Miele dishwashers, including the G5008, come with a two-year warranty for parts and labor; most dishwashers have only one-year warranties. Miele offers a five-year extended warranty (for a fee). In our reader survey, Miele dishwasher owners reported the highest rate of brand satisfaction.

It’s quiet. At 44 decibels, which is as hushed as a library, the G5008 is one of the quietest dishwashers we’ve tested.

It is Energy Star–certified. The G5008 meets the criteria for Energy Star certification and uses less than 4 gallons of water in any cycle (far less than washing by hand). It also uses an estimated 230 kWh of energy per year.

It offers less loading flexibility. The Miele rack style has distinct zones for different types of dishes—and you need to load it this way for optimal cleaning. This style of rack makes space for loading many dishes, but it isn’t as flexible as the more-open layouts of our other picks.

Its bottom rack is quirky. The bottom rack is designed for plates to be loaded facing forward horizontally, which offers more real estate for dishes. We found that it keeps dishes upright and separated better than traditional dishwasher racks. But some people might find it annoying, particularly if your plates are curved or extra large.

Only a quarter of the bottom rack’s tines can be collapsed and adjusted, unlike our budget pick (and one of our other recommendations), both of which have full rows of tines that can be collapsed and adjusted.

It doesn’t come in multiple styles. This model comes in only one finish (stainless steel), and it doesn’t offer different handle options or top-oriented controls.

It’s more expensive than competing models. The G5008 is more expensive than what we’re used to seeing from an entry-level model, but the G5008’s performance and reliability surpasses those of its competitors. We think it’s worth the investment.

It doesn’t dry plastic well. Rather than using a heating element to dry dishes, this model relies on a condensation drying system that uses fans. This drying mechanism saves energy, but some plastic items we dried retained pools of water. Using a rinse aid and unloading your dishwasher in the correct order should help, but if extra-dry plastic is a must, consider either of our non-Miele picks.

You’ll likely need to buy it from an appliance dealer. This model (and other Miele dishwashers) is most plentifully stocked at appliance dealers rather than big-box stores, though some Lowe’s locations now sell it.

Service might be difficult. Make sure Miele-certified technicians service your area. Miele’s dishwashers are made in Germany (for now), and finding certified technicians or replacement parts can be challenging. We expect to see more Miele-certified technicians as the company’s popularity grows in the US.

This model cleans almost as well as our top pick, and it’s better at drying. But the heated-dry cycles run long, and its racks aren’t quite as user-friendly.

If you want your dishes to emerge both clean and bone-dry—especially plastics—we recommend the solid Maytag MDB8959SKZ. But with this machine, you’ll sacrifice a little cleaning performance and usability in comparison with our pick.

The Maytag MDB8959SKZ cleans well. In our tests, on its default wash cycle, the Maytag MDB8959SKZ performed about as well as our top pick. The Maytag washed away almost every tough mess—even baked-on eggs. It also consistently delivered clear glassware, making short work of stains like red lipstick and tomato juice.

It dries plastic better than our other picks. The MDB8959SKZ’s heated-dry cycles dry plastic dishes thoroughly—a rarity among dishwashers. We routinely marveled at how well plastic containers and sippy cups dried in our test loads instead of emerging damp and drippy, like they did from other dishwashers. The heated-dry settings tack on anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to a cleaning cycle, so we recommend using them at night, when cycle duration is less of an issue.

Its racks are well designed. If you find the racks on our pick to be more frustrating to load (some people do), the MDB8959SKZ’s are more flexibly designed in a large grid layout. Though the tines on the bottom rack are not foldable, they are widely spaced and angled in a way that better accommodates deeper dishes and bowls than those of our top pick.

The third rack is deep enough to nest coffee cups and bowls, and it has large icons that indicate where to correctly place coffee cups. It has a removable tray for large spatulas and other oddly shaped utensils. The third rack also has jets that are positioned specifically for the hard-to-reach bottoms of cups and bowls; they cleaned burned-on mug cake with ease, something many machines struggled with. The MDB8959SKZ fits 15 place settings.

It has an efficient filter. Despite the copious amounts of pasta chunks and oatmeal globs that ran through this dishwasher cycle after cycle, the MDB8959SKZ’s filter rarely needed to be rinsed during testing.

It has a strong reliability track record. The MDB8959SKZ is manufactured in America by Whirlpool Corporation, which makes a range of reliable dishwashers (including those by KitchenAid and JennAir). Replacement parts should be readily and widely available. The FindOurView data showed strong customer reviews for the Maytag MDB8959SKZ, which has a one-year warranty for parts and labor and a 10-year warranty for its racks and stainless steel tub.

Its racks aren’t quite as user-friendly as those of our top pick. The Maytag’s racks are sturdy, but they don’t move as smoothly as those on our top pick. They also lack designated stemware holders and don’t have as much space for utensils.

It’s no longer Energy Star–certified. This dishwasher uses an estimated 270 kWh of energy annually, and its water usage ranges from 3 to 5.9 gallons per cycle. (If Energy Star certification is important to you, our top pick, upgrade pick, and best-for picks are all certified.)

Advertisement

This ultra-quiet model is an exceptional, speedy cleaner with upgraded features. It should prove a durable investment.

Miele G7000 Series dishwashers are superior to our other picks in almost every way. There are several models in this series that provide identical cleaning performance but different extra features. And we think the Miele G7216 is the one to consider first.

Its cleaning performance is top notch and fast. The Miele G7000 series was hands-down the most effective cleaner we tested. The dishwasher consistently turned out spotless dishes on a variety of cycles, entirely washing away dried-on oatmeal and microwaved-on foods like creamed spinach and beans, rice, and cheese. No other machine, including our top pick, was able to do that as regularly.

The 58-minute QuickIntenseWash cycle was the best quick-cleaning cycle we’ve tested, particularly when used with Miele’s Deep Clean option. It’s the only hour-long cycle we tested that consistently delivered a pristine load.

The racks are easy to load and intuitive to use. The bottom rack of the G7000 series has slots that face dinner plates forward instead of to the side. This can make loading and unloading easier, and it’s also more obvious when plates are too close together. The racks are sturdy and prevent dishes from inadvertently leaning against each other—a detail we appreciated during testing.

The racks don’t hold oddly shaped dishes—like large or wide-brimmed bowls or curved plates—as well as those of our other picks, but we were still able to fit everything from water pitchers to mixing bowls. The upper rack has drop-down placeholders for stemware (our top pick does too). And the third rack (more of a flat utensil tray) is deep enough to accommodate harder-to-wash items like ladles and larger spatulas (though it isn’t quite as deep as the third rack on our runner-up pick).

It is one of Energy Star’s most efficient dishwashers. The G7216 is very efficient, using an estimated 210 kWh of energy per year.

It has a strong warranty, and it will last. The G7000 series has a two-year warranty for parts and labor, which is the longest initial warranty of our picks. An optional five-year extended warranty is available. Miele also has high user satisfaction and reliability ratings, and it has a reputation for durability. (We’ve recommended Miele dishwashers as our upgrade pick since 2015.) We routinely hear from our experts that Miele is a dependable brand, and we recommend other Miele appliances, including vacuum cleaners.

It’s very quiet. At 42 decibels, we could barely tell it was on. (Only the Café CDT888 is quieter.)

It has some convenient extra features. Its door can open automatically at the end of a cycle. Though this is not a critical feature, it can expedite drying (plastic items included) and visually alert you that a cycle has ended—which is helpful if a typical beep or light isn’t sufficient. (You can disable the feature if it’s not for you.) Our other picks do not have this feature. Some 7000 Series dishwashers also have a feature called AutoDos, which automatically dispenses detergent—a convenient extra but not a necessity.

It is not Wi-Fi–enabled. You can’t use this dishwasher remotely with an app.

It’s expensive. The G7216 typically costs about $400 more than our top pick.

Certified service technicians might be scarce. Check that Miele technicians service your geographic area before you buy. Miele dishwashers are made in Germany, and finding service and replacement parts might be a hassle compared to our American-made picks.

If you want a dishwasher like our upgrade pick but with Wi-Fi connectivity: The Miele G7266SCVISF is similar to the Miele G7216 in almost every way, except it is also Wi-Fi–enabled. Like the G7216, it is also on Energy Star’s list of most efficient dishwashers.

If you want a dishwasher with automatic detergent dosing: We tested the now-discontinued Miele G7316, which has Wi-Fi connectivity and a feature called AutoDos, which automatically dispenses detergent via a Miele PowerDisk that you place inside the dishwasher door. While this model performed well, and the convenience of automatically dispensing detergent was enticing, the AutoDos detergent did not clean better than other high-quality detergents in our testing. (It can also be hard to find.) There is a dispenser for traditional detergent, should you run out of PowerDisks or choose not to use them. Though discontinued, this model may still be available in stores.

This sturdy dishwasher has a stainless steel tub and an effective wash system. It was the best dishwasher we tested that routinely goes on sale for less than $700. But its most effective cycles are longer than those of our other picks.

If you’re on the hunt for a great dishwasher that is typically priced under $700, we think the Whirlpool WDTA50 is a strong option. This barebones dishwasher consistently wowed us in testing, scrubbing the messiest dishes clean with its excellent wash system.

It’s a terrific cleaner. This dishwasher held its own against our other picks, easily cleaning pesky items like spoons laden with peanut butter or yogurt and dishes caked with baked-on egg.

It has a stainless steel tub. Our dishwasher picks all have stainless steel tubs, but this detail is notable for a dishwasher that costs less than $700. Many dishwasher manufacturers use a plastic or hybrid (a mixture of plastic and stainless steel) tub at this price point. Stainless steel tubs are quieter and an indication of a good-quality wash system, explained Phil Vogelwede, a mechanical engineer and former product manager at Whirlpool. (If a tub is plastic, generally the wash-system components are too.)

It has collapsible tines on both the middle and lower racks. If you bemoan being unable to fit oversize cereal bowls neatly into a dishwasher’s middle rack, rejoice. The tines on the WDTA50’s middle and lower racks collapse and have some give, making it easier to fit curved or domed items.

It has a third rack. It’s rare at this price. The third rack in the WDTA50 glides smoothly and accommodates utensils and short ramekins or bowls nicely.

It uses a heat element to dry. If bone-dry plastic is a must, this dishwasher is a good option.

Its filter is low maintenance and easy to clean. We rarely had to clean this dishwasher’s filter during testing, despite the near-comically-high levels of pasta chunks and oatmeal globs it encountered.

Whirlpool has a strong reputation for reliability and a good warranty. Most dishwashers from the Whirlpool Corporation, including the WDTA50, are manufactured in America. This should make service and sourcing replacement parts easy. This model has a one-year warranty for parts and labor and a 10-year warranty for its racks and stainless steel tub.

It is louder than our other dishwasher picks. This dishwasher clocks in at 47 decibels, which is quieter than moderate rainfall but still the loudest of the dishwashers we tested.

It fits only 13 place settings. This is the fewest of all our picks, which might feel limiting if you clean a lot of dirty dishes regularly.

It is not Energy Star–certified. This dishwasher lacks Energy Star certification and uses an estimated 270 kWh of energy annually. It’s still a water saver, using as little as 2.5 gallons per cycle.

It is not Wi-Fi–connected. You can’t use this model with an app.

Advertisement

This stylish dishwasher offers multiple exterior and hardware finishes and two handle types. It’s an excellent, quiet cleaner, but its cycles can be long and its drying can fall short.

Café, a GE Appliances brand, produces appliances designed to deliver on both utility and aesthetics. The high-performing and stylish Café CDT888, which cleans well, is available in several exterior and hardware finishes, and offers two handle styles, does just that.

It cleans beautifully. This machine handled a number of different soils easily in our tests, including oatmeal, avocado, burnt casserole, and scorched milk. While the best cleaning performance occurred when we used our top-pick detergents, middle-of-the-road detergent delivered clean dishes too. The third rack also has its own spray jets to help get utensils extra clean.

Its look can be customized. The CDT888 comes in three exterior finishes, with six hardware-finish options. None of our other picks offer this level of customization. A fourth finish, called platinum glass, is also available. Though this version does not offer options for hardware or handles (it has a pocket handle), its interior, specs, and wash system are exactly the same as those of the CDT888.

It’s spacious, and the racks are designed to accommodate unusual items. This dishwasher can hold 16 place settings—the same as our top pick. The third rack can be adjusted to create room for tall items (like a metal water bottle) to be washed on the middle rack. The middle rack is height-adjustable, and the utensil basket can accommodate tall stemware. The tines on the bottom and middle racks are collapsible and slightly flexible, which helps better accommodate curved plates, oversized bowls, and other unusually shaped items.

It has bottle jets. One of our favorite features of the CDT888 is its bottle-jet technology: four jet-enabled tines that clean items with narrow openings, like sports bottles, champagne flutes, and baby bottles. (All GE Appliances dishwashers have this.) The bottle jets have clips to secure the items being placed on them. The clips are a little flimsy and not totally necessary, but the bottle jets themselves are excellent at cleaning especially dirty bottles and narrow glasses.

It has useful extras, like an interior light and Wi-Fi connectivity. Designed to aid tired eyes when loading, this model’s interior light is something we didn’t realize we wanted till we had it. And the CDT888 is compatible with the GE SmartHQ app, which allows for downloading custom cycles, favoriting specific cycles, or remotely monitoring your dishwasher.

It is the only one of our picks that is both Energy Star–certified and American-made. This model is Energy Star–certified and uses an estimated 240 kWh of energy per year. It’s also manufactured in the US, making backorders and long delivery wait times less likely. The majority (70% to 90%) of the CDT888’s parts are made in the US, too, so replacement parts should be easier to access.

It should be easy to service. In the event that something goes wrong, GE Appliances’s national service fleet, Bodewell, is large and well known in the industry.

Its cleaning and drying cycles are long. This seems to be a running quirk with GE Appliances dishwashers, but it’s also partly due to energy-efficiency standards: Less water means longer dishwasher cycles. Even with that in mind, this machine’s cycles can run pretty long (up to 4 hours) when enhanced-drying options are selected. This isn’t a big deal if you run your dishwasher overnight, but it could be problematic if you run your machine during the day (stick with the Express cycle).

Its warranty could be better. The CDT888 has a standard one-year warranty for parts and labor, but its stainless steel tub does not have a separate, longer warranty, like our picks from Whirlpool and Maytag do. An extended service plan (for a fee) through Bodewell is available after your warranty expires.

If you have a smaller household and like the look of a drawer-style dishwasher: You might like the Café 2 Double Drawer Dishwasher. It’s designed as two separate pull-out drawers: You can run a full load in both drawers or a half-load in a single drawer. It cleaned well in our testing, and having the option to run a smaller load in one of its two drawers was convenient (though the cycle times aren’t any shorter than a typical wash cycle).

This model has an elevated look and some unique features, including that the owner can stop a cycle simply by knocking on either drawer. But we had to take a beat to figure out how to fit dishes in the two drawers when running a full load. You also have to add two separate doses of dishwasher detergent in each drawer. But if this style appeals to you, it’s a fine choice.

If you’re a fan of a retro look: We tested the Smeg STU2FABRD2, which matches the rest of Smeg’s retro-appliance line, including its popular fridges. This dishwasher cleaned well, but it is not without its major quirks. It requires salt to operate, regardless of water softness in your area. Our paid testers, who evaluated this dishwasher, found it far too small compared to some roomier dishwashers we tested. Like our budget pick, it accommodates 13 place settings, which is among the lowest capacity of all the dishwashers we tested (most of our picks have room for 15 to 16 place settings). But loading large items into the Whirlpool WDTA50 was easier than filling in the Smeg.

If a dishwasher with four racks is appealing: The Asko DBI786IXXLSSOF is a beauty that features stainless steel spray arms and accent-colored plastic parts. (Stainless steel spray arms aren’t that rare—many Whirlpool, Maytag, and KitchenAid dishwashers we’ve tested have them—but many people like this aesthetic.) This Swedish-made dishwasher has other intriguing features, the most unusual and interesting being its four racks. In testing, the Asko DBI786IXXLSSOF cleaned very well and was incredibly quiet. Its four-rack style took some getting used to; in comparison to a traditional two- or three-rack model, dishes, bowls, and utensils are loaded differently. Because Asko is so new to the United States, service is not widely available, which kept this machine from becoming a pick. We still think it’s a great option if it appeals to you.

If you already own GE Profile appliances and want your dishwasher to coordinate: The GE Profile PDP715SYVFS might fit the bill. Its Normal cleaning cycle wiped out plenty of gunk, and its antimicrobial Microban-treated handles and filter managed odors well. (This is something we really appreciated while testing machines in summer heat.) A display on the control panel lets you monitor a cycle. This model is a bit pricey, but it’s getting trickier to find a dishwasher for less.

If you have a soft spot for KitchenAid: We tested the KitchenAid KDTM704KPS, and we recommend it if you want a pricier dishwasher that is manufactured in the US, or if you simply don’t like Miele dishwashers. The KDTM704KPS cleaned well. It has versatile racks, interior lighting, easy-to-use wine-glass holders (which include tabs to secure stems in place), and a large third rack that fits both tall glasses and mugs. We didn’t make the KDTM704KPS a pick because it’s expensive and didn’t clean quite as thoroughly as our ultra-reliable upgrade pick (though it was close). But it’s still a great choice.

If you own other JennAir appliances and want another: We tested the flush, fully integrated JennAir JDAF5924RL, which was a delight to operate. (JennAir is the luxury division of Whirlpool Corporation.) It’s a great cleaner, it runs at a whisper-quiet volume of 38 decibels (the quietest of all the dishwashers we tested), and it has a floor light that counts down cycle time. It also opens automatically when cycles finish, which helps expedite drying. But at around $2,200, this dishwasher is expensive, and it’s really worth considering only if you’d prefer that your kitchen appliances match, or if you’re getting it for a deal with other JennAir appliances.

Advertisement

In July 2023, Bosch replaced its entire line of dishwashers with a collection of Wi-Fi–connected models. After testing a few of these new dishwashers, we chose not to recommend a Bosch model in our pick lineup. Here’s what we’ve found:

Bosch 300 Series: We still like the Bosch 300 Series SHE53C85N, our former top pick; we’ve recommended the Bosch 300 Series since 2017. But we chose not to feature it this time around because we think there are better dishwashers available for the price. In our most recent round of testing, this 300 Series model did not clean as consistently as previously recommended 300 Series dishwashers. The touch-sensitive plastic control panel is finickier than its previous manual buttons, and it was hard to keep clean during testing. Also, this model is no longer Energy Star–certified, which brought it down a few more points.

Bosch recently released a less-expensive Bosch 300 Series model, the SHE41CM5N, but it is different than our former pick in key ways: Unlike all the other 300 Series models, it doesn’t have a third rack, its racks are not adjustable, and it is slightly louder at 48 decibels (versus the 46 decibels of our former pick). It costs about $700 (at the time of this writing), which is around $300 less than the standard 300 Series. It does have the same stainless steel tub as other 300 Series dishwashers, though. We have not tested the SHE41CM5N yet, but we plan to soon.

Bosch 500 Series: We had high hopes for the 500 Series SHX65CM5N, which is the least expensive Energy Star–certified dishwasher in Bosch’s new lineup. Unfortunately, it cleaned dishes erratically in our tests, leaving foodstuff debris on racks and barely cleaning the insides of correctly placed glassware and mugs—an automatic disqualifier. Because we’ve traditionally recommended Bosch, we spent weeks troubleshooting this machine, to no avail. For the price, we expected a much better dishwasher (our budget pick consistently cleaned better). The Bosch 500 Series usually costs about $150 less than our top pick, the Miele G5008, at the time of this writing, but the G5008 is a substantially better machine with a better warranty.

Bosch 800 Series: We tested the updated Bosch 800 Series, featuring the company’s Crystal Dry technology, which uses the mineral zeolite to expedite the drying process. (Our runner-up pick does a better job of drying.) The 800 Series also has Bosch’s latest dishwasher technology, called PowerControl: To help clean the dirtiest pans and casserole dishes, users can program the path of the dishwasher’s spray arm using the machine’s manual control panel or Bosch’s Home Connect app.

We ran many customized PowerControl cycles using both the app and the control panel, placing dirty casserole dishes in different quadrants of the machine and customizing the spray arm’s target accordingly. We did not notice significant improvements in cleaning. In some cases, it was actually worse. Running similarly dirty casserole dishes on a Normal cleaning cycle proved to be just as effective as using the customized cycles.

Like previous iterations of the Bosch 800 Series, this model is still an above-average choice, with a good warranty. Its cleaning cycles are excellent, it cleaned well in our tests, and it dried plastic items pretty thoroughly—all of which may, for some, outweigh the potential quirks of its new programmable features. (You can skip using the programmable features altogether.)

If you have your heart set on a Bosch dishwasher, we recommend checking out Costco, which carries Bosch models that are made in Germany and more similar to the older style of Bosch machines, with manual buttons instead of touch-sensitive controls and a more-reliable wash system. (We plan to test a few of these models soon.)

This is not a comprehensive list of everything we tested in previous iterations of this guide—only what is currently available.

The Beko DDT38532X was too high maintenance to recommend; it had a filter that required frequent cleaning (despite being self-rinsing), which was a pain. And Beko, a European brand, is still new to the United States, so service is a potential issue, depending on your location.

The now-discontinued LG LSDTS9882S was a fine dishwasher with great drying power, but we concluded that there are higher-performing machines available for less. Its replacement is the LG LDTH7972S, which we have not tested.

Despite the IKEA Essentiell’s excellent five-year warranty, nothing in particular about the machine stood out to us. It struggled to clean many items and developed a strong stench faster than other machines we tested. For the price, there are better options.

The GE Profile PDT755 cleaned erratically, missing full sections of mess in the middle rack. We tweaked its installation while troubleshooting issues, but its cleaning performance did not improve much. There are better dishwashers out there, including others by GE Profile, for the same price.

We tested the panel-ready KitchenAid KDTF324PPA, which, like our upgrade pick, automatically opens its door at the end of a cycle to help speed drying. While it cleaned well, we found the middle rack, which has a section of nubby silicone grooves to hold bowls in place, to be frustrating to use. And the bottom rack had a tendency to collapse on its own. In general, we love KitchenAid dishwashers, and we expect the quirks on this will be improved when newer models are released.

We tested the Whirlpool WDT740SALZ, and though it cleaned very well, its two-rack design limits loading space compared with our picks (which all have a third rack).

The Samsung Bespoke DW80BB707012 has digital controls and a “white glass” finish that is a refreshing change of pace from typical stainless steel. This dishwasher cleaned well in testing, and we were impressed by how quiet it is. Its racks glide smoothly and adjust easily. But we hear the most owner complaints from people who have Samsung appliances, which kept us from recommending this model.

Advertisement

To learn more about dishwasher maintenance, read our articles on how to clean a dishwasher, how to clean a dishwasher filter, and how to clean a dishwasher of mold. We also have advice on how to better use your dishwasher.

We plan to test the newest generation of Bosch dishwashers and the Bosch dishwashers that are available at Costco, some of which feature manual buttons instead of touch-sensitive displays. We will also take look at Frigidaire's new dishwashers, which use a proprietary detergent-dispensing technology.

This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong and Courtney Schley.

Philip Voglewede, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Marquette University, Zoom interview, December 6, 2022, and January 23, 2023

Daniel Conrad, global engineering director of design quality, reliability, and testing at Hussmann Corporation, phone interview, March 2, 2023

Andrea Barnes

I research and report on dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, and laundry. This involves touring factories, visiting showrooms, attending trade shows, speaking with appliance-brand representatives, interviewing experts, studying patents and schematics, and reading manuals. I am based in New York City, and I test appliances in our Long Island City office.

by Liam McCabe

A portable dishwasher is a great option when a built-in won’t work. We recommend the GE GPT145SSLSS and GPT225SSLSS because of their convenient features.

by Andrea Barnes

by Liam McCabe

Your dishwasher cleans your dishes, but the machine needs to be cleaned too.

by Liam McCabe

If you’ve tried all the tricks and tips, and nothing gets your dishes clean, you might just have a terrible dishwasher. Here’s how to spot a dud.

Advertisement