Our 11 month old new KitchenAid dishwasher craps out

Well, the good news is the 11 months. It's got to still be under warranty. Usually appliances wait until a month after the warranty expires!

At 11 months the warranty should still cover repair but I will tell you DD bought a KA DW 1 1/2 yrs ago. They have replaced the computer board three times and something else at least once. KA will not replace the machine, just say sorry you are having these problems. She is ready to throw it out and get a new DW as every repair has been at least $100 service call plus a day off of work and now parts.

Odd, we have Kitchen Aid everything, and still going strong after 20 years. But then perhaps the quality has gone down hill. I'm sorry it died on you.

Oh what a nuisance -- an expensive nuisance. My mother has a KA that is very old and other than sounding like a truck is driving through the kitchen it works well. I have a Bosch and in ten years, it has not needed a repair. Same for my KA fridge. In general, KA appliances get only average reviews.

I think I set the twin to Pam's mom's KA DW on the curb for pick up on Tuesday. I have no idea how old it was, it was a hand-me-down from a friend who remodeled. I had it for 12 years and it was probably 5 years old when I got. It made a lot of noise - obviously some gears were not functioning well any longer - but still washed things.

I installed an inexpensive Frigidaire Gallery model, new but from the discount outlet for a local appliance store. It's quiet enough and seems to get everything clean. And it uses much less detergent than the old one. Since I paid only 280 for it, I doubt I'd bother with a service call to repair it if it failed. Knock wood.

I hope you get satisfactory service via your warranty. What a pain.

Eileen

I also had a KitchenAid stove and refrigerator when I moved into this house 30 years ago, they were five years old then. The dishwasher died about 10 years ago, I replaced it with a GE Profile. About 4 months in and the control panel went kaput, it was repaired under warranty and I've had no problems since.

I loved the old KitchenAid stove, it was the nicest range I'd ever owned and even had a self cleaning oven, the only time I've had that. Finally the oven quit, maybe six or seven years ago, and the repairman said it would cost more to fix than to replace. I replaced it with the cheapest Crosley I could buy, I remember it was about $400 installed. Very basic and no self cleaning oven and I've had the burners and igniters fixed three times already!

So, the KA dishwasher lasted about 20 years, the stove 25. I'm betting that the new ones aren't anywhere near as good as the old ones. Everything seems like that.

Sorry about the dishwasher, Peter.

Annie

They're coming tomorrow to fix it. In the meantime I stopped into the store I bought it from to pick up a copy of my sales bill I'd lost. and while their they said they would back date an extended warranty for another 4 years for around $150.. So I took the deal because I have a feeling this machine will be like the previous one and have continuing problems. A service call alone costs about $100 just to have them come to the house let alone start the repair job.

Those old KitchenAid dishwashers with the more electro-mechanical timers etc when they were still built by Hobart were built like tanks. I'd have preferred one of those,you can still find them at places like Habitat Restore and maybe next time I see one I'll grab it and put it away for next time. I had a portable one in the 70's and it worked beautifully and quickly.
All the new ones have too many electronics and I don't think high heat and moisture do much for their longevity.

Lar's if you're reading this I'd highly recommend you go get an extended warranty if you haven't yet. You usually have a period of time from purchasing to buy it.

I should have also said years ago I had a KA refrig and DW that were trouble free and I did like. I also had a 30 year old Maytag W&D. Only reason I didn't bring it to this house is I needed a stacking set. I believe much has changed over the years and not much is built to last.

I'll look into buying the extended warranty, and if it is cheap enough, I will consider it. I did buy the warranty for the last computer I bought, and I think anything that has complicated computer parts has the chance of an expensive repair. I had that with a computerized sewing maching that I had - the repair was going to be more than what I paid for the machine, and so I bought a non-computerized sewing machine (Viking/Huskvarna) and have been very happy with it.

When our old dishwasher needed repair, Kevin and I did it ourselves for less than $20 for parts. Considering that we use the DW only about twice a week at most, I don't think it is in much danger of breaking down, especially if we take good care of it. It's a gamble, but the people who sell warranties are making money - not losing it. So far, my computer has not needed repair, but it is early still.

Lars

I WAS a KA DW fan......until the most recent KA DW disastrous purchase. Make sure that the tech is authorized and get him (demand) to run full diagnostics - takes about 1 1/2 hours. Also make sure you have the most recent version / updated electronics board. Mine was outdated by several versions, even though the DW was manufactured only a few months prior. The DW mfr date doesn't mean they installed the latest version. Mine was so outdated I had to wait for a newer version to be ordered so the tech could update that one!
I will never buy KA Dw again - or an expensive DW again.
Or Stove for that matter :~(
Good Luck!

Aaccckkkk!!! I hate reading this. I put a KA dw in about 3 mo ago - already have had a service call because one of the power scrub buttons wasn't working. It replaced a Maytag dw that lasted about 8 or 9 years, which had the mother board go out the first month, but then ran fine until it died. The racks were broken, so it wasn't worth repairing.

I also replaced my smooth top range with a KA about 2 mo ago. I tried doing research about reviews of both before purchase and there were detractors of every brand of everything; it all seems like a crap shoot these days. I think most of these appliances are now made in Mexico and intended to last 5-7 years - that's what the repair woman said. Think I better open the warranty extension mail I keep getting from KA.

A friend of mine in Ohio saw my fb rant and told me the KA dishwasher he had installed last June has already had 2 service calls, ugghhh
And it's probably not a good sign when you call their 800 number and hear "All of our customer care agents are currently busy assisting other customers" LOL

We had a flawless KA dw for around 30 years, give or take, and bought a new KA for the remodel in 2011. So far, this one is also working well. It has heated dry which dries plastics and goes from 1 hour to much longer. Fingers crossed, but I have been lucky with KA dws.

Have a 20-30 yr. old ka dw at the cottage which also seems fine but it only gets used in the summer, sometimes. I think KA makes good dishwashers.

We, too, had a workhorse KA dishwasher. I fairly wept when it gave its swan song after 20+ years of washing dried on cheeses, tomato sauce and other malodorous gunk.

We purchased a new one, bought the extended warranty and had a service call within two months. Control board went. Frustrating part was that Lowe's told me that no matter what died, it was covered. Well, it was covered, but I couldn't get anyone to come out. I'd make an appointment, and the company would cancel the night before. Finally, I called Lowes, told them about it and they sent someone right out. Currently, the little happy chime doesn't signal denoting the end of cycle .... probably signaling another service call.

Sorry to corroborate your experience, PKguy.

I've become so cynical. I hear energy savings, it only uses a teaspoon of water, blah, blah, blah and I just put up my hand like a traffic cop, thinking "Please. I'll be replacing this in just a few years."

Cathy in SWPA

Having just purchased an entire house full of appliances within the past ninety days, including furnace and a/c, this is a depressing thread. Since our new appliances are all the same age - they will probably cr@p out at the same time. :(

/tricia

Update, our DD gave up fighting with KA, bought a Bosch and so far is thrilled. It has only been a week. But the last 2 times KA repaired her DW it didn't last 24 hours.

Service guy came back last Thursday and installed the new control box and it's working once again, but for how long we'll see

I'd been out at my sisters last weekend. I know she'd had dw problems but I thought hers was a bosch.. nope it a Kenmore rebrand as well from Whirpool and the interior and control panel are identical to my KA.. She's had about 3 repairs in the 3 years she's owned it. One was a bad leak requireing floor repairs

In the 2 years since purchasing a kitchenaid dishwasher I've had to replace the wheel assemblies on the top rack (about $70) and the pump (about $250). I also have to "reboot" it by turning the circuit breaker off and back on about twice a month. Now the control panel has gone out and just the labor to replace it is $150 (I'm not sure how much the part is, but it had the word "hundred" in it).

I'm told the average life of a dishwasher now is about 7 years. This one lasted 2.5.

Bid- Welcome to the Cooking Forum! I am really sorry to hear about your dishwasher woes, what a pain! Are you aware that there's another great forum devoted to appliances here on GardenWeb? There are bound to be others there with similar problems who can share remedies and methods to receive compensation. Here in Calif we have a lemon law. It sounds like you're entitled to a replacement!
Good luck with your issues! I hope you'll continue to visit the cooking forum with kitchen questions, recipes and ideas again soon!

We've had our Kitchenaid KUDS35 since October 2011 and have had 5 service claims (including the one I made this am). The first service call was made in Dec. 2012 when the unit was just 14 months old and the 5th today (5 calls in 13 months). In those 13 months I've estimated the down time to be approximately 56 days. The thermal fuse has been replaced three times and the control board twice. In addition, the upper rack, wheel, spinner and lower arm have been replaced. Today's call is the thermal fuse again and possibly the control board. Fortunately, I have an extended service contract, however the performance of this appliance is unacceptable. At this point I would just like a check so I can purchase a reliable dishwasher, but I'm sure that's just a pipe dream.

Sparty -- if you live in Calif there's a LEMON LAW. Check your state to see if it might apply! What a nightmare, you have my sympathies! Please cross post in the Appliance Forum to warn others!