Use it all the time, BTW what's up with two hours to wash dishes?? might as well do them by hand...

Thanks for your answers---that's what I was hoping to hear. Do you generally add on the dry cycle, too, or just the one-hour wash?

My KitchenAid has the 1 hour wash and it does come in handy from time to time. Last weekend during a cocktail and dinner party; that created lots of prep, serving & glassware I ran a couple of 1 hours cycles with dry to keep up with the inflow. It worked great.

The last load of that evening and for everyday; the Pro sensor cycle is my "go" to selection. The manual recommends this setting for highest cleaning performance, water and energy efficiency. It takes longer but does a very thorough job with any load.

Our mugs we drink tea from don't get rid of the stains if we do the "quick" wash in the Bosch. We switch off with the quick wash and the "regular"...I assume the quick is 1 hour and the regular is 2.

I've had my Miele Optima, going on 7 years now. I always use the short wash, takes about 45 mins. Everything comes out great, No complaints.

Wife just buys the "Martha Stewart Clean", dishwashing detergent. We do have a whole house water softener.

I did have to clean up the soap door the other day, as She complained it would not stay closed, but that's the first time in 7 years, maybe I should tell her to "back off the soap a bit" Ya thinks?

Gary

Wallycat, Do the tea/coffee stains come out in a longer wash? I've never had a DW that would remove those, no matter how long the wash cycle.

Dodge, I think that's the learning curve I'm most concernd about mastering---how much soap. After the DW formulation changed and I had used up all of my old dw soap, I switched to buying Finish all-in-one tabs from Costco. I'm hoping I don't have to start cutting them in half, as I like the convenience of being able to just pop one in and be done with it. My mother recently was gifted with a new Kenmore DW, and she's had a hard time figuring out detergent/rinse aid. When she uses the rinse aid, she's ending up with several inches of bubbles at the bottom of the dw and she still has bubbles after running a couple quick wash (1 hour) cycles with no added detergent. She's started using the Finish all-in-one tablets and said she still has a bit of an accumulation of suds at the bottom. She's been pouring water on top of the suds and running a rinse and drain cycle to get rid of them. I don't know what to tell her, but I suggested she have a service call, since it's only a couple months old and under warranty.

(We do not have hard water.)

PS Dodge, I wouldn't presume to advise you whether to tell your wife to use less soap or just resign yourself to cleaning the soap dispenser every seven years. :)

This post was edited by sail-away on Thu, Mar 21, 13 at 20:42

Boy that's a lot of work your Mom is doing.

I have read thou, that those that do use those tabs, they do cut them in half, You may want to look at some of the posts here.

I really haven't see any excess soap bubbles from the soap the wife uses, and as I mentioned, that's the first time I've cleaned it in 7 years, alto we do not use the DW regularly, not even once/week on average.

She used to use the powder, but I told her that was not a good idea, and she quit, so "Maybe" some of that soap buildup was from the powders?

At any rate, it wasn't a big deal to clean, and you sure can't beat the price of the Martha Stewart stuff--- $3.50 for a half gallon, that will probably "Outlast Me" LOL

Good luck with yours!!!

Gary

Dodge, Where do you buy the Martha Stewart dishwasher powder?

We have the similar Kitchenaid dishwasher and use the 1 hr was about 95% of the time. The only time we don't use it is if there is really tough baked on or sticky stuff on pots or bakeware. Never use the heated dry, when I notice it's done I just pop open the door about an inch and they're dry in no time.
The one hour cycle uses slightly more water and slightly more power but not enough in my mind to warrant it taking 2-3 hours on the pro wash or normal cycle.
The reality of these "sensor" cycles is that all they are really doing is "soaking" your dishes for a long period of time which naturally makes it easier to clean with less water and less electricity.

sail-away, it is a liquid not a powder, and she got it at "Big Lots".

It says on the label it is 99% organic, alto She didn't buy it for that, I'm sure. I would suggest you goggle it and see for yourself what it is, I really can't complain about the job it does, and "Old Shakey Jake" here, ain't about to start cutting tabs in half. (I still have 10 fingers last time I counted and would like to keep it that way)!!!!

Gary

pkguy, Good to hear your experience with the one-hour wash. Thanks for telling me about the dry cycle; otherwise, I probably would have added that on.

Gary, Thanks for the info on the Martha Stewart liquid. I totally agree about not wanting to cut tablets in half. The only problem is that I probably have about a year's supply of the Finish all-in-one tabs left (thanks to Costco price cut +coupon + manufacturer including extra tabs in each container).

I'm following up this post to say I have my DW, but have only been able to use it twice before disconnecting it to remove sink, countertops, etc., in anticipation of new granite counters being installed in another week. The two washes I did do I used the regular sensor wash because I had put in some really dirty dishes and I wanted to see if the DW would really clean them---especially if some of them sat for 24 hours before being washed. I didn't want to use the one-hour wash and the find they didn't get clean. I now know that it will clean all sorts of stuck on food, even if it sits.

Now my question is this: To you who responded that you regularly use the one-hour wash, does it work if the dishes have been sitting with dried on stuff for a day or two before being washed? If the answer is yes, then that will be the next thing I try. Otherwise, I'll just use the one-hour when I have a full DW that I can start on the same day the dishes are loaded and stick with the longer sensor wash for loads that set for a couple days.