On my former GE DW, there was a gasket that sat inside of the plastic tube that fit against the back wall where the water came in to feed the top rack. This gasket was apparently missing, so all of the water kind of poured out through that area so that nothing fed the spray arm on the top rack- so nothing on top came clean. Shortly thereafter, the alignment of that spray arm tube against the back wall was not aligning properly, so again, water just poured down the back wall instead of up into the spray arm. There just wasn't enough water or pressure to clean the dishes on the top. You may want to check for something like that. My GE profile was new, by the way, so age doesn't seem to be a factor in poor design.

The holes in the top spray arm may be clogged and may need to be cleaned out.

Make sure the drain is clear and the D/W is fully pumping out. If it's been in used a few years you may need to run a couple back to back citric cleaner cycles to disolve lime and detergent build ups. And as Weisman said check the spray arms

Thanks all!

hotter water and more soap ???

You said this was a new house, but is it a new dishwasher?

Whenever this happens to me, and it does every year or so, it is because some sort of debris has made its way into the sump. It usually requires me to disassemble things and clean out the sump. then it works fine for a couple more years.

KA dishwashers have food choppers. We can tell when our chopper is clogged because the dishes don't get as clean, especially on the top rack. You can google instructions for cleaning it out; it's a PIA but cheaper than hiring a repairperson to do it.

My Whirlpool dishwasher says to periodically put a container with 2 cups of white vinegar inside (sitting on the bottom rack) and running am empty load....cleans out the sides, racks, arms and etc. Also to wash dishes and get them clean, make sure your water is hot and you are using the right detergent....experiment...but the Finish 4 in 1 gel caps works best in mine.

Your model number doesn't seem to be right, could you recheck it.

Not all Kitchenaid dishwashers have food grinders. The models ending in the letter E.. ex. KUDE have filters and no grinder.

KUDK03CTSS1 is a valid KA model.

Zero for the 4th character, not letter O.

The serial (not series) number indicates manufacture in Findlay OH in the 41st week of 2007.

T as 8th character in the model indicates 2007 model year.

It does have a grinder mechanism.

We had the same issues with a frigidaire dw. It sounds absurd, but it truly may just be the detergent. I scrubbed and cleaned and did everything possible to try and fix a dw that only produced dirty and GREASY dishes. After also trying several different detergents, I finally found a combo that works: finish quantum combined with finish power up booster. Your DW and water may like something else, but trying other detergents is a pretty inexpensive fix!

So to follow up on my original post we finally had the repair person come yesterday. Happily our home warranty we got covered this and so the entire visit was cheap! Indeed it was the chopper! He changed it out and now it's cleaning much better!

Here's the link to how to do it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Replacing a KA chopper.

So to follow up on my original post we finally had the repair person come yesterday. Happily our home warranty we got covered this and so the entire visit was cheap! Indeed it was the chopper! He changed it out and now it's cleaning much better!

Here's the link to how to do it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Replacing a KA chopper.

Glad you got it fixed! Cleaning out that chopper makes an amazing difference, doesn't it? Too bad KA makes it as difficult to access as it is, but it is doable for DIYers.

This is nice to know for future. I have a brand new KA dw, and we were amazed at the sparkle on the glasses! Wow! We didn't have time yet to read the owner's manual. Just put a cascade pod in there, and ran the thing. VERY CLEAN!

Guess I need to give it some time...........
Suzi