Finding the best dishwasher for your home

Whether you’re looking for something to put in the cottage or are replacing an old model, shopping around to find a good dishwasher can be tricky. Today’s models come with numerous options and features so it’s helpful to know what to look for.

As with any new major appliance in your home, you need to know what space you’re working with. So measure the height, width and depth of your machine before buying. As always, don’t forget to measure the doorways and hallways of the spaces leading to your kitchen to make sure you can get your new machine into the kitchen.

There are a few different kinds of dishwashers on the market such as:

• Conventional dishwasher: Lower in cost, these get the job done at a price… often, it’s noise.
• Premium dishwashers: These quieter machines have lots of the extra bells and whistles that aren’t available in the conventional set.
• Dishdrawer: These have two stacked drawers to run smaller groups of dishes.

There are many factors to work into deciding on a new machine. These include:

• Energy efficiency: If you want a more energy-efficient machine, look for an ENERGY STAR symbol on the device.
• Sound: Do you mind a noisy dishwasher or are you in an open concept room where it needs to be quieter?
• How big? If you live solo, you might need a machine that just takes a quick-wash cycle as opposed to the numerous cycle choices a family of six people would need, for example.
• Is it moveable? Are you tucking it away into a spot or need to move it to hook up to the sink to clean your dishes?
• Load size: How much of a load can the washer take?
• How many racks? Two or three? The third rack is often a smaller one to hold items such as cutlery.

Today’s washers also come with a handful of extras that you may or may not want on your machine:

• Sanitizing rinse—useful for cutting boards
• Hidden touchpad controls—for a more streamlined look in your kitchen
• Heated dry
• Additional wash cycles such as quick/express, pot scrubbing, and more. This is on top of the usual light/normal/heavy cycles generally included in a washer.
• Adjustable racks