Why settle when you can have it all?

Nobody ever said having it all would be easy, or cheap.

Frigidaire combines the best of both worlds. Having just moved into my new house I was looking for a dishwasher. I’ve never had a dishwasher before. All my life I’ve lived with parents, rented somewhere, or shared accommodations with roomies. So I’m going into this completely unbiased as I have no previous experience to sour my future expectations when it comes to dishwashers. So, where do I start?


Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Okay, let’s look around and see what catches my eye. After many visits to different stores, web sites, and catalogues this particular dishwasher caught my eye. Now, I’m no stranger to expectations and good tastes, so I had to satisfy as many as I could, and of those many here are a few: stainless steel tub, stainless steel exterior, hidden controls, visible display, adjustable racks, layout/design, features such as different wash and dry cycles, and last, but not least, price. It not only had to look great and be priced right, but it had to do its job better than the other kids on the block.


Expectations 101:

The Frigidaire PLD4555RFC dishwasher met many of my wants and needs with the exception of one. First, its stainless steel exterior was a beautiful finish with a nice, rounded, grab handle of the same tone running almost the entire span of the door and a nice little tinted display just above it. Pull it open and the door reveals various controls running along the top that are hidden under the counter ledge once closed. Among the many are various wash settings such as Eco Wash, Rinse Only, Ultimate Scrub and Normal Wash, to name a few. In addition you can select other options within the wash settings such as the Wash Pressure, Wash Temperature, and Drying Intensity (Sahara, Heated, Air). To the right of those settings you can lock your dishwasher out from the reach of tiny fingers, or delay the start of the cycle. Select the wash cycle, press "Start" (one more button over to the right) and if you’re ready to wash, just close the door as it's ready when you are.

The compact display on the front of the door displays such things as the Delay, Washing, and Drying cycles and informs you when your dishes are clean with an orange “Clean” to the right of the number display. The orange Delay light simply informs you of how many hours are left before the washing starts, but only if you selected the Delay Wash setting calling for the washing to take place later than sooner. Washing and Drying cycles are what they mean—your dishwasher is either washing or drying your dishes.

During the wash cycle the display will give you an approximate estimate as to how long before your dishes go from zero to hero. Though with its Smart Soil Sensor™ running the show the times will vary and either increase or decrease based on how clean the dishwasher believes the dishes to be. Personally, I don’t know if this Smart Soil Sensor™ is of the ‘form over function’ design. I have put in my dishes after purchasing them brand new from the store, along with my new flatware and yet the display informed me that it needed to wash them longer than it takes for me to take a shower, brush my teeth, and get dressed: over an hour. Seventy three minutes to be exact. Yes, this was the initial readout on the display. I’m not sure how long it actually took from start to finish, but I’m still skeptical about the sensors when the display jumps from 55 minutes to over 70. Perhaps one day I’ll sit there, watch it, and time it to get the true time. The only explanation for my new dishes: the factory where they were made was very, very, very dirty.

So, where do my needs part with my wants and expectations? Well, for starters I had to give up the stainless steel tub if I wanted this particular model. The way it’s presented on the Frigidaire website leads me to believe that it’s Frigidaire’s top-of-the-line dishwasher model. Perhaps it is, perhaps I stand corrected. Either way, I couldn’t figure out why the tub is finished in a GraniteGrey™ versus the former. If you’re not familiar with GraniteGrey™, basically, to the naked (untrained) eye it’s just a hard plastic with various shades of gray-pattern in it. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt here and presuming that the finish within is somehow superior to stainless steel, with this unit being their top model. Or could this just have something to do with money? I’m not sure here, so I’ll go with my gut feeling and keep smiling. However, make note that a few models down there is a dishwasher offered with a stainless steel tub, but not as many fancy features. Okay, I finally got over this.

Also, and this is a preference perhaps, but I am not too keen on the way the buttons depress. There is no 'click' to indicate that a button has been depressed. I'll press a button and then wait to see if there is a response. Because the feeling is lacking I tend to push the buttons rather firmly to ensure the command is carried out.

Pull the handle and the door opens with minimal resistance (there is no handle to depress to release any sort of opening or unlocking mechanism). The controls are simple, the readout display is clear, illuminating the cycle process in orange lettering, the washing time in green numbering, and the process in green… code. If your hot water isn’t hot enough it will display “HO” while heating the water to operating temperature, if the door is open expect to see “CL”, and if you experienced a power failure expect to see “PF” on the display. Don’t worry, you will quickly learn the four or five different shortcut codes. You’ll feel like a full time dishwasher in no time. There are four readouts that you do not want to see, but if you do, call your repairman. Smart, it even informs you if there is some sort of malfunction.


PLD4555RFC meets expectations and conforms to code.

My dishes come out clean every time. There is a bit of water left within the dishes, even on the Sahara Dry setting, but I blame it on the contour of the dishes themselves, and not on the dishwasher. Unless it was 50⁰C outside (122⁰F) for five hours the glasses wouldn’t come out dry. If you run out of rinsing agent the Rinse Agent light will illuminate for five consecutive cycles to inform you of that it needs refilling (Rinsing Agent helps leave your dishes free of water spots—cool, but not necessary).

One really nice feature worth mentioning is that once you select a cycle and its settings and start the dishwasher, the next time you wash your dishes and want to use those same settings you just press the start button. The dishwasher remembers your previous wash and dry settings, eliminating the pressing of buttons and remembering settings. Pretty impressive.


Bottom Line:

Looks amazing. I love the way it looks. It’s flush with the counters, the controls are hidden, but yet, the display is visible from anywhere in the room. Beautiful stainless steel finish and upon delivery all pieces arrived intact and complete. I have nothing bad to say about this dishwasher unless I were to complain about the unavailable stainless steel interior finish, of which I was fully aware of before purchase that was not an option. Also, I should point out that it does seem very quiet. This unit is so quiet, in fact, that the only thing I hear is the water spraying around in the tub. I don't even realize that the dishwasher is operating, unless I hear some splashing of water within its parameters, which is normal. Excellent in terms of operation. I was amazed.

If it catches your eye and the price catches your wallet: get it. It’s one great unit to complement the other units in your kitchen.


Things I Forgot To Mention:

I forgot to mention that, as perhaps with any other dishwasher, you will need to buy additional parts to install your new appliance. I mention this because this is not something I was aware of myself and when the dishwasher arrived I was disappointed about having to run down to my local hardware store to pick up a water line, a clamp, and a couple of other items.

As your installation may vary, I won't go into the details of mine, but it was relatively simple if you have some knowledge with electrical and plumbing and have a talent for handling a few tools. It was interesting to see that it also came with a rubber strip that you attach to the exterior walls of the dishwasher filling in the unsightly gap between it and your counter.

For more information on this product you may visit the Frigidaire site at http://www.frigidaire.com/products/dishwashers/built-in_dishwashers/24_inch/prod_PLD4555RFC.asp