Whirlpool GU2700XTSS / GU2700XTSY 24 in. Built-in Dishwasher

I bought this dishwasher in Feb. to replace an 11-year-old Maytag that had begun to leak a little. The Maytag was built when appliances were allowed to use enough water to really clean well, so maybe that's a factor in performance now. The Maytag would clean EVERYTHING, no matter how difficult the soil, if loaded correctly.

I gave this one 4 stars instead of 5 because it doesn't clean cookware as well as the old Maytag did and has a few minor areas for improvement. It should really be about a 4-1/2, I guess, because it has lots of new features, still performs very well, and is MUCH quieter. I did not buy a new Maytag because several salespeople said the new ones aren't nearly as good as the old ones were.

I chose this Whirlpool because the reviews were better than for similar brands (GE, Maytag, etc.) that had the features & appearance I wanted. Bosch was pushed by salespeople, but they are expensive & have a filter you have to take out and clean, which I didn't want. I like this dw better now than when I first got it, and I would buy it again. I deleted my first review and am writing a new one now that I've used it longer.

Note: The other colors for the GU2700 are reviewed separately from the stainless steel exterior (different letters on the end of the model #), so look at those reviews too.

Pros:
*Cleans well almost always, which is the purpose of a dishwasher!
It gets plates, glasses, & flatware spotless, even on the shorter cycles. It cleans cookware most of the time, but sometimes doesn't get difficult soil off completely.
There is never any "sand" on any items.
*This dw is very quiet. It's hard to hear it running from 10 feet away.
*The bottom rack is absolutely huge! There is no wash tower anymore, it is a tall-tub model, and especially with the flatware basket in the door, this area is enormous. It has one row of tines across the back that may be folded down.
*The top rack is large, deep, and can be easily lowered a couple of inches to fit larger items. Cereal/soup bowls & small salad plates fit down the center row, and large glasses down the sides even with the rack in the upper position. I believe this rack can also be removed completely, but I haven't needed that. It has two rows of tines that can be folded down.
*The flatware basket is large and fits in the door, freeing up space in the lower rack. The basket is long and skinny, and can also fit elsewhere--inside the lower rack in the front or on the left side, or hang outside the rack on the front (but that puts it in about the same position for cleaning as when it's in the door, once the door is closed.) It has six separate sections, with four of them having flip-down covers with flatware slots to keep each piece separated. (See Cons for more rack/basket comments, though.) The whole front of the basket will open up, but I don't know the purpose of that.
*It has extra features such as clips for plastic items, an extra fold-down cup shelf if cups are small, stemmed glass holders (the only time I tried these, I couldn't really get them to work, but I may have done it incorrectly), and holders for a long utensil. I don't use all these very often, but they're nice when you need them.
*I love the electronic controls. They are easy to use & clean and a definite improvement over buttons & dials.
*I like the dw's appearance. I have the stainless steel exterior with the black control panel. The stainless is very easy to keep clean, but I don't have toddlers.
*It has a slate-colored tub & racks, which isn't important to me, but supposedly looks more upscale.
*Has many cycles & options: Pots & Pans, Normal, Light, Glass Express (quick cycle), Rinse Only, and Adaptive Wash (auto-pilot cycle) which senses and decides on its own. Options are Pour Scour (face pans toward the rear for extra spray), Heated Wash, Sani (high heat) Rinse, Heated Dry, Cancel/Drain. There is also a locking feature and an adjustable delayed-start option.
Like most, it has two detergent cups and a rinse-aid dispenser.
*Remembers the last cycle & options you used, so you can start it with one touch unless you want to change something.
*Food disposer & filter work great. I've NEVER seen any food particles in the bottom or redeposited on any items or in the hollows of cups. And I don't prerinse dishes before loading them.
*Has 3 wash arms (bottom, top, & below the top rack). The one in the top is very small, but apparently works fine--no redeposited particles, ever.
*The dw senses the amount of soil and adjusts the amount of water and wash time. I guess this is good, as long as everything still gets clean the first time.
*Energy-Star and stingy with water. (Maybe too stingy--see below for more on this, re suds left at first.)
*The manual is pretty good. There is e-mail customer service, but also see Cons for more on this.
*The repair record on Whirlpool seems to be one of the better ones.

Cons:
*Sometimes doesn't get cookware completely clean, even on Pots & Pans cycle.
On difficult or baked-on soil, the Pour Scour & Heated Wash options help, but sometimes it still doesn't clean things like roasters, casseroles, crockpot liner, & occasionally even saucepans, perfectly. Unlike many people, I only scrape and don't wash the dishes before I put them in, but I do rinse cookware first. I may be expecting too much perfection here, especially for an Energy Star.
Only a time or two in almost six months has it left even a tiny bit on a plate, bowl, or fork, so I have no complaints on its performance on dishes.
After I found a little food left on a fork one time, I put the flatware basket inside the lower rack (so it'd be over the wash arm), and it hasn't happened again, even the times I've put it back in the door to gain more space.
*The bottom rack could use more fold-down tines. It has only one row that folds down, and it's hard to put a lot of deep items in unless you lay them down flat over the tines, which eats up the space.
*The tines in the racks don't have the little bend at the bottom, which causes some plates to want to tip forward, or if they're thick, be a really close fit. My plates will fit OK, though. Shallow bowls also don't load quite as well or stay as stable. Almost all dw's have the bend in the tines, and I can't imagine why this one doesn't.
*The top rack has squiggles or humps on the bottom which can prevent loading glasses and cups closely enough. This lowers the capacity of the top rack somewhat. (I could load rows of 6 coffee mugs without them touching in my old dw; in this one only 5 will fit in each row, because of the humps in the bottom.) I suppose this is to separate them to prevent chipping, but I've never had a problem with chipping in any dw. I think a flatter bottom would be better.
*The slots in the flatware basket covers are barely wide enough for my flatware handles to fit through them, so you might want take a fork to the store to check. Of course, you can flip the covers up, but then you don't have the advantage of the slots keeping the flatware from nesting together.
*Some reviews complain that the cycles are too long. Pots & Pans, the longest cycle, often runs around 88-90 minutes for dirty loads. Adaptive Wash is often around 76 min., but most cycles vary depending on soil level. The Glass Express is only 30 min., and has worked fine for lightly soiled dishes the few times I've used it.
This is a non-issue to me, as long as the dishes get clean.
*It does not have a stainless steel tub, but that didn't matter to me.
*I wish it had two rinses in most cycles, or at least had an "Added Rinse" option. The Pots & Pans cycle is the ONLY one with more than one rinse. (Too stingy with water?) For the first month I had this dw, there were usually suds left in the bottom after the cycle was finished, no matter how little detergent I used. This seems to have resolved itself now, thank heavens. (Maybe a little hand soap got on a dish someway? I have no clue.) But I think it really needs two rinses, and some brands still do have two. (I checked other brands when I was having SO many problems at first with it leaving suds.)
Therefore, I find myself using the Pots & Pans cycle to get the extra rinse many times when I probably shouldn't, just to be sure it rinses the dishes completely. (Sort of defeats the energy-saving stuff, huh?)
*The e-mail customer service wasn't that great in dealing with the suds/rinsing problem. They suggested reducing the amount of detergent down until there were no suds, but with too little, the dw wouldn't clean (duh), or running the "Rinse Only" cycle after the regular cycle was finished (not very convenient). As stated, this problem finally went away.
*There is only a one-year warranty on the whole thing. The other dw's I've had all had better warranties. I didn't notice the short warranty before I bought it, but I always put durable stuff on a credit card for the extra warranty time. I hope Whirlpools are dependable!

One more note:
I've changed from Cascade powder to Cascade liquid, and usually fill both detergent cups completely full as recommended on the Cascade package (though less is recommended for soft water in the manual). The cleaning of cookware and rinsing issue both seem to be better with the liquid Cascade and filling the cups.

I'm satisfied with this dishwasher and would buy it again. I haven't seen any other that I think would be better overall.