Great so far

I've only had the dishwasher for about three days now, so these are just my first impressions.

First, the more I read about dishwashers leading up to this purchase, the more I realized there is no perfect dishwasher out there. Specifically, every one I researched had some people raving about it and a few who grouched they got a lemon. All brands of dishwashers are going to have their lemons, so the real question is whether the one you buy is one of those lemons and will the place you bought it from stand behind it if it is?

That said, I decided to buy from a local appliance store instead of Sears, Best Buy, etc. I figured if there was a problem, I would have a lot more luck with a place that had a repairman on staff than with a big box retailer. As an added bonus, the local shop was able to give me a price that was $50-100 less than the big guys.

I picked Whirlpool primarily because they are listed as the most reliable brand by consumer reports. Beyond that, I picked the GU3600 because I liked the interior layout of the dishwasher and because I could get it for a decent price.

I picked it up and installed it myself. You do need to buy an adapter for the water supply line and the water supply line itself (about $11 at a home improvement store) but I am pretty sure that is true for all dishwashers. It probably took me about two hours to install it, but part of that included replacing the shutoff valve that supplies the dishwasher, which is just something I've been meaning to do. Everything hooked up smoothly on the first try: no problems and no leaks.

If you have ever installed a sink, a garbage disposal, or done any basic plumbing of any kind, you should be able to install it yourself. You basically connect the water supply, connect the drain hose, connect the power, slide it in place, level it, and secure it in place with two screws. Not too bad.

The upper rack is taking some getting used to, but that is simply because it has a different layout than our old dishwasher. It is adjustable up and down, so it holds tall items with no trouble. It came with some clips to help hold light items in place. I LOVE these...I only wish it came with a bunch more, though. We have two small children and go through a lot of plastic cups during the day. Those tended to flip over in the old contractor's special dishwasher.

The lower rack is absolutely cavernous. We honestly are having difficulty filling it up. We tend to run out of clean glasses and silverware and have to run the dishwasher long before the bottom rack is filled. We have started throwing huge popcorn bowls and even my 2-year old's plastic booster seat (basically, large things we used to wash by hand) just to fill up the rack when we run it.

The silverware basket is on the door, which I know some people love and some hate. If you don't like it, you can also hang it off the front of the lower rack.

I would call it pretty darned quiet. I think the sound of water running through the pipes in our house is louder than the dishwasher itself. Of course, our old one was pretty loud, so maybe I am not the best judge. I think it is advertised as being 54 dB or less, which is among the best in the industry.

As for cleaning, I have been impressed so far. Dishes come out clean and dry. Plastic cups are not flipped over and filled with sandy water.

As a test, I loaded the ceramic liner from our crockpot. We used it to make chili the day before, and it had sit overnite on the counter...no soaking, no rinsing, nothing. Just day-old, crusty chili residue. I used the "pots and pans" setting and added the "power scour" option just to see what this dishwasher could do. It came out completely clean. And it was just part of a regular load of dishes...I did not put the crockpot liner in by itself.

Some may call it gimmicky, but I really like the countdown timer that Whirlpool provides. For some reason, I just like knowing how much time is left in the cycle. It also has a small green light on the front indicating whether or not the contents are clean. If anyone has ever loaded dirty dishes into a load of clean dishes, you will appreciate that feature too.

This is the first dishwasher I have purchased myself; all the others I have used came with the house/apartment I was living in at the time. This is the best one I've ever used by far, and I have been thoroughly satisfied and impressed after the first few days.