The Kenmore Ultra Dishwasher With Stainless Steel Interior is a Wise Buy
I have been very pleased with this secondhand dishwasher. The dishes are amazingly clean after each wash, even without rinsing! The food goes into a special “disposer” that grinds larger pieces and flushes away the particles. The control panel is quite user-friendly and although reading the manual is helpful, it would not be necessary to wash a load of dishes.
This washer takes a very minimal amount of detergent, which helps save money at Walmart (which is always a good thing!). Kenmore’s stainless steel interior makes for a dishwasher that does not rust or stain, and looks clean at all times! The functions include a hot water scrub, a sanitizing rinse, and an “air dry” as well as the normal functions you would expect in a dishwasher.
The Kenmore Ultra does have a few drawbacks. One is the long wash cycles. It can take upwards of two hours to wash a load of dishes. While this is fine on a normal evening (supper dishes can be put into the washer and then forgotten until the next morning), it can be annoying on a busy kitchen day when several loads must be washed and then certain dishes reused. Also, this dishwasher requires that your hot water heater be at least 120 degrees, and we have found it needs to be a little hotter than that.
I have decided that the Kenmore seems to use heat rather than pressure to wash the dishes. Consequently, the dishes are not pushed and thrown around during the cycle; however, if the water is not hot enough going into the machine, the cycle will add time for heating and the dishes may not get quite as clean a rinse as they might have with super hot water. The manual even suggests you turn your faucet on hot for a few seconds to make sure it will be immediately hot for the wash cycle to save time and energy.
The only actual problem I have had with this four-year old dishwasher is that the sensor for the rinse aid dispenser seems to have gone bad. However it does not affect the quality of the wash.
Overall this machine is excellent, and I would definately recommend buying a Kenmore Ultra Dishwasher. Especially if you can find it on Craigslist for a quarter of the retail price – like I did.
