In order finalize our kitchen design back in the spring, we needed to order all our new appliances. As you may remember, we settled on Frigidaire for our fridge, range and dishwasher.
The stainless steel appliances looked nice and sleek. And, they seemed to be the best for not showing fingerprints.
Sadly, we learned pretty quickly that we had made a mistake by selecting the Frigidaire dishwasher. Had we done a bit more research in advance, we would have discovered the major design flaw that makes this dishwasher so bad.
Most dishwashers have small vents at the top or bottom that allow the steam to escape when the dishwasher is in the dry cycle. The Frigidaire dishwasher does not. This means that the steam is forced out the sides of the dishwasher door, causing condensation to build up on the kitchen cabinets beside the dishwasher. The condensation drips down the cabinet doors to the floor.
After less than a month of use, the condensation already started to damage our brand new kitchen by causing the paint to peel on the cupboards!
Once we discovered the problem, we did some searching on the internet and found that we weren’t the only people to have these issues. There were even entire blogs dedicated to it!
We knew we couldn’t keep using a dishwasher that was going to damage our cupboards and floors, so we began the long and tedious process of getting it replaced.
We started by calling Frigidaire, but had no luck even getting them to answer the phone.
Next, we moved on to the Brick – where we purchased all our appliances – and called the salesperson who we originally dealt with. He told us we needed to call the Brick’s warranty department, who would send someone out to service the dishwasher.
After the first service visit, we were told that the dishwasher was installed incorrectly. We repositioned it, tried again, and continued to have the same problem.
We called the Brick again for another service visit (even though we knew the dishwasher wasn’t actually broken or installed incorrectly – just poorly designed!) and this time the service technician could clearly see that the condensation was causing steam damage to the surrounding cabinets.
After numerous phone calls and weeks of waiting, the Brick finally agreed to provide us with a store credit so that we could replace the dishwasher with a new one of our choice.
In the meantime, we made sure we protected our cabinets and floor while we continued to use the dishwasher. Our set-up looked ridiculous, but was the best we could do!
This time, we made sure to do lots of research before settling on a new Bosch dishwasher:
While more expensive than the Frigidaire, the Bosch gets excellent reviews and still has the clean, sleek look we want. The Bosch arrived today, but we haven’t had a chance to install it yet because we were busy watching Canada win the gold medal hockey game! We’ll post a review of our new dishwasher once we’ve had a chance to use it.
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14 comments:
Sorry to hear about this. I hate these kinds of setbacks, and they seem especially hard to deal with when you just want to move onto your next reno project.
Our next door neighbour has this one and he loves it! Good choice, but too bad the other one was a dud!
We have a Bosche and it is AMAZING!
Best part is it is SUPER quiet!
That's too bad about the dishwasher! Hope you can fix up your cabinets and that the next dishwasher has no issues.
Thank you so much! We have had the same dishwasher for almost 2 years now and thought we were doing something wrong. We are getting new cabinet fronts (for 2 year old cabinets!)I wish they would stop selling it!
We had a similar problem. Our GE profile dishwasher releases excessive moisture out the top and it condenses on the underside of our granite countertop. The condensation gets so heavy it drips into the top keypad of the dishwasher. We already had to pay almost $300.00 to replace the keypad. It also drips down the door front and sides onto our hardwood floor and our floor is getting ruined. Finally, our granite countertop was given extra support with steel rodding in the granite and the excessive moisture from the dishwasher rusted the steel rod above it. The rusting caused the steel rod to expand and crack the granite above my dishwasher. GE says that this condesnation is "normal" and that they can do nothing about it. Be very careful in purchasing a dishwasher because the manufacturers will give you the run around while their appliance destroys your home. I asked the dishwasher repairman what he would do if it was his home and he said put towels on the floor and between the dishwasher and countertop. Evidently towels are the best repair solution that they can come up with. So my expensive home and dishwasher look ridiculous.
We have had the exact same problem (after a year of use, we had blistering on the side gable) but because neither Sears Canada nor Frigidaire would do anything about it, we have put some sheet metal to cover the vent on the side so it won't ruin our cabinet again. It's been 8 months since we put the sheet metal in and so far, no blistering.
I feel that this is just a ridiculous problem and the fact that Frigidaire opts to put their head in the sand rather than offer either a solution or an apology is very frustrating.
I had the same problem with my maytag after 9 years. I noticed my cabinet drawers had lots of condensation. I replaced the door vent and door gasket with no luck. I then noticed that there was a leak after removing the lower floor panel. The hose had a leak with the build up of heat from the washer caused the condensation. I replaced the hose and everything is okay now
I started with a Bosch but returned it because of rust problems on the inside stainless steel. Then we got a KitchenAid, and now I have your condensation problem- go figure!
Ha. I have actually re-engineered several components of my GE dishwasher Model # GHDA485N00CS.
Most of these machines are designed to meet the customer's expectations of acceptable lifespan. That means they are designed to fail within ten years.
Our old Maytag had a control panel that was designed to get wet and corrode. This was great for the manufacturer, as it only lasted four years at most, with repairs. I believe there is currently a Class Action in progress.
Back to my current dishwasher. First of all, always buy the cheapest dishwasher you can find. They are all crap and designed to fail. I redesigned the air diverter on my GE, as the bottom of this part was originally wide open, and designed to vent steam, you guessed it, right onto the control module. This steam also condenses and drips down the inside of the door onto the floor, causing the cheap stainless steel imitation film (they call this clean steel) to peel off, and the inside of the door to rust. Expect this to happen within five years. Secondly the interlock switch mechanism had to be reengineered. The design places two interlock switches (These tell your dishwasher the door is closed) on either side of a plunger, all inclosed in a cheap plastic housing. The housing is designed to warp from the condensation directed into the interior door space. As the housing softens and changes shape the interlock switches seem to need replacement. Not the case. If you buy these switches you will find that they are non-returnable and you still have the problem. The housing needs to be modified by inserting additional support to both sides of it's interior, maintaining the space between the cheap (low tolerance) interlock switches and the plunger. With these two modifications my machine stays on and does not produce condensation where it should not. There is more steam coming out of the front door vent, but it does not contact any kitchen surfaces and quickly dissipates. Since the bottom of the air diverter has been closed off with metal, any condensation is evaporated off of the heated metal and removed as steam through the vent.
All dishwasher produce steam. The manufacturers
are very clever in how they use this process for planned obsolescence. Always research the steam routing before purchasing a dishwasher. It is your worst enemy. New interlock switches are also available that use a magnet sensor rather than a mechanical one. These seem to be a better solution. I don't know if any manufacturers are using them. The other issue is how the control panel is isolated from moisture. Probably the biggest issue.
I have yet to find a well designed dishwasher.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I also had to re-engineer the soap dispenser on my GE dishwasher Model # GHDA485N00CS. I had to add an additional gasket between the dispenser and the interior door. They used an undersized o-ring; designed to fail in three to five years. My gasket sealed the door and moisture is no longer getting inside at that point either. What an enormous cheap piece of crap GE is selling their customers. they obviously have no shame!! The worst part is that these machines also caused fires in peoples homes. I believe it is a two fold issue. Engineers are being schooled in a virtual context and no longer have the hands on skills of a Henry Ford or Thomas Edison. The second fact is that these machines are designed to fail within a certain period of time. Flaws are actually engineered into them. This is diabolical.
I think you will find that you will have this issue with all 'clean front' dishwashers. The steam has to go somewhere so if you don't have a vent looking ugly on the front, you will likely have an issue with the steam coming out the side somewhere.
Ours has a vent on the side of the door and it too was blistering the cabinets (Sears Kenmore). Our cabinet guys were great and came and put a stainless steel strip down the side which should prevent the steam from causing damage. It is very discreet and looks quite nice.
If you don't want this problem, I suggest buying a dishwasher with the vent in the front or put protection on the cabinet if you want that 'clean front' look.
Oh how I wished I knew this before my beautiful wood floors and cabinets were ruined. And to the people who spent more money for the Bosch, sorry that wont change a thing. I have a high end Maytag dishwasher with the vent on the front of the doors so that the steam can escape, but somehow over time the steam escapes or seeps into all areas around the dishwasher. My hands ache from arthritis so what can I do I need a dishwasher. Even if we painted the area like someone suggested, there still would end up being a mold problem from the moisture. Can anyone solve this problem and save millions of others from ruining there cabinets and floors?
Brand new Bosch Supersilence Plus 42 dBA dishwasher malfunctioned, stuck in hot rinse mode for 8 hours. This caused major damage to surrounding custom cabinets: lacquer on wood turned white and is lifting off wood, wood swelled, joints pulling apart. Very costly!!
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