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The launch of Miele's new Eco Dishwasher (also known as Miele G 1225 SC Eco Dishwasher) offI Iers a dishwasher that goes the extra mile for efficiency. The wash program of the Eco Dishwasher has been developed so that you can run a load of dishes and use less than three gallons of water. The power required to run a load is equally low (0.6 kilowatt hours), incorporating a Turbo function that cuts up to 50 minutes off the length a wash cycle. Where many appliance makers have had to reduce the size of an appliance in order to get peak efficiency, but Miele's dishwasher can hold 14 place settings and still use a minimum of water and power.
The Eco Dishwasher has two racks with separately controlled lower and upper wash arms. There are also flexible storage baskets for both the upper and lower racks. The dishwasher uses sensors to detect how dirty your dishes are and adjust run times and other settings based on that information--including determining which wash arm to use. Sensors also allows the dishwasher to dry each dish perfectly, without using extra energy to overdry your kitchenware. The Eco Dishwasher is available for approximately $1,200.
Not everything we write about here is flashy and shiny. Sometimes, we've got to get down to the nitty-gritty. Sometimes, we've got to figure out just where that icky smell is coming from. The culprit? Most likely your garbage disposal or dishwasher, and the latest offering from Whirlpool can help.
The new Affresh dishwasher and disposal cleaner can help maintain your kitchen appliances and keep your kitchen smelling fresh and clean. Pop a tablet in your main dishwasher detergent tray; place a second in your prewash tray or in the bottom of the dishwasher. Run the machine on the heaviest cycle (but don't put any dishes in it!) and the hottest temperature.
Have a garbage disposal? After you clean the dishwasher, drop one more tablet down the disposal, run hot water for 15 seconds, and then wait thirty minutes before flushing with hot water. This will clean the drain pipe that connects to the washer.
You may remember hearing about Affresh before--there's also a version for cleaning your washing machine. Find the tablets at your grocery store for about $6 for a pack of six.
Few things in life excited me as much as reading that using the dishwasher actually uses less water and energy than washing dishes by hand. Say what you will about my enthusiasm, but with seven people in this house, we go through a lot of dishes, and that's a huge chunk of my life reclaimed.
For even more excitement, take a look at Miele's greenest dishwashers to date--the new G 2002 series uses only 5.1 gallons of water in its Normal cycle, with many models exceeding Energy Star's 2011 water and energy standards. Want even more savings? Try the Economy cycle, which uses an almost impossible to believe 1.2 gallons of water.
The washers also use a high performance water pump, an advanced Turbo feature that speeds up wash programs by 30% and an improved drying system called SensorDry that calculates the optimal drying time. And do they clean well? According to Miele, the machines are guaranteed to clean thoroughly without prerinsing dishes--for water savings of up to 20 gallons per cycle. Miele also says the dishwashers should last 20 years--9 years longer than the average as reported by Energy Star.
Bring one into your home for $1,150 to $2,500.
If there's one thing I dislike more than folding laundry, it's doing the dishes. But they've got to get done somehow, because I hate having a dirty kitchen more than either of those things.
(Credit:
Ubergizmo)
Electrolux is always coming up with creative ways to keep your kitchen clean. Here at Appliances and Kitchen Gadgets, it's best-known for its sponsorship of the Electrolux Design Lab, which gives industrial design students an opportunity to strut their stuff each year in designing innovative home appliances. In keeping with its reputation, the company has come up with a unique concept for a dishwasher, using a combination of UV light and air pressure instead of gallons of hot water.
The washing cycle begins with a blast of high-pressure air that removes leftover food and debris from the dishes, followed by hot steam that degreases them. The final step includes a set of UV beams that sterilize the dishes and prep them for use.
The downside is the size, which appears to be large enough to accommodate only enough dishes for one person. It also seems like cleaning cups would be difficult, since the air pressure stage of the washing cycle seems to rely heavily on clear access to all parts of the dish. That being said, it's just a concept, so let's cross our fingers that later editions are big enough to fit a family's worth of dishes.
(Via Ubergizmo)
If you hate doing dishes by hand, then you'll jump for joy over the creation of this monstrous twin compartment dishwasher by Baumatic.
Dubbed "the Mega90," this clunker is little more than two 18-inch single washers squeezed right next to each other. But if you have the space and extra energy to spare, the Mega90 is capable of washing up to 16 place settings in one fell swoop. Armed with a variety of cycle options, including Normal, Intensive, Economy, Glass, Rapid, Rinse, and Soak, you can bathe your dirty dishes in a temperature of your choice between 104 and 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Outside of its obvious large capacity, it also offers other expansion options, including a height-adjustable upper basket and collapsible plate racks.
If energy efficiency is your thing, however, then the Mega90 might not be the best fit for you: it's only rated BBB for its energy-efficiency class.
It's March Madness time again, and you know what that means: I'm spending a lot of time fighting for the right to watch a little "24" instead of basketball. But for those of you who actually care about the NCAA college basketball tournament, Whirlpool wants to make sure the only surprises are on the court--not in the kitchen.
It's a winner! Maytag's Jetclean line of dishwashers keeps your kitchen sparkling.
(Credit: Whirlpool)You've seen the Amana Jot refrigerator, with its dry-erase finish on the door panel. Use the fridge to manage brackets, track game times, or display correct picks.
And even though the magic of DVRs lets you pause the game when necessary, it's hard to make a roomful of fans wait while you head to the kitchen to check the food. So take another look at the latest Whirlpool-brand microwave-hood combination with convection technology, which lets you cook foods 30 percent faster than in the oven.
Make sure post-party clean-up runs smoothly with Maytag Jetclean dishwashers. Run the SteamClean option to get dishes and glassware clean without any prewashing. You'll appreciate the extra-durable, heavy-duty stainless-steel racks. Remove the top rack to accommodate oversize items in the lower rack--the perfect post-party move.
The Jetclean line is definitely one player you want on your team: The tough stainless steel food chopper blade pulverizes food to prevent particles from plugging the wash system and spray jets. And the micro-fine filtration ensures that even minuscule particles such as poppy seeds or coffee grounds are captured, preventing them from being redeposited onto dishes.
May your team win--and may your kitchen stay clean!
When you choose a dishwasher, you usually choose between cleaning performance and sound. The new KitchenAid Superba EQ models promise to deliver both.
This new offering uses pressure-optimizing wash arms for a concentrated wash and an energy-efficient, variable speed motor that automatically adjusts power based on water conditions to reduce motor noise. The machine is also built with 13 unique sound dampening points.
KitchenAid claims its machine offers the industry's lowest sound level. But what about cleaning power? Well, you can forget prerinsing or manually cleaning out the dishwasher after you run it. Choose the KitchenAid ProScrub option to activate 36 targeted spray jets that clean even baked on gunk. And the built-in hard food disposer cleans up the evidence afterward.
The machines are priced between $1,399 and $1,599--but they'll be eligible for energy rebates in select states.
Don't let the size fool you: this petite dishwasher packs a lot of cleaning power.
(Credit: Appliancist)I love clean dishes, but in many of the apartments where I live, dishwashers are a rare commodity. I'm one of the nutcases who finds dishwashing therapeutic, but I realize that mine is a sentiment not shared by most other people I know. In any case, a gigantic rack full of drying dishes makes a kitchen look cluttered and unkempt, and washing dishes primarily by hand, though a more conservative method of cleaning, takes a lot of time.
This Danby countertop dishwasher fits conservation and convenience into one cute little package, accomplishing what a normal dishwasher can do, but using less water and space. It sits right on top of your counter, leaving your floor space free for more cabinets or furniture, but still has enough power to clean just like its larger counterpart.
It has five cycles to choose from: Prewash, Economy, Rapid, Normal, and Intensive (which uses high temperatures to blast through the dirtiest dishes). You select wash cycles using push button controls, and because it has an automatic detergent dispenser, you don't have to worry about pouring it in when the time is right.
The Danby's penchant for conservation doesn't end with space: it uses less than 10.5 liters during its normal cycle of water drawn from your kitchen tap, earning it an Energy Star rating, and even less for the Economy cycle.
The Danby countertop dishwasher pictured above is available for around $230, much less than a full size model, and if you ever decide to move out, you can take the portable powerhouse along for the ride.
Is there anything that sound waves cannot do? This concept ultrasonic bubble dishwasher isn't even the first ultrasonic dishwasher we've come across. But still, the fact that it's round, sleek, and bubble-shaped can only mean good things.
I can get a handle behind the theory of how I imagine this ultrasonic dishwasher works: shake the dirt loose with sound waves, and maybe filter small particles while letting the larger ones sink to the bottom. Drop it in the water, let it float around, presto-cleano, no more dirty dishes. It even has LED indicator lights to let you know when it's done.
So, as we keep seeing new ways of doing things, technology keeps dropping these round little cleaners on us every few years. We already have those vacuum cleaner robots, which happen to be kind of bubble-shaped, or at least roundish.
For a concept piece, this is right up there with all the concepts I imagine taking over in the not-too-distant future. I know I can think of all sorts of daily chores that need bubble ultrasonic cleaner things--round or not. I know my hamper could certainly use some sort of magic cleaning device. Between my whole house and all the chores that pile up, I, for one, will anxiously be waiting for a whole army of them.
via Cooking Gadgets
Although I'm a huge fan of cooking (and an even bigger fan of eating), cleaning is not really my thing. To trick myself into cleaning up the kitchen, I usually rely on music (tip: the Rob Thomas/Carlos Santana collaborative "Smooth" is perfect) and setting timers to keep me on my feet and moving. So while I was reviewing some specs on the Baumatic Web site, the Dance Partners heading caught my eye.
The entire line is stunning, but I'm really drawn to the dishwashers. Choose from Merenghe (orange), Samba (yellow), or Tango (red) to brighten your kitchen and maybe even make you smile at the sight of dirty dishes. OK, maybe that's a bit excessive, but come on--look at these beauties!
According to the specs, these cheery machines can hold 14 place settings and have a half-load option as well as the standard cycles you'd expect to see in a dishwasher: normal, intensive, economy, and rinse. In addition, there's a glass cycle and a soak cycle, which are somewhat less common options.
The dishwashers also offer a delay start option, so you can set the dishwasher to run while you're sleeping. But the specs also claim that the machine features quiet operation, so maybe you'll just run it right after the meal. And with the turbo dry feature, you can probably run it midway through a meal to have fresh dishes for dessert, if you're into entertaining.
If you do cook a lot, you'll also appreciate the collapsible plate racks--lower them to pile in the pots and pans you don't want to scrub.
The dishwashers are rated A for energy efficiency and washing and drying performance--the European Union equivalent of an Energy Star rating stateside. I haven't had a lot of luck finding reviews of these appliances, so if you know whether they offer more than just a pretty face, please chime in below!
