Best Dishwasher Detergent? For KitchenAid Whirlpool Maytag Kenmore

[Qs Laptop]

If I were to rate our dishwasher for cleaning ability I'd give it an 8 out of 10. There are times that a bowl or a glass will have small bits of food residue left in it. We clean the screen filter regularly and run water temp at 140 degrees.

We use Finish All-in-One Powerball soap tablets. For a long time we used Cascade Complete powdered soap, but switched to Finish tablets because we got better results.

I had to repair my 8 year old Whirlpool Gold dishwasher as the diverter motor was leaking water onto the floor. I chose to have a pro do it because I didn't want to hassle with it. I'm sure people will want to know so, $69.95 for service call, $93 for parts, $7 tax. The guy had to come back as the part he had on his truck was not exactly the same as the old part.

While he was here I peppered him with questions about dishwashers and dishwasher usage. He said the Finish tablets were very good, but if we are using rinse aid we should either stop using it or else pry off the red "pill" on top of the Finish tablets as that portion of the tablet is also rinse aid. He said it depends on how hard your water is, if it is soft water you don't need rinse aid. He said to use the Sensor cycle setting as that employs an optical sensor that measures the clarity of the water during the cycle and adjusts the cycle time and water usage as needed. Unbelievably, he said if you use the Sensor cycle you shouldn't pre-rinse your dishes because if you do you will "trick" the optical sensor into thinking the dishes are almost clean (which they are) but the dishwasher computer will shorten the cycle time to save water.

Anyway, I'd like to hear from the group as to which dishwashing detergent you think is the best, especially those with 15 year old or newer Whirlpool, Kitchenaid, Maytag, Kenmore models, since they are basically the same machine.

 

[pacergal]

I replaced our almost 20 year old dishwasher a few years ago, it worked but was noisy. Have a newfangled fancy computer one that "tells" me when to add rinse aid.
I have used basic Costco Kirkland brand for both the majority of the time, usually the pacs. It does just as well as the other expensive brands, I think.
And I add Finish rinse aid if I have it. The only thing that does, that I notice, is decrease streaks and aid in faster drying.

 

[davebarnes]

1. Modern dishwasher detergents work better with some food particles in the water mix. They actually depend on the food to feed/activate enzymes in the detergent. See https://www.finishdishwashing.com/ultimate-dishwashing

2. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/dishwasher-rinse-aid-cleaner-drier/ answers the question about rinse aid

3. Just buy a new dishwasher.
a. You can get one that is so much quieter than your Whirlpool.
b. New ones use much less water.
c. The 3rd rack is very useful.

 

[Qs Laptop]

1. Modern dishwasher detergents work better with some food particles in the water mix. They actually depend on the food to feed/activate enzymes in the detergent. See https://www.finishdishwashing.com/ultimate-dishwashing

I was shocked to learn it's best to leave food particles on the dishes.

2. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/dishwasher-rinse-aid-cleaner-drier/ answers the question about rinse aid

Thanks for that link. Open in Incognito mode to bypass the subscription requirement.

3. Just buy a new dishwasher.
a. You can get one that is so much quieter than your Whirlpool.
b. New ones use much less water.
c. The 3rd rack is very useful.

When leak was discovered we looked at the Bosch models, loved the third rack, and know Bosch are super quiet. In fact, the one we were looking at buying is so quiet it has an red LED light that beams onto the floor so you can tell if it is running or not! Our Whirlpool is not that quiet, but is fairly quiet.

We will likely be selling the house within 3-4 years so we decided to save the money and fix our Whirlpool.

 

[Animorph]

I'll have to check out Costco's detergent. I've always used a box of powdered detergent. I think we have a choice of one or two different (generic?) brands at the grocery store. Not much to choose between. It all seems to work fine for me, though we do soften our water. The pods always seemed needlessly elaborate.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I'll have to check out Costco's detergent. I've always used a box of powdered detergent. I think we have a choice of one or two different (generic?) brands at the grocery store. Not much to choose between. It all seems to work fine for me, though we do soften our water. The pods always seemed needlessly elaborate.

Pods seem wasteful during those times you have a light load of dishes you want to clean. At least with powder (or gels) you can adjust the amount.

 

[Chuckanut]

FWIW, If you have a metal coffee holder that has that nice brown patina that builds up over time, a TBL of dishwasher detergent, a few cups of hot water, let it soak, and your pot will be bright shiny new inside.

I use Costco Kirkland pods. They work well in my ancient dishwasher. I scrape most big stuff of the plates, do a quick cold water rinse and put them in the DW. Sensor? My old machine doesn't have no sensor.

 

[ERD50]

Pods seem wasteful during those times you have a light load of dishes you want to clean. At least with powder (or gels) you can adjust the amount.

+1

I'm not a fan of pods, or most any "one size fits all" approaches. Since we have a water softener (which strips almost all the minerals out, resulting in extremely 'soft' water), you are told to use less detergent, or it will etch glassware. Am I supposed to cut the pod to 2/3ds, then save the two extra thirds for the 3rd load??

And as you say, sometimes you run a light load because of timing.

This guy really hates them, and since it is a technology channel, he goes into some of the technical reasons why (short story - pods skip the pre-wash):

-ERD50

 

[statsman]

Since we have a water softener (which strips almost all the minerals out, resulting in extremely 'soft' water), you are told to use less detergent, or it will etch glassware. Am I supposed to cut the pod to 2/3ds, then save the two extra thirds for the 3rd load??

That was the first thing the installers said when they hooked up our new water softener. Opted for liquid/gel detergent, and I only fill up the reservoirs ~1/2 way (even less for a light load).

He said it depends on how hard your water is, if it is soft water you don't need rinse aid.

I've been wondering about that. Added rinse aid to the dishwasher, but the level barely moves. Takes many months before it looks like it has maybe 1/4 remaining. Seriously thinking about letting the rinse aid reservoir go empty and leave it that way. At the rate it's going, though, it might take another 4-6 months!

 

[Telly]

Whirlpool Gold, 11 years old. Always run it on Adaptive Wash (uses sensor). We rinse off dishes before putting them in, because we only run it every other day, no sense letting stuff dry-on, or possibly smell. Use Cascade Complete pods. Water is moderately hard. We put some Finish Jet-Dry rinse aid in once in a long while, lasts a long time. Maybe once/twice a year we run it in a cleaning cycle with Lemi-Shine powder, to remove lime and something else buildup from our water. It is a long long way from the water heater.

I installed it years ago, no plans to replace it, we don't sleep on the kitchen floor, so some noticeable noise is not a problem for us.

 

[easysurfer]

I've had a bad experience with Cascade pods in the past (years ago). Made glass very cloudy.

Instead, I had been using just dollar store powder from a box.

Recently, decided to try pods from a local store. Those pods do a fantastic job of cleaning and glass never sparkled so nicely.

So, as the saying goes ... YMMV ,

 

[Exchme]

We use Cascade liquid and it seems to work OK, but a few years ago they did something to the formulation and ever since, after the bottle is open for a while, it is a gross orange-brown color. Who the heck thinks thinks people want to put something in the soap container that looks worse than the dishes?

 

[nap470]

We have a Bosch model about 3 years old. It is so quiet that the first few days we kept placing our hands on the front door to feel for vibration to verify it was running. We didn't trust the red light.
If I'm doing the shopping when it is time to buy dishwasher soap, I buy Cascade Platinum. My wife will purchase the less expensive Great Value brand. Either brand seems to work fine, but the Great Value brand packets seem to get rock hard in a few weeks. Also, I use liquid Finish with the Great Value brand, not with the Cascade.

 

[Rex]

We use the Dollar General liquid dishwasher detergent....It's cheap and does the job.

We have a 3 year old Kitchen Aid dishwasher.....and we run her daily. We use the "smart sensor" cycle or whatever it's called that figures out how dirty....And we use the delay timer to operate her late at night. She's very quiet but our only complaint is she takes a very long time to clean the dishes....It's like almost 3 hours or something crazy like that. That's not an issue when we just run a load at night but if we run a load during the day, it's a long time.

She's never given us any trouble and the dishes always come out clean.

 

[GravitySucks]

A 10+ year old Whirlpool Quiet Partner. Run it 3 or 4 times a week.

Used to use Cascade liquid. Then Cascade Pods. DD bought Finish pods and they work fine plus Costco has them on sale cheap now and then so I stock up.
Tried the Kirkland brand many years ago and they sucked. I read that they're very good now but don't want to risk 6 months of regretting a bad purchase. Kirkland needs to make some trial size things.

 

[rk911]

Finish brand, the hard tabs not the soft gels. the soft gels stick to each other ruining both.

 

[RonBoyd]

Our dishwasher is over 20 years old and granted it doesn't get a great workout from the two of us. It is, however, used nightly.

A couple years ago, someone told me about "homemade" dishwasher detergent. So I decided to do "test runs" of the numerous commercial varieties. I, then, mixed a small batch of the homemade stuff:

1 cup Super Washing Soda
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Citric Acid (which, BTW, has so many other uses.)
1 cup Borax
½ cup Table Salt

Surprise! The homemade stuff did the (arguably) better job.

I do still keep the reservoir full of Jet Dry Finish Rinse Aid.

 

[Midpack]

I’ve used cheap brands and big name brands, pods and tablets, and I can’t tell any real difference. Guess I’m not paying attention...

 

[W2R]

When I was younger, and was more particular about such things, I used Finish or else Cascade as my second choice.

Back in 2015 when I bought my Dream Home, the prior owner was nice enough to leave a box of (powdered) Cascade for me. It apparently worked for her so I used it and it seemed just fine. So, that is what I use.

Now that we are talking about it, though, it occurred to me that my glasses do come out cloudy. Maybe next time I should change detergents. However, that will probably be about 100 years since I only do the dishes once every week or two (due to living alone), and since I have two extremely large boxes of Cascade right now. Oh well, there are other aspects of life that are more important to me in recent years.

 

[ERObjd]

A about 6-7 years ago when we still had kids in HS we had a Sams Club membership and she used the Sam Club member mark brand dishwasher tablets.Since we are empty nesters, we no longer have a Sams membership so my wife uses whatever house brand dishwasher soap is cheapest,If she gets it at Wal Mart it is Great Value dishwasher tablets if she goes to grocery she gets Our Family or Hy Vee brand dishwasher tablets or powder. Cannot tell a difference with one brand or another.

 

[FreeBear]

If I were to rate our dishwasher for cleaning ability I'd give it an 8 out of 10. There are times that a bowl or a glass will have small bits of food residue left in it. We clean the screen filter regularly and run water temp at 140 degrees.

We use Finish All-in-One Powerball soap tablets. For a long time we used Cascade Complete powdered soap, but switched to Finish tablets because we got better results.

...



Anyway, I'd like to hear from the group as to which dishwashing detergent you think is the best, especially those with 15 year old or newer Whirlpool, Kitchenaid, Maytag, Kenmore models, since they are basically the same machine.

Are you using the top of the line Finish Powerball?? Seems the "best"/most expensive would be Finish Quantum Powerball.

We use the Cascade series in our Bosch is the Best Cascade (Platinum) is much better than the lower/cheaper Cascades. We tried the Costco store brand based on Consumer Reports top ranking and it was worse than useless; it actually fogged our glasswear and left a film on plastic. Seems like performance is machine/water/detergent dependant.

Up north we had a 2006 Maytag that was just so-so, maybe 7/10 with cheaper Cascade, but never tried top of the line detergent.

In SE AZ, our 11 yo cheapo builder's GE was even worse. We quickly replaced with a low end Bosch, based on CR. It was OK, but didn't live up to it's legendary reputation, again with cheaper Cascade liquid. We switched to Cascade's best "Platinum" detergent and WOW, this is why folks brag about their Bosch! Again, YMMV based on water/machine/detergent.

I'd buy detergent from a place with a good return policy, try it once, and send it back if there are issues. If still unhappy, treat yourself to a new dishwasher. I'm glad I did.

 

[Another Reader]

I was a Cascade user for decades until the formulas were changed to omit phosphates. Now nothing seems to work really well. The Walmart Great Value does a decent job compared to Cascade or Finish and costs substantially less.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Are you using the top of the line Finish Powerball?? Seems the "best"/most expensive would be Finish Quantum Powerball.

Nope, I'm using Finish Powerball Deep Clean hard tabs, $12.14 for 94 ($.13 each) on Amazon. The Finish Powerball Quantum hard tabs are $21.57 for 82 ($.26 each.)

We use the Cascade series in our Bosch is the Best Cascade (Platinum) is much better than the lower/cheaper Cascades.

In SE AZ, our 11 yo cheapo builder's GE was even worse. We quickly replaced with a low end Bosch, based on CR. It was OK, but didn't live up to it's legendary reputation, again with cheaper Cascade liquid. We switched to Cascade's best "Platinum" detergent and WOW, this is why folks brag about their Bosch! Again, YMMV based on water/machine/detergent.

I think I'll give Cascade Platinum a shot ($.27 each at Amazon). I presume Cascade Complete (.21 each) is similar to the Finish Powerball tabs I'm using.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I was a Cascade user for decades until the formulas were changed to omit phosphates. Now nothing seems to work really well. The Walmart Great Value does a decent job compared to Cascade or Finish and costs substantially less.

Years ago I used Walmart Great Value powered dishwasher detergent and yes, it did a pretty good job. That was in a late 1990's model Kenmore dishwasher. Might give that a try as well. If nothing else the powder would allow me to meter the amount of detergent to use on lighter loads.

 

[target2019]

Been using Cascade powder forever. When I installed the new dishwasher it had a rinse compartment, so I bought a bottle of FInish. Every once in a while I remember to refresh the compartment. TBH, I don't care much about the sparkle and shine, but it seems to aid drying.

Recently purchased a container of Berkeley Jensen pods. Have tried 2 so far, and don't see any difference in performance.

I think most of what you read is sourced from companies, and it is all about getting you to buy into a brand or use something you don't need. I'm not putting garbage in the dishwasher no matter who comes along with proof.