5 Dishwasher Brands To Avoid Buying, According To Reviews

For thousands of years, human beings washed their dishes by hand, which was by no means the end of the world, but was certainly time-consuming and incredibly boring. To make life easier, Joel Houghton created the first mechanical dishwasher in the mid-1800s. Unfortunately, this dishwasher required turning a crank to wash the dishes, which was still tedious and not exactly efficient. In the 1880s, this design was updated by Josephine Garis Cochran, who created a machine that used pressure washing rather than brushes to clean dishes. Now, more than 100 years later, dishwashers have improved massively. Despite that, there are still some brands whose dishwashers are more headache-inducing rather than helpful.

If you're looking for the top-rated dishwashers, the answer is pretty clear: go for a Bosch or maybe a Miele. However, not everyone can afford to buy a $1,000 dishwasher and thus need to look at other options. You want a dishwasher that effectively cleans –- and dries — your dishes, is easy to use, doesn't break down, and lasts its full lifespan. Too often, even the most elaborate dishwashers fail at those tasks. While avoiding common mistakes everyone makes when loading a dishwasher can help with performance, sometimes, the issue is that the machine itself is sub-par. We took to the internet to look at sites like Consumer Reports as well as reviews on social media and discussion boards to determine which dishwasher brands you should definitely avoid buying.

Viking is a U.S.-based company that manufactures a variety of kitchen appliances. The brand first hit the market in 1987 with its line of commercial ranges, and, after that, expanded its offerings to include items like refrigerators, grills, and dishwashers. The brand claims a "commitment to performance and elegance," but, unfortunately, consumers tend to disagree.

Consumer Reports lists Viking as an option with some of the lowest brand reliability and owner satisfaction scores in its surveys, and its expert tests show that these dishwashers struggle to dry dishes and have mediocre upper wash performance. The experiences of frustrated Viking appliance owners on Reddit line up with these assessments. On one post asking for input on Viking dishwashers, one commenter says, "Walk quietly away" before detailing that they've gone through two Viking dishwashers in seven years, both of which have died. Another Redditor says, "It only worked for three years and fixing it would cost more than buying a better quality, much less expensive brand..." On a separate post, one clearly frustrated poster writes, "Viking's quality has deteriorated to the point of no return. Absolute dumpster fire of a company. Terrible products. Terrible service."

Haier, a China-based company, manufactures a number of large kitchen appliances, like refrigerators, ranges, and dishwashers. Despite being a best-selling brand with a sleek style, reviewers don't recommend getting your kitchen appliances from it.

In a recent lab test by Choice, they found that not only did the Haier dishwasher require a lot of energy, but it also didn't stand up to the task, noting it's a, "dodgy dishwasher" and "...it bombs out on washing performance with a score of 55%." 

On Reddit, customers aren't pleased with the brand as a whole. One commenter vents about the brand's poor customer service and repairs, calling Haier: "Just another company who wants the dollars and no responsibility." Over on TrustPilot, customers share the same sentiment, with one one saying of their Haier dishwasher, "The Haier broke twice in its second year, parts are hard to find, no customer service[...] Such a waste, lesson learned."

GE, or General Electric, launched in the late 1800s as a way for Thomas Edison to sell his products, specifically his incandescent lamps. It subsequently expanded, eventually dabbling in energy, power, aviation, healthcare, appliances, and more. It got a little too big, however, and after some financial troubles in the 2010s, started selling off parts of the company. Today, the appliance division of this popular brand is Chinese-owned, and reviewers have expressed frustration that the quality has fallen in the years since the division changed hands.

One Redditor gives a thorough breakdown of why you should "Absolutely, positively avoid GE dishwashers," listing issues like poor engineering and high failure rate, and needing to constantly fix something or another. Other Redditors agree, with one appliance tech saying that it's always a toss-up whether or not a part for a GE dishwasher will be available, and when it comes time to do the repairs, GE makes it needlessly difficult to repair simple parts.

Reviews on Consumer Affairs are overwhelmingly negative as well, with many saying their GE dishwashers frequently break, they can't get new parts, and getting warranty coverage or help from customer service is nearly impossible. One unhappy customer wrote, "My GE dishwasher stopped working after minimal use [...] The product lacks durability."

Amana is an American line owned by the Whirlpool Corporation, which manages other appliance brands like Whirlpool (obviously), Maytag, and KitchenAid. But while those other brands don't get many complaints about their dishwashers, Amana does. Amana is meant to be a lower-budget option, but often, that cheapness comes at a cost in the long run. That's not to say all Amana products are o flow quality, as Amana was our pick for best budget eclectic range, but the dishwashers from the brand leave a lot to be desired.

According to owner surveys from Consumer Reports, Amana was one of the poorest-ranking dishwasher brands for owner satisfaction, though not as low as Viking, and was also rated subpar in brand reliability. East Coast Appliance also recommends against the brand, saying that with Amana dishwashers you get what you pay for, they often don't have added features, and they can wear out after frequent use. 

On the r/Appliances subreddit, when one user asked whether they should go with Amana or Bosch, the answer was overwhelmingly the latter. The top comment said, "I bought a house last July with a brand new Amana dishwasher in it. Already rusting in spots, racks coating appears to be failing as I can see that the metal underneath is breaking apart. Hot garbage, don't waste your money if you plan to stay in the home."

Even before I started researching this list, I had an inkling that the top answer for worst dishwasher brand would be Samsung. After all, we've already talked about how Samsung kitchen appliances will just break down randomly. I wasn't wrong; no dishwasher brand gets quite as much hate as Samsung. The South Korean conglomerate manufactures a wide range of electronics products, from televisions to cell phones to kitchen appliances. But, when it comes to kitchen and other home appliances, it has a tendency to fall short.

Consumer Reports found that owners rated Samsung as one of the worst dishwasher brands for both brand reliability and owner satisfaction. Lab tests also showed that several models had issues with cycle time when completely loaded with very dirty dishes. 

Commenters on Reddit have no love for the brand's dishwashers either. On a post asking for dishwasher recommendations, one says, "Just here to slander Samsung. We had a Samsung dishwasher. The bottom spray bar stopped working on year 3. We were unable to buy parts for it anywhere. A local repair guy said he wouldn't fix it, and to just get a new brand. All in all I hate all of our Samsung appliances." In the replies, another Redditor says, "Our Samsung dishwasher convinced me to never buy any Samsung appliance again." On another post, one Redditor sums it up succinctly: "Samsung does not make a single good appliance."

While I suspected Samsung would be one of the worst dishwasher brands, both from previous research and my own experience (I'm convinced the drying feature on my Samsung dishwasher is just for show), I needed proof. Plus, one brand does not a list make. So I did what we all do nowadays, and took to the internet. I looked to see what Consumer Reports and other appliance rating sites had to say, and also referenced posts on social media and discussion board platforms, like Reddit and Facebook. 

I specifically looked for comments from people who had gone through bad experiences with their dishwasher, like frequent breakdowns, an inability to get parts or service, or dishwashers that didn't last as long as they were supposed to. I also searched for comments from those who repair or service dishwashers to hear what they felt the worst brands were. This reflects the compiled results from these searches.