44 Dba Panel-ready Two-rack Flush Dishwasher With Door-open Dry System

Manufacturer reviews · owners of this model, published on the manufacturer’s site

• We bought this dishwasher a couple of months ago after having a model we loved for nearly 20 years. This one pales in comparison. Although it does a great job cleaning, it is obvious that the interior components are of lesser quality. Also the design of the shelves is just terrible. For some reason, whoever thought that making the shelves with “step down levels” (for lack of better term) has obviously never loaded a dishwasher and doesn’t like Tetris. On the top it’s impossible to stack your cups without them tipping over and the flip down plastic pieces to supposedly put utensils on are useless. In addition the lower front makes it hazardous and pieces have fallen off. On the bottom rack there are large spaces that lack bars across them and smaller items can fall through. The utensil holder again with “step down feature” instead of just a flat basket is ridiculous. It makes the utensils protrude into the wand that sets out the water and it also seems smaller than what we are accustomed to. Overall, the design of the interior is really awful.

  MAKim08/11/2025 05:37 PM

• I had this dishwasher installed 10 days ago, and I honestly never thought I could hate an appliance this much. We purchased this make and model to replace our old KitchenAid panel‑ready dishwasher. We were told it was “exactly the same” as our previous model, but that is simply not true. The racks are significantly smaller and do not pull out all the way, making it very awkward to load dishes and glasses toward the back. The bottom rack is especially poorly designed. It holds only five dinner plates—five. The remaining plate dividers (tines) are too short to properly support dinner plates, causing them to lean into each other. During the wash cycle, they rattle together and chip. The rack itself is too narrow to place dinner plates side by side. As a result, you are forced to waste half the rack just to load a single row of plates. Because of this terrible capacity, as a family of three we are now running the dishwasher twice every day. Each cycle takes about three hours, meaning this machine runs for six hours daily—every single day. After lunch, I can load our three breakfast plates and two lunch plates, but one plate must be left sitting in the sink because there’s no room. After dinner, I unload the machine and reload it with the leftover lunch plate, our three dinner plates, and three salad plates, then run it again. In the morning, I unload it and repeat the entire process. Every day. To make matters worse, this machine uses a Door Open Dry system. At the end of the cycle, the door automatically pops open and releases hot steam. If you turn this feature off, everything inside remains soaking wet. Between the poor rack design, extremely limited capacity, and inconvenient drying system, this dishwasher has been a huge downgrade from our previous KitchenAid. I regret this purchase deeply and would not recommend this model to anyone, especially families.

  deeplyupset04/23/2026 05:47 PM

• I called the manufacturer Whirlpool and asked what the equivalent panel ready Kitchen Aide replacement model would ne for my 12 year old dishwasher. After providing the model and serial numbers, I was told there was only 1 replacement option that is panel ready. I went to the local retail dealer and order the unit along with a new Kitchen Aide refrigerator bottom mount 3 door unit. I’m disappointed in how reduced the capacity is in the new dishwasher. The 2 racks are much smaller. I wished the Whirlpool rep had pointed out that the redesign resulted in a reduced capacity. Not happy but have to live with it, now.

  Dishwasher Murph08/29/2025 03:32 PM

• Overall, I'm unimpressed. I like the stainless steel interior and the panel ready design. It is very quiet. However, the construction is flimsy. The racks seem cheap and will hold alot of place settings but not alot of every day dishes. It also doesn't dry thoroughly regardless of the settings. We replaced a 20+ year old Whirlpool Gold dishwasher which still outperformed this one. Should have skipped the bundle discount and bought something else.

  T Sweeney07/10/2025 04:32 PM

• We had a model KDTM404kps 0 with a third rack and loved it. Our fourth Kitchenaid in multiple homes. We remodeled and bought the panel ready version of the third rack dishwasher and it is awful. The inside is smaller, the racks are oddly configured and the bottom rack, as others have stated is impossible to load and keep dishes upright. What were you thinking???? Please make a replacement middle and lower rack.

  Lee in NJ08/30/2024 06:24 PM

• This dishwasher is not as efficient as my 15-year-old KitchenAid. The top rack is smaller and difficult to keep glasses upright to clean and dry efficiently. We live in a very dry climate, but even so, the dishes will not fully dry in 8-hours after the door opens. Water clings to the racks and utensil tray. We typically use the Express Wash feature and that leaves soap residue on the plates. Also, in the Express Wash mode, you cannot utilize the high was temp setting. Too bad there is not a heating element designed into this model. I cannot recommend this dishwasher since it lacks features to properly clean and dry dishes and silverware.

  Dan B1003/20/2025 01:56 AM

• I replaced an earlier model. This is an excellent dishwasher. I really like the open door when finished feature.

  Bullet_one12/17/2024 02:20 AM

• Cleans dishes well. Not crazy about the door open dry. Not as quiet as I hoped when it’s running.

  sbatey482808/23/2025 05:21 PM

• We are very happy with our new dishwasher. It is very quiet.

  Mel120809/03/2024 09:43 AM

• Our previous dishwasher broke and was still under warranty. The company was not able to replace the part and sent us this dishwasher as a replacement. It has been a huge disappointment. The interior space is very small and flimsy. The racks are very low, and it is very loud and makes a banging noise when running. This is also smaller than the previous model and does not fit our space correctly (KitchenAid no longer makes a panel ready model that is not ADA compliant-therefore it is not a typical standard size), I would have never purchased this dishwasher on my own and would caution others to stay away from this model.

  Kelly H.04/21/2025 12:55 AM

• Overall a very fine appliance. This model is much quieter than a similar sixteen year old model it replaced, cleans all the kitchenware from tea cups to large cooking pots and bowls thoroughly, and drys effectively; We are very pleased in these regards. I have one annoyance, and that is the loading process is more difficult than the old model. I find I am constantly re-configuring the dirty dishes and other items in order to utilize all the rack space and keep items from "flopping" or touching other contents. This was not the case with our previous machine which was much easier to load and accommodated larger loads than this model. Am I right in suspecting that the newer model has a reduced interior dimension due to an increase in the sound insulation thickness in the sidewalls, top etc?

  Kevin J.06/16/2024 08:02 PM

• This was advertised as a tall tub dishwasher; it is not. It is ADA compliant, which means it is a shorter tub and, when installed into a standard opening, about 3 inches of space are lost underneath as nylon screw pads are intended to hoist the unit up on stilts until it is high enough to fit. However, two of the screw feet were missing from the empty slots. I had to order those parts which took several extra days to ship. The door open dry feature (which kicks the door open at the end of a cycle to allow dishes to air dry) does not work because the door spring is not designed for such a feature. To kick the door open, a push bar extends and quickly retracts - and the springs on the door hinge simply close the door again. There is no partially open detent position for the door to remain in; it does not exist in this design. It appears like the feature was hastily implemented and put to market without it actually working. If you take the side panel off and examine the spring system, you can see there is no aftermarket fix or repair for this. Others have noted the awkward upper tray design which makes placing items tricky. Be careful. This is a special/delivered order appliance item. This item is non-returnable at my big box store. If it is delivered to your home, once you sign for it, it's yours for keeps.

  Hullspeed10/13/2024 06:21 AM

• I replaced my almost 30 year dishwasher which I loved. I’m not use to this new one.

  JaneBG07/06/2025 09:56 PM

• The dishwasher “does its duty” and cleans well. The 3 rating is because of a few issues. 1) the plates don’t “stand up” in the bottom rack. 2) The design of the upper rack is difficult for loading cups and glasses and especially wine glasses. 3) The rinse aid holder does not indicate when it’s “full”. In the paper work it said not to overfill but I’ve found no way to determine where full is. 4) The written instructions were not “easy friendly”. Diagrams and clear instructions would be helpful-like where is the full line on the rinse aid container.

  Glo 6503/24/2025 04:42 PM

• Recently bought this site unseen at the appliance store. Looks great in my kitchen but terrible to load the dishes and glasses. The tines on the bottom rack are small so the dishes fall against each other, I've already chipped one. The top rack has no tines to put the glasses on , so its very hard to load alot of glasses. I called the parts department and was told there's nothing you can do on the bottom rack .They do sell a strip of tines for the top. I found the tine extenders for the bottom rack on Amazon, no help from Kitchenaid !

  ERangela5712/27/2025 08:02 PM

• I bought a dishwasher six years ago, it was broken so I had a appliance repair man come and he said I needed a new control board, I purchased it from kitchen aid because you only sold to a certain company, the board did not fix the issue and I spent in total of $500.00, he thought that the control board may been defective, so I ordered a new panel ready dishwasher. The model I had was of course discontinued , kitchen aid told me what the updated model was so I purchased the one that was recommended for my panel. It is much smaller in the inside and we were able to hire someone to put the panel on for another $400. I’m extremely dissatisfied and quite furious at the level of service you have provided , not to mention the trouble I’ve have with my panel ready refrigerator that we spent $600 to also repair when they new the parts were faulty from the beginning. I’m going to consumer affairs and reporting this. It’s not fair. This configuration in the new dishwasher is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen and much smaller on the inside and very loud. It’s a piece of garbage.

  Too small inside04/20/2024 08:51 PM

• I am completely satisfied with my dishwasher do .such more room and so quiet when in use!

  CBS71103/16/2026 05:52 PM

• DO NOT BUY! The dishwasher was installed in December. It has had several error codes ('F1E5’ ‘F8E4’ ‘F1E5’). One of them warns of a leak. There is no leak. Installer verified installation and reset machine. Keeps happening. Warranty service is worthless. KitchenAid has scheduled two service calls and when the repair company is contacted they state that the email from KitchenAid confirming the appointment "means nothing." The appointment has to be set with the repair company. The first appointment was set within 4 days of the call to KitchenAid. Repair company could not come out for 10 days. We called KitchenAid and they changed the repair company to one that had earlier availability. They emailed today stating that they can come out in 4 weeks. Machine was not even used every day. Less than 20 cycles and does not work at all. Horrible.

  AMCCO03/15/2025 09:25 PM

• I bought a dishwasher 2 months ago. It was defective and would not work. Kitchen Aid required that I have their approved service company inspect the unit. I waited weeks for the part to arrive and after and after installation the unit continued to be defective and would not complete one cycle. Eventually the unit was replaced and after 2 months I was able to run the unit for the first time.

  delerious10/08/2024 03:02 AM

• I’ve been a loyal KitchenAid customer for years and have always considered it a top-tier brand. Unfortunately, the interior redesign of this dishwasher is a major step backward and extremely disappointing. The rack layout is poorly thought out and far less functional than previous KitchenAid models. Items that used to fit easily no longer do, spacing feels inefficient, and overall loading flexibility has clearly suffered. What used to be an intuitive, practical interior now feels like a downgrade that prioritizes appearance and specialty items that are not used that often. I specifically chose KitchenAid again based on my long history with the brand, and I regret that decision with this model. The dishwasher technically cleans fine, but the daily frustration of loading it properly outweighs that benefit. I expected better design decisions and more consistency from a brand with KitchenAid’s reputation.

  Bret K01/21/2026 08:18 PM

• The second time I used this "dishwasher", my dishes came out dirty! I should have known it was made like junk, when I noticed how wobbly the upper arm was - it looks like it's ready to fall off. They need to use motors again now that regulations are lifted. 35 minutes is what it used to take - now it's 2 hours of wasting electricity and water!

  bernadettesie12/25/2025 08:17 PM

• This dishwasher is disappointing. I have had 2 Kitchenaid dishwashers before and been amazed by how quiet they were. This one is very loud and makes odd clicking noises. The sound of the water is very loud and I cannot watch television in the next room without hearing it. I am scheduling a warranty call to see what can be done.

  NancyStu10/02/2025 09:00 PM

• This model cleans very well. It is extremely quiet and I love how the door opens when the cycle is completed. I don’t like the arrangement of the rack. I feel the top rack is very inefficient in how dishes can go on. Too much wasted space. Bottom a little better. The utensil rack is very good.

  Lloyd 210/14/2025 10:18 PM

• This dishwasher cleans very well. It is extremely quiet. However, I strongly dislike the interior setup. The top Rack is just plain stupid in its configuration. There is little room for glassware, mugs etc. the bottom is a little better, but still the plate dividers are weird

  2cla10/04/2025 02:27 AM