Cleaning your kitchen doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Dare we say it could be fun? Welcome to BA’s Cleaning Week: Consider this your trusty guide to the nooks and crannies that you definitely are not scrubbing often enough, plus the pro-approved tools and products to get the job done.
I put some crusty horrors in my dishwasher that you should see. Plates with egg yolk cement and glasses with chia seed flecks. The valley of cereal bowls is paved with oatmeal dregs, much like new asphalt. It smells bad in there. But then I run it before going to sleep, and when I wake up, the plates, bowls, and wine glasses are so spotless you’d think I just took them out of the box from Crate & Barrel. I once left for a long weekend without starting the dishwasher, and the dishes that had been in there for four days still looked spotless.
The dishwasher was the first equipment I fantasized of changing when I first moved into a home with a kitchen that was suspended in 1993. Every meal is consumed at home. It has a ton of dishes. My guilt about the environment was growing. The amount of water I was using to wash dishes by hand while the faucet was running was probably 22 gallons. 3 to 6 gallons are used by a typical dishwasher. I wanted the finest of the best because I’m in my mid-thirties and this is the kind of fantasy that sends me to sleep. a dishwasher by Miele.
I paid $1,900 for a beautiful stainless-steel Miele G7156 model from my cherished neighborhood Michigan store, Big George’s, and I had to wait about six months for delivery. I wanted it to be the final dishwasher I ever had since it’s the first one I’ve ever had that works. Paul McGuckin, a salesperson at Big George’s, showed me around the store and assisted me in comparing models in the most clear, honest manner. According to him, Miele is among the best in the business, has been around longer than most other dishwasher brands, and has an average lifespan of 10 to 20 years. I was considering buying a quality Bosch, which typically lasts 8 to 10 years.
The cost difference between premium and mid-tier dishwashers is only a few hundred dollars, unlike most other kitchen appliances. A stunning Aga stove can cost up to $24,000 (whew), while a stylish Thermador fridge with a freezer costs $8,000 (whew). The best dishwashers, though? A really good KitchenAid dishwasher costs roughly $1,450; the Bosch competitor is $1,349; and a basic GE dishwasher costs about $1,000. For me, the Miele’s elegance and durability were a no-brainer.
It was essential for me to purchase the dishwasher in person so I could inspect the interior of the appliance and adore the hidden control panel of buttons. A woman brought in a large tub of dishes to test it out in a dishwasher, Paul once told me, and “three hours later, she bought it.” I got a wonderful old-fashioned speciality experience at Big George’s (I like to assume it’s named after an appliance-loving mobster), something you can’t get at some other home depots. I also knew exactly when it would come at my door because Big George’s stocks its own stuff in its own warehouses. I was therefore purchasing from a business—and people—I could trust in addition to a brand I could rely on. This is not sponsored; it is only intended to emphasize how superior local companies are.
Review Score:
9.8/10
Pros: