Home Depot review: Dishwasher won't clean dishes 43

We made the mistake of buying a set of GE Adora appliances when we remodeled our kitchen because we liked the look of the graphite metallic finish. The stove/oven and microwave have been great but the dishwasher has been a major headache. Nothing gets clean. I've had repairmen here at least four times. One said to use dishwasher cleaner which helps temporarily but the next time half the dishes come out with white residue on them. I can't use part of the bottom rack or the water can't get to the dispenser to use the soap. It is the worst dishwasher I have ever used and I can't change it because of the finish. I end up washing most of my dishes by hand with vinegar in the water to get rid of the white residue and have to scrub plates by hand so they don't have outlines of the food that was on them! The refrigerator has had its issues, also. The icemaker quit working before they were installed a year. I called and the woman on the phone thought it was because the filter needed to be replaced. She said that she would send filters, then if it still didn't work that GE would pay for the repair because I had reported it within a year. Well, the filters weren't sent, had to call again. Finally got them, tried them but it still didn't work. When the repairman came he said the ice maker was faulty and that's why it wasn't working. GE paid for the service call and the part but refused to pay for the labor to replace the ice maker even though the refrigerator was still under warrenty when it went out. I want to buy American products but they need to make things that work!

Having same issues with my dishwasher. Worked fine for 2 years and suddendly quit cleaning well. Tried EVERYTHING in the troubleshooting (despite never having to do any of it before!). They serviced it once and said I was supposed to take it all apart to clean out the filters (that's not in my user manual and if I break something doing it, they won't cover it, right?). Service man had to order a part we didn't really need to avoid us having to "pay for customer education". That was really nice of him but what's an extended contract for, exactly? None of this worked (he only picked a corn kernal out of there!) and I am now on hold with them for a second servicing - they won't come out until I "try" the troubleshooting AGAIN and go through the entire call process again, even though I tell them I've done all of it. TERRIBLE PRODUCT. Nice service man, but TERRIBLE service department. AVOID. Never thought I'd be buying a lemon from GE!

I have had an Adora for a couple years -- purchased at home depot. It has never been able to clean the dishes -- we still have to wash them by hand. We also have the residue behind. Although we bought a warranty, General Electric tried to not honor it the first time we got a repairman -- they said they would pay half price. I had to search for my old warranty so that I could verify the terms. With some threats, General Electric finally paid the full price of the repairman. The second time the repairman came, General Electric paid without question. However, we still have the same problem -- the machine cannot clean dishes -- we wasted our money.

I had the same issue with the adora Dishwasher and I purshase a side by side Ge profile and had problem with the referigerator from the get go. I had service out here 3 to 4 times and the problem was never resolved. I asked the serves man if the product was a lemon and I wanted home depot to take it back and he could not say it was a lemon because he didn't want to loss the contract for the repairs.

In reading the above comments, I see that I'm not alone in having tremendous problems with my GE Adora (from Home Depot) dishwasher NOT cleaning the dishes - terrible residue accumulates on the dishes that I had totally rinsed off and practically washed myself before placing into the dishwasher. I'm so disappointed. I changed my dish detergent and had our water filters (for the water line) changed thinking it was somehow our fault on our end; now I know to steer clear of GE Adora.

I wrote one of the previous posts about our GE Adora dishwasher. Nothing has changed, still a poor design and the wheels now continually fall off the bottom rack which is driving us CRAZY but I did find one thing that seems to help the dishes get cleaner. My neighbor suggested using Lemi Shine. The first time it didn't help but I realized I hadn't followed the directions correctly. You're supposed to fill the detergent cup with Lemi Shine and the extra little cup with detergent. It really seems to help. A clerk at Lowe's told me one of our local appliance repair shops sells a product that is just citric acid, he said the products sold at the stores are only partially the active ingredient. I have trouble finding Lemi Shine, so far I've only been able to find it at Walmart. I'm thinking of ordering it on-line but I need to compare prices first. Hope this helps!

All of the above makes me feel better, and worse at the same time. I could have written all of these posts...but what to do? Should the complaints go to Home Depot? G.E.? Where is there some help for these lemon products. Consumer Reports didn't review this model. Is it still being made/sold?

I had the same problems ! The poor repair guys just do what GE tells them. I can't help but to try and fix things myself, Did it 7 months ago and it still works fine! Citric acid works for cleaning the inner parts of the pipes and crap, let the washer start wait 3 mins. open the door then dump it in! You can find citric acid at the market in the Kosher section it's called Sour salt! Now this sounds a little complicated but it's not! Okay lets get started, the upper rack has that spinning sprayer arm under it, roll the rack out and you will see a small nipple that feeds the arm, roll a O ring on it dont remove any existing thing I think they forgot to put one on, but seal here makes all of the spin thing a mbobs loose pressure. You can the O ring at Home depot Lowes you'll find it ! O RING 9/16 ID 3/4 OD X3/32 WALL Last thing is a hassle but I don't know what one thing I did that fixed it ! The spray arm under the top rack has a washer on it and I replaced it not likley the problem but I did it you have to remove the top rack by removing the white tabs on each side where the rollers are and pull the rack out flip the thing over remove the screw replace the washer, HOPE THIS HELPS! Try them one at a time, Sour salt $3.00, , , , O ring $ 1.23, , , Washer $ 0.33 Good Luck !

Even when it's working, my Adora doesn't clean the dishes well. It can't even get milk out of a glass reliably. The motor went out after two years, just after the warranty expired, which was an expensive fix. Now, two years after that it quit cleaning at all. It's not worth the hassle and expense to repair it again, so I am just replacing it. The stove/oven and refrigerator are great, though.

Had the same problem, nothing was coming clean. It's the detergent dispenser. Over time liquid dishwashing detergent in the dispenser tank coagulates and clogs the outlet. No soap, hence no clean dishes. Try putting detergent in the normal flip top dispenser and I think you will see the dishes come clean again. Fix: Pour hot water into the dispenser tank, let it sit overnight and then purge the tank: http://www.fixya.com/support/t2526786-purging_ge_profile_smart_dispense. Should work after that.

i was told today by an appliance technician (justanswer.com) that he had the same dishwasher and here's what he did to make it function satisfactorily again: used two bottles of Finish dishwasher cleaner w/o dishes in the dishwasher, on pot scrubber w/ the hottest water, letting the sink water run hot before starting the dishwasher and both bottles face down in the machine as directed on the bottle label. now, as maintenance he uses 1 bottle a mo. to keep it clean. it worked for him.

i was told today by an appliance tech. (justanswer.com) that he had the same d.w. and this is what he did to remedy the situation: used 2 bottles of Finish d.w. cleaner in the d.w. w/o dishes, on pot scrubber w/ hottest water. let the sink water run hot before starting d.w. both bottles face down in machine as directed on bottle label. now as maintenance he uses 1 bottle a mo. about $4 at wal mart... said it fixed the no cleaning problem...

Wish I had read this forum before purchasing my Adora Dishwasher at HD. How in the world can companies get away with this! bottom spinner won't spin...anyones guess as to why that won't work... Getting on phone to have this problem hopefully resolved... at my expense. Oh yes...this Dishwasher was guarnteed tol be "quiet" it sounds like its going to roll right out of my kitchen.. can't even hear yourself think.

I too purchased GE Adora kitchen appliances at Home Depot November 2008. My dishwasher has never been able to clean dishes placed in it. The only thing it is good for is sterilizing them! I also purchased, at the same time, a GE microwave/convection over the range appliance. In less than 2 years the convection portion died! I had to buy a whole new unit since fixing the convection oven was almost the price of a new unit!

Our home came with a GE adora dish washer. About a year later it stopped cleaning the dishes, it was like sand paper on the dishes. It was gross... My husband is somewhat of a handy man... so he took it into the garage and tore it apart ... Thinking it was plugged.
He couldn't find anything plugging up the system... We gave it away and bought a new Maytag, and we love it...
We will never buy another GE product again...and we tell everyone don't but GE.

Well, I found that ours was also leaving "sandy residue" and not cleaning well after a few years... I took the sprayers off and found they were plugged towards the ends where the centrifugal force of spinning would force little bits of paper label stuff - some were real thin plastic labels - that I had left on the bottom various plates/containers. They were way to thin for the built-in disposal - and wound up recirculating till they wound up at the ends of the sprayers - mainly the bottom and mid-level ones.
Cleaned 'em out and it works fine now.

Aloha, Tom

Its a piece of >>>> sucked 500 dollars from us if you have hard water might as well burn it...the wheel design was a brilliant failure. Very sad engineering. A multi billion dollar company...doing what they do best ripping the hard working off. In the end they will all get what is coming to them. Mean while the will not get a red cent from either light bulbs, to kitchen appliances from me and my family.

I've written before about the problems we'd had with this dishwasher. We finally replaced the wheels on the racks, they were a new or different design so they stayed on but not too long after that we noticed water running out of the bottom of the dishwasher one night after we turned it on so of course we turned it off right away. I had a repairman come and he said something was wrong with the heating element and it had burned a hole through the bottom of the tub. He immediately disconnected it so it could not be turned on because he said we were lucky we hadn't had a fire. We almost always start the dishwasher right after dinner while we're still in the kitchen, thank goodness. He checked for recalls and there weren't any. We'd had the dishwasher four years but he suggested calling GE anyway to see if they would do anything. I did and when I explained what had happened the customer service rep immediately offered us a new model replacement for about $300 including delivery and installation (the one they offered us is about $750 plus delivery and installation. I did some research and decided to take a chance since it was less money than buying a Bosch or another brand. This one is MUCH better. Knock on wood, it's been cleaning well and is so quiet I have to look to make sure I remembered to turn it on. Oh, when I was researching this I found out that a lot of the GE Profile dishwashers that were sold about the same time we bought our Adora (2007) had fires. People said they would get up in the morning and smell something burning and everything on the inside of their dishwasher was melted together. Apparently the heat cycles had turned on during the night. Some had actual kitchen fires from them. There was a huge recall. I figured that's why they were willing to do something about our Adora.

i too have an adora. bought the whole kitchen set from hd. stoped working for a year now and we wash dishes by hand. its very hard on me with a very bad dry hand condition. im gonna try those cleaning products listed above. problems.

We purchased our GE Adora dishwasher through our local Home Depot. I am very disappointed in it. It doesn’t get the dishes clean even when I rinse everything first. I even set it on the hottest, longest setting and dishes and several pieces of silverware from each load I run always have to be redone. Our water temperature is set high enough. I can’t tell you how unhappy I am that I will have to live with this appliance because we can't afford to replace with another new one. Sure wish I would've done my homework and read the reviews first. I thought GE was a name I could trust, but evidently GE has sold out their quality in exchange for a few fast bucks. Can I tell you I will never consider another GE appliance, ever?

My GE Adora dishwasher has never cleaned the dishes, GE was unwilling to do anything, as was Home Depot. Now that the recall has occurred the most GE is willing to do is repair the problem that causes the fire or give $100.00 on another GE dishwasher. My blood pressure rises every time I unload the dishes and have to inspect them before I put them away. Shame on GE, they are well aware of the problems with this model and have refused for years to make anything right. Fixing the fire hazard isn't enough!

By the way your spell check is using "spelt" . The correct word is SPELLED!

This dishwasher is absolute garbage! My Maytag (low line) $360.00 was loud but did a great job cleaning. This POS is really making my wife regret we bought a GE dishwasher and convection oven ( another story) at the same time. This is not a "POT SCRUBBER) unless you rinse the remaining food off the dinnerware along with using the rough end of the sponge to wipe off the food particles. It is quiet but makes some really weird low end noises!
ADORA was just a name to throw on some upper low end appliances which can be sold only at Home Depot.
My Adora convection oven, which was not cheap, takes 17 minutes to preheat to 350 degrees!
That is total nonsense!
What ever happened to the old GE!

Bought the POS in February, 2012. It never cleaned the dishes according to the real time reviewers in our household. When I told the folks that sold it to us, they told me it was my garbage disposal or line feed. "WTF does that have to do with the product?" was my question. I paid to have it installed and the best they can determine it is the side plug on a disposal. Why was it not an issue with the dishwasher we replaced. Went back to HD yesterday to find just lower end dishwashers on display. When I asked if they could get the higher end models, which I provided model numbers, they could only say that they were locked out of those categories. When they looked up my original purchase date, they asked if I purchased the extended warranty. Whenever these warranties are offered, I ask the standard, "What, the product won't hold up on its own merit?" and "Is there something wrong with the product that they know about and we need to purchase a warranty as well?" Manufacturers must be keeping their products competitive now days in price only by offering the warranty as an add on feature through the retailer. Reviewing the product manual in a last ditch attempt to remedy the inability to get dishes clean, I noticed it was also for their portable dishwashers- definitely a cost cutter in the offering. When reviewing my original purchase, I noticed that I had to accept a new wiring connection and drain line to the garbage disposal or void the warranty. Combining my original purchase with the replacement cost this weekend, I could have bought a dishwasher that did it all and I would only have to cry once. I hope this helps someone in their decision process when it comes to their own purchase.

how can i put the top washer arm back on

I have never had a dishwasher that I like less that the Adora Potscrubber! I've had it for a year so I've had a chance to adjust how I load it, what kind of detergent I use, and I'm using a rinse agent. It doesn't matter, I can't depend on it to wash my dishes well. I have to check them every time I unload. It's not just a residue, but food (even soft food) left on the dishes. Glad it's just my husband and I, because it would never work for a family. ...I don't think I have ever been so dissatisfied with an appliance!

I have a GE 2012 Adora stainless steel tub from H.Depot, after 1st yr. it started leaving all kinds of debris inside cups and on top of dishes, it couldn't get slight residue of cream cheese, peanut butter off of the knives and spoons. It also did an average job of cleaning stainless steel pots on the bottom rack. Also it wouldn't get the soap out of dispenser cup when we used loose powder! We were P.O.ed! Nothing worse than having to pick n choose which dishes were clean and which needed to be hand scrubbed and reloaded! So back to the Manuel I went. There are proper loading techniques that are a pain but make a difference. 1st if using loose powder or liquid instead of those packets, never put anything but little straight plates in the front left quadrant of the bottom rack, or the spray won't be able to reach soap dispenser. 2nd when loading always give a spin to the sprayers to make sure nothing is obstructing their ability to spin, there are three sprayers, under bottom rack, under top rack, and on the top underside of tub. 3rd when loading top rack make sure there is nothing heavy on the water port for the sprayer or you will have a difficult time pushing top rack in as it can't meet the connection in the back. 4th if you have hard water you need to use extra soap or add some Lemi shine to soap cup, always make sure there is a full amount of rinse agent (the blue stuff). 5th NEVER put anything with paper or plastic labels still on it in your dishwasher! Soak these off and scrape them away into the trash, they do nothing but clog up the sprayers as well as the filter screens and the little food grinder! It's called a food grinder, meaning for food, even so scrape that debris off those plates into the garbage before putting it in dishwasher. There are three filters, customer service won't tell you this nor will they advise you to take your dishwasher apart to locate these, but they exist and get quite gunned up from just regular washing, so I advise you if you're handy to carefully dismantle the bottom sprayer unscrew it, clear out ports with long pipe cleaner soak in vinegar, then unscrew the next white piece under that sprayer, this can all be done by hand no tools necessary. Then take This will allow you to lift off the 1st filter, it is a gray circle with feet, it connects to the water inlets, and has a fine mesh screen, you must carefully disconnect the water port from the back of this BEFORE attempting to lift it up and off, there is a little clip you push and then gently wiggle out the water port that leads up the back wall of you tub. Then you can lift off 1st filter. This part is one piece and doesn't come apart Do NOT try to open it or you'll break it. It can be hands scrubbed with a nonstick pot sponge and soap or vinegar, look thru the mesh fine screens you'll see lots of debris, it has to be swirled out and worked through the little water port, do it until you can see no more debris. Behind this to the right back there is another filter it looks like a gray oval with a waffle pattern and small circle, this lift right up with a slight wiggle, clean all the gross off this inside and out, it is easy to clean. Now you can lift the bottom large screen, filter. You have to sort of lift it and then carefully move it around the back water port that runs up the back wall, mine is like a large steel screen with holes in it. Rinse this off put aside, now you can see the bottom of the dishwasher, clean all the fine debris of and out with a sponge and vinegar. I went be young this and shop vac'd out the back food grinder hole, stuck my hand in there, (make sure you kill the power before you stick your hand in the grinder! Just in case). I found there was all kind of yuck built up on the blades and wrapped around the spinner, I used my iPhone to take picture so I could see the gunk, and cleaned it all off until it was spotless and the blade could move freely. Then I reassembled everything carefully in the reverse order. Once it was all back together I ran the dishwasher empty with a monthly cleaner, finish or lemishine work great, used the extra hot water setting. Now all is well again. This took me about 1 1/2hrs because I'm careful, nothing worse than breaking a part. You can hire a repairman to do this, which is what GE wants you to do, and hey repairmen need to make a living too, but make sure they clean all these areas like new, or you've wasted your money. Finally we now drop the top rack down to lowest setting for all our pots and pans and large bowls, they seem to get cleaner up top. We also run our faucet til the water runs hot, and while waiting we run our disposal to make sure it's empty. Good luck, unfortunately nothing we own can just be used without maintenance, car fridge, dryer etc, for all the time these appliances save us they still require care in order to run well.

Just bought a new house and it had an Adora dishwasher. Found 2" of dirty water in the bottom pan after I used it for the first time. Thought maybe something was blocking the drain, but no. Called plumber; diagnosis was a failed pump. Cost to repair $320 part+labor. Are you kidding me? For a machine just out of warranty...disgusting. BTW, the load of dishes I washed didn't get clean and had that white film on them, as described by others. Guess you could call this machine a place-holder in the cabinetry, but NOT a dishwasher, because it doesn't wash them. And mine doesn't even drain the water... Needless to say I'm buying a new DW, definitely NOT made by GE.

My GE GHDT168V55SS dishwasher has never cleaned dishes from day one and has gotten worse over time (only 18 months old now). Purchased through Home Depot and paid a good price for this piece of junk. Have made complaints to GE, had repairman out twice and he says it functions as intended. If that is the case, then this is truly a piece of junk and a complete waste of money. Virtually nothing comes out remotely clean. Dishes need to be hand washed and dried to not be disgusting. GE should be ashamed for building this dishwasher.

GE has made it clear that they are only concerned with ripping off their customers. My Adora did not work well to begin with and has now completely stopped cleaning right after the warranty expired. It also now melts Tupperware containers so all dishes are washed by hand now. I'm out of work and we cannot afford a new dishwasher. Spent about $500 for the dishwasher and now is only good for taking up space. What needs to be done to get the Adora dishwashers recalled?

Also purchased the GE Adora from Home Depot in March 2014. We had ours professionally installed and the door never shut properly. The recommended detergent pods stick inside the dispenser or the detergent gets stuck to the door. Like others, our dishes never fully come out clean despite rinsing and all the other work-arounds. Now the dishwasher won't release any water. Service has been called but their only available appointment is 5 days away.

We bought the GE Adora 3 years ago and we hate it! It does not clean the dishes. There is always residue on the glasses. I need to take everything out and hand wash every time. We can not afford to purchase a new one either. I can't wait for the motor to burn out because I want to rip it out of the wall and never look at it again. I will never purchase a GE product again.

I am Truly Disappointed in our GE Adora dishwasher. After only a year the basket is completely rusted. It does not clean our dishes and leaves a nasty white residue. Our GE refrigerator is the loudest piece ofJunk that we paid thousands of dollars for and we barely get enough ice for our family of four once a day. A repairman came out and admitted there was a defect and that there was nothing he could do to help with the loudness of the refrigerator. We have the extended warranty which is a waste of money. I am so upset with Home Depot and the GE products we purchased from their store. Never again will we purchase a GE product.

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We've had the piece of garbage dishwasher for about 4 months. Whomever designed this thing should be fired ! It Definitely Does not clean-wash anything well. The silverware rack is so poorly designed and placed that I have had to bend utensils to get them free from the ignorant stupid miserably designed silverware trays. A real exercise in stupidity - the soap dish won't open if you fill the trays, nor will they clean - and you won't be able to close the door! The door has the controls mounted on the top, so when you close it the controls disappear beneath the counter top.
Apparently GE has received many complaints about dirty silverware AFTER washing as our dishwasher came with utensil separators - evidently this added i-d-i-o-t feature was designed by the same mor-on that did the original. Who knows what brand and style of play house knife fork and spoon the designer uses but it sure ain't what the average household has.
In some circle collonic-irrigations are the style of eating - I'll bet GE has styled Adora just for that crowd and their enema bags

Hate my GE Adora. Dishes do not come clean. Have had trouble with the soap dispenser since day one. Most time soap does not come out and I am left with dirty gritty dishes. Had an old Whirlpool portable dishwasher until I did a kitchen remodel this year. The old dishwasher cleaned 3 day old unrinsed dishes in 50 minutes. This one does not clean 1 day rinsed dishes and it takes 123 minutes to not clean them. Wish I had my old one back!

I have the same problems - does anybody have a solution?

I agree with all these complaints, we bought our GE Adora dishwasher from Home Depot November 2012, seemed to work fine for the first year and half, then gritty dishes, coffee cups with coffee stains then to top things off water leaking out from the underside causing over $12, 000.00 worth of damage to floor, cabinets, insulation in basement ceiling and more from water saturation under glued down Armstrong flooring. Have GE Profile range, refrigerator and just got rid of 20 year old GE washer and dryer. Sadly to say I will never buy GE Appliances again and certainly won't recommend them ever...I guess GE is so big they just don't care about the health and safety of the American Consumer...Shame on them!

This is a poorly designed dishwasher - the soap dispenser is supposed to open a certain time and let the soap mix with the water. Problem is the door for the soap cannot open because the door to the soap hits the glass/cup rack. Then when you open the door to put the "clean" dishes away, the soap dish opens - then the soap is spilled onto the clean dishes...! we couldn't figure out why our dishes were not getting clean and there was soap on the inside of the door and on the dishes. Do not buy this piece of junk. Looks good but does not work...!

Bought all of the slate set to remodel our condo and I'm having all the problems listed above, dirty dishes and flatware, soap not being distributed leaving one heck of a mess on the inside of the tub. Called service and he suggested cut back on amount of soap and use an expense cleaner to cut the gunk buildup. Nothing helps. So disappointed in GE that they still have these issues.

Agree and am in the same boat as everyone else here. Bought the Adora dishwasher and has always left residue, parts break, never worked right. Just an overall cheap machine and a headache. AVOID THIS PRODUCT.

Same issues. I purchased through Home Depot and in less than a year stopped cleaning dishes.