Product review (1 stars): Poor quality, high-maintenance product that does not live up to the Kitchenaid name
This is my second review on Amazon and I write it because I have been extremely disappointed with the Kitchenaid dishwasher product as a whole.
My old Whirlpool Gold dishwasher finally gave up after nearly 10 years of trouble free service. The only problem was that it was noisy but it was no maintenance. I bought the Kitchenaid Architect series dishwasher a couple of years ago after doing much research on the internet. I was very pleased initially with the performance and virtually quiet operation. However after 9 months I began to realize that this dishwasher is high-maintenance because of its poor quality plastic parts inside. The upper tray is poorly made and the plastic clips that secure the mechanisms keep breaking. Also the rollers that support the top tray keep breaking and popping out. We contacted Kitchenaid and they sent us some spare parts. It took us a while to disassemble the broken components and in the process other plastic parts that were weak and brittle also started breaking. So we called kitchenaid and they sent us more replacement plastic parts.

A couple of months after the warranty period ended the dishwasher stopped working midway through the cycle. When we restarted it, it would run through to completion, but then it will repeat the same behavior after a few days. We called Kitchenaid and they said that there must be a problem with the electronics circuitry and offered to send someone to replace it if we took a warranty package at about $300 for a year. If we bought the part separately it would cost less but the labor for the repair will bring it close to $250. Moreover they indicated that the warranty would cover other issues if the circuit board was not the issue. We took the warranty and got it fixed.

Then the plastic parts started breaking again and the top rack is almost ready to give up. The plastic parts do not seem to last long in the hot water cycle. We will be calling Kitchenaid to get the parts again.

This dishwasher was a bad purchase in my opinion. Kitchenaid must be well aware of this problem as their support reps seem to know how to respond to customer queries on this and they also send the parts for free. There are state laws that require equipment like washing machines and water heaters to last at least a certain number of years before they malfunction and cause water damage. The quality seen on this dishwasher so far seems to suggest that this dishwasher may be shortlived.

I have lost respect for the Kitchenaid brand because of this product. I will look at Frigidaire or Bosch for my next dishwasher when it is time for that.