Product review (5 stars): A serious appliance
I find most non-paid reviews either come from those who, for their own reasons, choose to identify themselves as reviewers and, as such review many products - or the frustrated populace who feels screwed by the vendor/product that is in their crosshairs. On occasion, maybe you'll get somebody like me...I don't generally review because most purchased items fall within a median of the superb thing the manufacturer and PR agency says they are, and the devil's joke the poor souls who feel gypped and powerless believe them to be.

I'm only inclined to review this because it fell entirely out of that median. I have abodes on both the east and west coasts. West is my house, new built-in dishwasher always ready to perform. East is a loft in Brooklyn that I've had to furnish on the fly. It came with stove/oven, fridge, sink, counters, cabinets and that's about it. In time an automatic dishwasher seemed like a good idea...nothing permanent, nothing built in. Years ago I bought a vintage hose-to-sink dishwasher from the 1950s at a yard sale. It had a great look but it was worthless in terms of utility.

It was with this in mind when I began to seek out a new  hose-to-sink dishwasher for the loft. All the PR trumpeting technological advances in these units got me even more interested, but seriously....I expected an appliance that was marginally better than the '50s model. When I encountered the Danby DDW497W, I liked the approach....green by way of using less electricity, water, and soap than the real built-ins. Its size seemed like a good fit for the loft too, so I bought it.

Nothing in the literature or review prepared me for what I got: the VERY BEST dishwasher of ANY variety I've ever encountered. It's better than any of the many built-ins I've used, including the Whirlpool unit in my West Coast house. I don't believe even Danby expected this....the manual was full of caveats to offset the obvious extrapolations of disappointment. What's so great about this unit? First, all the green stuff is true. It costs a pittance to run. The internal heating element used to up the the hot water temp from the faucet also struck me as a great idea.

When I first hooked it up I was quite nervous about leaks...there were none. The quick-fit faucet adapter worked perfectly as did the basic functionality of the appliance in general. Still, initially I selected the heavy duty wash mode to give the Danby every chance to do the best it could. In that mode, the thing ran for quite a while but when it was finally done, I opened the door, turned the power off, detached it from from the sink, and unplugged it. I'd done the normal dish pre-rinse I always did before running my plates, bowls, implements, etc. through the cycle. I was, nevertheless, surprised to encounter squeaky-clean dishes, silverware, and glassware minus even the hint of a streak. Leap forward to 6 months later: I've stopped cleaning off my dishes at all. I've downgraded the cycle to the lowest (P3) the machine offered - which was considerably faster. I've used the unit once or twice a week since I got it. And no matter what I did, everything I've ever put in this dishwasher came out pristine squeaky clean for a tenth of the cost used to run my dishwasher out west. That would be the end of it but for one thing: because the water pressure was lower than that of the big units, I found I could be very 'creative' with my loading. I was able to nestle things together which in a built-in would surely foretell eventual breakage. Items could touch, lie atop one another...basically break every rule of dishwasher loading and still come out - no hyperbole - SQUEAKY clean. I want the Danby folks to know just HOW satisfied I am because these days underperformance is the norm.

UPDATE: It is now 10/09/12. I've had this dishwasher since 4/12/11. Everything I wrote above still holds...ALL of it. The only thing that seems to have changed is that it appears Danby has discontinued the model. How rare it is in this world that the best example of something is the one that survives, but Danby, why? If the plastic on the door came loose, use another method of attachment. If items fall through, add another strut to the basket. If Ms. Consumer wants a bigger fork basket, just have one made...these are small problems, and me?...well I haven't encountered ANY of them. This Danby dishwasher is still the finest automated dish washing machine I've ever encountered, almost two years after its first use. Hint, if you make those tiny changes, you can change the model number to something new! new! new!

Oh, it just occurred to me...one thing HAS changed. My deluxe, expensive, big-name brand West Coast dishwasher has failed and was replaced while little Danby is still Dandy!