Product review (5 stars): Works well with soft water...you have to cheat with hard water!!
We have two homes and had the wonderful experience of having to replace the old GE dishwasher in both of them this year. The first one replaced was still working fine but was ten years old and a few tines that hold the dishes had rusted through and fallen off on both racks. We figured it was time to replace and spent many hours on the net reading reviews. There are tons of positive reviews for this unit, especially on the Whirlpool site. We bought the black version with every option including power scrub and movable tines. The first couple of loads were completely wet on the Eco cycle dry. Adding rinse agent solved the problem however. We were very happy with the sound level, speed and cleanliness of the dishes. We used the normal cycle, heat dry and Cascade Complete.

Six months later, the other unit, also ten years of age, was leaking water from the motor housing. Having had such a great experience, we ordered the exact model but in white to match appliances. While the first few loads appeared okay, soon we noticed a substantial amount of mineral buildup on the glasses and dishes. The inside of the tub and racks began to look as if they had gone through a fifty year life there was so much buildup including food and a greasy film. We tried different brands of cleaners, both gel and powder, and different rinse agents. After reading review after review online, we discovered it was NEW GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS that had appeared to have destroyed our wonderful new dishwasher!!!

1) First, the federal government passed legislation that required extremely low levels of energy and water consumption.

2) Not to be outdone, 17 States then passed laws outlawing all phosphates in residential, but not commercial, dishwashers. The detergent manufacturers responded by removing phosphates from all brands in every state.

3) Municipalities didn't like to be left out so some decided to outlaw water softeners.

Remember our first wonderful experience. There, we have treated city water at 7 grains of hardness AND we run a water softener. Low levels of phosphate free detergent work just fine in that situation. The second home has treated city water which is extremely hard, has no water softener nor can we install. The new no-phosphate cleaners, which includes Cascade Complete, will not work. Ever. End of story.

We resolved our problem with three things. We ordered Cascade Professional from Amazon. It has phosphates!! Before using, we cleaned our dishwasher with a product called Dishwasher Magic which restored the interior to like-new appearance. We use low amounts of the Cascade Professional with Finish Jet Dry rinse. Finally, we use the Sensor setting. This setting will raise the water temperature if the incoming water temp is too low.

We literally spent days trying to resolve this issue. We probably washed ten loads while experimenting, hours on the phone and internet searching for answers and wasted money on a variety of products. I could rant for an hour on how little respect I have for the politicians that made us waste our time and resources trying to figure this out. Unfortunately, I couldn't rant without the use of foul language and the curse, "May they all eat from grimy, encrusted, greasy, foul looking dishes and drink from cloudy, spotted glasses."