Sparkly Clean

Well, hello there! I'll be playing blog catch-up this week. My goal is to add a post every day this week until I've got all our photos uploaded. We really enjoy looking back at photos/stories so I want to make sure I get Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010 added ASAP.

But, for now I want to showcase our big purchase for the month (er... year). It just so happened that our 1991 dishwasher crapped out in December. We had it fixed about a year ago for about $100. A second break down in a year was the straw that broke our dishwasher back.
Our old lifesaver:

I didn't grow up with a dishwasher and so this was my first dishwasher. I've grown quite fond of using it and can't imagine not having one in the future.

The "before" pic complete with piles of dirty dishes that I was sick of washing:
Kathy Fuhs- this "before" pic is just for you. Now you've got a visual of the white washed cabinets & country blue counter tops. I am more than ready to spruce it up in to the new millennium.

We paid for delivery & installation from Best Buy. It was a bit pricey but worth every penny. The 2010 era of dishwashers have water connections at the back of the unit so that the entire height can be used for washing; they're not called Tall Tub Dishwashers for nothing.
So, our installer had to cut our water line and install a flexible connection in the basement off the water heater.
The installer also got a nice jolt of electricity when he reached underneath the old dishwasher to disconnect the power supply and found some wire exposed. He uninstalled the old dw, disposed of it, ran a new water connection and installed the new dw.
Work in progress:
Here's the "after" shot with all the dirty dishes loaded up and ready for a spin:
Sleek, beautiful and already smudged:
We ended up getting the Samsung 400 series. I did LOTS of research. Our requirements were:
- quiet (around 50 decibels)
-hard food disposer so that we don't have to do a bunch of pre-washing
-energy star qualified
-stainless steel
-sanitizer function (built in water heater to boost water temp in final cycle)
-racks that can accommodate our large dinner plates (the one we got has an adjustable upper shelf)
-heated drying cycle
-purchased from a place with interest free financing

I read a lot of customer reviews and professional opinions on brands, features & specific models. I feel like we got exactly what we wanted and it was on sale (we saved $175).

We've probably run 4 loads through the dishwasher and are completely happy with it! It is scary quiet. With music playing in the living room, we couldn't even hear it running while eating at the breakfast bar.

Merry Christmas to us. Let's hope next year's Christmas present is a little more exciting (and way less practical). ipad anyone??