What else should I look for when buying a dishwasher?

Check the yellow EnergyGuide label.

The EnergyGuide label tells you how much energy it takes to operate a dishwasher. Use it to compare the energy use of similar models and estimate annual operating costs. Learn How to Use the EnergyGuide Label.

Choose the right size for your home.

Standard-capacity models hold more than eight place settings and six serving pieces, while compact-capacity models hold up to that amount. If you have to operate a compact model more frequently, over time you may use more energy than you would with a standard model.

Choose a dishwasher with several wash cycle options.

Look for models that have multiple cycle options so you can choose the cycle that best fits your load. If your dishes are only slightly soiled, you can use a light cycle that uses less water. Other options might include an energy-saving wash cycle or no-heat air dry.

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Dishwasher vs. Hand Washing Dishes

If you still wash your dishes by hand, you're wasting more than just time.

Save money.

Washing dishes in a new ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher rather than hand washing can cut your utility bills by about $111 per year.

Save time.

Instead of scrubbing, rinsing, and drying each dish, just load them all in an ENERGY STAR dishwasher and press start. Using an ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher can save you over 230 hours of personal time over the course of a year. That's almost 10 days!

Get better cleaning.

ENERGY STAR certified dishwashers have features which result in better cleaning. For example, they boost water temperatures to 140 degrees, which allows for improved disinfection compared to hand washing.

Save energy and water.

Thought you were efficient? A new ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher uses about a quarter of the energy used when washing dishes by hand and saves more than 7,000 gallons of water each year!

Save the environment.

Because they use less energy, ENERGY STAR certified products reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil fuels. By reducing water consumption, they also help protect our lakes, streams and oceans.

Best Practices

Take advantage of these best practices to save more money on your utility bills.

Scrape don't rinse.

Rinsing dishes before loading them in the dishwasher increases the total water and energy used. Save yourself the rinsing - just scrape food off dishes. ENERGY STAR certified dishwashers and today's detergents are designed to do the cleaning so you don't have to. If your dirty dishes sit overnight, use your dishwasher's rinse feature. It uses a fraction of the water needed to hand rinse.

Load it up.

Dishwashers use about the same amount of energy and water regardless of the number of dishes inside, so run full loads whenever possible.

Skip the heat.

Use a rinse agent and select the no-heat drying option. It gives good drying results with less energy.