Review of Bosch (F-) and Kenmore (A+) Dishwashers

My husband has decided to install our new dishwasher today when I am trying to get into the kitchen to cook Corned beef and Cabbage for St. Paddy's Day. So I am killing time waiting to cook. Dinner might be late.

It was time to replace our dishwasher. It was a Kenmore that we've had for about 7 years. Not very long, no. But I'm not sorry to see it go. The electronic power panel crapped out. I figured it would cost about the same to buy a brand new dishwasher rather than pay a repairman to replace the broken parts. Those digital panels can be expensive. Well, that plus I have always hated the color of my appliances so I saw this as a good opportunity to replace it. We bought our house 15 years ago with all the appliances in it. I think the oven was here when the house was built in the 60's. About 7 years ago, the appliances had begun to succumb to old age. The oven temp was off by 75 degrees and didn't heat evenly.  The dishwasher had literally fallen apart. The spring for the door had popped and although my husband is quite handy, he could not fix the spring. Whenever we had the dishwasher door open we had to prop it up with something. A Big Gulp cup worked really well until we replaced that with a block of wood. We lived like that for 2 years. The dishwasher still washed fine. I didn't see the sense in replacing it. The door was just a little bit bo bo. About 7 years ago my parents told us to go buy a new dishwasher and oven  for our Christmas presents. My parents had just had a house built and my mom's kitchen was beautiful so I took her advice when she said get "Biscuit" colored appliances. That's what they had gotten and they looked great in my parents kitchen in Florida with the birch cabinets, the dark granite counters and the cream colored tile floors. However, they didn't look so great in my kitchen with white and black linoleum, painted  seafoam green cabinets and  black formica countertops. I don't know what I was thinking. I was just so excited and overwhelmed. I had several salesmen tell me that people aren't buying Biscuit anymore. People are buying black appliances. I should have listened to the salesmen.

 I did tons of research and decided on a Bosch Evolution Ascenta  Model: SHE3AR76UC based on reviews. It had 4 out of 5 stars on the Best Buy website. Most reviews were totally positive. I really should not have disregarded the few negative reviews because they were way more accurate. The Bosch dishwasher is very small. I ignored this fun fact because I reasoned that the bottom rack dish prongs were closer together so it would hold more. That much is true however, closer together means less water gets between to clean the dishes so careful pre-rinsing is vital. The top rack is also smaller so it holds less glasses which is what we use alot of in our household. Instead of running the dishwasher every 2-3 days I had to run it everyday. The Bosch also touts itself as being a quiet 50 decibels but my husband would complain that he could hear it all the way on the other side of the house from the bedroom when I would turn it on before I went to bed. The dog must have thought so too because he would bark and howl when I turned on the Bosch too. The worst part was that it didn't do a great job of drying the dishes either. There was no heating element. Something my husband warned me about but I decided to ignore because all the positive reviews can't be wrong. (yes they can) From start to finish the wash/dry cycle took almost over 3 hours. When I opened the dishwasher after 3 hours the dishes were soaking wet. I had to put them in the dish drainer on the counter. If I set the dishwasher before bed and didn't open it until the next day around 5pm, the dishes were marginally dry. 

Fortunately, Best Buy has a great return policy. I was able to return the dishwasher for a full refund. You get 14 days. I felt terrible for my husband who had installed it and then had to uninstall it, get it on the truck and take it back to Best Buy. But there was no way I could live with that dishwasher for the next 7 years or even 7 days. I offered to pay for the the installation of the next dishwasher  to my husband. At Best Buy the installation was $69.99 however at Sears, installation costs $139.99. My husband said "No way! I'm not paying $139 bucks for something I can do myself." My hero!

I went to Sears and looked into Kitchenaid and Whirlpool dishwashers.  I decided against Whirlpool because the cutlery bins are on the door. I also don't like that the cutlery basket doesn't hold very much and it's not very roomy.  So the Whirlpool was out.  I was comparing a Kitchenaid and a Kenmore that looked identical. The Kitchenaid had a price-tag of $899.99 The Kenmore was regularly $829.99 but was on special sale which took the price down to $599 which is what I had paid for the useless Bosch. I decided to go with the Kenmore Model #13269. We picked it up at Sears so that we could avoid the $69.99 delivery fee. My husband has hooked it up and it works beautifully. I love it! Lots of room for the dinner dishes as well as serving bowls.  The cutlery bin is a bit larger than my old Kenmore so that's also a plus. The top rack  (which is also adjustable, btw) holds so many coffee cups and drinking glasses. I should also mention that it dries beautifully. I always had an issue with my old Kenmore dishwasher where the ends of the cups on the top rack always had a puddle of water in them. This dishwasher must do a better job of drying because I haven't had that issue at all.

Recently on Facebook a friends friend had posted that she was in the market for a new dishwasher and was looking for opinions. I was shocked when 15 out of 20 people responded that they loved their Bosch. Perhaps I got a dud. Perhaps they just don't know what they're missing. I'm sticking with the Kenmore. 

Gwynnie: She's a skinny rich bitch but I love her anyway

Royal Tennenbaum's. ♥



She's just like a normal person. Only really wealthy.

This reminds me. When tabloids do stories about stars without makeup, they still usually look better than I do on a good day anyhow. so stfu.

JUSTIN and JIMMY History of Rap part 4

http://youtu.be/B8wfWO06yp8

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

I'm getting ready to make my Corned Beef and Cabbage. Here is the recipe and my notes.

Corned Beef and Cabbage I   Rated: Submitted By: Laria Tabul Photo By: Jenbc27 Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 2 Hours 25 Minutes Ready In: 2 Hours 35 Minutes Servings: 5 "This traditional Irish dish is the centerpiece for many a St. Patrick's Day table. Corned beef takes a long, lovely simmer with potatoes, carrots and cabbage for a hearty and satisfying dish." INGREDIENTS: -3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet -10 small red potatoes                 -5 carrots, peeled and cut into     3-inch pieces -onions quartered -1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges DIRECTIONS: 1. Place corned beef in large pot or Dutch oven and cover with water and beer. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Skim off any nasty stuff then add the spice packet that came with the corned beef.Simmer approximately 50 minutes per pound or until tender. (AROUND 2 HOURS) Remove corned beef from pot and cook veggies. See *HINT below 2. Add whole potatoes and carrots, and cook until the vegetables are almost tender. Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove meat and let rest 15 minutes. 3. Place vegetables in a bowl and cover. Add as much broth (cooking liquid reserved in the Dutch oven or large pot) as you want. Slice meat across the grain. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2013 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 3/17/2013  TRIM THE FAT.  Add 1 can/bottle of beer, water to cover, 3 large cloves of minced garlic, and about 12 whole black peppers. About 1 hour before the beef was supposed to be done, I added the potatoes, carrots, and 2 small turnips, chopped. Forty minutes later I added the green cabbage wedges and 1 large onion, cut into wedges. Twenty minutes later all was done and it was DELICIOUS. [P.S. I served this with a horseradish sauce--mix together 3/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup white prepared horseradish (or to taste), 1 Tbs. dried chives, and the juice from 1/2 lemon. This is very good with the corned beef. ================================= I cook the cabbage and veggies SEPARATELY at the end. Cut it in wedges and cooked separately from the meat. I use 1/2 cooking liquid from the meat and 1/2 chicken broth with butter added to the liquid. Cooked until just crisp tender. Gives the cabbage a lovely flavor, it stays green and doesn't get all mushy. =========================== When the beef was done I put it in a dish, covered with foil. Then cooked my veggies in those wonderful juices till not quite done. When they were done I put them in a dish with broth, covered with foil & put in a warm oven till I was ready to serve. Sliced my cooled down beef, put in a 13 X 9 dish covered with foil put in oven till ready to serve. I did make the Horseradish sauce and it was very good as well, but I found that it was cold next to the nice hot corned beef. I’m sticking to Grey Poupon….Also a little sprinkle of white vinegar on cabbage is great. Also helps with any problem that may occur after!! ? Outstanding!! Wow…great recipe. ==================================== FOR A GLAZE: I add one more step (delicious) after you remove the corned beef from the liquid, brush the top with regular prepared mustard and then add a thin layer of light brown sugar on top of the mustard, put into a 350 oven for about 30 min.*HINT- you can do this while you cook the veggies. It will keep Corned Beef warm.  I take the corned beef out and while the cabbage carrots and pot's are cooking in the liquid, I put the brisket in the oven for 30 minutes with this sauce that I combine on the stove until smooth. 1/3 cup of brown sugar,2 tblsp of butter tlbs. of prepared mustard, 1/3 cup of ketchup, and 3 tblsp of apple cider vinegar. I combine these ingredients till smooth, then pour over the brisket while the veggies are cooking. 30 to 40 mins. at 350 will do it. ========================== This is the way it's done. We always told my mother to make extra veggie's because we knew what was coming the next day and that was the best part. The next day was cold sliced corned beef and my mother's vegetable fry. She would chop up all the leftover potatoes,carrots and cabbage and fry up in a well seasoned iron skillet.. what she used as base, butter I think, she would let cook until it got crispy, then turn and do again. To this day, I can not duplicate but keep trying. Try it you will love it. A medley of flavor.. ==========================  Save the juice & "scrappies" in the pot, and add a bag of dried navy beans the next day. The beans slightly thicken the juice and it makes a very tasty bean soup !!

Monarch Butterflies

mixed media sculpture by Dirk Staschke

GROWING ROOTS

Vera Lehndorff portrait by Holger Trülzsch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veruschka_von_Lehndorff

Gothic pipes

Turrets

Glinda

February Seven

wisteria

Blue flowers

George Melies

And now for something completely different aka wtf?

Peony's

Laurel Waterfall

The Avett Brothers NYE, Greensboro, NC (12/31/2012)

Seth at Multnomah Falls

Scott Avett

by danny clinch

This is your life

Swirlz

Do something

NASA

This Is the Shiniest Living Thing on the Planet

Hidden away, deep within a forest in central Africa, is something quite special. But the Pollia berry's name doesn't quite do it justice, because this thing is shiny. Damn shiny. In fact, it's theshiniest living thing in the world.

These fruits, which look a bit like something you might hang on a Christmas tree, owe the title to their microscopic physical structure. In fact, it might shock you to hear that they contain no blue pigment whatsoever.

The surface of the berries is actually made of four layers of thick-walled cells, each layer itself containing more layers made of cellulose fibers. All those fibers run parallel in their own layer, but crucially the layers are all slightly rotated relative to each other, forming a spiral when you look from the top down.

That means that when light hits the structure, some light is reflected by each layer of fibers in such a way that the light bouncing back is amplified—a concept known as constructive interference—to produce remarkably strong colours. The result is very shiny—shinier than any other living thing on the planet. Just don't bother eating them: apparently they contain virtually no nutritional content whatsoever. [PNAS via Not Exactly Rocket Science]

Ice Ship

Ice ship sculpture created by set designer and art director Rhea Thierstein | Shot by Tim Walker

Ready for Spring

Bookstores

Livraria Lello

Porto, Portugal

Bookstores

Cook and Book 

Brussels, Belgium

BOOkstores

Ler Devagar

Lisbon, Portugal

Bookstores

Shakespeare & Co. Antiquarian Books

Paris

Water towers NYC

Snoop and Terry

DDL

Sid Vicious or a lollipop kid?

Randy Paul

Schott

And now for something completely different

Yes. That's James Franco and Gucci Mane.

My house can never be large enough for them all.

Pretty Antiques

Beautiful dresser

Maison de Luxe

Grey chic