7 Best Dishwashers of 2024, Lab-Tested and Reviewed

People prioritize different features in a dishwasher, including a third rack, a short wash-cycle time, or a fingerprint-resistant surface. We note these options on each model page from our comprehensive dishwasher ratings and provide the details you need to know about them in our dishwasher buying guide. But there are a few performance aspects that everyone can appreciate, and we test them rigorously in our labs. These aspects include the following:

Cleaning: The top performers reliably wash away starchy, crusted-on messes and produce great results even with lower-cost (or more eco-friendly) detergents or in hard water, which tends to reduce a detergent’s cleaning ability. Certain extras like additional wash arms and specialty wash zones touted by manufacturers may suggest better cleaning power, but that’s not always the case, as our washing tests have found.

Drying: In general, CR’s testers have found that dishwashers with heated-dry cycles (which essentially bake moisture off the dishes) tend to do a better job at getting your dishes bone-dry than models that rely on residual heat, but it’s not a guarantee. Larry Ciufo, CR’s head of dishwasher testing, has also noted that dishwashers that automatically open their doors at the end of a cycle to release steam tend to be particularly effective.

Noise: Certain “quiet” models actually have jarring spikes in volume from time to time while they run, like the sound of the detergent door thwacking against the tub or the churn of a loud drain pump. Our noise ratings take those random spikes into account.

Efficiency: Our tests have revealed that dishwashers often use slightly more water and energy than advertised, but the difference adds up to only a few dollars in extra utility costs per year. If efficiency and sustainability are especially important to you, opt for one of our CR Green Choice dishwashers, which we think are among the most efficient. They also have the least negative environmental impact compared with other models on the market.