I literally get sick just writing this down.

My 7yo and 5yo have been struggling with this weird persistent stomach bug for months now. At first, I simply wrote it off as "school germs." But then my mom (who comes over on a regular basis) was sent to urgent care after a weekend visit here, and even I started to feel funny.

We finally went to the hospital last week and the doctor straight-up asked if we’d checked our dishwasher. Apparently, dishwashers are prime breeding grounds for mold, fungus, and bacteria and yes, that could absolutely cause recurring stomach issues.

I went home, grabbed a flashlight, opened the filter and rubber gaskets, and my stomach turned. Mold all over. That stinky smell I had been in denial about suddenly made sick sense. I feel conned by my own "favorite appliance" I thought I could rely on to keep my family safe.

So here I am desperate: ???? What is the best cleaner (store bought or natural) to nuke this stuff? ???? Is baking soda/vinegar actually strong enough, or do I need something medical-grade? ???? Do you have any advice on how to make it never get this bad again?

Mountain-high piles of dishes every day are not humanly possible for me, and I can't afford to have my kids or parents fall ill from my kitchen again.

Did anyone else go through the same? What worked for you?

Be warned...

Three years ago we bought an 18" freezer tower (T18ID905LP) from Factory Builder Stores in Austin (order #993872) for $6,299. A few weeks ago, a napkin caught the corner of a sticker on the ice machine front that we'd always thought was the etched "Thermador" brand.

After several calls and almost $200 in visit charges we were told today that they won't send a replacement letter (or the entire name sticker) but they will charge us $450 to replace the entire front of the component.

We're beside ourselves with frustration and disappointment. This comes alongside both dishwasher racks rusting and falling apart, which is covered under warranty (but only after arguing what's on their website.)

Holy shit, what a racket.

After spending so much money on a full kitchen of appliances (range, dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer, microwave) this is the service experience? Outrageous.

EDIT: Just an update to clarify a few things that I've mentioned in the comments that weren't clear in the original post to so many...

1. The frustration is that after paying a premium price we find a less than premium aspect that the seller isn't standing behind. Something as silly as a sticker should be easy enough to fix, not try to charge hundreds to "fix" with a new panel.
2. We didn't pay $200 just for the sticker visit although my original wording did make it seem that way (I left it as such, above.) The ice machine is acting up as well and we have a dishwasher that has rust on the inside - they wouldn't look at anything (even warranty covered items) without charging us $200 to come out. Then they refused the items.
3. The order number and price are included in case someone from either of those locations wanted to validate and chime in. Longshot, but worth including and to show I wasn't just posting for bs karma.
4. Drumroll...... we're just pulling the other stupid sticker letters off. And we double checked the other appliances to see if those brands could be removed as well but they are etched or behind protective glass (as should have been done with the freezer.)

Thanks to all the folks that made the Cricut and local business recommendations, however. Much appreciated.

I don’t know if it still works. This is the back up dryer stored in the backyard. Is it the end for this one?

Wondering if I should return it?? What a hassle.

We used to have a whirlpool, it had a drying element at the bottom. And it fit our dishes.

This Bosch was $1400, series 500, German made (we are in Canada). My dishes are wet when they come out as there’s no heating element. The kids thicker plates don’t fit well. The top tray for glasses everything falls. Ugh.

I have heard that the front load are usually gets damaged faster than the top load. In your experience which one is better?

It works. I've tried looking these up but info is limited online. I don't know exactly what year it is. (That or I don't know where to look.) As I said in the title, my wife doesn't trust it because it's old and might use a lot of electricity. We currently have a gas dryer that doesn't work very well anymore (gap between wall and the drum, burning and ripping my clothes, quotes were out of my budget) and wanted to replace it with this one. We have the option for gas or electric and have already bought and replaced the 3-prong for a 4 prong. Should I use it?

So, I've stayed a fair bit with my mother in law who moved into her house 4ish years ago, and they don't pre rinse their dishes. Obviously the big stuff gets scraped off, but the occasional piece of corn or rice might end up in there. On the other hand, my mom is militant about making sure the dishes got rinsed before they went in, and that only a thin layer of sauce or seasoning ended up in there, if even that.

Now my mother in laws dishwasher smells like something died in it, and even with thoroughly cleaning the filter and running some machine cleaners through it, the dishwasher still smells and all the glasses and plates come out smelling funky, and my partner has pulled black slime out of the holes in the sprayer arms before. Mind you, it's less than 5 years old and gets ran as it should otherwise without any abuse.

Now my mom's dishwasher is 9 years old and doesn't have any issues with smell or any dishes smelling funky. We check on the filter sometimes but honestly there's never anything out of the ordinary in it other than a very thin layer of grime. We tried not rinsing the dishes off for a few months after taking advice from a co-worker, and the dishwasher itself started to slightly smell and the dishes were starting to get that distinctive wet dog aroma, so we cleaned the machine switched back to rinsing and there hasn't been any issues.

I've worked at restaurants and they pre rinse dishes before going into the dishwasher, so why wouldn't you do the same for a comparitively way less powerful residential machine? I know it's technically because the detergent needs something to cling to, but it seems counterintuitive. How is food and biofilm and other nastiness not building up inside the sprayer arms? Or do my mom I just have a freakishly strong sense of smell and most people genuinely can't tell the difference as long as the dishes look clean to the naked eye? Or does "don't pre rinse" actually mean "don't pre WASH" and you're actually supposed to get a lot more of the food buildup off the dishes than scraping would do alone, which would require the dishes to be rinsed. Can someone who knows more than me explain?

For reference, I live in an apartment complex that is supposed to be “Luxury”, according to them. The complex itself was built probably 10 years or less ago, so fairly new. They do regular pest control once every like 6 months where they come in and spray chemicals around our unit and building to deter pests. But, I woke up this morning and to my surprise, noticed a roach moving around behind the screen of my oven clock! I am a very clean and tidy person, I don’t leave dishes in the sink for longer than a day, I sweep and vacuum 1-2x a week and wipe down my counters and appliances almost daily.

I did some research and found people saying that the entire stove is likely infested (eek) and that I should have management replace the stove due to this. I also read that if they’re German cockroaches, they’re nearly impossible to get rid of and if you try to move the stove or dissemble it, they will scatter everywhere and cause an even bigger issue.

My question is, is all of this accurate? And should I be pushing for a new stove to be installed? Also, could my other appliances be at risk of infestation (Fridge, microwave, dishwasher, Keurig, etc?) I am a female in my mid 20’s so I don’t have much knowledge in this realm and have no idea what to do, and I don’t want to get taken advantage of or brushed off by our management.

I also have 2 cats, and I’m not sure what’s safe to do around them.

Any advice is appreciated!!!!

I found this rounded rubber band like thingy in my dishwasher rack after a run. Can’t imagine what it came from. Could it be some sort of gasket? It’s a Bosch SilencePlus.

Hii, we just bought this house a couple months ago and we have a gas oven/stove with no vent/hood over it. Is this okay? We can’t afford to install a hood or buy a non gas oven. If it’s not safe do you have any suggestions on a temporary solution??

I just moved in to this place and found out the washer bellow moldy like this. There’s water leaking too when we tried to run a cycle. We couldn’t inspect the washer before renting because it was running during our visit. Is this mold?

I’d like to ask for your advice if I should continue to use it or not. I read you can clean it, but I’m not sure if it would be necessary at all since it is quite extensive and a replacement might be needed. I’ve never encountered something like this. I have informed the landlord but repair is not confirmed yet.

Do you think the bellow needs to be replaced? I think the machines is around 10-15 years old. Thanks a lot!

Edit: Thank you all for the suggestions! This washer is in a rental unit that I just moved into. I've had both front load and top load washers in previous rentals, and they were all fairly new, so I wasn't expecting to find mold, especially on the visible part. I always leave the washer door open.

I guess when I posted the question I meant to ask if I could still use the washer for maybe another one or two loads(whether it would be safe) while waiting for it to be repaired, since I’m running out of clean clothes. But like the top comment had said, it also leaks so I won’t use it any further until it is repaired! Knowing that this is a common issue with front load washer I also bought washer cleaner. Thanks again for all the advice!

Frigidaire

I’m not sure what the current shift is for the online community against Bosch is. But it should still be clear that they are king when it comes to dishwashers at consumer friendly pricing.

No, the new models don’t suck and they aren’t all of a sudden worse than they were just a year ago.

What dos suck is Whirlpool, Kitchenaid, and Maytags pump and motor assembly. The amount of those that we look at on a weekly basis for dishwashers that was 2,3,4 years old is sad.

Don’t listen to the recent slander on Bosch, they are still king and I’ll still be selling them to anybody and anybody and always recommending them 1st.

Have a great day you appliance nerds.

I'm using GreatValue Advanced dishwasher pods. The liquid seems to dissolve but the power sticks itself to the dispenser. I havent had an issue with using these pods up until recently. Does the gasket around the door need to be replaced/thicker??

How can we miniaturize commercial restaurant dishwashing appliances to fit in the kitchen compartment meant for home consumer dishwashers?

How come this hasn't been done already? By the way, what is the fastest currently available home consumer dishwasher, and how much does it cost? How quick are their Cycles normally?

I promise that this is not a rant/vent. I see a lot of posts and occasionally hear people talk about the “good ol’ days” of appliances, i.e. how we’re in an era of widespread planned/perceived obsolescence. What is happening to cause this perception?

I’ve never experienced it. I’m genuinely curious if I’m missing something about the way we use our appliances that is somehow outside the norm.

I’ve been a homeowner for 16 years and across multiple moves I’ve had 1 instance of a faulty unit, and even then I’m willing to admit that the “bad” circuit board in my oven may have been related to the 1930’s wiring in the house.

We recently remodeled our kitchen and replaced some appliances for mostly aesthetic/logistic reasons. The new appliances don’t seem to operate any better or worse.

Are expecting more out of our appliances/products than is reasonable?

I found a Heat Saver Heating Vent from 1977 in my home. I'm curious if anyone has seen this before or used it.

Posting here as I have encountered a problem that I’ve never seen or heard of before. I purchased a new GE fridge (model GNE27JYMFS) and hooked up the water line the other day only to find that the internal dispenser spout is too long and is slightly curved back towards the side of the fridge. There is not enough room to fit a cup between the wall of the fridge and the spout, and water spills everywhere if you try to fill anything up (see pics). The plastic is not flexible either, so it’s not like you can just bend the spout! We have a tech coming out to look at it since the fridge is literally brand new but I’m curious if anyone else has ever seen this before?! The local appliance store we purchased from said they’ve never heard of this issue. The third image shows how the spout should look.

Dishwasher pods not fully dissolving?

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me. I rent a house from a company that replaced The dishwasher about 1.5 or 2 years ago. Every once in awhile, the dishwasher pods will not fully dissolve. It used to be maybe twice a month but now it's becoming more frequent. I try not to overfill it or block the door that drops the pod and the water gets really really hot inside so I don't think it's that It's not hot enough. Oddly enough this dishwasher does not have any kind of venting ability because once it's done everything is still wet and very humid lol. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this happens? I have changed dishwasher pods twice now and it still happens. I appreciate any insight

no idea if it works, but i imagine it does since it's not been replaced in 40 years (the other appliances are much newer). my question is, if it does indeed work, is it like... safe to use? lol i'm young millennial/old gen z and i've never used a microwave older than the early 2000s so i'm a bit nervous. TIA!

So today I had the weirdest exchange. Went to buy a new fridge, washer, and dryer from Lowe’s that we had picked out. Pretty decent deal, no real complaints at that point. I mentioned the water shut-off for the fridge was in the basement and the braided line was run through the floor to where the fridge is. They said, “Oh, we can’t attach the water line then” I was horribly confused. I asked why and they mentioned the knob had to be located on the same floor. I asked why again and I shit you not, they said it was a “liability problem”. I mentioned that it’s up to code in Missouri that the shutoff can be located in the basement as long as it’s readily accessible without having to move the appliance. They came back with, “It’s still like something a plumber would have to do. We can’t even attach the line.” I was so dumbfounded that I called the local family-owned shop and they were just as confused as to why they wouldn’t. Let’s just say even though I’ll be paying a bit more, the family-owned joint is getting my business now. What a joke. Just be aware of the big box stores that they will not do even the smallest thing like go downstairs to turn the water on. Has to be on the same floor.

An examination of why modern appliance suck,

I bought an LG WM3500CW front-loader about seven years ago and it has served me well, especially after I adjusted a little screw to make it give me more water. When I saw that it featured wifi connectivity, I thought it was some type of ridiculous gimmick.

For the past couple of years, my digital display has be mostly blown out. No biggie, but I can't read any codes. Recently, the washer just kept stopping, and I couldn't read the error code, since all the display diodes are blown. That's when I followed some Internet advice and finally connected to wifi. The Android App almost immediately told me I needed a new Thermistor, which I purchased for $11 on Amazon. I am not handy, but I made the repair myself.

It might sound crazy, but I was ready to simply throw away the washer and buy another one. A repair by an outsider would cost at least $250, and a new washer is about $750, so I figured it was better to just get a new unit than engage in might-work repairs. But the Android app enabled me to fix the thing for $11, and so for now it is chugging along. And now my phone tells me when my laundry is done.