Dishwasher Brands to Avoid: Real Problems and Which Ones Fail Most Often

When you buy a dishwasher, a kitchen appliance designed to clean dishes automatically using water and detergent. Also known as automatic dishwasher, it's supposed to save time and effort—but too many models turn into a headache within a few years. Not all dishwashers are built the same. Some brands cut corners on motors, pumps, or control boards, and when they fail, repair costs can hit half the price of a new unit. You don’t need to be an expert to spot the patterns: certain brands just don’t last.

Take the control board, the electronic brain that runs the dishwasher’s cycles and detects errors. It’s the most common point of failure in modern dishwashers, and some brands use cheap components that fry after 3–5 years. Then there’s the pump and motor assembly, the heart of the system that moves water in and out. Brands that skimp here leave you with noisy operation, poor drainage, or a machine that just stops mid-cycle. And if your model uses proprietary parts? Good luck finding replacements. Some manufacturers design their dishwashers to be unrepairable, forcing you to buy new.

You’ll see this in repair logs from technicians across the UK. One brand, for example, has a recurring issue with the door latch failing after two years—so often that repair shops keep spare parts on hand. Another has a history of plastic tubs cracking under normal use, even without overloading. These aren’t rare glitches. They’re systemic. And they’re why people end up calling a technician, only to be told, "It’s not worth fixing."

It’s not about the price tag. Even mid-range models from certain brands fail faster than budget ones from others. What matters is build quality, parts availability, and how the brand handles warranty claims. Some companies ignore repairability, while others design for serviceability. You can’t always tell from the sales brochure—you need real-world data.

Below, you’ll find real repair stories from dishwashers that broke too soon. We’ve pulled together the most common failures, the brands that show up again and again in service calls, and what actually happens when these machines go wrong. No fluff. Just what you need to know before you buy—or before you pay to fix one that’s already broken.