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DEAL WATCH: Keurig K-Express | 22% off $69.99

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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Features

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Performance

  • Efficiency

  • Capacity

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Features
  • Performance
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Performance
  • Efficiency
  • Capacity

Introduction

Its $999 MSRP and $899 sale price puts the EIDW5905JS in the same weight class as some far more competitive dishwashers. We suggest you watch the whole competition before making a choice.

Design & Usability

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Powerful looks belie a relatively weak wash.

Something about the front, with its rigid handle and off-color top trim, evoke power and control. And it feels as sturdy as it looks. On top, hidden away, is the full set of controls. As with professional bodybuilders, it’s okay to be in awe.

Its rigid handle and off-color top trim, evoke power and control.

Inside, there's a stainless tub, a removable filter and room for eleven place settings with space to spare. The cutlery basket seemed a bit large for our taste and took up more space than necessary.

{{photo_gallery "Front Closed Photo", "Fingerprints Photo", "Controls 1 Photo", "Controls 2 Photo", "Front Open Photo", "Interior Detail Photo", "Top Rack Photo", "Top Rack Detail Photo 1", "Top Rack Detail Photo 2", "Top Rack Detail Photo 3", "Bottom Rack Photo", "Bottom Rack Detail Photo 2", "Bottom Rack Detail Photo 3", "Cutlery Basket Photo", "Cutlery Basket Detail Photo 1", "Cutlery Basket Detail Photo 2", "Cutlery Basket Detail Photo 3"}}

Features

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A few extra features, but nothing special.

The EIDW5905JS includes a high-temperature wash and a sanitize feature. Both features essentially perform the same function; they merely differ in the peak temperature they reach. The Hi-Temp option heats water to approximately 140ºF in the main wash and 150ºF in the final rinse.

We did a test of the Sanitize option on a Normal Wash and found it reached sufficiently high temperatures to kill bacteria (158.9ºF); most bacteria succumb at around 155ºF. However, this option also prolonged the cycle by nearly half-an-hour, and also consumed roughly 1.5 more gallons of water and 0.22 more kWh.

There's also a rinse cycle, which is used to clean off loose food soils in preparation for a more complete wash at a later time; a sensor-based Auto cycle; an optional air dry and a six-hour delay start setting.

Performance

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Shirks away from the real heavy lifting

The progress of dishwasher technology has led to a sacrifice of speed in favor of performance—a fair trade, by most accounts. However, the EIDW5905JS is generally a fast machine. At 31 minutes, it truly lives up to the idea of a “Quick Wash” (unlike so many of its competitors). The Normal and Heavy Washes were also relatively fast, clocking in at 93 and 134 minutes, respectively. On all cycles, it handled small- and medium-sized stains like a champ. Unfortunately, it had a tendency to redistribute and bake on larger food particles, a phenomenon known as redeposit. If you scrape or rinse your dishes before washing them, it shouldn't be as much of a problem.

The EIDW5905JS is generally a fast machine.

Based on an average of using the Normal Wash 50 percent of the time, this makes for a running cost of $33.05 per year. While this isn’t a bad figure, per se, it definitely isn’t great. Given the machine’s decent performance and impressive design, we had higher expectations.

Conclusion

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Other dishwashers are stronger performers.

The Electrolux EIDW5905JS is a forcefully designed monolith of a dishwasher. Everything is focused on functionality and elegant simplicity, with a sturdy stainless steel construction to boot. But while it pleases the eye and cooperates with your hands, it’s less impressive when it comes to efficiency and performance; it’s not bad, it’s just sub-par for the near $1,000 price.

Science Introduction

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The EIDW5905JS’s robust design belies its mediocre performance. While the Normal Wash—the most important cycle—fared very well the Quick and Heavy Washes were somewhat disappointing; the former was just plain bad, and the latter had trouble achieving a spotless clean. All three cycles were fast, particularly the Quick Wash (at 31 minutes), but this wasn’t enough to impress us.

Performance

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The Quick Wash was just plain bad.

The {{ products(50fa318196ab5860160c7f77).undefined }} received one of the lowest scores ever on our milk test (in which we bake milk onto glassware), and it was virtually useless in removing oatmeal stains. We imagine it would be sufficient for lightly soiled dishes that are manually scrubbed beforehand, but its half-hour speed was still not enough to give us an overall good impression.

The Normal Wash was by far the superior cycle; we would recommend using this option most frequently. Like the Quick Wash, it had some trouble on our oatmeal test, but it also did exceptionally well on our egg test (in which we bake egg batter onto spoons). Also, given the Normal Wash’s comparatively strong efficiency performance, it makes sense to clean most of your dishes with this cycle.

The Heavy Wash sprayed a considerable amount of food particles throughout the wash. Because these soils were so tiny, the overall clean of the dishes was thorough, but we aren’t willing to go so far as to claim it was a market-leading heavy cycle. It did poorly on our baked lasagna tests, and it left our milk-stained glasses infused with tiny food specks that would fail to entice even a starving man. However, its high temperature ensured solid performance on proteins (such as egg and meat); it was just those tiny particles that we hated.

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Efficiency

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Not class-leading, but not terrible either.

The EIDW5905JS performed well in regards to energy consumption. From the Quick Wash to the Heavy, it demanded 0.61 to 1.03 kWh’s per wash. That made for an electricity cost of four cents for a standard Quick Wash cycle, six for a Normal, and 11 for a Heavy. These figures are standard by most industry comparisons.

However, each cycle consumed a lot of water. The Quick Wash, which lasts a mere half-hour, soaked up a whopping 5.86 gallons of hot water. That figure fell slightly to 5.75 gallons on the Normal Wash (still pretty high), and then soared to 9.03 gallons on the Heavy Wash. These figures made for a water cost of six to nine cents per wash, depending on the cycle.

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Capacity

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Meet the tester

Tyler Wells Lynch

Tyler Wells Lynch

Contributor

@tylerwellslynch

Tyler Wells Lynch is a freelance writer and journalist whose work has appeared in Vice, Wirecutter, Gizmodo, The Rumpus, Yes!, and the Huffington Post, among others. He lives in Maine.

See all of Tyler Wells Lynch's reviews

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