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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Features

  • Performance

  • Conclusion

  • Introduction

  • Performance

  • Efficiency

  • Capacity

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

Introduction

Design & Usability

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An attractive appearance is its most impressive aspect.

This Frigidaire boasts some impressive design elements. The stainless steel exterior looks robust—dare I say, professional?—although it’s not exactly impervious to fingerprints. The control panel—located on the top of the door—is also sleek and easy to operate. We also appreciated the adjustability and versatility of the racks and cutlery basket. Even the lower wash arm is stainless steel. On the surface, you’d think these were the markings of a true performer—but not really.

This Frigidaire boasts some impressive design elements.

As stylish as the machine looks, it was not without some functionality issues. Both racks were difficult to maneuver, for instance; the top required an all-too-excessive amount of force to draw, and the bottom had a tendency to catch on the wash tub gaskets. These complaints aside, the push-button control panel was highly responsive and easy to understand.

Our biggest complaint with the interface was the timer. Notice the digital display that lights up green to inform you of a chosen cycle’s duration. That’s cool, right? Wrong! See, since this is a hidden-control dishwasher, the display only lights up when the door is open, so it's only useful when you're choosing a cycle.

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Features

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Sanitize, rinse, delay, air dry. Yawn.

The FPHD2491KF is pretty much lacking in the features department. There are the bare bones options that have become industry staples—Sanitize, Rinse Only, Delay—but not much else.

However, you don’t really need much more—at least in a consumer setting. The Sanitize function works fine; we tested it and found it reached a peak of 162.7 degrees Fahrenheit. There’s also a Hi-Temp Wash and Air Dry option, as well as a Delay Start of up to 24 hours. Finally, there’s a Rinse Only cycle, which is most often used for moistening soiled dishware for a complete wash at a later time. Once again, the cycle timer was a nice perk, but it only functions when the door is open.

Aside from those relatively minor complaints, the FPHaD2491KF has all you need for most dishwashing needs. The real decision comes down to whether you're in the market for design or performance, because you can’t have both with this machine.

Performance

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The FPHD2491KF's looks are Cherry Garcia and its features are plain vanilla, but its performance is freezer-burnt maple walnut.

None of the three main cycles showed any particular strength, but none was so bad as to be unacceptable, either. As with efficiency, capacity, and features, cleaning power was just so-so. But if we had to pick one standout component of the FPHD2491KF’s performance, it’d be its handling of protein-based stains like milk, meat and eggs.

The most frustrating failure was how consistently the machine would scatter tiny bits of waste food particles across the entire load of dishes, a phenomenon known as redeposit.

None of the three main cycles showed particular strength, but none was so bad as to be unacceptable.

In all, this machine would only be ideal for homeowners who either never have large dish loads, or tend to scrub thoroughly before loading dishes. But who wants that? It'll look good in your kitchen, but you only have to look at your dishwasher. You have to eat off your dishes.

Conclusion

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Unless you find a major deal on this Frigidaire, you probably should keep shopping.

If you’re in the market for a basic dishwasher with tasteful design, we’d still only recommend buying the Frigidaire FPHD2491KF if you find it on sale for far less than its $799 MSRP. The most important function of a dishwasher is to clean dishes, obviously, and that's exactly where the FPHD2491KF disappointed. It certainly didn’t receive a failing grade, but it’s no teacher’s pet. At the end of the day, things like features and design are just charm from the class clown—they don’t make up for poor grades.

Introduction

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As we mentioned, the Frigidaire is a pretty attractive machine. It has a sleek stainless steel design—both inside and out—an intuitive, simply designed interface, and a rather robust set of dish racks and cutlery baskets. But we don’t assess home appliances on such subjective measures; we use hard science. And in that regard, the FPHD2491KF was nothing special. Read on for details.

Performance

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While most scores were in the range of 95 - 99% clean, those tiny specks of spinach were everywhere.

Here’ the thing about the FPHD2491KF’s performance: If it weren’t so darn good at spewing loose soils back at the dish load, it’d probably be a pretty good machine. But with every single test cycle we noticed a significant volume of spinach stains had been caked onto plates, bowls, dishes, mugs, and even spoons. Sure, they are tiny specks—and therefore don’t necessarily plague the scores—but it’s still unacceptable. You simply would not eat off of plates with a bunch of tiny green specks on it. It also raises the question of how many tiny, less visible food particles are finding their way on your dishes.

The Normal Wash was the most impressive of the three, but even then it was only a slight win. While there appeared to be some strength in removing protein stains—milk, meat substitute, egg—it was mostly inconsistent, and marred by the presence of loose soils. For a dishwasher that costs around $700, performance simply cannot be overlooked. If all you care about is cleaning power, do not buy this machine.

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Efficiency

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This thing won't plague utility bills... or food stains.

There was some surprising inconsistency when it came to our efficiency tests. The Light Wash demanded a mere 0.55 kWh and a hefty 6.93 gallons of hot water per wash. This makes for an individual wash cost of about 15 cents, which is average and nothing to write home about. The Normal Wash consumed 0.82 kWh, but drained a mere 3.5 gallons of water. A dishwasher with a Normal wash that uses nearly half the amount of water as the Light Wash is rare indeed, but other readings showed different figures. The point is, expect some major variances in water consumption.

In all, you can expect this machine to rack your utility about $32.33 a year. That’s by no means a poor figure—if anything it’s on the efficient side of things. Well, not quite. It’s still an most unimpressive dishwasher.

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Capacity

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Average—but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

We test capacity by filling the dishwasher with as many place settings as we can (within reason). A single place setting includes: dinner plate, bread plate, fruit bowl, glass, saucer, mug, dinner fork, knife, and two spoons. We also load a single serving setting for every 6 place settings the product can handle. A serving setting includes platter, serving bowl, fruit bowl, and four serving utensils.

The Frigidaire FPHD2491KF was able to hold 10 place settings, which is what the vast majority of machines are able to fit. This, once again, positions the FPHD2491KF comfortably within the realm of mediocrity.

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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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