My (generally well-made) Maytag dishwasher had a similar problem with steak knives wearing out the plastic grid at the bottom of the cell in the cutlery basket after several years of use. In the Maytag, the cutlery basket is a basket, about 5 inches by 7 inches divided into 7 compartments. Like everyone else, I put handles up on knives and down on everything else.
I went to the craft store where for about a dollar and a half, I bought a sheet (10" x 15"?) of a plastic grid/mesh intended to be used for cross-stitch needlepoint projects in kindergardens and senior centers. The cells in the grid are about 2.5 mm square. I cut out a piece of grid that I fashioned into a liner for the bottom of the damaged compartment in the cutlery basket, reaching about 8-10 mm up the side of the cell.
Problem solved, looks good, works well, and I have 80% of the material left over in case I need to re-do it in 5 years time.
I could probably have bought a replacement basket for 15-20 dollars, but it would have taken me more time to figure out where and how to order it than it took to complete the project that I did.
After "THE WAR" (WW II, for you younguns out there), GE introduced the HOTPOINT brand as an intro brand to entice builders for the housing boom that began across America in the late 1940s, early 1950s. It was a low-end appliance brand with less features than the mainstay GE brand. It has for decades been considered a "builders' brand".
Having said that I totally agree w/ Jon Titus' comment about his TOYOTA. As the owner of my 3rd CAMRY, I can attest to the excellent quality & durability of this design. My only fear now is that when I'm in the market for a replacement CAMRY, TOYOTA will not have engineered this vehicle to be so "smart" that I won't want to own one!!!
Sometimes you don't get what you pay for, since it's so dang hard to vet these in a store, and even the Consumer Reviews can lead you astray I've had expensive and cheap, yet nothing that convinced me to stick with a brand. Everytime someone mentions dishwashers or washer/dryers here, I see a load of letters.
I may have the same issue with my GE, perhaps it's even the same model as mentioned. The cutlery holder is designed to accept the handles of the cutlery, as it's most sanitary to keep the working ends up in the spray, and draining away. My butter knives have fairly thick handles, which won't even fit in the cutlery holes!
This cutlery tray is on the side of my machine, I think the front would have been better, easier to load and unload. The face of the plates in the rack is parallel to sides, so unless you carefully close the drawer, the plates you so carefully placed, all roll!
I look at these dishwasher trays/drawers, note that there are millions out there, and wonder why they can't have spent some time engineering a more elegant solution. These are the customers primary interaction point with their product! I who looks at the electronics gizmos after they've figured out where 'start' is.
"All dishwasher manuals I have seen (including the random Hotpoint one I veiwed on-line) state to place silverware in the basket with the handle down."
This indicates it was designed by someone who never has or will use it. The last thing I want is to reach in to pick up the knives with the blades sticking up.
There should be a requirement for the design engineer to use (and live with) the product before it is released to production.
Disagree. Dropping knives and silverware in from a few inches up hardly constitutes and lack of common sense. I'll bet most people except complete nerds load the dishwasher this way. We ALWAYS placed the handle down - and ours still broke.
Some of the blame here may also have to do with heat cycles and degradation of the plastic over time under these conditions. It would be interesting to know how well the material was stabilized against this effect.
I feel your frustration on this one. I have a different brand of dishwasher (forget the brand from here..) and have had the exact same issue. My wife finally replaced the basket. However, a thought just occured to me. I work for a comany which makes extruded plastic net and a little piece of that net could be cut to fit snuggly in the bottom of the basket. Could have saved $15-20 if that thought had occured a few weeks ago..
Perhaps this article should be titled "Used by Monkeys".
All dishwasher manuals I have seen (including the random Hotpoint one I veiwed on-line) state to place silverware in the basket with the handle down. So maybe if the dishwasher is used properly the basket works fine.
Not everything can be designed for people with no regard for common sense to operate.
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