Custom-panel and everyday dishwashers, repaired in Edmonds

Edmonds spread up its hillsides in the 1950s and 60s, annexed large pieces of land early in that second decade, and added its southern neighborhoods in the mid-1990s. About four in ten homes date from 1960 to 1979. Many of those kitchens, especially in the Bowl, Seaview and along the view streets above the ferry terminal, have since been remodeled to a high standard. That is where we meet panel-ready dishwashers hidden behind cabinet fronts, Fisher & Paykel drawer units, and Miele, Thermador, Cove and Bosch Benchmark machines built into custom millwork.

The rest of the city keeps us busy with ordinary machines. Five Corners, Perrinville, Westgate and Firdale have plenty of family kitchens with a Whirlpool, GE or standard Bosch. The unincorporated Esperance enclave, where about a third of the houses went up in the 1950s, adds compact older kitchens. Just south, Woodway's houses on lots of up to two acres bring large kitchens, sometimes with two dishwashers. Each of those settings has its own common failures, and our technicians plan the van stock around them: springs and latches for the remodels, pumps and valves for the family kitchens, gaskets and hoses for the condo buildings near downtown.

Panel-ready dishwashers are where Edmonds calls most often differ from those in other cities. When a remodeler fits a heavy wood panel to the door, the hinge springs must be set or sized for that weight. If they are not, the door slams down or will not stay at the loading angle, and the springs wear out early. We see this on Bosch, Thermador, Miele and KitchenAid units alike. The fix is usually new springs, sometimes a different spring kit made for heavier panels, and a careful balance check so the door rests where it should.

The city of Edmonds buys its water through the Alderwood district from Everett's Spada Reservoir, averaging about 12.5 ppm of hardness, which is very soft. Miele machines include a built-in softener with a hardness setting, and it is worth confirming that the setting matches the supply rather than an assumed default. On any brand, detergent overdose is the bigger risk: stemware and crystal can etch over months. A few streets at the south end may be on a different district; your water bill will tell you.

The hilltop condos built in 2007 and 2008, and the older condo buildings near downtown, raise one more issue: a dishwasher drain in a stacked building joins a shared line, and slow drains can start beyond your unit. We check the machine and its hose first and tell you clearly if the restriction is further down the building. Condo dishwashers also tend to be pushed hard against tight cabinet bays, so a supply line crushed behind the unit is a common reason for a slow, noisy fill. Pulling the machine, replacing the line with a braided one and setting it back square usually solves it in one visit.