Best Eco-Friendly Dishwashers of 2024

Here are five of the most noteworthy Green Choice dishwashers, with strong scores on our performance tests, sold by brands that received great feedback in our member surveys.

Over 900 dishwashers on the market earn Energy Star certification from the Environmental Protection Agency, which indicates that the dishwashers meet a certain standard for energy efficiency: Thanks to features like soil sensors and efficient jets and rack design, a dishwasher with the certification costs around $55 a year to run and can save up to 3,850 gallons of water over its lifespan.

To earn CR’s Green Choice designation, dishwashers must stand out in a variety of key environmental assessments, some of which affect a dishwasher’s Green Choice score more heavily than others. For instance, a dishwasher cycle’s energy consumption will affect a Green Choice score more significantly than whether or not it has a self-cleaning filter with a grinder (a feature that causes a machine to use up slightly more energy).

Here are the major factors that go into a dishwasher’s Green Choice score.

Water efficiency: In our labs, we measure each dishwasher’s water consumption on our intentionally difficult washing performance test. The Energy Star certification requires standard dishwashers to use no more than 3.5 gallons per cycle—but in reality, the vast majority of Energy Star models we’ve tested use between 4 and 5 gallons per load, though a few standout models use a bit less. That’s not to say that Energy Star designations are wrongly applied: It’s a matter of how the machines are tested.

“We use special loads in the dishwasher to trigger the soil sensors to deliver the maximum water and energy usage,” says Jim Nanni, CR associate director and appliance team testing leader. The test for government certifications, on the other hand, “uses a comparatively clean load of dishware.” Previously the DOE energy tests used very little soil in the load for purposes of evaluating water and energy consumption. Recent changes added more soil and some cleaning criteria, the impact of which remains to be seen. Our tests, on the other hand, focus on baked-on soils, which have proven difficult to remove. This test is the basis for cleaning performance as well as water and energy usage

Because so few dishwashers actually meet the rigorous standard of 3.5 gallons per cycle (at least when it comes to very dirty dishes), our Green Choice standards allow for more water usage—some as much as 4 to 5 gallons to get a load of dishes clean.

Energy efficiency: We measure energy consumption during a dishwasher’s normal wash cycle. A couple of Green Choice models use about 1 kilowatt-hour of energy per cycle (about 13 cents’ worth of electricity), but most use only about three-quarters of that amount.

Brand reliability: Based on information from surveys of CR members who, combined, bought more than 86,800 dishwashers between 2013 and 2023, this rating estimates the likelihood that a particular brand and type of dishwasher will break or experience problems within the first five years of ownership. “Poor reliability can lead to the premature removal of an appliance from the home,” says Whitehurst—and increase its chances of ending up in a landfill.

Shipping footprint: Bigger and heavier dishwashers typically take more raw materials to produce, and require extra fuel (and therefore carbon emissions) for shipping. We calculate these scores based on the dishwasher’s advertised weight and dimensions.

Interior materials: Dishwasher tubs can be made of stainless steel, plastic, or a combination of the two. But even though the weight of stainless steel would factor into the Green Choice equation, that doesn’t necessarily make plastic the better choice. “Plastic is cheaper and lighter, but it is not as durable as stainless steel,” Whitehurst says. Stainless steel is also easier to recycle, so dishwashers with this tub type get a higher score than those with plastic tubs, regardless of the tub’s weight.

Price and warranty: The dishwashers in our ratings can cost as little as $300 or more than $2,500, depending on the type, efficiency, and features. Many models that earn our top ratings for cleaning performance, as well as predicted reliability, cost between $500 and $1,000. You’ll see warranty information in our dishwasher ratings.