Appliances are something most of us don’t get all that often. Plus, they’re expensive, to it’s not like you’re swapping them in and out every couple of years—or like you can easily take it back to the store. So when you shop for something like a dishwasher you want to know you’re getting a good product, that’s easy to use and that will last. But since it’s hard to test out appliances before you buy them, you need to do your research and rely on reviews like this to give you the whole picture.
We renovated and as a result needed new appliances. The dishwasher I chose is the LG LDT5678. In this post I’ll talk to you about the features of this dishwasher, how well it works, the noise level and my overall thoughts on it now that I’ve been using it for about 6 weeks.
How to choose a dishwasher
There are certainly dishwashers that cost a lot more money than this one, and that come with a lot more fancy features. Because we were in need of all new appliances for our kitchen renovation, we were trying to keep the budget manageable. We did want a dishwasher with a third rack, some adjustability, outstanding cleaning properties, and hopefully one that would be quiet, since it went into an open concept kitchen living area.
I will say, I did a lot of research and read a lot of reviews and information about a bunch of different dishwashers before settling on this one. The key deciding factor in us choosing the LG dishwasher is that it had really good reviews on several electronics and home appliance store websites. Plus it had many of the features we were looking for.
LG LDT5678 Dishwasher: Main features
One thing I noticed right away when we started using the new dishwasher, that didn’t occur to me until that moment is that the entire interior of the dishwasher is stainless steel. There are actually a couple of reasons I really like this.
The first is that it actually reflects a little more light into the dishwasher meaning it’s not such a dark cave. But the other important feature is that unlike my previous dishwashers which were made of white plastic on the inside, the interior of this dishwasher doesn’t stain or get discolored, or otherwise look gross.
Third rack
Since I last shopped for a dishwasher, which has to be nearly 20 years ago, there are a lot of new features out there. Yet at the same time a lot of dishwasher technology seems to have stayed the same. Dishwasher designs for the most part has kept to the two rack design with spinning arms underneath for doing the scrubbing – this one has a four arm sprayer on the bottom and a dual arm on top. This dishwasher also adds a third rack for flatware and flat items.
I really appreciate the flexibility this extra third rack offers. There is also a cutlery basket that sits on the bottom rack, so if you are constantly using your silverware and flatware, you’ve got tons of places to put it and spread it out so that it gets cleaned really well. The basket can also hold things like shot glasses and small items since the cutlery spacer doubles as a lid.
The top level third rack
That third rack is also super handy for narrow items that might slide through the basket: things like chopsticks. Conveniently it’s also great for things like spatulas and wooden spoons that are flat but otherwise quite long or tall, plus some flat or shallow dishes. Either way, anything I’ve put on that third rack has come wonderfully clean and I really like having the extra space.
That third rack is also removable too, if you need more space below.
Height-Adjustable Second Rack
One of the other really great features that sold me on this dishwasher was the height adjustable second rack. Using simple clips you can adjust the height of that middle rack to three different settings. Being able to do this allows you to put taller stemware or glasses in without their bottoms hitting the upper rack.
Height-adjustable second rack
This also means you can crank the middle rack up to its max height and get really tall items on the bottom; things like cookie sheets or platters easily.
Top rack spacing
Sometimes how much dishwashers hold depends on your dishes, but I’ve found the top racks in the LG LDT5678 are actually pretty well laid out to accommodate a variety of glassware, mugs and bowls. There’s spaces for smaller glassware, bigger items and smart racks that hold a bunch of bowls while still letting you put things in beside them.
Bottom rack spacing
The bottom rack doesn’t get quite as high marks—in fact the bottom rack is my least favourite thing about the dishwasher, but I’m adapting to it.
There’s just two racks for plates and bowls, and then kind of a big empty space in the centre—great for pots or mixing bowls, but there’s nothing to hold that stuff in, and overall the configuration is not optimized since there’s no option for when you don’t want to put big things in the middle; it just becomes wasted space. A fold down rack would be ideal here for smaller plates, in my opinion.
There is a fold down rack near the back, but that only makes more wide open space.
LG LDT5678 dishwasher review: how well does it clean?
How well a dishwasher will clean your dishes is obviously one of its key attributes. For me, that means not needing to rinse or pre-scrub dishes before I load them in the dishwasher, and it generally means that all of the dishes come out clean and sparkling.
Overall I’ve been thrilled with how well the LG LDT5678 cleans: plates come clean even when covered with food residue, glasses come out sparkling, and the silverware is always clean with no dried-on bits left behind.
For the most part, we have been using the machine’s auto cleaning cycle which senses the soil amount on your dishes and optimizes it to give you the best cleaning. This dishwasher model also has options for a heavy cycle as well as a delicate cycle which you can use for delicate items such as fine China, stemware and more.
Night Dry setting eliminates wet dishes!
One dishwasher annoyance is wet dishes. Usually this comes from leaving the dishes in the machine after a clean and drying cycle, and the steam inside condenses and puddles, particularly if you leave them sitting overnight.
This machine has a really cool setting to alleviate this: it’s called Night Dry.
Night Dry keeps the ventilation fan running periodically to help vent the steam from the tub. This is a really smart setting and I found it works really well; we now use it all the time, because we often get diverted from immediately unloading the dishwasher.
Smart connection & LG ThinQ app
Many of LG’s newer appliances come with smart connectivity. This dishwasher uses the LG ThinQ app to essentially talk to you about your appliance. At its most basic level, it can send you push notifications to your phone or smart watch when a cleaning cycle is finished, or when you need to add rinse agent. At its most complex, using this Wi-Fi connection can help you diagnose trouble .
It’s actually kind of nice getting those alerts, because the dishwasher actually runs so quietly it’s hard to know when it has either started or stopped.
The app will also let you download special cycles that aren’t already part of the dishwasher’s onboard brains; you can get a Night Care Cycle which will wash dishes extra quietly overnight. There’s also cycles for pots and pans, casseroles (to tackle extra greasy bakeware) and glassware.
The app will even instruct you when and how to clean the dishwasher itself. Neat!
How loud is LG LDT5678 dishwasher?: noise level
Which brings me to another one of my key selling features; after spending 20 years with a rather loud dishwasher, using the LGLDT5678 has been an absolute treat when it comes to noise level. This dishwasher is ultra quiet and most of the time I have no idea if it’s running. That’s super handy in these work from home times, or if you want to run the dishwasher while you’re sleeping at night time. The dishwasher is impossible to hear from across the room, and is barely audible standing next to it. If you watch the review video you’ll hear for yourself that the dishwasher is quieter than cookie wrappers and dogs drinking water.
I give this dishwasher top marks for its blissfully silent operation.
Other features:
Other features:This dishwasher has some more standard features too… you can delay the start of a cycle, you can use higher heat, or longer drying.
Dual Zone feature
A feature called dual zone will automatically set the spray intensity to later for the upper racks and heavier for more heavily soiled dishes like plates and bowls on the lower rack.
Half Load feature
Half Load will give you a full,. Thorough wash on either the upper or lower racks. This means you can fill the dishwasher halfway using just one of the racks, then designate which one you’re using, so you don’t waste energy or water.
Overall review: LG LDT5678 dishwasher
Overall I couldn’t be more pleased with this dishwasher. It has all of the features I want and a few I wasn’t even expecting to get. It leaves all of my dishes clean, every single time it washes, it’s ultra quiet, and very versatile. If you’re looking for a new dishwasher for your home, you won’t regret buying this one. I will have to update this review after a few more months of use, but so far I’m very happy.
The LG LDT5678 dishwasher sells for about $950 and you can get it where you find most home appliances.
