- “Standing water at the end of every cycle”
- “You can hear the pump trying”
- “It drains if you run it again”
Symptom
KitchenAid dishwasher will not drain
A cycle that finishes — or stops — with water standing in the bottom of the tub. Four of the five things that cause this are outside the machine or free to clear, which is why this one is worth ten minutes before it is worth a visit.
- From $95 diagnostic, credited to the repair
- 59 cities and neighborhoods covered
- OEM parts available on order
- In writing the price, before anything is opened
Five ordinary causes
What this usually turns out to be
Cheapest and commonest first, which is also the order we check them in. They sit hundreds of dollars apart, and only the unit settles which one is yours.
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The filter in the floor of the tub
Loaded with the residue of a few hundred cycles, it slows the drain until the machine gives up on it. It lifts out by hand and rinses under a tap.
Dishwasher drain & pump repair from $165 -
The air gap on the counter
The little chrome cylinder beside the faucet, if you have one. It blocks with the same debris the sink sees and it stops the dishwasher rather than the sink.
Dishwasher drain & pump repair from $165 -
The disposal knock-out plug
On a new installation. The commonest reason a machine has never drained properly from the first day, and the only cure is removing the plug.
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The drain hose and its high loop
Kinked behind the machine, or run without the loop under the counter that stops sink water flowing back in.
Dishwasher drain & pump repair from $165 -
The drain pump or the control
A pump that hums and moves nothing, or a control that never commands it at all. This is where it stops being a ten-minute check.
Dishwasher drain & pump repair from $165
In five minutes
Before you call anybody
None of it needs tools, and all of it makes the visit shorter.
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01
Scoop the water out first
A cup and a towel. It makes everything below possible and it stops the tub smelling by tomorrow.
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02
Take the filter out and rinse it
Under the lower rack, in the floor of the tub. A quarter turn on the cylinder, then the flat screen lifts out. Look at what comes off it — that is what has been slowing the drain.
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03
Check the air gap and the disposal
Pop the cap off the air gap on the counter and clear it. If a disposal was fitted after the dishwasher, check its knock-out plug came out.
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04
Then book the visit
Tell us whether you can hear the pump running, whether the Clean light is blinking a count, and whether the machine is new or has always done this.
How it shows up
What people describe when they call
A shortcut
Narrow it down before anybody arrives
A description of the behaviour leaves a few possible causes. A code names the subsystem before anybody opens anything, which is why it is worth photographing before it clears.
If the display is showing something
Photograph it before it clears — codes do not wait. Search the full code list
In more detail
About KitchenAid dishwasher will not drain
If you are looking up kitchenaid dishwasher not draining, this is the page: dishwasher will not drain, what it usually turns out to be, and the check worth doing before anybody is called out in Miami.
The fastest diagnosis is the code
Lift out the tub filter first — a quarter turn on the cylinder under the lower rack, then the flat screen underneath — and rinse it under a tap. Then, if your dishwasher was installed at the same time as a garbage disposal, check the disposal knock-out plug was actually removed. A machine that has never drained since the day it went in is very often that, and it is not the appliance.
Most of this list is not the appliance
The filter, the air gap, the disposal plug and the drain hose are all outside the pump and all reachable without tools or with a screwdriver at most. That is why we ask you to look before you book: a fair share of these calls end at the sink, and we would rather tell you that on the phone than on your invoice.
What is left is a real repair
When the path is clear and the water still stays, it is the drain pump or the control that drives it. A pump that hums without moving water and a control that never asks the pump to run look identical from the front of the machine and are two different repairs. That distinction is what the diagnostic settles, and the exact cost is confirmed on site before any work starts.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards
Before you book
Questions about KitchenAid dishwasher will not drain
How often does the filter really need cleaning?
Every month or two in this water, and more if you rinse very little off the plates. It is the single piece of maintenance a KitchenAid dishwasher genuinely asks of its owner, and it prevents both this complaint and the gritty-dishes one.
The water drains away if I run the cycle again.
That points at a restriction rather than a dead pump — the machine can manage it on a second attempt but not a first. The filter, the air gap and the hose are where to look, and it is worth acting on before it stops working altogether.
Is standing water in the bottom always a problem?
A small amount of water in the sump area is normal on many machines and keeps the seals from drying out. Enough to cover the tub floor and reach the lower rack is not.
Where we do it
Across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach
Same terms everywhere we go: an on-site diagnostic first, the price agreed in writing, and the exact figure confirmed once we have seen the unit.
Neighborhoods people ask for by name