--- title: "Dishwasher will not start" description: "KitchenAid dishwasher will not start — a machine with power that will not begin a cycle is a much shorter problem than a dead one." url: "https://kitchenaidmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-will-not-start/" date_modified: "2026-08-23" Appliance type: "Dishwashers" --- # KitchenAid dishwasher will not start ### The fastest diagnosis is the code Look at the Clean light first — if it is blinking a repeating pattern, the machine is already telling you why, and counting the two bursts is the fastest diagnosis on this appliance. Then press the door firmly closed until the latch clicks, and check the control lock is not on: it is usually a press-and-hold on one of the buttons and it is very easy to switch on by accident. ### Start with the light, not with the button A dishwasher that refuses to begin has usually made a decision, and on this make it announces decisions by blinking. Before you press anything else, watch the Clean light for thirty seconds and see whether it repeats a pattern. If it does, count both bursts — that is an F number and an E number, and it turns a vague complaint into a named subsystem. ### The two settings that imitate a breakdown Control lock and delay start are both long-press functions on a panel most people use three buttons of. Between them they account for a real share of the machines we are called to that turn out to be working perfectly. Neither costs anything to rule out, and doing it first is the difference between an appointment and a two-minute fix. The control lock is on Held on by an accidental long press, often by a child. The panel lights, the buttons beep, and nothing starts. Free to clear once you know it is there. The door is not latched The machine will not run until the latch tells it the door is shut. A rack pushed slightly proud is enough, and so is a tired latch that no longer closes fully. A delay start is set A few hours of delay looks exactly like a machine that will not start. Worth ruling out before anything else on this list is taken seriously. A code is being flashed on the Clean light The machine has stopped on purpose and is reporting the reason in two bursts of flashes. Count them; that changes this page into a different one. The touch panel or the control board Buttons that no longer respond reliably, or a control that lights the panel and never drives the cycle. The last two, and where the diagnostic goes when the rest is proved. Watch for a blinking count If the Clean light repeats a pattern, count the first burst and the second. Those two numbers are the code, and they answer this page before anybody arrives. Close the door properly and try again Push it until the latch clicks rather than until it looks shut, and check no dish or rack is holding it a fraction open. Rule out control lock and delay start Both are long-press functions on these panels and both produce a machine that looks broken. The manual for your model names the button; a lock symbol on the display is the giveaway. Then book the visit Tell us whether the panel lights at all, whether anything beeps when you press start, and any blink count you managed to read. Lights on, nothing happens What it usually means The panel lights up and the cycle never begins It beeps when you press start and does nothing The Clean light is blinking a count The fastest diagnosis is the code Look at the Clean light first — if it is blinking a repeating pattern, the machine is already telling you why, and counting the two bursts is the fastest diagnosis on this appliance. Then press the door firmly closed until the latch clicks, and check the control lock is not on: it is usually a press-and-hold on one of the buttons and it is very easy to switch on by accident. Start with the light, not with the button A dishwasher that refuses to begin has usually made a decision, and on this make it announces decisions by blinking. Before you press anything else, watch the Clean light for thirty seconds and see whether it repeats a pattern. If it does, count both bursts — that is an F number and an E number, and it turns a vague complaint into a named subsystem. The two settings that imitate a breakdown Control lock and delay start are both long-press functions on a panel most people use three buttons of. Between them they account for a real share of the machines we are called to that turn out to be working perfectly. Neither costs anything to rule out, and doing it first is the difference between an appointment and a two-minute fix. ### It beeps when I press start but nothing runs. A beep means the panel is alive and hearing you, which rules out a good part of the list immediately. That leaves the door latch, a control lock, a delay, or a condition the machine has already decided about — so look for a blinking count next. ### Does a KitchenAid dishwasher have a reset button? Not a labeled one. What it has is a power cycle: switch it off at the breaker for a full minute and back on. That clears a control caught mid-write, and it is the closest thing to a reset on this appliance. ### It has power but the panel is completely dark. That is a different problem from this page and a shorter one — supply, door switch, or the control itself. On an integrated machine remember the panel is on the top edge of the door, so you have to open it to see whether anything is lit at all. --- **[Read full article: Dishwasher will not start](https://kitchenaidmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-will-not-start/)**