How we test
Every appliance on this site is scored against the same published rubric. Units are purchased at retail where possible; when manufacturers or dealers loan units, that is noted on the review and the loan carries no commitment about the score. Until a model completes the physical protocol, its entry is clearly labeled a seed draft: scores derived from verified listing specs, published EnergyGuide data and aggregated owner ratings — never from manufacturer marketing claims.
The DustScore rubric
Refrigerators: temperature stability through repeated door-open cycles. Washers: soil removal on standardized loads, water extraction (spin residual moisture). Dryers: time-to-dry a standardized load, final moisture variance. Dishwashers: baked-on soil removal, drying results, rack coverage.
Configurations and features that change daily life — third racks, steam, moisture sensing, ice systems — verified against the manufacturer listing, not marketing copy.
Filter and gasket servicing, consumable costs, water/energy use per cycle from published EnergyGuide data.
Performance per dollar at the current live dealer price, including installation realities (vent, gas line, cutout dimensions).
Measured dB at one meter during the loudest cycle, control ergonomics, app polish where applicable.
Sub-scores are weighted to produce the headline DustScore (0–10). We publish sub-scores so you can re-weight for your own priorities — an open-plan-home buyer cares about different things than a basement laundry room.
The ValueScore metric
Every product card, profile and comparison table shows ValueScore (1–10) — a price-performance ratio. We compute each machine's DustScore-per-dollar (using the live dealer price at page view), then normalize against the strongest ratio among quality machines (DustScore 8.0+) of the same category: the class leader scores 10, and everything else is proportional on a 1–10 scale. So a ValueScore of 8 means “within ~20% of class-leading value for money”; a 2 means you are paying a large premium per DustScore point. Compare within a category — a dishwasher and a pro-style refrigerator live on different value curves. The quality bar keeps a cheap, mediocre unit from ever defining the scale. It is a tiebreaker between machines you already like, not a substitute for the rubric.
How prices are verified
Major-appliance retail is dealer-driven, and the same model can swing hundreds of dollars between sellers. Prices and stock status on this site load live from the dealer's own product listing each time you view a page — the number you see is the number the dealer is charging right now. The “last verified” date on each list is the day the ranking, scores and specs were last reviewed by an editor. Every list carries a public changelog of material changes.
Corrections
Find a spec that's wrong or a score you can reproduce differently? Email corrections (at) this domain — verified corrections are fixed within 48 hours and noted in the page changelog.