Marlo, thank you for taking the time to share your dishwashing experience with us. There are many conditions that can impact cleaning and drying, the most common being temperature. The “sweet” spot for water temperature is between 120-130 degrees for the best cleaning and drying potential. If you are uncertain if your water is the appropriate heat, check your water heater's temperature reading. To help get the hottest water to your dishwasher, try letting water run in your sink until it’s hot (like you do before getting in the shower). This "primes the pump", it gets hotter water to your dishwasher faster. Your dishwasher uses about 3-4 gallons per cycle, limiting the opportunity the water has to warm up if it doesn’t start off hot enough. Don’t forget to use rinse aid. Check to make sure the rinse aid dispenser is full. The dispenser window may show a dot to indicate its level, or it may function like a fuel gauge. If the dispenser is low, remove the cap and fill the reservoir (page 15 in your Owner’s Manual). Be sure to clean the filters regularly (page 16 in your Owner’s Manual). Selecting the heat dry option in combination with rinse aid will enhance drying performance. Your dishwasher uses our DishSense™ technology to understand how much food is on the dishes and then adjusts the cycle length based on the presence or absence of soils in the wash water. Cycle times are approximate and will vary with options selected. Hot water is necessary to activate dishwasher detergent and melt fatty food soils. An automatic sensor will check the incoming water temperature and, if it is not hot enough, the cycle will be lengthened for automatic water heating in the main wash and final rinse of all cycles. This happens even when the hi-temp wash option has not be selected. When hi-temp wash option is selected, an even higher temperature will be reached to handle heavier soil loads. If you have any questions, please reconnect with us directly for assistance. Your friendly Frigidaire lady, Ruth