InSinkErator 3/4 HP Heavy-Duty Disposal 444

Pros: Fast; effective; loads of power. Accepts foodstuffs that would give other disposals ulcers.
Cons: Installation could be tricky for the inexperienced.

Within our castle, underneath the stainless steel double-sink, lived a dinosaur. He lived on scraps of leftover food I tossed down the sink, thus easing my life in the kitchen. He understood his duty was to eat well and often, and our family fed him...

Pros: The unit is certainly powerful, relatively quiet, and easy to install.
Cons: Food left sitting in the grinding chamber may cause corrosion and a leak.

As a property manager responsible for dozens of apartment units, I want long lasting disposals as installation cost is not insignificant. Until they went out of production, I installed Insinkerator 333's. The 333's are very durable. Since about ...

Pros: It is powerful enough for my needs and it is not noisy.
Cons: Way too leak prone for a plumbing appliance.

I have had this insinkerator for probably six years but it was replaced a couple of years ago due to rust in the motor chamber causing it to sieze up. Now the replacement unit is leaking. Insinkerator is okay about replacing faulty units but there are ...

Pros: quiet and powerful
Cons: leaks

We have two In Sink Erator 444 garbage disposals in our house. Both of them leaked after around two years. The first leak destroyed our laminate floor before we noticed the problem. The second leak also damaged our floor, but fortunately we caught it in time. They were both replaced under warranty with new disposals. It has been about two years now since the first one was replaced and it has started to leak. The manufacturer has informed me that the four-year warranty period is only from the time of original installation and thus has expired. I say good riddance to these leak prone garbage disposals. Three leaking units in four and a half years seem more than coincidence.

Pros: No rust in griding chamber
Cons: Plenty of rust in the motor chamber.

Short and sweet review. Mine somehow leaked into the motor chamber then died after light use after about four years, if that. When it died the rotor still turned but all the motor could do is hum. Avoid this model or save all of your guarantee paperwork.

Pros: Quiet. 3/4 HP is more than sufficient.
Cons: Shorter life than we are used to.

We have installed two of the model 444's. One in a rental and one in our home. The one in the rental failed within a month. The motor went dead. Home Depot exchanged it and it has worked fine since. The one in our home just started to leak water from the electrical cover in the bottom. Customer service at their 800 number said that an internal seal may have failed. The unit failed three years into the warranty. They offered to send someone out to replace the unit or send us a new unit by UPS with a prepaid UPS label to send the old unit back. Not only that but the warranty begins again for another four years. The unit may not be as durable as some but the customer service and replacement policy seems more than fair.

Pros: Easy installation, great value, good warranty
Cons: May have to purchase a plug kit

I purchased this disposal last week. I don't have great handyman skills but to my surprised I was able to get this installed in under an hour. Installation is simple though it would have been nice to have an extra hand when attaching the disposal to the drain flange.

Note: if you need to plug this disposal into a wall socket (as opposed to direct wiring), you will need to purchase the plug kit. Fortunately I saw the kit while purchasing the disposal so I didn't have to make a trip back to the store.

The disposal is fairly quiet and seems to have plenty of power. It comes with a four year in home warranty.

Update 7/31/06
This disposal has quickly taken everything we have thrown it's way. No problems so far - our old disposal used to clog our pipes occasionally, this one has never done this. So far I still highly recommend

Pros: Works really well, until one day in the not-too-distant future...
Cons: Save your warranty, because you will need it.

I'm sure my 444 is less than 4 years old, but the receipt is long gone. The motor is corroded, and just hums now. I was lucky to have a plastic container underneath the disposal, so the leak didn't ruin my floor or cabinets, as many others have reported here. The only reason people are rating this disposal higher than a 2 is because theirs aren't quite old enough yet. I bought another new Insinkerator last night(Evolution Essential) because it looks like a quality product (yes, so did the 444), and because it clicked into place using the existing mount, making the job really easy.

Pros: fair pricing, seemed like a good unit.
Cons: disapointed with the housing, it cracks & leaks!

I installed a new 444 4 years ago when I remodeled my kitchen.
I am a professional remodeling contractor here in Texas, and chose this unit because we used them on some of our jobs, and the price was what we wanted.
Today I had to remove the unit because the housing has a crack in it, and of course now it leaks. The motor and all of the functions work very well, but the housing is another story. It appears that this is the achilles heel of the unit.

Pros: Quiet, Powerful, Insinkerator's willingness to replace with no fuss.
Cons: Expected longer life from an Insinkerator

Just under 2 years old I noticed dripping from the motor housing bottom while the water was running and decided to do a search online for "Insinkerator 444 Leak". I found reports here as well as other places that this is a common ailment of the 444. We called Insinkerator's 800 number and they are sending us a new one plus a prepaid box to return the old one to them. All they required was a serial number to do this. I would advise anyone to go this route to solve the problem as your 4 year warranty starts over this way. The other option Insinkerator offers is that they will send a service tech out to replace it, in which case your warranty will only run for the remainder of the original 4 years. If this is a chronic fault, I'll take the longest warranty I can get!

Pros: Good warranty, no leaks, prompt customer service
Cons: early electrical failure

We bought our model 444-5 in 2004 with a 4-year warranty. After 3.5 years it stopped working due some electrical problem, which is too short for comfort. Prior to that it always operated just fine and never leaked.  We called the service number and within 3 days had a replacement installed at no charge by a local company. I was impressed with the company service, no hassles. The new unit has worked perfectly since 2007. The repairman said that the 4-year warranty will be based on the serial number of the new unit, so we may have yet another 4 years to go. I wonder whether all the leaks mentioned by other reviewers were caused by DIY installation. For that matter, I think review pages by their nature attract those who are dissatisfied, and you could probably find similar reviews of other disposals. Sooner or later they all leak.

Pros: Powerful motor, fairly quiet
Cons: Poor design, leaks into motor housing, short product life

I purchased the In Sink Erator 444-5 approx. 2 1/2 years ago and already the unit has failed. I have my own construction company so I have seen many garbage disposals. The unit is as easy as any others to install. I turn the unit on and it just hums. The motor is free and clear to spin in both directions and still no action.I spent the extra money to get a good unit and it hasn't performed. I have had many other units in the past which were less expensive that had lasted longer. I would have to say that ISE has kept their promise as far as replacing the unit without any money out of my pocket. I will now have a new comparable model and hopefully it lasts more than 2 1/2 years. The warranty expires after 4 years from installation so I will have to replace the new unit if it fails again. Time will tell if it was worth the extra money for the unit but the extra headache is not worth it.

Pros: Effective; noise is not bad; grinds solid food well.
Cons: After 2 years, it's now useless.

Our plumber recommended and installed the 444 on a new sink/cabinet installation, and for a while it worked well. It's fairly quiet and effectively grinds food to small bits. Unfortunately, after two years it began to leak. At first, I noticed only a small leak. Within a month, torrents of water were pouring out the bottom of the unit, damaging the floor of my new cabinet. I had the 444 replaced under warranty, only to have the second one begin leak just as badly as the first. In my estimation, the 444 is a defective product. I would not recommend it at all. You can get a better, more reliable product for the same or less money from other manufacturers. According to my plumber (who now recognizes the issues with the 444), ISE makes quality, reliable models. Unfortunately, the 444 has put me off of ISE altogether and I will not purchase from them again.

Pros: Powerful and does a good job.
Cons: Poorly designed if expected to last more than the 4 year warranty.

Have had our 444 for 6 years and it has performed it's job as expected except for the occasional mystery leaks on the floor of the cabinet. It's been getingworse.... shoulda been a signal. It seized up the other day and tripped the thermal switch. Took it out today and the central bearing has rusted so badly it cant be rotated. I expected more from this caliber of machine. Not heavily used - just the two of us. Back to the big box (HD) to invest in another 6 years worth.

I would look elsewhere but where on 4th July weekend?

Pros: Powerful
Cons: I have to stick my hand in the thing to get food down the hole.

OK, how much design finesse does it take to realize that you shouldn't have the gasket flaps oriented upward? I am constantly having to push stuff down through the flaps, and the sink is always backing up until I stick my hand in the hole to move the stuff downward. Grade: F