diff --git a/pandas/core/frame.py b/pandas/core/frame.py
index 8a3ac4db37d2d..3c9a5868b725e 100644
--- a/pandas/core/frame.py
+++ b/pandas/core/frame.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
     is_sequence, _infer_dtype_from_scalar, _values_from_object, is_list_like,
     _maybe_box_datetimelike, is_categorical_dtype, is_object_dtype,
     is_internal_type, is_datetimetz, _possibly_infer_to_datetimelike,
-    _dict_compat)
+    _dict_compat, is_dict_like)
 from pandas.core.generic import NDFrame, _shared_docs
 from pandas.core.index import Index, MultiIndex, _ensure_index
 from pandas.core.indexing import (maybe_droplevels, convert_to_index_sliceable,
@@ -219,8 +219,6 @@ def __init__(self, data=None, index=None, columns=None, dtype=None,
         if isinstance(data, BlockManager):
             mgr = self._init_mgr(data, axes=dict(index=index, columns=columns),
                                  dtype=dtype, copy=copy)
-        elif isinstance(data, dict):
-            mgr = self._init_dict(data, index, columns, dtype=dtype)
         elif isinstance(data, ma.MaskedArray):
             import numpy.ma.mrecords as mrecords
             # masked recarray
@@ -252,6 +250,8 @@ def __init__(self, data=None, index=None, columns=None, dtype=None,
             else:
                 mgr = self._init_ndarray(data, index, columns, dtype=dtype,
                                          copy=copy)
+        elif is_dict_like(data):
+            mgr = self._init_dict(data, index, columns, dtype=dtype)
         elif isinstance(data, (list, types.GeneratorType)):
             if isinstance(data, types.GeneratorType):
                 data = list(data)
diff --git a/pandas/core/panel.py b/pandas/core/panel.py
index e0989574d79e1..7a3f85bf59e87 100644
--- a/pandas/core/panel.py
+++ b/pandas/core/panel.py
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 from pandas.compat import (map, zip, range, u, OrderedDict, OrderedDefaultdict)
 from pandas.core.categorical import Categorical
 from pandas.core.common import (PandasError, _try_sort, _default_index,
-                                _infer_dtype_from_scalar, is_list_like)
+                                _infer_dtype_from_scalar, is_list_like,
+                                is_dict_like)
 from pandas.core.frame import DataFrame
 from pandas.core.generic import NDFrame, _shared_docs
 from pandas.core.index import (Index, MultiIndex, _ensure_index,
@@ -157,7 +158,7 @@ def _init_data(self, data, copy, dtype, **kwargs):
                 axes = [x if x is not None else y
                         for x, y in zip(passed_axes, data.axes)]
             mgr = data
-        elif isinstance(data, dict):
+        elif is_dict_like(data):
             mgr = self._init_dict(data, passed_axes, dtype=dtype)
             copy = False
             dtype = None
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_generic.py b/pandas/tests/test_generic.py
index 7983ac7fff834..52bb14af5bbeb 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_generic.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_generic.py
@@ -1034,6 +1034,8 @@ def testit(index, check_index_type=True):
         self.assertIsInstance(result, DataArray)
         assert_series_equal(result.to_series(), s)
 
+        #assert_series_equal(Series(result), s)
+
 
 class TestDataFrame(tm.TestCase, Generic):
     _typ = DataFrame
@@ -1832,6 +1834,10 @@ def test_to_xarray(self):
                                expected,
                                check_index_type=False)
 
+            assert_frame_equal(DataFrame(result).set_index('foo'),
+                               expected,
+                               check_index_type=False)
+
         # not implemented
         df.index = pd.MultiIndex.from_product([['a'], range(3)],
                                               names=['one', 'two'])
@@ -1859,6 +1865,8 @@ def test_to_xarray(self):
         # idempotency
         assert_panel_equal(result.to_pandas(), p)
 
+        #assert_panel_equal(Panel(result), p)
+
 
 class TestPanel4D(tm.TestCase, Generic):
     _typ = Panel4D