I’m mainly interested in how clean it gets the dishes, and how reliable it is. I also don’t need or want any kind of internet-connected features.
Anything by Bosch, but don’t cheap out. Also, the keypads are touch sensitive. There is no need to press the buttons, just set a fingertip upon them. Otherwise, you’ll wear out the buttons.
My old Bosch just died after being worked hard, and after a couple days being salty over it, I bought another Bosch. They’re quiet and do a great job.
Another vote for Bosch.
BTW, you know you’re old when you get excited about dishwasher features. I accept I’m old now.
If you can get a higher end 800 series, it has two really cool features: Crystal Dry and Eco mode
You know those silica desiccant pouches that get shipped in everything from our electronics to our beef jerky? Just by being exposed to air, the crystals absorb water. You can even reuse the crystals if you heat them and the water evaporates out. The Bosch 800 series has a large container of these type of crystals (Zeolite) in the back of the unit.
During the heating step, the container is opened allowing the hot moisture to escape. The container then closes, and the wet washing cycle begins. After the dishes are all clean, the container opens again, and the hot wet air inside the dishwasher is pushed through the desiccant container. Because its a closed system, all the water in the air and on the dishes is absorbed by the desiccant and they are bone dry ready to be put away! The desiccant lasts decades so its not like a wearable part.
This feature used to be only available on the high end Thermador Sapphire dishwashers costing a minimum of $2000. A few years ago Bosch allowed this feature in their high end models, the 800 series.
Another feature the 800 series has is “Eco mode”, which saves a lot of water and energy at the cost of a longer dishwasher cycle. Instead of using a 6 gallons of water and a huge amount of electricity to heat the water super hot (for most effective quick washing), it uses only 2.4 gallons of water and half the electricity not heating the water as much, but using that water for much longer cleaning to get the same cleaning in the end. A Eco cycle runs for about 2 hours (which the unit is crazy quiet too). The run time doesn’t bother me a bit because I usually start or schedule the dishwasher to run when I’m not in the kitchen anyway. Also yes, you can run Eco mode and have it finish with Crystal Dry.
Crystal Dry is the bomb.
Plastic comes out dry. 'Nuff said.
I echo this.
I went with a lower tier Bosch simply because it had a built-in water softener and that was my main priority. On hindsight I may have jumped for the 800 series.
The 3rd utensil tray becomes way more usable with the 800, and your stuff actually dries unlike in my model.
I will say I thought my old whirlpool that came with this house was well designed (more capacity and utensil tray being out of the way on the door was nice).
I’ve heard some features are locked behind an app on newer low end models. Higher end models hsvd enough buttons to do everything.
My dishwasher is doesn’t need WiFi access… Like, I have my washer and dryer hooked up because getting a reminder of loads being finished is great, but the dishwasher doesn’t need anything like that.
This is the correct answer: https://www.bosch-home.com/us/en/mkt-product/dishwashers/top-controls/SHX78CM5N
Bosch dishwasher fucking suck, E24 errors all the goddamn time
Is your drain impeller blocked with food, or is your pump motor dying?
I’d recommend Pavel. He has an excellent work ethic.
He’s a real straight-shooter for sure. Has upper kitchen management written all over him.
If you can, try for one with a built-in water softener–that is, if your home has hard water. You’ll reload salt, as well as detergent.
Speaking of detergent, Technology Connections reference.
Buy powder detergent. Fill to the appropriate line. Save a crapton of money over time. Yes, I have autism, how could you tell?
I got a Bosch a year ago and love it. Super quiet, super clean. But my favorite feature is that it cracks the door open after running so that every has a chance to air dry. I run it at night and when I wake up everything is fury dry, even plastic containers.
I would love this feature. I have an older bosch and it just beeps like every 10 minutes crying to be opened up.
This is also useful as a visual cue for “the dishwasher is finished and needs to be unloaded”. My ADHD means that visual cues like this are super helpful
My 5-year old Samsung does this as well. Blows fans for 5 mins too.
Same. Samsung, +/- 5 years old.
Very interesting arrangement of comments here.
As an appliance repair man for the last 21 years I can tell you that the only dishwasher worth getting is a Bosch. Nothing else even comes close. All thier other appliances are terrible but their dishwashers are simply the absolute best in the industry.
Having said that generally the state of appliances as a whole is pretty bad across the board which also includes Bosch dishwashers. The dishwashers they make today are worse than the ones they made 10, 15, 20 years ago. And people can tell.
But the truth of the matter is they’re still better than the competition. Ask any tech what they’d rather work on… GE dishwasher or a Bosch. It’s not the GE.
Do they have a model that has the macerating filter? The one I have now has a little basket that has to be cleaned constantly
So. Some whirlpool models have a blade inside the pump motor that can help cut down food debris.
The idea is that if one forgets to rinse off the dish before putting it in the dishwasher it’ll help move the debris along in the system.
The issue is course is that dishes need to be rinsed of large and even small elements of food. For every dishwasher. Not just Bosch.
Bottom line, if a manufacturer puts a blade into the pump that doesn’t mean you should stop rinsing your dishes off.
But! Even though whirlpool has this option a whirlpool dishwasher is significantly worse than a Bosch in everyway.
But to answer your question, yes. The very high end models of Bosch dishwashers will have a blade in the pump motor.
I’d look into the 500 or 800 series. They probably have the blade.
Wipe dishes off, don’t rinse them well before putting them in a dishwasher. They will get cleaner if they go in dirty (modern dishwashers keep going until the water is clean), and it saves water because the dishwasher is more efficient than washing them in the sink. Then clean the filter in the dishwasher after you use it.
I highly recommend checking out this video regardless of what model you get:
I don’t have to click the link. I already know what this video will be.
I want to know the things this man seems to be an expert on and be an expert on them like him. I also feel like he would be fantastic at parties.
He’s my lowkey hero.
I really love how Technology Connections is just living his best life, being so iconically nerdy that he has masses of adoring fans, despite the topics he covers being so ostensibly dull. I remember scoffing when I first stumbled across him; I thought “a 40+ minute video on [boring stuff I didn’t care about] — who would watch that?”. I think I probably started watching it with the expectation that after a few moments my disdain would be validated, and I’d move on. As it happens, I was enchanted by the magic of “passionate nerd explains something in depth”.
Haha - yep, exactly! I started the first video like, “Meh, I’ll give it two minutes.” And ended like, “I need to watch ALL the things!”
I got a Bosch last year, simple setup, no IoT bullshit, just works, quiet. For what it’s worth, the guy who installed it told me “I install new dishwashers and remove old ones in the process all the time. I’ve never had to remove a Bosch dishwasher”.
FWIW all Bosch dishwashers have IoT now, even the cheapest. You don’t need to use it, but at least it plays well with 3rd party stuff like Home Assistant.
Really, because I have a Bosch and I had to install the app and then use HACS to install an integration which goes through their cloud.
I don’t use that for anything more than alerts but it’s annoying it has zero local control. This is a perfect use case for Zigbee or Z-Wave and if I’m paying a premium I don’t get why I wouldn’t get premium features.
Also some features are app only (special dry modes etc) so if I want the functionality I paid for I have to be signed up for their cloud.
let’s hope they won’t just hop on an open wifi and do whatever, but hoping is the most we can do.
never had such a device, if it works with Hass (offline) that’s kind of good, but I wonder if they are hackable before connecting them to a network, because they run a hotspot or something
Maybe in the US bosch is considered premium, but in Germany is the standard (BSH group, including bosch, Siemens, neff, etc). Their dishwashers are fine, but hard to say if better than others. But their support is awesome, you still can get replacement parts 20 years down the line, and do the repair yourself because they provide decent manuals and there’s tons of YouTube videos.
I like the IoT features, they’re so silent that it’s nice to get a notification when they are done, or start them when solar/cheap power is available.
I’ve heard good things about Miele, but don’t have any experience first hand.
Gonna make myself unpopular here. No to Bosch. Overpriced and overhyped. You pay a premium and get little in return. I installed my own and rather than just connecting the power to a standard electrical connection, you have to (or you have to pay someone) to wire in a proprietary electrical connection box. The dishwasher has a special cable that connects to their weird receptacle. No idea why, helps nothing, adds labor without benefit. Bosch dishwashers do not use heating coils to dry the dishes. They use the residual heat of the water to dry. My experience is that this is not very effective as well as slow. Some have a means to ventilate themselves (fans, mechanism to open door, etc). This helps, but adds complexity, failure points and is still slow. I gave up after my last (third one) Bosch would not clean nor dry properly after it was about four years old. Took it apart, cleaned crud out of pump and bottom end. Came to conclusion that the pump was no longer able to move water at a sufficient pressure to spray the dishes. Was more of a weak sprinkler effect. No idea why it would not dry. It never dried well from the beginning.
I have since switched to a whirlpool (kitchen aid) with a heating coil. One year in being run 2x a day and no issues so far. Dishes are clean and dry. Bought a simpler model without nonsense like wifi, apps, lights, floor projection or anything else. I run one setting: auto.I do all my own maintenance\repairs of all my appliances, cars, electronics, etc. As well as helping out family, friends, and where I work. I’ve dealt with a lot of dishwashers and I agree with you. If you aren’t buying commercial, just get a whirlpool (or one of the rebranded whirlpools like Maytag, KitchenAid, JennAir, and Amana). GE is pretty good as well. I’ve had a GE for the past decade and I bought it used for $25.
For most families, just get a simple one that plums in through the hot water side instead of cold and skips the water heating issue, and has a drying element, and is quiet. Noisy dishwashers are annoying.
Is a great minority take and I appreciate it thank you. Honestly, I’ve been using my parents Bosch for the last 15 months and I have not been impressed. Granted they have no clue about cleaning out the filter, and even though I informed them, they don’t remember such things. And the dishes are often left wet. Also, no one is mentioning what models they have just brands, so it’s kinda hard to make a determination since I have to assume many different models have many different features, and the guy in the YouTube video I just watched said rather than just having a basket filter some of them have an actual macerating filter that can chop stuff up and that sounds pretty appealing, but I have no idea which models have that. So I’m gonna try and figure that one out.
The receptacle thing sounds like an attempt at vendor lock in.
I really like that my dishwasher has a window so I can peek inside while it’s working. Besides the coolness factor, it’s also useful to see whether any of the rotors are blocked from spinning or something tipped over.
It’s not a deal breaker if you get one without a window, but it’s really nice to have.
I’ve literally never seen of heard of a dishwasher that has this, what model do you have?
It’s fairly common in countertop dishwashers, but come to think of it, I don’t know if it exists for full-size ones. The one I have is this: https://www.midea.com/sg/kitchen-appliances/dishwasher/MDWS-2703
I didn’t know those mini dishwashers existed, really cool.
Get the most basic version with a metal interior. I haven’t tried many brands but my whirlpool is ok
Why a metal interior?
Holds up better, won’t crack or leak.
Quieter, too
Yeah. Stainless steel inside instead of plastic. They’ll last much longer without looking like shit.
I have an LG, ten years not a single issue, works well, quiet
I had to scroll really far to find this, but my LG was so good I bought another when I moved. My wife thought all dishwashers just sucked until she saw how well the LGs can do.
Surprised with how good the LG dishwasher and clothes washer have been. Will buy more of their appliances.
Our LG washer/dryer are about 15 years old now, still working incredibly well and look new. Definitely worth looking into
I just went through this. I had an Asko for 13 years, was definitely happy enough with it to get another. So quiet! So when it did eventually die I was going to get another one but the prices have jumped quite a bit. The next best are Miele and Bosch, I ended up with a Bosch that was on a super sale. I’m pretty happy with it over all.
The Asko as mentioned was very quiet, the one I had before it sounded like a freight train so that was important. Over the years the eco clean setting wasn’t as good (food left on)so we switched settings to the regular cycle and that was ok. About a year ago we kept intermittently getting an error which was from the water pump sensor so it wouldn’t finish the wash. My neighbour had the same one (the reason I got it in the first place) and her front panel had gone so she gave it to me for parts. I never did end up fixing it and we just limped along until about a month ago and I said fuck it and got a new one. One thing I really liked about it was the layout inside for my dishes. One thing I hated was the sharp metal around the outside front trim. When we went to install it, it gouged the wood cabinet.
The Bosch is nice, almost as quiet and doesn’t use much water. The model we got is made in Germany too. I’m not such a fan of the layout inside but that’s probably because I’m just not used to it yet. It’s got the top utensil rack which I like. The next rack down you can adjust the height which I haven’t had a reason to use but I can see being handy over the holidays. Definitely loving having clean dishes again! It does have internet connectivity but as long as you don’t download the app it will never connect. I also didn’t want that but it’s hard to find one without now.
The middle adjustable rack means half sheet baking pans actually fit on the bottom, or wine glasses will actually fit in the middle. Definite upgrade over earlier Bosches.
Yup. Our wine glasses are stemless (I knock them over) and my husband doesn’t like his baking sheets in the dishwasher so as of yet we haven’t had a reason to use it. That being said, I know I will at some point!
