Product review (4 stars): Superb Dish Cleaner and Superb Energy Miser
Date of Purchase: July 29th 2010.
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Overview--

Let's face it, when it comes to appliances, the Germans make damn good stuff. This machine is a dream. It actually cleans my dishes wonderfully.  Imagine that.  Unlike the Whirlpool dishwasher it replaced,  It doesn't leave the dishes cloudy.  It leaves them spotless.  It doesn't leave soap film all over my dishes like my Whirlpool did. It also doesn't throw bits of foods that it washes off the other dishes and redeposit them onto the glasses or other dishes or bake them on after that if I use Sani-Rinse. :\

If anyone is wondering  why dishwashers take so long to wash dishes these days, it's because they don't use anywhere near as much water as they used to.  To compensate for this, wash times have been significantly increased.  The USA Federal Government mandates have forced manufacturers that want to sell dishwashers in the country to comply with new stringent water and electricity mising rules. Europeans are used to this and have been manufacturing their dishwashers and clothes washers in an eco-efficient way for decades, but the USA has just recently been forced to catch up.

I had complained about our other Whirlpool dishwasher that this Bosch dishwasher replaced for quite some time. It wasn't until I started washing the dishes by hand, that my housemate figured I had had enough with that  awful Whirlpool dishwasher.  I took it upon myself, since I was given the option, to select  the replacement for the old Whirlpool dishwasher (which was only 4 years old actually), so I selected this Bosch dishwasher.

Cleaning Performance --What can I say? As I said before, it makes my glassware sparkle like new with no streaks or spot, and dishes are thoroughly cleaned, rinsed and NSF sanitize certified every time. The fact it makes my glassware look so nice is impressive, considering I live in an area that probably has the hardest water in the USA. I don't have a water softener and this particular model doesn't have a salt dispenser.

Energy Efficiency -- Rated at 259 kWh/yr...One of the "greenest" dishwashers you can buy.  What does this mean in real terms? It will cost you approximately $19 a year in operating costs in natural gas and electricity if you have a gas water heater. If you have an electric water heater it will cost about $25 a year in electricity.

Water-Efficiency-- Uses about 5.8 gallons of water or less depending on which cycle you choose..

Aesthetics-- This dishwasher is distinctively European looking; which isn't a surprise to me since the design and engineering is German.  No bold looks that I can notice and the buttons are just the right size.  It's a very boxy design with the control panel on the front. Hidden controls are not for me because I want to be able to easily tell where the machine is in the cycle.

Stainless Steel Tub-- I got the stainless steel tub version. This is mainly a snobbish choice of aesthetics. However the Bosch dishwashers all have stainless steel tubs with the exception of one cheaper model that has plastic on the bottom tub portion only.  Bosch claims that because of their machine design, the stainless steel tub actually helps to dry the dishes. The tub is covered for the life of the dishwasher. The stainless steel tub on our other dishwasher was resistant to stains, but it was not stain proof. I don't know if this tub and liner will be different.

Noise Level--What noise? :) LOL!  I think my refrigerator makes more noise than this dishwasher- no joke. Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but it's close competition.  The only thing you can hear when this dishwasher is on is a little bit of water splash noise and a slight hum when the water is being  drained.  At a noise rating of only 47 decibels, it actually seems to be too quiet perhaps?  This Bosch dishwasher is heavily noise insulated, and believe it or not, it's still not the quietest model they make. With thick noise padding, two pumps, and no hard food disposer, it's easy to understand why this machine is very quiet.

Cycles  on this machine  seem to be excessive, and perhaps somewhat confusing at times, but I wanted this model because it was what a leading consumer magazine rated the best .  This dishwasher comes with the following standard cycles that also incorporate fuzzy logic technology:

Cycle Indication Lights--This dishwasher has buttons  that don't depress much when pushed. They are more like click buttons or click switches. A slight click is all you hear when they are pushed.  There are no knobs. There is a time remaining countdown light and a sanitized indicator light and a light that lets you know when to refill the rinse aid on the front panel. The sanitized light only comes on at the end of the cycle if the dishwasher had to significantly heat up the wash and rinse water.  Sanitation is not a problem. It's standard on this dishwasher. Besides, your dishes are sanitized enough by the sodium hypochlorite (bleach) in your detergent and the heat from the water. When you put dishes into the cupboard they are infested with tiny microbes. So sani rinse, etc. on dishwashers is quite a frivolous cycle, but it helps dishwashers sell, so I imagine that's why you see this cycle so much on dish machines. You cannot tell by looking at the control panel when this dishwasher is filling, rinsing or washing. It only has a countdown readout.

Half Load - Automatically adjusts energy and water usage for a half loaded dishwasher and washes accordingly. There is no "top rack only" wash cycle for this model

Eco - Checks condition of water to see whether extra fills are necessary for wash and rinse cycles.

Power Scrub Plus - Removes heavily dried on food soils of pots and pans or regular dishes

Auto Wash - Automatically adjusts cycle to how dirty the dishes are and washes accordingly.  I just purchased this dishwasher, so the only cycle I've had a chance to use is the regular wash cycle.

Regular Cycle  - For heavily soiled everyday dishes with or without dried food on them

Quick Wash  - For lightly soiled dishes that don't have dried food on them 30 minutes. This cycle can be used right after you clean up for a dinner party perhaps or if you're washing dishes that you want to use that have been stored in the garage or basement.

Hi-Temp-- This is not something a person can select manually. Hi temp comes on if it needs to.

Sani-Rinse  -- Sani Rinse is called Extra Heat on this dishwasher and must be selected by pressing a couple of the buttons simultaneously on the front panel and holding for three seconds.  The learning curve is little bit different for this dishwasher, but it doesn't bother me.

Rinse and Hold  - This dishwasher doesn't have a rinse and hold cycle; but not to worry. I haven't found that I need one with this machine.

Delicate/ Eco -  I'm not sure what Eco stands for, but this cycle is for washing china and crystal. I imagine this cycle would be good to use if you have a bunch of stored crystal and china that is dusty to rinse or wash off, otherwise this is a cycle that would rarely get used.., cause I don't know about you, but I'd never put my fine china in a dishwasher.

Delay Start -- With this dishwasher you can delay the start time for about 19 hours if you want to. Delay start is a nice feature to have on a dishwasher, because it allows you take advantage of off peak hours of electricity rates, or set the machine to come on when you go to bed. A dishwasher can't get any more silent when it comes on when you're countin' sheep.

Child Lock - Yep it has one. It keeps toddlers from changing the cycles

Heated Dry--The heated dry is not optional and seems to work just fine. I'm not even sure this machine has the traditional heating element that most people in USA may be used to. It uses a concealed element combined with condensation drying technology to dry the dishes. (No more melted plastics) A special unit in the motor is used to heat the water for rinsing and drying.. Usually around the last ten minutes or so of the cycle it reserves this time for drying. Because there is no exposed heating element,  you can put your plastics anywhere you want in this dishwasher, even if the items say "top rack only". The only "problem" with the dry cycle is that it does not seem to dry plastics all that well, but this may not be an issue for you as it isn't for me. It's an issue for some people though.

Capacity -- Now this might be an issue for some people. This dishwasher DOES seem to be smaller in capacity than what most Americans are used to.  My eye is not that discerning. But this shouldnt' be a problem as long as you are not loading the dishwasher with tons of pots and pans all the time. Pots and pans are something I tend to wash by hand. My other dishwasher had larger capacity but didn't clean the dishes worth a hootenanny, so I'll take the Bosch, thank you. :)

Flatware Rack  -- The  flatware rack is marvelous.  It's what they call the flexible type. It's huge, and can be snapped back to back or side to side and has individual cubicles so the flatware doesn't get nested together.  You can put the flatware basket anywhere you want to on the bottom rack or just use one half of the rack, (greatly improving loading space), if you don't have that much flatware to load. This model doesn't have a standard non-flexible cube flatware basket which has cubicle lids that can be snapped in the stay up position, however the cubicle lid on the flatware rack can be folded down flat to lay on the side.

Bottom Dish Rack -- The design of the bottom dish rack is nice to me. It fits my plates fine and it fits bowls great. When I shopped for this dishwasher I made sure to take my dishes with me to see if they would fit because I heard that the capacity is smaller than what most Americans are used to.  There are tines that can be folded down to accomodate super large bowls or pots and pans

Upper Rack -- The upper rack is adequate for most  glasses and cups.  It is not height adjustable.  There are no clasping  tines that I have noticed on the top rack to hold lids, etc. Small lids and other similar items can be put under the flatware cubicle grid lid in the flatware basket.
Cup Shelves --  These can be used for ladles and large serving utensils or to easily fit wine glasses.  The cup shelves lay flat over tea cups or other short cups like liquor shot glasses. Or they can be folded up to accommodate tall glasses. On the upper and lower rack there are also tines that can be folded down or up to better accomodate your glassware and other dishware.

Tall Tub Washing - The upper rack can be removed and the upper water pipe can be fitted with a sprayer head to wash large cookie sheets and other large items you wouldn't normally be able to fit in a dishwasher; however Bosch only recommends washing dishware and utensils in their dishwashers, not trash cans, baseball caps, buckets, etc.

Rinsing--- This machine seems to rinse just fine. It leaves my dishes sparkling and spotless.  I cannot yet tell by listening to it how many rinses it actually gives the dishes but it does seem to rinse thoroughly.

Semi  Self-Clean Filter - Most Americans are used to dishwashers with hard food disposers and self cleaning filters. This dishwasher doesn't have a hard food disposer. It has a triple stage filter and a filter that traps large particles. Most of the debris that goes into this trap will liquefy and get flushed out of the machine automatically, however it does have to be cleaned periodically if large non-dissolving particles get trapped in it.  It's easy to clean. This keeps junk from getting trapped inside the wash module.  This happened with my Whirlpool dishwasher that I used to have, which impeded cleaning performance and increased the motor noise. Consumer Reports says to watch out for things like raspberry/blackberry seeds with this dishwasher.

Rinse Aid Dispenser - Yep, it has one

Salt - There is no salt dispenser on this particular model. I know that some Bosch dishwashers have this feature, but this dishwasher does not have this feature.

Detergent Dispenser - The detergent dispenser slides open and holds a little bit of detergent. It looks small, but it's adequate enough to do the job. Borax can also be added as an additive to the detergent in the detergent cup and it seems to work well.  Bosch recommends powdered detergent or those compressed cubes of detergent. I'm not sure why this is.

Engineering Differences ---------------------

Has 2 Pumps- One for washing and one for draining. This minimizes noise and vibration that you get with other dishwashers.

Super Thick Insulation - It makes the machine 47 decibels quiet (about as quiet as a refrigerator)

Non Center Pump and Motor Mounts - Further aids in quietness of machine

Most dishwashers have a heated coil to dry the dishes. This machine uses condensation or a dehumidification process and residual heat to dry the dishes. There is a concealed coil, but the machine doesn't solely rely on the heating coil to dry the dishes.

Special Nylon Coated Racks - They resist or prevent rust through

Fuzzy Logic - Senses soil level and adjusts cycle accordingly

Warranties---- -----------------

2 year limited warranty - Bosch will replace or repair any component that proves to be defective in materials or workmanship (excludes labor charges)

5 year limited warranty - Bosch will replace or repair any Bosch microprocessor or circuit board that proves to be defective in materials or workmanship (excludes labor charges)

5 year limited warranty - Dish Racks will be replaced by Bosch (excluding rack components) if they proved to be defective in materials or workmanship (excludes labor charges)

Lifetime Warranty- Stainless Steel Rust Through, Bosch will replace the dishwasher with the same or current model that is substantially equivalent or better in functionality if the inner liner should rust through (excludes labor charges).  Bosch will replace the stainless steel door if the door should rust through (excludes labor charges)

Extened Warranties- Are usually available from your retailer which usually extends all the warranties indicated by the manufacturer by 50%, with the exception of the lifetime warranty given by the manufacturer.

Things to consider.... May be pet peeves for you? ------------------------------------------------------

Rinse and Hold- It doesn't have this cycle. But then again, it doesn't seem to need it. You can always do a manual rinse and hold by turning it on letting it fill and operate for three minutes, then push the cancel/drain buttons

Plastic Drying -- Some say it doesn't dry plastics well. It dries my plastics just fine. But then again, I rarely wash plastics in my dishwasher. The plastics I do wash in this machine seem to get dry just fine.

Cycle times -- Long cycle times (95 to 114 min for this machine)  are something people are going to have to get used to. With dishwashers using less water because of government mandates, long cycle times have become standard. This machine is no exception. The Quick Wash cycle which is 30 minutes is an exception to the long wash cycle standard..

Heated Dry? - Tricky one....Uses a concealed heating element combined with condensation drying technology. This cycle comes on whether you like it or not.  There is no option to turn it off. This is usually reserved for the last 10 minutes of the cycle. When the LED panel reads 10 minutes the machine can be turned off and the door can be opened to air dry the dishes if you prefer.

Vinyl and Plastic  Smells -- Strange vinyl or plastic smells that will dissipate over time seem to emanate from this dishwasher when you first by it and are close to it. It kind of smells like a combination of armpit funk and plastic resin of some type.  I think this is mainly due to the special seal they have around the nook where the dishwasher fits underneath the counter to aid in sealing out dust, critters, moisture and noise. Over time, this smell may decrease. Most dishwashers don't smell like this when new, so it's surprising.

Capacity -- The capacity of this machine does  seem smaller than what most Americans may be used to?  This has not been a problem for me, but it may be for you. Also when you are shopping for dishwashers, make sure you take some samples of your dishware with you so you know if they will fit in the machine or not.  The dishwasher that this machine replaced had a large capacity and didn't clean the dishes worth a hootenanny,  so there's no way I'm gonna complain about this dishwasher, just because its capacity is slightly smaller.

Quietness -- It's too quiet. LOL!  Some may not like the fact that this dishwasher only has 47 decibels of sound when it's on. Unless you're paying attention or the TV isn't blaring, it's hard to tell that it's on.

Food Grinder/Disposer -- It doesn't have one. It has a filter that liquifies food, then flushes the juice, and it has a trap for non dissolving particles. This has not been an issue for me. It just has to be cleaned periodically.