Product review (5 stars): It Washes and Dries Dishes to Perfection!
I'm sure the remarkably bad experience I had with my former dishwasher, a Whirlpool Gold GU2800XTV, has a direct bearing on my enthusiasm for this Bosch dishwasher. That Whirlpool dishwasher was without a doubt the most troublesome appliance I have ever owned over a span of 60+ years. Fortunately I purchased the extended warranty but even the Whirlpool warranty company eventually wrote the GU2800XTV off as a lemon.

This Bosch, on the other hand, has done everything asked of it in a marvelously competent manner. I'll agree that dish placement is different from other dishwashers I've owned and I'm still going through a learning curve but I've managed to successfully load everything to this point with increasing speed as I learn how to organize the dishes we normally use.

Page 7 of the owner's manual offers four different loading patterns for the top rack and four more for the bottom rack. With that many suggested alternatives and a little creativity one should be able to develop one or more loading patterns that will work for your family.

With my Whirlpool I had a constant problem with wet dishes at the completion of the cycle even when their "Hi-temp" wash setting and "Heated Dry" were both engaged. In order to test the Bosch I used the "Auto Wash" setting but did not engage the "Sanitize" option. I have been delighted to discover the dishes, including plastic cups, come out dry and need no additional drying before replacing in the cabinets. We no longer need the dish towel when unloading the dishwasher which was an absolute necessity with the Whirlpool.

Although we have no way of objectively measuring it, my wife and I both agree the dishes are coming out with a shiny sparkle they most assuredly did not have with the Whirlpool.

I had the dishwasher installed by a professional and the installation went smoothly and very fast. There have been no problems with the dishwasher and it has consistently done an outstanding job. While it is very quiet, the Whirlpool was, perhaps, a little quieter but that is the only good thing I can say about the Whirlpool; it washed poorly and dried poorly very quietly.

I tried to follow all of the setup instructions that came on the extra sheet "Getting started with your new dishwasher." This is a loose sheet but has some important information on it, be careful it doesn't get thrown away during unpacking.

On page 9 of the manual it is pointed out the Bosch uses less water than most and therefore needs less detergent. The detergent cup is measured and has lines at 1, 2, or 3 tablespoons. On page 10 we are told that 1 tablespoon will clean most loads and that is what we have done with excellent results.

Since we do not wash our silverware in the dishwasher we have removed the basket. On page 8 of the manual detailed instructions are given on placement otions for the basket and the loading pattern for silverware placement in the basket.

The top rack is adjustable and can be moved up or down to accommodate larger items in the top or bottom rack. The top rack can also be completely removed. Some of the other Bosch models come with a sprinkler head for washing really tall items. This arrangement permits complete removal of the top rack and the insertion of a plastic sprinkler head that enables the user to wash really tall items that would sit on the bottom rack. The sprinkler head does, however, fit on this machine as well and can be ordered as part number 5600-037-096 (PP-TV20).

After three years of failure in trying to get the Whirlpool to do the job it was supposed to do you can imagine my joy in finding a machine that does the job vastly better right out of the box. I recommend this machine highly. For the record, a noted consumer reporting agency also classified this model as a "Best Buy."