Reviewing kitchen appliances isn’t my usual stomping ground, but manufacturers don’t usually send out review units (for obvious reasons). So when I bought a Bosch dishwasher—a brand that’s very popular with Best Buy customers— it was only natural to use this opportunity to review it.
The Bosch 24-inch 44dB Tall Tub Built-in Dishwasher withStainless Steel Tub and Third Rack is part of Bosch’s 800 series, claimed to be the most quiet line of dishwashers sold in North America. I couldn’t have cared less about how much noise it made, I just wanted a dishwasher that would do a solid job of cleaning. Having a trio of teenagers (and their friends) has meant an onslaught of dirty dishes, including challenging stuff like peanut butter-coated knives, bowls full of dried, caked-on oatmeal and my favourite, coffee cups stashed under an end table filled with a hard plastic-like substance that turned out to be fossilized hot chocolate.
Teenagers …
We were looking for a dishwasher with a large capacity, from a manufacturer with a proven reputation for effective cleaning. After several months of research, we went with Bosch.
Bosch SHX68T55UC 24-inch 44dB Tall Tub Built-in Dishwasher with Third Rack Key Features
For additional details see the Bosch dishwasher’s product page. |
Installation
The Bosch 24-inch 44dB Tall Tub Built-in Dishwasher with Stainless Steel Tub and Third Rack (which I will refer to from here on out as “the Bosch” or “the dishwasher”) is designed to fit in the space for a standard 24-inch dishwasher, but it’s a full three inches deeper than most. So I was a little trepidatious that this might be a challenge.
I booked an appointment with our plumber to do the actual install—I’m not a fan of mixing water and electricity at the best of times and prefer to have someone to point the finger at if things go terribly wrong. The same company installed our previous dishwasher five years ago and despite the fact that the Bosch was deeper and required moving a junction box, it actually cost $30 less than the last time.
The technician said everything needed was supplied by Bosch, so there were no additional parts or accessories required.
The first clue that this dishwasher was going to live up to the hype came during testing. The technician was on the floor with his ear right up against the door because he couldn’t hear if water was actually running inside the machine or not.
It was.
Lives up to the 44dB Rating, and That’s Pretty Quiet
Bosch uses specially engineered components like dual “EcoSilence” motors and a solid base that prevents vibration and muffles any motor noise. Another big reason for the dishwasher’s quiet operation is on display prior to installation. My previous dishwasher was wrapped in a layer of thin, polyester padding. This Bosch dishwasher is blanketed in multiple layers of thick, dense cotton and metal fibre material with excellent sound dampening qualities.
The dishwasher projects a small red light on the floor when running to let you know it’s operational. I thought that was funny when I read it on the feature sheet, but it’s actually needed. There are the occasional moments when the sound volume spikes a little, but I measured it throughout a cycle with a decibel meter and the Bosch lived up to its 44dB rating. Often it was actually quieter than that. Considering the sound of an average conversation from three feet away is 65 dB, that’s pretty quiet. It was also quieter than an early morning visit to the back yard with the birds singing and me typing on an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, both of which measured in the mid-50 dB range.
High Capacity
The combination of a tall tub, the additional several inches of depth and a third rack occupying what is often “wasted” space means the Bosch dishwasher has a high capacity. It will hold 16 place settings, plus assorted odds and ends.
I quickly learned that even though the tines on the main rack are spaced closely together, there’s no need to leave spaces between plates like we had to do with our previous dishwasher. You can fill them right up and water still finds a way through and around everything. There’s a generous sized cutlery basket that’s removable for easier emptying. The second rack has three different height adjustments to accommodate taller items, but we’ve yet to change it from the default setting—if I want to wash a vase, I’ll do that by hand. The third rack is full width and full depth, but shallow, deepest in the centre. It slides into place in what is usually “wasted” space, the few inches below the top of the dishwasher. It’s great for gadgets, lids and can also hold a ton of additional cutlery or utensils if needed.
Love the third rack.
Washing Effectiveness
One word: amazing. Mind you, I’m coming from a bad place, where opening the dishwasher after running a cycle used to be a lottery. Sometimes things were pretty clean, sometimes the stuff that was caked on had become baked on—oatmeal and peanut butter being prime offenders. Often the glasses were filled with some sort of residue that you didn’t always notice until it floated up in your drink. Gross.
And yes, that was despite excellent advice like Stacey McGregor’s “How to fix a dishwasher that won’t rinse dishes well” and Shelly Wutke’s “How to load your dishwasher.”
We’ve been using the Bosch dishwasher for a month now, occasionally running two loads in a day, and we have yet to have a single item not come out sparkling clean. Dishes, glasses, plates, bowls, utensils, kitchen gadgets—they have all been perfect. And I haven’t even resorted to the Power Scrub mode, that’s just using our usual detergent tab, rinse agent and the Regular (2 hour, nine minute) wash cycle.
What’s Not There?
A few things to note about this dishwasher. The first is that there is no child lock on the door. The controls are top mounted, making it tougher for a toddler to accidentally fire it up, but they could potentially open the door mid-cycle. The other is there’s no specific hot air drying function. I’ve seen a few complaints about this online—apparently the feature was omitted for energy conservation—but I find the dishes are still hot and largely dry at the end of the cycle. It’s not like they’re dripping wet, so I crack the door a bit and leave them to finish air drying for an hour or so and all is well.
Should You Buy It?
The Bosch 24-inch 44dB Tall Tub Built-in Dishwasher with Stainless Steel Tub and Third Rack is a little on the expensive side, but from my perspective it’s been worth every penny. The dishwasher it replaced didn’t cost that much less, it had a lower capacity, it was far louder, it often did a substandard job of cleaning, its basic cycle was a full hour longer than the Bosch’s and apparently it was tougher to install. If you’re shopping for a dishwasher and value quiet operation, capacity or effectiveness, this one is well worth paying a small premium for.
Thank you @BradMoon I am in the need for a new diswasher. The one we have was supposedly top of the line but I find that my older Maytag performed more effeiciently.
I will definitely have a look at this one.
Good luck —I suspect you’ll have much better luck with this one. I was in the same boat and hated to spend that kind of money again after just a few years, but it was worth it.
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