Bosch Integra 800 Series 24 Stainless Steel Undercounter Di 5

Every year my wife and I buy something for the house as an anniversary present to each other. This year we decided to replace our aging GE Potscrubber 900 dishwasher.

I research the heck out of major purchases, and one of my friends used to work at an appliance store, so I quickly found Bosch had possibly the best reputation for dishwashers.

After deciding to go with Bosch, it was just a question of which model.

After looking over the choices, it boiled down to this one, or one model below. This one was quieter, and more energy efficient. Electric rates in Connecticut are high enough that I expect to make up the cost difference between the two models with electricity savings.

So much for how I got here. Here's information from using it:

It's incredibly quiet - the "noise level" when it's running is about what you'd expect from a new refrigerator. Noise is not going to be a reason to postpone running this one.

The racks have all sorts of adjustments - most of the tines can be set at several angles ranging from 90 degrees to flat. Have extra bowls to wash? - adjust a few tines. The top rack can be adjusted for height - this allows me to fit the massive pot I use for brewing beer in the lower rack.

The silverware basket keeps the silverware separated so each item gets clean.

It has a gentle cycle that's good for delicate china and stemware. I was sorry to find the stemware holder is an optional accessory. We don't drink wine often, but it's about the only thing that seems to be missing.

So far everything we've put through this dishwasher has come out clean on one cycle. With our previous dishwasher, sometimes we'd need to soak and scrub some things before putting them through a second run. I'm using about half the soap I used to use per load because it doesn't have (or need) a prewash cup for soap.

The run time is longer than we were used to with our previous dishwasher. From my research I've found this is normal with more efficient dishwashers. Our longest cycle so far was 2 hours 25 minutes, and that was auto wash for a very full load with a sanitary cycle. They also offer a "party wash" cycle that's designed to be very fast for lightly soiled glasses or dishes.

You should use jetdry or a drying agent on every load. One reason it's so energy efficient is it doesn't normally add heat for drying. (but you can tell it to add heat if you want) Still, with using jetdry, the dishes are always dry when we check.

We expect to be in this house for many years, and looked at this appliance as a long term investment. So far, it looks like it was a good one.