To spend £250 extra on a dishwasher with marginal improvement

[Crispleaves]

Hi, posting here for traffic sorry! Just not sure how much regular traffic the "Housekeeping" forum gets 😁

I'm hoping some dishwasher experts can come along to help me. I really need to save some money on my kitchen somewhere 😣I had picked the following Bosch integrated dishwasher which is a Which? best buy and very energy efficient but costs £730. I noticed this considerably cheaper series 4 model which costs £470. I can't see a major difference which bothers me other than the energy efficiency.

Is there something I'm missing?? Has anyone faced the same choice? Appreciate any views!

Are the cycles the same length? Ime super ‘eco’ appliances take about 4x as long to do a job and I haven’t got time for a washing machine, or dishwasher that has 3hr cycles!

I have one of the £400 ish integrated bosh dishwashers though and it’s very good.

The eco cycle takes almost 4 hours for both but we usually run the dishwasher at night so it doesn't make too much difference to us. With our current Bosch Classix dishwasher we usually wash on the intensive cycle to get a good clean😳but maybe the newer models will have good enough eco cycles

We had similar situation when we moved recently - I made the decision to upgrade because of the two extra place settings - we use the dishwasher so much and I need all the space / help I can get! Also we have never had a new dishwasher (always inherited on) so I splashed out!

It is great. Check both models have the delayed start as that is super helpful, I don’t like putting it on overnight but programme it to come on early morning.

I bought a pack of dishwasher tablets in 2011….still have a few left. I use the dishwasher to store things like dusters, kitchen rolls & secret stash of maltesers Please don’t tell me you all have such busy lives that you don’t have time to wash the dishes….spend less time on mumsnet!

I think I bought the cheaper one, when my older one conked out and I wish I'd bought the more expensive (which was in the sale a couple of weeks later anyway!).

The main inconvenience to me, and which was not as good as my old one, was the shelves and the baskets. The cheaper model didn't have a long knife rack or adjustable shelves and something else I can't remember on the baskets.

I think that was more significant from a user point of view than all the fancy programmes and silly wifi. I wish I'd removed all the shelves and baskets from my old one and see if they'd fitted my new - or else bought the more expensive one.

Also compare the db noise levels, I deliberately went for a very quiet model and I much prefer it due to the layout of my house and I would pay extra again for this if necessary (no idea what model my Bosch is but was about £600)

I found the biggest difference is the tablets you use.

I have a bottom of the range Neff which is a few years old now and was using own brand tablets (recommended by some organisation like Which? or Good Housekeeping though) and thought it wasn’t working properly, my mugs were always tea stained.

Tried top of the range tablets and everything is sparkling even when I cram the machine to bursting.

You can try working out how long it will take to save the £250 of electricity to see if it’s worth it. Personally I would spend the extra on upgrading my tablets.

Of those 2, I'd be choosing the cheaper one, purely because it doesn't have a cutlery tray at the top. They are a ridiculous invention, IMO, as you can't fit a dinner plate and a tall glass in the same load when you have a cutlery tray. We bought a new DW recently and I took a plate and a glass to Currys, and couldn't find any model with a tray where they could both fit. You can lower the top rack to fit a glass in, but then a plate won't fit in the bottom. It's a cutlery basket all the way for me.

The other thing which was a big frustration was that the tines on the top rack don't fold down on a lot of models now, which makes it a lot less flexible. I have a feeling the cheaper Bosch models don't have folding tines now (which they used to when we last bought).

We went for a high end Beko in the end, over a Bosch, on the basis on folding tines and cutlery basket. But it also had other things like good flexibility with the programming, it's very quiet, and a nice robust interior. I wasn't impressed with the internal build quality of the Boschs we saw at all.

I could find the time to chain myself to the sink be a martyr to my washing up but why the hell would I when there’s a machine to do it for me?

I’ve got much more interesting things to be doing with my time. I’m sorry you haven’t.

Not sure this helps, but we have a Serie 8.

I quite like the cutlery tray at the top. But I don't drink a lot of tall glass drinks (eg wine).

However, what has irked was that I've had it 5 years and already had to spend £300 fixing the control panel because the buttons stopped responding.

I think next time I will go for a cheaper brand and accept quicker turnover. Or go for a Miele and hope it lasts as long as the price suggests it should.

Shame, I used to really like Bosch stuff.

Sorry, that's just odd.

The irony of posting shit on mumsnet telling people to spend less time on mumsnet

I know people get judged on here for everything they do but having a dishwasher is a new one!

I bought a tumble dryer a year or two ago and I found that there was huge variance in the prices of different models with not really much correlation to the features etc.

Having a Which best buy stamp often bumps the price up in itself, because a lot of people will just automatically go oh yep OK that one, good. But there may be other extremely similar models which simply weren't tested by which so they didn't get that rating. Also many white goods will fluctuate in price quite massively -look on price tracker type websites that can show price history. Amazon has Prime day soon, it's worth looking on there for appliances - we were happy with their service.

Usually the "series" is like a generation so the Series 6 may be 2 generations newer than the series 4, which generally means improvements across the board. Since they are the same brand, it would be easier to compare - you could go to any electrical appliance showroom (preferably an independent one, not a chain, but a chain will do) as the staff there will be trained by Bosch reps and will know the difference. Go in and ask them what's the difference between series 4 and series 6. Of course because they are sales they will push the more expensive model, but a good salesperson can tell you what you're getting for the extra £££ (whether they dress it up as desirable, essential etc) which can help you decide.

I found this channel hugely helpful, this is the kind of independent place I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/@lords-electrical

I asked a question on one of the videos and he made another video answering my question a day or two later - brilliant!

A good way to find local independent retailers for any type of item is go to a website (e.g. bosch website) and look for stockists by area, then find anything which isn't a recognised chain name and go and check them out.

Ours has a cutlery tray and there’s no problem fitting in dinner plates and tumblers. The integrated ones we had to choose from were nearly £1000 or less than half that price. We don’t have the expensive one.

I'd buy whichever one has the functions you want and not bother about the rest. So does it wash quick. Can you delay the start if you use that?

I have one of the Bosch £400 ish ones a couple of years old, it is fab. The eco setting is quite long but gets everything sparkling, like you I usually run it over night anyway. It also has a short cycle I use if I need to run it during the day because I am impatient!

Personally I wouldn't spend the extra for the £700ish one.

Washing up is one of my key hatreds of life. I have plenty of time to wash dishes, I choose not to. I treat my dishwasher like she is a princess 👑 😆

Yet here you are typing pointless replies

I mean. I really think @Gall10 was joking!

We’ve just bought this one. It’s brilliant. It’s got the adjustable shelves and we can get loads in. I wouldn’t have spent £700 on one tbh.

why on earth would I do that? Spending time on MN is much more enjoyable than doing the dishes. I presume you do the laundry by hand as well?

I don't get her joke. Does she wash all her clothes by hand and keep teacups in the washing machine too? What's the point of not using a dishwasher if you have a dishwasher?

Personally I would buy a Miele every time but if you are after the Bosch, John Lewis is offering an extra 3 years guarantee with the more expensive model so that combined with the better economy, the cutlery tray and being made in Germany would seal the deal for me - cost per use - lifecycle of the appliance.

I paid extra for the one I got (Bosch, integrated, 4 years ago) because I liked the cycle/time remaining projection into the floor 🤣.

Hi OP,

We've moved this to Chat for you as it's a better fit and has a good amount of traffic.

Best wishes,
Imani MNHQ