Pros: Quiet, epically so. Cleans and sanitizes thoroughly, mitigates need to prewash your dishes in advance.
Cons: Nagging alarm. Just shut the heck up. We know you're done already!
The Bottom Line: It'll make your old, anemic rock crusher hide in shame. If you only use plasticware, look elsewhere. Spy-Tech silent, ruthlessly efficient, beautiful, built like a Swiss timepiece.
brendang's Full Review: Bosch Integra® 500 SHX55M05UC 24 in. Built-in...
That's the first impression you get when you run your first few loads. You press your ear against the door, or open it up to see if everything is getting wet. You just don't believe that it can actually *operate* effectively with such a lack of noise. The only hint this unit offers that it is covertly performing its duty comes in the form of a red LED that shines on the floor. At first, we actually thought the red light on the floor meant we had improperly installed the unit. All other lights were out and the dishwasher was silent.
Yeah, we're dimwits.
Note to Bosch: You should install a hidden camera in your dishwashers to capture the look on new customers' faces when they first use it. "Darn it Martha! We got a broken one! Arrrrgh!"
Coming from a Kitchen Aid that was marketed as being "quiet" but, in reality, sounded more like an industrial rock crusher, we thought this Bosch simply *had* to be defective. How the Kitchen Aid could be so noisy yet wash so poorly will always remain a mystery. We were just happy our dishes escaped alive out of that thing. We even called it "Brutus the Impotent." We needed some mental assurance that we had not gone insane for spending $1,200 on what is, essentially, a metal box with two lawn sprinklers inside. After the first full load we inspected everything with punctilious perlustration. We tried to throw some pretty tough stuff at it — stainless pots, plates that sat un-rinsed for over a day, gunked up flatware, etc. Everything came out spotless, fully sanitized without a hint of residue. I always wondered why people feel compelled to wash their dishes before they put them in the dishwasher — redundancy fetish? With this Bosch you can kiss those days goodbye!
There is one flaw however, and it could be a significant impediment for many — wet plastics. All plastics (Tupperware, plastic cups, etc) finish the cycle soaking wet (as though you'd just freshly sprayed them with a garden hose). You can't just pluck them out and put them away, you MUST hand-dry them. It's wierd, because all of your metal, glass, flatware, and ceramics are completely dry, but for some reason the evaporative condensation method this unit uses to dry (no heating element or fan, which is partially what makes this unit so energy efficient) is completely ineffective on any type of plastic.
However, fortunately for us, we're lazy! (Procrastinators Unite...tomorrow!) We usually run our load in the evening, then crack it open a few inches before going to bed and let the rest air-dry overnight. By morning everything, plastics included, is usually bone dry.
The other issue is space. For some reason I figured the $1,200 Bosch must have manipulated space-time to make a standard 24" dishwasher that would hold a dumptruck full of pots and pans. It doesn't. In fact, it doesn't hold any more than the rock crusher that occupied the hole before it. Sure, Bosch claims to hold more, but that's marketing word-magic. However, it does hold everything we need it to. I read in one personal review elsewhere that the top rack was too high and couldn't hold the user's travel mugs. Well, we have numerous 20-32 ounce stainless coffee and travel mugs from Starbucks and they fit fine, not to mention long-stemmed wine glasses, so unless you're trying to cram a party keg in there you should be OK.
Some other nifty features and benefits are: (1) It's stainless (i.e. it's purdy). Aside from the handle there are no visible buttons, switches, dials, or LEDs on the front of the unit. They hide inconspicuously under the lip of your countertop. (2) The delayed-start timer is a simple, yet brilliant feature. We use it as an alarm clock substitute. (3) Ultra-efficient. It's probably the most efficient unit on the market today. It uses less electricity and less water than seems possible. (4) Utensil "basket" is moveable. You can put it anywhere on the rack, and there are two of them (though we only use one) for families who use a different fork for each bite of food. (5) Racks are fully "configurable" and can accomodate just about any odd size/shape dish/pot/pan. (6) It's made specifically to take those individually-wrapped Electrosol "cubes" (reviewed here) which work very well (though we were skeptical at first). (7) Complains when it's running low on drying agent (aka "Jet Dry").
Some drawbacks are: (1) It's stainless. It enjoys finding new ways to soil itself while we sleep. It hangs neon arrows and Vegas lights around fingerprints, water spots, and other contaminants of extraterrestrial origin. (2) The alarm never shuts up. When it's done it wants you to know about it... forever. It can't just beep and shut itself off — heaven forbid. (This is also how I know it's a woman) (3) No countdown feature. There's no way to tell how much time is remaining before completion. (4) No "latch" to know whether it's locked or not. You just close it and pull it open again. (5) Programmed wash times seem arbitrary and inconsistent. The same button doesn't always give the same wash time. (6) You want it to do something to let you know it's washing. Maybe they should have it whistle tunes as it washes. The silence can be a bit eerie.
My personal gripe is this: it's really just like every other dishwasher in its operation. It uses those same spinning water jet arms. You really need to pack your dishwasher logically and also need to be sure nothing will slip down between the cracks and impede the motion of the blades, or else nothing gets clean. There simply MUST be a better way!
However, until Rosy the Robot from the Jetsons makes her way into our home this Bosch will have to suffice, and it does a brilliant job. It's wonderful to be able to prop yourself up against the counter and carry on a conversation right next to the unit without ever being aware it is dutifully performing its singular task the entire time.
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