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I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

bonappetit.com

61–70 of 98 posts

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#61

Ours is more like the upper-end of non-fancy (it's some Bosch, but not one of the higher-end ones, more mid-range) but damned if the shallow plastic-mesh tray it has at the top isn't something I can't live without now. So perfect for long utensils that're awkward to put anywhere else in the dishwasher (or risk becoming dislodged and blocking one of the spinning water thingies, if you put them elsewhere). It also just…

We really don't have competition anymore. The auto industry is another example of of this. There are only a few players and they all kind of meetup like ok leather only costs us an extra $200 but we're going to put it as part of a package with a bunch of other shit no one cares about and sell it as a 6k add on.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#62
post #15

Dishwashers are absolutely an appliance to splurge on. The difference between bottom-tier, adequate-tier and high-end is basically a few hundred bucks. Bottom-tier are loud, don't actually clean dishes well, are ugly, and fail early. Top-tier are near-silent, clean dishes without a pre-rinse, have all sorts of intelligent drawers & racks to fit all your needs, and look great. Some of them even have fancy features lik…

I wouldn't splurge on a luxury fridge either but I wish I understood why there aren't any good ones. I should be able to install the compressor and the rest of it outside. Coils on the bottom of a refrigerator is undoubtedly the stupidest architecture. And having to listen to the compressor isn't great either.

there are no "good ones" because "luxury" appliances are basically the same as the cheap ones with a nicer finish or luxury brand name

ask ANY appliance repair person...they would howl at the comments here

they've told me that people who think Bosch or Miele are "good" are just remembering what they were like twenty years ago and today they are just as likely to fail as Kenmore

ask ANY appliance repair person, don't listen to HN on topics like this

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#63

Dishwashers are absolutely an appliance to splurge on. The difference between bottom-tier, adequate-tier and high-end is basically a few hundred bucks. Bottom-tier are loud, don't actually clean dishes well, are ugly, and fail early. Top-tier are near-silent, clean dishes without a pre-rinse, have all sorts of intelligent drawers & racks to fit all your needs, and look great. Some of them even have fancy features lik…

I love my Bosch 500 series but the best feature on it, by FAR, is the simplest.

Bosch calls it AquaStop, it's a plastic tray underneath the entire mechanical assembly. If there is a leak in the system water will accumulate here first, saving your floors. A simple float switch puts the system into always-drain mode to try and purge the rest of the water as fast as it can.

That little thing alone saved my wood floors from being ruined on an overnight inlet valve leak. And the valve was a $25 part from Amazon, a 30 minute DIY fix. That's some great engineering.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#64
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Here in the US, luxury appliances are what sell houses. Usually the investment pays handsomly when you go to sell. You don't take your appliances with you when you move?

Most of the time, no. Probably because as "standard" as sizes of appliances are- they also are not. So the last thing you want a potential buyer worrying about is (1) looking at an empty appliance slot or (2) knowing the appliances are going and worrying if they can find something to perfectly fit in the same spot. I mean also, because appliances usually stay.. it's kind of a problem for no one. Often times someone i…

Also, appliances have been subject to the same supersizing effect as many other things in the US, especially refrigerators. A kitchen built or last remodeled prior to the mid-2000s or so is likely going to have trouble finding a fridge that will fit properly because they've gotten so much larger.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#65
We have a US model Bosch dishwasher. As someone who grew up in Stuttgart it pains me to say I don't love it. It's reliability is so-so and the plastic parts on the inside break apart. I'm just going to chalk it up to cost-cutting for the export models but I could be wrong.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#66
post #31
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in the US, luxury appliances are what sell houses. Usually the investment pays handsomly when you go to sell.

> Here in the US, luxury appliances are what sell houses. Usually the investment pays handsomly when you go to sell. You don't take your appliances with you when you move?

> You don't take your appliances with you when you move?

Very often, they do take some, but large appliances are expensive to move making it a convenient time to trade up, and many homebuyers are first time homebuyers moving out of places where they don’t own the appliances (whether young people moving out from their parents or ex-renters moving from a place where the landlord owns some or all of the appliances), so appliances can be a big boon to selling a house.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#67
The only thing I miss in my Miele dishwasher is some indicator of whether the dishes inside are clean or dirty. Many a time my spouse will run the dishwasher overnight and in the morning I will, unknowingly, add my dirty breakfast dishes and run the machine again.

I've also learned never to wash anything with aluminum: the metal becomes pitted and loses its smooth surface.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#68
post #16

This is quite funny from a german perspective. My first thought when I saw the headline was "oh cool a start-up that disrupts dishwashing, I wonder what fancy overpowered tech they throw at the problem". And then it turns out to be a Miele, one of the common go-to brands for household appliances in Germany. Fun fact: Miele is actually one of the few companies that has technicians that carry a ton of spare parts in th…

The repair comment is interesting. It seems in the US if you have a warranty claim for an appliance they contract with some generic repairman who has to order parts.

It may be worse that even (e.g. it has been for us). We have a Whirlpool/MayTag washer, and they pick who services it, and they chose for us a 1.8/5 star budget company that is completely awful and incapable of repairing things. But Whirlpool/MayTag refuses to do anything except keep sending them to us, and we have to schedule through them, which is also a huge nightmare. Do not recommend!

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#69
post #6
post #4

I replaced a Hoover dishwasher with a Bosch Serie 8 and there's a huge difference, the Bosch is so much better!

They're not even expensive. I replaced a horrible KitchenAid with a Bosch 800 that was much less expensive, better in every way, and at this point has enjoyed a much longer lifetime than the KitchenAid.

KitchenAid is basically just overpriced Whirlpool now.

Re: I splurged for the fanciest dishwasher and it was worth it

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time, no. Probably because as "standard" as sizes of appliances are- they also are not. So the last thing you want a potential buyer worrying about is (1) looking at an empty appliance slot or (2) knowing the appliances are going and worrying if they can find something to perfectly fit in the same spot. I mean also, because appliances usually stay.. it's kind of a problem for no one. Often times someone i…

Also, appliances have been subject to the same supersizing effect as many other things in the US, especially refrigerators. A kitchen built or last remodeled prior to the mid-2000s or so is likely going to have trouble finding a fridge that will fit properly because they've gotten so much larger.

Appliances wear out and need replaced and lots of property owners don’t regularly remodel, so there is a pretty big market for, and ready supply of, things like refrigerators that fit older houses. In a brick-and-mortar showroom, they won't be in the most prominent locations, but they also will often be fairly well priced for what they are because its a large and price-sensitive market segment.
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