Bosch Series 2 60cm Freestanding Dishwasher SMS24AI01A

It is quite a basic dishwasher, but performs very well. I noticed at first the racks are different to all other dishwashers I’ve ever owned, but once I figured out which dishes could fit where, I was pleasantly surprised at how versatile they are! My favourite part has become the little removable plastic divider in the upper rack, because food containers fit in there very well. When the wine glass stem holders are folded out, they keep containers and plastic cups secured underneath. None of the lower racks are foldable, but have wide enough gaps to fit saucepans and frying pans.

There’s only 4 cycles on this thing, which are selected by turning a knob. There is a time remaining display with delay start and “Speed Perfect” buttons, which shorten the times a little on Pots & Pans, Auto and Eco in much the same way my last dishwasher did on “half load” setting. Express can’t be used with Speed Perfect, but that cycle only goes for 30 minutes, while cutting out the drying part completely. I can’t even remember the last time I had to run something through again, it does a really good job cleaning dishes on all cycles! Filter is easy to remove and clean. Can't be paused mid-cycle, but does pick up where it left off if you turn off via power button, open the door then turn it back on again, or if the power goes out momentarily.

Rinse aid dispenser can’t be manually adjusted, and it does drink quite a bit, so I always make sure to have some on hand. I can only assume it automatically adjusts dose, because I live in a hard water area but don’t get streaks on the dishes like I used to. Sliding tablet dispenser door isn't very durable though, about 18 months in, the spring and seal popped out, but was pretty easy to put back together myself.

Happy with our Bosch Series 2 – Had to replace my old Westinghouse (which we loved) so after reading the reviews we settled on this Bosch. The price point was great - Paid $780 ish through appliances online which included free delivery and removal of old items. I just had a look and it's only $700 now. Little old me managed to connect it all myself, but just beware that the hole needed to thread the tubes and connections through needs to be about 15cm x 12 cm, so I had to hack at cupboard to get it through but it was pretty easy. Through trial and error we use the eco setting which is 44 minutes and does the trick. Dishes and glasses are dry, however plastics are NOT dry so we just pull them out once its done and let them dry on a tea towel on the bench. Runs quiet. I'm still getting used to the dish placement and have found there isn't too many spots for wine glasses so that's my only pet peave, hence the 4 stars. Overall all, great product for the price and would reccommend.

Fine, as long as you don't pay full price – I purchased this dishwasher to replace an LG Quadwash unit that basically fell apart after 5 years. This is Bosch's entry level machine and as such it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the models further up in the range. Installation was straightforward and problem-free, but note that the Aqua Stop device is a bit bigger than on some other brands, so you might need to make the feed-through hole in your kitchen cabinet a bit bigger (I did). Bosch says you need an 80mm diameter hole, so worth remembering that.

What I like: Very simple and super easy to use (this was important to me), with just one knob to select from the four cycles available. And I like the fact there are only four cycles and one option to choose from - I found that on our last machine we almost exclusively used the same cycle. We just didn't need or use all the extra cycles and options available.

The washing result is excellent - everything comes out squeaky clean in a reasonable amount of time.

Things not so good (but not that important to me): No fold down tines in the lower rack. It's a bit thirsty (it can use up to 19 litres on the Auto cycle). It is quite stinky inside at first, but the smell dissipates after several uses. No end of cycle indication. After the cycle finishes the timer displays 0.00 but switches off after 1 minute. This can however be changed in Settings so that 0.00 will stay on indefinitely, indicating that the cycle has finished. Note there is no audible chime or tune when the cycles finishes. The shiny stainless steel finish on the door doesn't really match the control panel or plinth very well. There is no "easy lift" top basket, although you can change the height by removing the top basket and choosing from one of the two heights available. I find I always leave it on the higher setting anyway, so doesn't really matter.

Annoyances: The control panel is curved so it cannot match your kitchen cupboards for a nice clean installed look. The drying performance out of the box is a bit average. You can enable Intensive Drying in settings - I haven't tried that yet though. The general build quality feels like it has been built down to a price. The racks don't glide very smoothly, the control knob and button actions are decidedly flimsy and cheap feeling. Whether this will mean anything towards long term reliability I don't know, but it certainly makes the day to day use slightly less satisfying.

Finally be aware that this dishwasher is pretty noisy (Bosch quotes 50db, which is on par with most similarly priced competitors). For me this doesn't really matter as I only ever run it during the day (to take advantage of solar power). However if you do like to run it overnight when the house is quiet it's worth noting, and you might need to spend a bit more to get something quieter.

At full retail of $999 I doubt I would recommend this machine. There are better options available for the price.

However I paid $669 at The Good Guys, and at this price I am very happy with what I got for the money.