Bosch kitchen appliances - experience/opinions?

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N7SC
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Bosch kitchen appliances - experience/opinions?

Post by N7SC » Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:26 pm

Do any of you have any experience with Bosch kitchen appliances? Especially the in-wall ovens (800 and 500 series), and dishwashers (800 and 800 plus series).

We are going to have to renovate our kitchen, and I have been studying appliances. The Bosch ones look very good, for appliances that are barely in our price range. Or more like just beyond what we can afford, but we can stretch for good appliances. Before spending that amount of $$$, it would be nice to have some opinions and thoughts from those with experience.

By the way, the cooktop I am thinking of is actually made by Thermador, which is wholly owned by BSH, Bosch-Siemens Hausgerate [Home Appliances]. It is a model that acheives very low simmer settings by cycling the burner on and off several times per minute. In other words it varies its duty cycle to acheive the desired low simmer. Any one have any comments or experience with one of these?

LodeHacker
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Post by LodeHacker » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:40 pm

Bosch is excellent quality. My 20-year-old sister had her kitchen renovated a couple of months ago and the end result is beautiful. I really don't know much about these, but I remember my mother's face how she wanted the kitchen to be hers :lol:

Oh, by the way, my sister has a Bosch microwave oven, one of the best to have popcorn done in under 1 minute :mrgreen:

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Post by Dazrin » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:19 pm

We got a slightly used (about 2 years old) Bosch dishwasher a couple years ago and love it (my Dad's boss was renovating and they went to stainless steel). We have not had any problems with it and it is fairly quiet, but not silent. Of course, we got a great deal on it, so it is fine for us. I am sure some of the newer ones are quieter.

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Post by NeilBlanchard » Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:39 am

Hi,

We have had the least expensive Bosch dishwasher for about 8 years now, and we love it. All stainless interior (which was more unusual then), ~2" taller interior space due to not electric element in the bottom -- which means that we can wash plastic ware without melting it. It heats it's own water, and it uses far less water than many others. And lastly it is very quiet, though it is now slightly louder than it used to be.

Tzupy
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Post by Tzupy » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:06 am

AFAIK if a Bosch device is manufactured in Germany, then it's good quality.
But lately, like many other merchandises, they may be manufactured somewhere else.
In which case I'd stay away. IMO to compete pricewise the quality has to go down, which I find unacceptable.

Shamgar
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Post by Shamgar » Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:10 am

I have heard (through relatives who have owned or know others who do) that Bosch is generally of high quality.

Some Bosch appliances like refridgerators and washing machines are made in Brazil (and probably Thailand). This is very common for consumer appliances now. I think in the EU, they will probably have locally made ones only, but I am not sure of that.

By the way, not to offend my European friends, but it is a myth that a Made in Germany (or Made in EU) tag must mean higher quality than Made in Elsewhere.

It can be true -- but it should not be immediately assumed. Made in Germany=High Quality and Reliability may have been more true of older goods made a decade or more ago. We have a heater Made in West Germany that is over 30 years old that you couldn't break with a bulldozer running over it a thousand times. Heavy as a house. Still works perfectly.

With globalisation, you can never really be sure of where the parts came from and where the true place of manufacture is. But as long as the final assembly of the product is in the country of interest, they can put a Made in This Country tag on it and market it as such.

I am sure that there are still some "indestructible" German made goods around. Hopefully, the Bosch kitchen goods you are interested in will be of that quality. If anything goes wrong, the warranty should cover it. I expect whitegoods (should be renamed silvergoods?) to have at least a 3 year warranty. 5 or more is obviously better.
Last edited by Shamgar on Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

jhhoffma
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Post by jhhoffma » Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:32 am

Well, in the most recent Consumer Reports, the top two dishwashers were Bosch units: one being an expensive high-frills unit, the other being more "budget-friendly". I'll have to repost when I get home to say what two models they were.

But in general, Bosch's are like Hondas, well-built and reliable.

N7SC
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Post by N7SC » Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:36 am

jhhoffma wrote:But in general, Bosch's are like Hondas, well-built and reliable.
Interesting analogy. My lawn mower is a 13 year old Craftsman with a Honda engine. Have changed the oil in that thing maybe 3 times in 13 years, the sparkplug once, and only cleaned the air filter 3 or 4 times. Starts right up on the first pull, runs like a swiss watch. Have heard from many others with similar experiences. If Bosch appliances are that good, that would be great.

I know the Bosch parts for my Volvo are very well built and reliable. Have learned the hard way to use only genuine Bosch parts in that car. The quality of the car parts is a big part of what motivated me to look into Bosch kitchen appliances. To address Shamgar and Tzupy's posts, above, it does not seem to matter where a Bosch part is made. If it is manufactured by Bosch, meets their quality control, and passes their inspections, it is of superb quality.

For what it is worth, and also in Bosch's favor, I have found out that Bosch, formally Robert Bosch GmBH, is the only large corporation in the world that is majority owned, about 92%, by a charitable organization, the Robert Bosch Charitable Foundation (or something like that). While the company does put most of its profit back into research and development, corporate growth, etc., when they do pay a profit to the shareholders, 92% of it goes to the charitable organization (the rest goes to the descendents of Robert Bosch). Over the past few decades alone the charitable foundation has spent billions, with a "B," of euros on children's hospitals, medical research, hospitals, etc. To me that is far better than giving the profit to a bunch of greedy shareholders who only want to make more money.

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Post by CA_Steve » Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:19 am

There is a recall out for some Bosch and Siemens dishwashers made in the US and purchased between 1999 and 2005.

FYI for Neil.

(Other than having his dishwasher under a recall) my brother has really liked his Bosch. Very quiet.

Shamgar
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Post by Shamgar » Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:52 pm

jhhoffma wrote:But in general, Bosch's are like Hondas, well-built and reliable.
Most Hondas imported into Australia are Made in Thailand. This is mostly due to a free trade deal between the two countries. The exceptions are the Hybrid and high end Sport models. Honda cars do have a reputation for excellent build quality and reliability, reflected by their very good resale values. The Thailand manufactured cars often have an annoying rattle, a few misaligned internal trims, and doors that do not shut with a reassuring thud and even ones that come off. But this is perhaps only a small percentage, and wouldn't prevent the average Honda buyer from purchasing.

nici
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Post by nici » Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:39 am

I got a Miele as my dishwasher. I've only heard good things about them. About the same price as a German made Bosch. And the separate tray at the top for spoons and forks and such is really nice. Much better than the basket thingie. Mieles patent for it expired in recent years though and some better Bosch models also have it now, at least that's what the Bosch salesman told me. Also one reason i got the Miele was that it has no extra stuff, a dial to select programme and two buttons, on/off and start/stop. Perfect.

alleycat
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Post by alleycat » Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:05 am

Hey nici, haven't seen you around for a while :)

My parents have a Miele dishwasher in their kitchen, they got it maybe 15+ years ago. Gets used all the time and is still working perfectly.

Shamgar
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Post by Shamgar » Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:47 am

Our working class family don't use dishwashers. I've never seen a need for one in our house, and we'd probably never use it even if one was given to us and installed for free. Utter waste of water, electricity and maintenance costs from our perspective. Even if I was in a different social class, I wouldn't give a thought to it.

But to those who have and use such appliances, I hope they service you well.

floffe
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Post by floffe » Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:42 am

Shamgar: Maintenance costs I'll buy, but studies have show dish washers to use less water than washing up by hand, if run properly (i.e. only when full). If you heat your hot water with electricity it might be a wash (pun intended) on that point as well.

Shamgar
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Post by Shamgar » Sun Jul 12, 2009 8:26 am

floffe: Thank you for your comment and for linking to the document. For our family's way of life, we are quite happy to wash up by hand. I admit though the number of dishes to wash up in our household isn't much compared to a larger household or hosting environment (lots of dinner parties, guests). The possibly better economy of a good automated dishwasher may benefit these situations more.

The best way for a household to save water when using manually is to reduce the size of the flow. BTW we heat our water by gas.

julyfilt
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Post by julyfilt » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:15 am

We are traveling to accept to clean our kitchen, and I accept been belief appliances. The Bosch ones attending actual good, for accessories that are almost in our amount range. Or added like just above what we can afford, but we can amplitude for acceptable appliances...


:)

jhhoffma
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Post by jhhoffma » Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:16 am

Eh? Google Translate strikes again?

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