Is this just an american thing/model?
I have a Bosch Series 6 dishwasher here in Australia. It has physical buttons for all the stuff he mentions - Machine Care (self-cleaning), HalfLoad, Eco, and Delay start.
I did connect it to wifi which allows me to ... do the same stuff from their app. It's next to useless in my use pattern of "load the dishwasher, run the dishwasher". Literally all it adds is the ability to more easily set the machine to run later, which I don't care about.
I love Bosch stuff and will continue to buy it, certainly their series 6 and 8 stuff that's made in Germany - great quality and reliable IMHO.
Honestly it seems like there's just been a poor design decision here, to export the full set of controls to an app rather than on the machine, rather than some sort of fundamental sin. It certainly raises questions of what happens if/when they drop support, but another poster below mentions that the app works locally after initial cloud setup. Maybe just avoid this model...
The previous generation of Bosch dishwashers in the US were WiFi free. The current generation went through a round of cost cutting and added WiFi bullshit to everything. No idea what the state is of their appliances sold in other markets.
As far as I can tell Electrolux is the only manufacturer selling "dumb" laundry kit in the US these days… which is probably part of why everyone's favorite LG shills (Yale Appliance) does their best to ignore them.
Miele sells dumb dishwashers in the US.
I recently bought a Bosch and regret it for some of the same reasons as this article. I probably should have got the Miele but CR ratings were slightly higher for Bosch, the repair rates in different places were similar, and the cost was slightly less for the Bosch.
I'm ok with networked appliances but think every function should be operable at the minimum level of networking required to implement that function.
So, a specific washing or drying program shouldn't require any networking, so should function without any networking. Checking the status of a cycle on you phone can be done locally through something like Bluetooth, so it should operate with that and no wifi. Remote monitoring requires internet of some sort, so that's fine.
What makes me furious is requiring a phone app to run something like a delicate or rinse-only cycle.
The ones on the bosch US website do have different model numbers and a different look compared to Bosch UK/AU/DE, which is a little odd. But even then there are models similar to mine, which have Wifi but don't rely on it - https://www.bosch-home.com/us/en/mkt-product/dishwashers/fro...
Seems like the "top control" range, which I can't even see in other countries, might be what's presenting the problem to the author.
IDGAF about appliances being dumb or smart, but I agree it's not a great thing if you have to use smart controls. Provide both and we're all good IMHO.
> The current generation went through a round of cost cutting and added WiFi bullshit to everything
I'm no dishwasher expert and I guess they did their homework but over a period of 10 years, how can be cheaper to remove the local functionality, add a wifi chip, redo the manuals, and pay for the datacenter costs?
Ah, I meant cost cutting elsewhere. For instance the Bosch dishwasher I have came with two utensil holders, no WiFi, and real buttons. The newer versions come with one utensil holder, fake buttons, and WiFi.
It's probably more that they add the online features because some users want them and then think if they already have that they can save some cents on buttons.
Also I seriously doubt the hosting costs are more than a rounding error for a multiple-hundred-dollar appliance.
> Also I seriously doubt the hosting costs are more than a rounding error for a multiple-hundred-dollar appliance.
Ok but...
> then think if they already have that they can save some cents on buttons.
Isn't this a rounding error as well, on a >500$ appliance?
How can we have at the same time dishwashers with no 7-segments display because it's too expensive and other brands with wifi on every model? It cannot be just for costs, there ought to be marketing reasons behind this.
So I have the same model. And night before last instead of starting. It bleeped and flashed a row of LED's. And that's it. It doesn't have an LED display to show error codes. Pulled it out, nothing seems wrong. But I have no idea what it's upset about.
> Literally all it adds is the ability to more easily set the machine to run later, which I don't care about.
Funny, that is a single physical button on my Siemens dishwasher.
Sure, there's one on my Bosch too. But I'm damned if I know how to set it to (for instance) turn on at 7am by using the buttons on the machine. There's probably a way involving multiple button presses. The app does that easily.
But as I said before - not really something I care about either way.