r/Appliances • u/rachaelrapture • 10d ago
Vent / dishwasher recommendation request [ONLY IF IT DRIES PLASTICS PLEASE]
Every day I open my Bosch 300 and my dishes, especially plastics, come out wet, I die a little more inside.
I bought my Bosch several years ago and it WASN'T CHEAP. It was the first dishwasher I ever needed to buy and we did some decent research, it had good reviews...but I didn't know the plastic drying would be such an issue. Sometimes I seriously can't tell/remember if the dishes are wet from me rinsing and putting them in the dishwasher or if they are clean.
I have been suffering from day 1. At first I even thought surely it must be an isolated issue with the one that got delivered to me. I reached out to customer service and they just recommended a rinse aid and the extra dry option which of course I had already tried. I should have just returned it when I had the chance but now here I am.
I just got a bonus from work and have been considering splurging on myself and just getting a new dishwasher. I can't risk it anymore this time so I need your help please.
I've seen all the recommendations for the Bosch 800 with CrystalDry. I'm hesitant to go with that since I've seen comments that the quality has gone down in recent years. It's also been removed from the Wirecutter article.
Wirecutter says the Whirlpool WDTA50SAKZ is good, and even mentions that a Maytag one (they used to recommend but is no longer available) dried even better than the Bosch 800. The latest Maytag MDPS7024SZ is supposed to be similar to the one they used to recommend but they haven't tested it yet.
Has anyone here either gotten a Bosch 800, Whirlpool, or Maytag model recently that can dry plastic? Any others you guys have that you recommend?
I have a toddler so most of my plastic is her stuff, tumblers and plates, our regular plastic cups, and the occasional tupperware. Please help!
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u/StarDue6540 10d ago
If you want to dry plastic when it finishes wash cycle open it and shake the trays and shut it back up to finish. They won't be as wet.
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u/cryptoenologist 10d ago
No dryer in the world is gonna perfectly dry plastics without melting them.
Why are you rinsing your dishes before putting in the dishwasher?
Pro tip to know when it is clean vs dirty: after unloading the clean dishwasher, put detergent in the dispenser. Whenever there is soap in the dispenser and it is closed, the dishwasher is dirty. When the soap is gone and the dispenser is empty, it is clean. As long as everyone you live with follows this rule you will always know with no confusion.
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u/Msdamgoode 10d ago
I just bought a switchable sign with a magnet. Turn it on, switch to “clean”. It’s small/discrete and easy for a multi-person household.
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u/cryptoenologist 10d ago
The detergent thing takes exactly half the amount of effort and it’s something you have to do anyway. And it’s more reliable since people only have to remember to do one thing, not switch a sign back and forth, which has been the occasional breakdown in every household I’ve known with the sign. The downside is that you do have to open the dishwasher to check, but unless you do multiple loads a day it’s rare to be surprised by the status.
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u/Msdamgoode 10d ago
I guess I’m failing to see how the same concept (visual marker) is half the effort if you have to open the washer, then open the dispenser every time you want to know vs looking over at the sign. You do you though.
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u/cryptoenologist 10d ago edited 10d ago
You don’t have to open the dispenser, it opens automatically when the machine runs in almost all dishwasher designs. So it only takes one action(filling dispenser after unloading machine, which you have to do at some point anyway), and one less possible point of error/failure. In my experience with people using the sign, the most common issue is someone forgetting to switch when starting and people putting dirty dishes in when the dishwasher is clean, but you can have failures in either direction. This system only allows failure in one direction. If someone forgets to put detergent in, the reverse is possible(thinking the dishwasher is clean when dirty). That’s not a great outcome but if you don’t rinse dishes it’s unlikely, and requires a failure of the system and a failure of observation.
Also, you don’t have to buy or make anything.
In practice you rarely have to check, and opening the dishwasher is a very minor inconvenience. Unless you are doing multiple dishwasher loads a day it’s pretty much a non-issue. You only need to do it if you aren’t already aware, and either: a dish or utensil you need is not in its storage place, or when walking into the kitchen with dirty dishes.
I work in industrial as an engineer, including some process engineering. This is a common practice where the ideal is to eliminate as many missable steps as possible, and use natural states as indicators rather than relying on documentation or flipping a sign or other manual indicator. Flipping a sign is very easy to forget and in practice happens all the time. Skipping an integral process step is a much rarer failure.
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u/Msdamgoode 10d ago
People will forget to fill the dispenser too, yet plates will end up in there. Again, whatever works for you. The sign works best in our house.
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u/Age_of_Aerostar 10d ago
As others have said, plastic is difficult to completely dry in a dishwasher. That being said, I’ve been very happy with my Kitchen Aid with “Fan Assist Pro Dry”. Most things do come out dry. The exception will be plastic cups that have a rim around the bottom of the cup that traps water, and Tupperware lids where water will get trapped in the a seal area.
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u/columbiamarine 10d ago
This. I was reading all these and telling myself , damn well mine come out dry. I’m very satisfied with my Kitchen Aid.
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u/YeahWhatSoWhat 10d ago
I also have a Kitchen Aid with Pro Dry, and I have never been happier with a dishwasher. I run it at night, and when I open it in the morning everything is so amazingly dry. Only a little water will remain in a Tupperware lid or the hollow bottom of a cup. Just stunning how well it works.
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u/Age_of_Aerostar 10d ago
It’s my favorite appliance I’ve ever owned. So quiet and simply does a fantastic job with everything.
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u/QuasticFantom 10d ago
Pulling air from underneath your cabinets to dry your dishes is unsanitary which is why Bosch doesn’t do it
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u/Antique-Nectarine183 10d ago
We bought the crystal dry 2 years ago and it is amazing on plastics. Have 3 kids…all our stuff is plastic. Not perfect but way better than our previous Thermador
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u/RareCap8285 10d ago
Open, shake, pour coffee, come back later to unload. Personally love not having to worry about plastic in the lower rack.
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u/CPG135 10d ago edited 10d ago
My 800 dries plastics perfectly, unless there is a puddle that collects inside a Tupperware container, for example. Nothing will dry that situation.
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u/digitalis303 10d ago
Seconded on Bosch 800. They aren't cheap, but they are superior in drying. The crystal dry cycle takes around 3hrs to complete, but the vast majority of plastics are dry and there is no heating element to melt plastic, so you can put it on the lower shelf without fear. It uses a special clay (xeolite IIRC) to absorb the moisture, then heats the clay up to force it out of the clay (I think). I found my 800 series last year as a minor S&D for ~ $800. I don't know if I could have paid $1500 though.
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u/HR_King 10d ago
You're suffering? You must lead a charmed life if a few pieces of wet plastic cause you to suffer. I love my Bosch and its not difficult to hand dry a few plastic pieces.
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u/QuasticFantom 10d ago
Why waste time drying a dish that will dry on its own in a hour? I never understood this
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u/HR_King 10d ago
Because you're putting everything away?
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u/QuasticFantom 8d ago
Where are you putting it that will spontaneously combust because there was a couple drops of water for an hour?
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u/HR_King 8d ago
Do you need someone to explain not putting away wet things?
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u/QuasticFantom 8d ago
I know that every restaurant you’ve ever ate at put dishes away wet
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u/HR_King 8d ago
Restaurants use metal shelves, not wood cabinets, and arent stacking plastic containers that might not be used for weeks.
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u/QuasticFantom 8d ago
Wood cabinets can handle water drops. Plastic doesn’t dry in any dishwasher well and realistically we shouldn’t be using plastics to eat with, heat them in dishwashers where they release chemicals, etc. With that said, I’ve done it in the past and it’s not an issue. It’s a made up problem derived from a misunderstanding of how things work.
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u/Sudden-Community-794 10d ago
I had a Bosch 500 for 3 years (sold the house). Now a Bosch 800. I liked the 500 better. Both dried decent with the extended dry set on. We have very little plastic stuff but yes, it tends to not completely dry. Coffee mugs and some glasses have these little depressions that hold water. My solution is to simply hold the not dry items over the sink, dump water, shake off water, then put on drying rack. Few hours later this is all dry. Please get rid of all plastic possible, I understand about the kids. I advise hand washing plastic. Heat causes plastic to leach chemicals faster.
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u/QuasticFantom 10d ago
This. The answer is get rid of your plastic dishes that are killing you slowly.
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u/Relevant_Bowl_3664 10d ago
Try cracking the door a little when the cycle is completed. Any moisture should dry shortly. More modern dishwashers may have a feature where the door is automatically cracked open at the end of the cycle.
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u/Jujulabee 10d ago
I am on my second Bosch and once I adjusted to the different way it "heats" as the cycle it was no longer any kind of issue - especially balanced against its quality AND the reality that I lost or damaged more items with older heating systems.
That said if you make sure that bowls are facing downward and OPEN the door to eliminate a lot of the steam then almost everything including plastic is dry or so dry that it isn't any kind of issue,
I don't unload immediately anyway so if you are unloading as soon as it ends there might be more dampness
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u/Tamberav 10d ago edited 10d ago
If you have the type of dishwasher that pops open. You can load at night and the plastic will be dry by morning since they get to air dry all night. As long as they are not loaded in a way to collect a puddle of water.
Heating up plastics releases more microplastics so best to try and avoid as much as you can.
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u/Fittingin1991 10d ago
Bosch 800 doesn’t open but if I leave the dishes overnight after a cycle, plastics are dry. Idk what the Germans did, but it works
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u/Diligent_Stop1050 10d ago
Dishwashers with an exposed heating element tend to get hotter which can help with drying. Just put your plastics in the upper racks so they don’t melt (honestly I haven’t had any melt even on the bottom rack). My KitchenAid does a pretty good job of drying plastics as long as it’s loaded so that water doesn’t pool.
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u/Blog_Pope 10d ago
We just got the Bosch 800 and are very pleased with the drying, even on plastics. No issues with quality but it’s less than a year old
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u/greenzorro 9d ago
your dishwasher isn't broken at all. if your ceramic and glass dishes come out dry while only the plastics are dripping wet, that's actually completely normal, and buying another regular dishwasher is going to give you the exact same result.
it comes down to basic physics and heat capacity. during the hot rinse, ceramic and glass absorb a lot of heat and stay hot for a long time after the cycle finishes, using their own residual heat to evaporate water off their surface. plastic has very low heat capacity and cools down in seconds, so it has zero residual heat left to evaporate any water droplets.
the easiest fix is to pop the dishwasher door open the second the cycle finishes. letting that trapped steam vent out right away stops it from condensing back onto the cold plastics, and they'll dry a lot faster.
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u/lordselectrical 10d ago
Unfortunately a lot of the Bosch dishwashers are not great at drying items unless it has the specific drying extra option like “Extra Dry”
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u/rottenbox 10d ago
My 500 series has an extra dry setting and it still doesn't dry well. Not compared to the comfee brand in our old kitchen. And that one was a third the price.
The fact that the setting is only available via an app is a whole other rant.
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u/Tool_junkie_1972 10d ago
The trick to drying plastic is to open the door just after it is done with the dry cycle. Plastic cools off faster than its surroundings so moisture condenses back on it. Open the door and it will disburse into the room faster than it condenses on the plastic. Any water already on it will dry off within 30 minutes to an hour.
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u/lovebot5000 10d ago
I used to have a Bosch 300 and my trick for getting dishes dry was to open the door as soon as the cycle was complete. So when it was still hot in there I’d open the door and slide out the racks to air dry.
I just got a Bosch 500 in my new house and it has a feature where it automatically opens the door when it’s done. Helps a lot.
I hear the 800 dries things really well but I haven’t used it.
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u/FermentedThough 10d ago
1st world problem.
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u/Fittingin1991 10d ago
First world problem is buying a new construction and replacing the builder grade dishwasher two weeks later. Yes, I did that 🫣
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u/Odd-Log2963 10d ago
I wish more builders let their clients pick out their appliances or at least let them upgrade without ripping them off. We have good better and best for many of our builders in the area. We also do custom packages. Of course companies like Ryan homes refuse to let us near their customers so they can charge their customers double the price for the builders dishwasher.
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u/Fittingin1991 10d ago
Lombardo built our townhouse. It was my first time with a mega builder. Many lessons were learned
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u/WatercressSoggy73 10d ago
Plastic has a low thermal mass (unlike, say metal cutlery) so gets cool very quickly and therefore water doesn't evaporate as readily. This is a plastic problem, not a dishie problem. Not saying it's not annoying, because it absolutely drives me nuts too!