Siemens Dishwasher Review: Is it useful for Indian dishes?

This post is in response to a reader’s request to review the Siemens dishwasher.

As I mentioned earlier,  buying kitchen appliances in India is a nightmare as most electronic showrooms do not sell/display all brands, especially Siemens, Faber, Kaff and Bosch. One needs to visit each of their exclusive showrooms. When I visited showrooms around Marathahalli, almost all of them were hard selling LG. Unti la few years ago, I was loyalist of LG appliances. Everything from washing machine to TV at home was from LG.  But, I’ve had nagging issues over the past four years with their washing machine. fridge and microwave and the customer service is not transparent. So purely on those grounds, I decided against a LG dishwasher.

My husband did the research for the dishwasher and zeroed in on two models: similar ones from Bosch and Siemens. Both are sold in India by the same company. Finally, we bought the Euro model from Siemens based on how quickly they will be able to deliver.

Points to keep in mind when buying a dishwasher in India:

Do check the manufacturing date behind the machine before buying. The Siemens folks were offering a steep discount on one of the machines that was readily available at their showroom, just that it was a year and half old.

I ran a load this morning particularly for this post. Here are some pictures to show how soiled the vessels were before I loaded them: tea, rice, plate etc.

What vessels I load:

• 6 Steel tumblers
• 2 tea cups
• A glass jar
• About 10 spoons, 2 ladles
• Tea strainer.
• 5 dinner plates.
• Two vessels – tea and rice.
• Two ceramic bowls.
• Two filter plates of the chimney.
• Iron tawa

Spoons loaded in the top most tray.

Vessels loaded in the middle tray.

Vessels loaded in the bottom tray.

What cycle and how long did it take:

I chose the auto mode that washes vessels between 40 and 65 deg. The cycle took 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete.

Often, I use the auto mode with vario speed to make it quicker. This finishes it in 1 hour and 20 minutes. But, the half load option is not available in many models, which was one of the driving factors to choose this model.

For heavily soiled vessels, I use the intensive cleaning option that cleans at 70 deg.

How good is it with cleaning:

The cutlery and glass crockery come out sparkling clean. So are the spoons, tea strainers, and chimney plates.

But, some of the soiled vessels came out unclean: the tea vessel, iron tawa, and streaks on the rice vessel as well. I have found that the only mode that works for these is the intensive mode. If I choose the recommended auto mode and eco mode, some of the vessels come out dirty. So, it’s a bit of a trial and error until you get the modes right. Also, it is better to rinse the vessels with water before you use them. I did not observe this until a friend pointed out – the vessels lather when you rinse them after unloading. I’m posting pictures on only the unclean ones..the remaining came out sparkling clean. Having said that, I believe these should have got washed well if I had used the intensive cycle.

Final verdict: is the dishwasher a replacement for a maid?

Sadly no, given our style of cooking. It also depends on what vessels you use for cooking. I do not use a rice cooker. Neither do I use non-stick excepting one tawa. It is primarily iron kadai and tawa.

There will be vessels that cannot go in the dishwasher. For instance, in today’s round, these are the vessels that I could not load:

• kadai (iron and aluminium)
• cooker (because of repeated washing in the dishwasher, the plastic parts got brittle and broke off). The plastic parts cannot withstand high temperatures as the manual says. And unless you run it through an intensive cycle, it does not get cleaned. So it’s a catch 22 situation.
• copper jug
• wooden chopping board/spatula.
• porcelain ware that is not dishwasher safe.

But, it has been a big savior when your house help does not turn up for many days in a row. Most of the cutlery can be loaded into the dishwasher leaving you with just the kadais. So on that count I would recommend it.

I got the Euro model for Rs.51,000.

Let me know if this review was useful and I hope it helps in making a decision.