Bosch PerfectDry SMV68MD00G Dishwasher

From the company’s Serie 6 range, the Bosch PerfectDry SMV68MD00G is a fully integrated dishwasher aiming to achieve perfectly dry dishes and utensils thanks to a Zeolith absorption system. With space for 14 place settings, plenty of loading flexibility and a touch control panel, this integrated unit claims to be whisper-quiet and exceptionally frugal on running costs. It’s A+++ energy rating is backed up by Bosch’s efficient ActiveWater technology.

The SMV68MD00G did nothing but impress from the outset with logical, easy loading, three height positions on the upper rack, and fabulous cleaning results, both on day-to-day and heavy stains. Drying is equally impressive, with the Zeolith system faring markedly better in buffed drying than most A+++ dishwasher we’ve tested. At over £800 we demand an interior light and a few more fancy features for a full-house 5/5 score, but for everyday dishwashing and drying, the PerfectDry SMV68MD00G is a class act.

Bosch PerfectDry SMV68MD00G – What you need to know

• General dishwashing performance – Excellent general wash performance, even on frugal Eco programmes. Top marks.
• Tough, heavy soil performance – Not even dried-on scrambled egg or porridge fazed the Bosch; both bowls were cleaned perfectly.
• Drying results – The Zeolith drying system works extremely well, delivering a class-leading dry for an A+++ dishwasher. Adding an Extra Dry option delivers guaranteed straight-to-cupboard results.
• Running costs – With an A+++ energy rating, the Bosch is tremendously efficient.

Related: Best dishwasher

Bosch PerfectDry SMV68M00G design and features – It doesn’t look special to start with, but closer inspection reveals some super-smart features

The Bosch PerfectDry SMV68MD00G is a premium dishwasher that’s designed to be fully integrated into a cabinet and concealed behind a matching kitchen. This is a flagship model, part of Bosch’s Serie 6 range, and is packed to the water-line with named features from Perfect-this to Active-that and a couple of Vario-thingumies along the way. With an A+++ energy rating as well, this is clearly a high-performance premium machine.

Its charms were a slow-burn to the critical eye of our test team, though. At over £800, we were immediately disappointed it didn’t have an interior light and that the three-rack layout and controls initially looked quite basic. Yet this Bosch isn’t a machine to overtly shout about its talents, and much of the good stuff you don’t really find out about until it’s in day-to-day use.

The three-rack layout doesn’t look like that of an £800 dishwasher, but this machine’s talents lie elsewhere

The touch control panel along the top of the door is remarkably simple to use, and features eight programmes including dedicated glassware and a super-silent cycle.

Touch controls make it easy to select all of the programmes

The TimeLight floor projector is crisp and easily legible, alternating between displaying the time remaining and a symbol telling you what phase the wash is at.

TimeLight shows you the state the dishwasher is in and how long is left on the current programme

Loading is equally slick over three easy-rolling baskets. The cutlery drawer at the top has the flexibility to fit in chunky knives, and can be removed so you can take clean cutlery back to the relevant drawer. It’s a bit of a tricky to negotiate the tray out of the machine, but the idea is good and you’ll eventually get the hang of it.

There’s room for chunky cutlery in the top drawer

The upper main basket is height adjustable, with three height options as opposed to the usual two. That worked well for us since it allows you to fine-tune the required heights in the upper and lower basket without going to extremes either way. All the moveable parts are highlighted with little red rubber handles, so it’s easy to determine which tines can be folded down to fit in larger items.  The plastic shelves on the top basket are designed to hold wine glasses and fold completely out of the way if they aren’t needed.

The lower basket has the same red markers on levers for the fold-down tines and is simply appointed with two complete plate racks, one of which can be folded. It rolls smoothly and the plate spacing worked well for us. Being able to load larger plates at the front is always a feature we salute; it makes loading and unloading easier.

Unusually, the soap dispenser drawer is quite high up the door. Not only does this make it simple to load up with a tablet, when it pops open it deposits the tablet into a handle recess in the top drawer, which Bosch claims improves the way the tablet dissolves and works better in conjunction with the wash cycle.

Tablets drop into a recess in the top drawer, which Bosch says improves cleaning performance

The hero feature is the PerfectDry system. It would be easy to think that this is just another system that pops open the door or fans the air at the end of the cycle – but it’s a whole lot cleverer than that.

The “Zeolith” system uses a compartment with Zeolite crystals that absorb and condense moisture as moist air is fanned over them, giving out heat as a by-product of the process. Zeolite is commonly used in industrial processes, but it isn’t necessarily cheap to implement in consumer goods – which goes some way to justifying this Bosch’s premium price. The good news is that it works very well, delivering a standard dry that surpasses every other A+++ machine we’ve tested.

Zeolite crystals help with the drying process

Bosch PerfectDry SMV68MD00G Dishwasher performance – Never disappointed

We ran this dishwasher for over a month as the default office dishwasher, fully installed into a kitchen cabinet with a furniture door in place. That allowed us to accurately test actual noise as installed, and this model ran very close to its super-quiet Energy Label claim of 44dB. While it did run a few decibels over that with pots and pans making water-splash noise louder, day-to-day washing was comfortable sub 45dB – which is very quiet indeed.

The long-term test also gave us a good idea of its ease of use and loading, with this dishwasher quickly becoming a favourite. The three-height upper basket was an immediate winner, as were the flexible rubber holders in the cutlery tray that comfortably held the office’s eclectic mishmash of cutlery styles. We’d have perhaps preferred both rows of plate racks to fold flat in the lower basket, as opposed to just the rear one, but it didn’t stop us loading up with full-size baking trays either way.

Throughout the test, the SMV68MD00G never disappointed in performance terms. The entire team agreed that its general washing and drying abilities were pretty much faultless. Even on the standard Eco programme it cleaned exceptionally with simple three-way detergent tablets, and better still with salt, rinse aid and detergent tabs in their separate compartments. The inside of coffee cups were reverted to their original white colouring, glasses had a real sparkle, and the exceptional Zeolite-based drying meant no tea-towel required.

We added two tough stain tests to one load, comprising cheesy-scrambled egg microwaved onto a Pyrex bowl and porridge oats with whey protein powder. Both were left 24 hours for the egg to bind properly to the glass and the porridge remnants to turn into organic cement. We ran a standard Eco cycle with both bowls in the lower rack, using separate detergent, rinse aid and salt.

Cleaning results were outstanding: both bowls were spotless. It’s extremely rare to get a 100% clean on the scrambled egg test in particular, putting this Bosch among the top half-dozen dishwashers we’ve ever tested – and a clear leader across integrated models. Since the results seemed unusually good, we repeated the test the following day with exactly the same results.

Oats test: Dirty bowl (left) vs Clean bowl (right) – move slider to compare

Egg test: Dirty bowl (left) vs Clean bowl (right) – move slider to compare

To really test the drying performance, we ran the Glass cycle with an all-glass load from cut-glass crystal to bowl wine glasses. The machine’s Glass cycle regulates water hardness specific to this programme to ensure a gentle wash on glassware. Cleaning greasy fingerprints and red-wine stains with ease, the load emerged from the machine with a glossy sparkle and free of streaks. One cup that ended up perfectly flat on the upper basket did have a very small pool of water in its concave base, but that was the only requirement for a tea towel before they went straight into the cupboard.

Using just 0.7 to 0.8kWh, and less than 8 litres of water for a default Eco wash, puts this machine comfortably in the upper echelons of Eco dishwashing. If you did 280 full loads on this programme throughout the course of a year then it would use around 210kWh and 2050 litres of water, based on our tests. That would cost around £31.50 in electricity (@15p/kWh) and £7.20 in metered water (@£3/50 per cubic meter, supply and waste).

Operationally, too, this Bosch is a slick performer with clear controls, obvious options and a very crisp floor-projection light indicating remaining cycle time. With the kitchen only lit by ambient LED lighting, the lack of interior light did make the internals rather gloomy – but that wasn’t a major issue when the main kitchen lights were switched on.

If it seems we’re being rather harsh on the Bosch for its lack of interior lighting, it’s largely because we really are stuck for anything else to criticise. It is otherwise a perfect integrated dishwasher.

Should you buy the Bosch PerfectDry SMV68MD00G?

The Bosch PerfectDry SMV68MD00G integrated dishwasher looked good initially and continued to impress us more with extended use. Its day-to-day operation is faultless, and the logical controls become second nature very quickly. The innovative Zeolith drying is inspired, the variable hardness Glass programme will keep your glasses looking good for longer, and the DosageAssist system that drops your washer tablet into the upper basket handle is odd but clearly effective.

With superb cleaning and drying results with both day-to-day and tougher jobs, easy loading and genuinely useful features and programmes, this Bosch has plenty to salute – even if the lack of interior light is a hiccup at this price.

Add into the mix its very quiet operation, great TimeLight floor projector and ridiculously low running costs, and this Bosch goes a very long way to justifying its not-inconsiderable asking price. It’s simply the best integrated dishwasher we’ve tested.

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