Hacker News Reader

Comment by Avamander | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately unavoidable unless you take the cheapest model and miss out on a lot of features you might otherwise like.

View on HN

I have a pretty high end LG washer/dryer combo that I purchased when I bought my current house (10 years old now, knock on wood; just been a workhorse). It has a steam cycle that has been used maaaaybe 3 times in that period? Of course, it doesn't work quite as well as just ironing...

I inherited an old Maytag dishwasher with the same house that I never got around to replacing. It has like 5-10 cycles...and we only ever use the 1. I have variously thought about replacing it because it is like car engine loud, but it runs a fast cycle and does a decent job and has been bulletproof so far.

Honestly, a lot of these added features feel like weird gimmicks nowadays created by product and marketing teams to differentiate to the consumer shopping based on feature lists and not necessarily to actually add value.

Who's making the workhorse stuff nowadays?

I always think that if you have a very expensive dress you're better of bringing it to a professional dry cleaner service anyway.

Dry cleaning is sometimes needed but water is an amazing cleaner and no chemical solution can come close. Use cold water whenever possible and dry clean only if water can't be used.

My current dishwasher - purchased last year - doesn't require any internet connectivity for any of its features. I don't think it even has the option to connect.

(Although it does have the shitty capacitative buttons that I can never tell whether I've pushed or not.)

The design of dishwashers has been fundamentally the same since their invention. The only real differentiating feature is having a sanitize setting but even cheap dishwashers have that these days.

Dishwashers are actually a bit backwards. The cheapest models have one of the most important features (a heating element for drying), and all the more expensive ones leave it out (for Energy Star) and then screw around with various half measures to try and compensate.

Due to this, trying to read reddit recommendations for dishwashers is horrible. People will wax on about how so and so is the best one they've ever owned, then only if you probe a bit it turns out they're using "rinse aid", hand drying half their dishes, running frequent cleaning cycles to get the musty smell out, etc.

I just got a Miele dishwasher recently, not cheap whatsoever, and there's no wifi or app or anything at all.

> miss out on a lot of features you might otherwise like.

More like ... will never actually need.

Well, it's a matter of debate what is actually "needed." I personally like notifications if it runs out of detergent or someone less savy has loaded the machine and I can choose the correct settings away from home.

Sounds like you end up missing out on a lot of features either way.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com