— Recommendations are independently chosen by Revieweds editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission.Bosch is a top name in dishwashers for a reason. Bosch dishwashers combine great-looking design, luxury extras, and exceptional performance. The 500 Series SHPM65Z55N reinforces that reputation, offering a scaled-down version of 2019s 800 Series at a lower price point. Its still not cheap, but it showcases excellent cleaning capabilities, quiet operation, flexible storage, and the ability to dry your dishes via its AutoAir system, which pops the door after each cycle to allow for better circulation.
The Bosch 500 Series SHPM65Z55N is a great addition to Bosch's dishwasher line-up. On the wash cycles we ran, we encountered no problems as dishes came out spotless (or nearly spotless). Each rack has tines that can flip down, the middle rack has wine glass holders and can be reoriented vertically, and the outer edges of the third rack can be lowered to better fit larger bowls. On top of it all, this dishwasher is whisper-quiet, running at about the same decibel level as the ambient noise in a library.
About the Bosch 500 Series SHPM65Z55N Dishwasher
Each of the three racks features adjustable tines, to help large or bulky items slot in more easily.
Dimensions: 33.88'' x 23.57' x 23.75'' (H x W x D)
Capacity: Up to 16 place settings
Finish: Stainless steel
Five wash cycles: Heavy, Auto, Normal, Speed60, and Rinse
Cycle features: Delay, SpeedPerfect (increases energy consumption for a faster cycle), Half Load, Delicate, Sanitize, AutoAir (automatically opens the door at the end of the cycle to let dishes dry), ExtraScrub (increases water temperature and pressure in the lower rack)
Flexible third rack: The sides of the third rack can fold down slightly, to better accommodate larger items, like deep bowls.
EasyGlide: This rack system creates a more smoothly-sliding upper rack, facilitating easier loading and unloading.
FlexSpace: All three racks have adjustable tines that can fold down to make room for bulky objects.
RackMatic middle rack: The middle rack can adjust to three different heights and up to nine separate rack positions, allowing taller items like stemware to fit in the middle rack while leaving room for pots and pans below.
Quiet operation: The Bosch SHPM65Z55N runs at 44dBAabout as loud as the ambient noise in a library.
What we like
The pureed spinach approximates a viscous sauce and because it's so particulate it helps us check the efficacy of the dishwasher's filter.
Normal and Heavy cycles remove food well
When we were testing its Normal and Heavy cycles, the Bosch SHPM65Z55N handled just about every dirty plate we threw at it. The Normal cycle blasted through meat, egg, milk, and oat remnants, only stumbling slightly on our notoriously difficult spinach test. The pured spinach is a nightmare for dishwashers because the fine particles dont always get filtered out of the grey water, instead ending up redeposited on your dishes. In this case, however, we saw no signs of redeposit, only minor bits still stuck to the dishes. Likewise, the Heavy cycle erased just about all the stains it encountered, including cheese, lasagna, meat, egg, burned-on sugar, milk, oats, and even the dreaded spinach.
Racks are highly customizable
The middle rack has stemware holders to keep your wine glasses safe during wash cycles.
Typical dishwasher racks arent really anything special, mostly latticework and tines. But the Bosch SHPM65Z55N crams a ton of extra usability into its three racks. For starters, all three racks have adjustable tines, which can be folded down to better allow for bulky items, like pots or large ceramics. The middle rack can also be adjusted vertically to accommodate bulky or oddly shaped items, and it has wine stem holders for your glassware.
The edges of the third rack can slide downwards, creating a larger divot for bowls.
The third rack has an interesting design where the bottom edges of its sides can be lowered down to help make space for deeper bowls. Typically third racks are pretty shallow, and those with adjustable sections can make space for ladles, ramekins, or small and shallow bowls. This Boschs third rack and its bowing edges can make room for significantly larger bowls, incorporating all of the rack innovations in the dishwasher space and adding even more functionality.
Dries dishes well
One of the most common complaints among dishwasher owners is that dishesespecially plasticwareis still wet enough after a cleaning to require towel-drying before they can be put away. Thats not the case with the Bosch SHPM65Z55Ns Normal cycle, where we found 87% of dishes were bone dry upon completion, and the remaining 13% were mostly dry. This is thanks to the Bosch using very hot water during the last rinse in conjunction with its AutoAir system, which pops open the door after a cycle to allow water vapor to dissipate much more easily.
What we dont like
Uses a lot of water and energy
While it might get your dishes clean, the Bosch SHPM65Z55N isnt quite as energy-efficient as other dishwashers weve tested. According to our measurements, the average dishwasher uses about 152 kWH over the course of a year. We measured the SHPM65Z55N at a little over 204 kWH, which is roughly an extra $6.86 per year. So its more than average, but not by much. Its a bit more wasteful with water, using an average of 1,138 gallons per year, or about twice what the average dishwasher uses. Again, however, this doesnt boil down to a particularly big hit to the walletits only about 75 cents per yearbut if you're looking to reduce your households footprint, there are more efficient options out there.
What owners are saying
The Bosch 500 Series SHPM65Z55N dishwasher has a robust third rack with significantly higher clearance than is typical.
The overwhelming majority of owners love their Bosch 500 Series SHPM65Z55N, which has a 4.7-star rating out of 5 across major retailers. Owners praise its cleaning efficacy, its looks, its high capacity, and its quiet operation.
A few users have complained about dishes not getting 100% clean or dry, both issues we saw to very minor degrees in our testing. On certain cycles we did see instances of specks left on dishes with particularly difficult stains. While the majority of dishes in our test cycles came out bone dry (or pretty close), the SHPM65Z55N seemed to have difficulty completely drying certain styles of cups or plasticware that were able to pool water.
Warranty
The Bosch SHPM65Z55N comes with a limited one-year warranty, which includes parts and labor. Parts for the circuitry and racks are covered for five years. The stainless steel interior is covered by a lifetime warranty. Typically we only see a standard one-year warranty, so were very pleased Bosch stands by its products to this degree.
Should you buy the Bosch SHPM65Z55N dishwasher?
Yes. The Bosch SHPM65Z55N is an exemplary combination of pleasing design, performance, and price. This dishwasher checks all our boxes in terms of cleaning ability and usability and has enough extra design considerations to get bonus points. Our complaints are all fairly minor. The SHPM65Z55N is a top-10 dishwasher and further proof that Bosch is the brand to beat in this product space.
If you dont mind spending a bit more to get a boost in cleaning performance and features, wed recommend checking out Boschs 800 Series, which is currently our top-rated dishwasher.