Review: Maximus 003 Tabletop Dishwasher
Before anything else, I just want to make clear that this is not a sponsored review. I bought this dishwasher with my own money.
And it happened. The one thing that I told myself that I would regret. I mentioned in a previous entry that i like doing the dishes and taking care of if because it gives me joy. But things have changed drastically and the work-life integration is something that has affected my way of doing things.
The one thing that I actually liked doing has become a chore. Before, the act of dishwashing was a signal to wind down after a long day, but now, it’s just an action that I have to do before or after a video call. The delineation of work and home has disappeared. And I knew it was getting bad when I started using the disposable utensils that I kept from the food deliveries throughout the years since my cutlery were all in the sink for days.
Frustrated, I started canvassing for a dishwasher. Of course before buying things I always look at it from a from, function, and maintenance perspective.
And after a week or so of looking at almost all the options available in the Philippines, both online and offline, I decided to get the Maximus MAX-003 dishwasher.
And after using it for a month and waiting for the electric bill (which was surprising that there was no significant change), here is my review on it.
Form:
For me, this was the best looking dishwasher out there. And it perfectly fit the aesthetic of my kitchen. The white color with the plastic wood trimming makes it very modern Scandinavian looking.
The size is just right since it could hold 6 place settings. The reason for getting a mid sized one was so that I could run the dishwasher after all my meals in the evening instead of washing it every after meal. I also wanted to occasionally wash my pots and pans and the smaller sized dishwashers could not fit those. I would say that this size is perfect if you are living alone, with someone, or starting a small family.
The tabletop form factor makes it very versatile. You can choose to put it on top of your kitchen counter or have it built-in as long as you can tap a water source nearby. This is one of the reasons I got his too. I needed something that I could use as soon as possible since I could not go through the process of having a renovation just to install a dishwasher. But in the future, when the time and the quarantine restrictions allow, I would want it to get installed in one of my cabinets below my kitchen counter. Something like this picture.
Just pasted an image of the dishwasher to a picture of my current kitchen to see how it will look like.
Function
My favorite function for this dishwasher, of course other than it’s dishwashing, is it’s ability to connect to a standard sized water faucet. The dishwasher comes with all the adaptors for the plug and play quick-connect fittings should you decide to use it with your water faucet. If you’re wondering my water faucet had a standard 3/8 thread. The installation was quick and easy. I just took out the aerator in my faucet and then replaced it with the adaptor. I was able to use the dishwasher in less than 15 mins.
The dishwasher has these 7 Programs: Intensive (3 hours), Normal (2 hours), Eco (3 hours 25 minutes), Glass (1 hour 15 minutes), 90min (1 hour and 30 minutes), Rapid/Quick (30 minutes), Self-Cleaning (1 hour 20 minutes). It has a function for extra drying, after you have selected a function. It does not work for all functions and I haven’t found a need for it yet.
The dishwasher does what it has to do wash and dry the dishes clean. There are some visible droplets remaining after the wash. For the load to completely dry, I just keep the dishwasher door ajar for a while after it runs it’s cycle.
The dishes comes out cleaner than hand-washing. I have never had plates and utensils this squeaky clean through hand-washing. And this is considering that I am very particular about cleaning the dishes. I guess this is because it heats up the water 49-60°C (120-140°F) just enough for it to be optimal for cleaning and not damaging whatever is inside. If a normal human being hand washes at these temperatures it would take a few seconds to get a serious burn that would lead to skin injury.
I was told before that I needed to pre-wash all my dishes with water before putting it in the dishwasher. But all I needed to do was to just take out the food particles, in my case I put it all in my sink for the food grinder to take care of it. Then just load it in the dishwasher - with the sauce and all. I tried it out with thick sauces such as Tteokbokki and various thick oils from food. And surprisingly the dishes came out sparkling. The only reason it wont clean properly is when you don’t load the dishwasher properly. The instruction manuals do a good job in explaining how.
It claims to use only 6.5 liters of water on the eco mode and 8 liters for the normal mode (the eco mode just washes the dishes at 50°C (122°F) and normal mode washes the dishes at 60°C(140°F)). Humans on the other hand average 20-50 liters of water to hand-wash dishes! With this information wanted to know was if it really used less water to wash dishes. So I put it to the test using unscientific methods. I plugged my sink so water won’t drain. This was to see how much water output the dishwasher would make. I suppose the water output is a close estimate of how much water it uses. I used the eco mode for this test.
Then I drained the water, plugged the sink back, and hand-washed two small plates to see how much water it would use. If you want to know I how washed them here were the steps:
I scraped the dishes of food particles;
Wet and soaped the plates; and
Rinsed everything.
And to my surprise, these were the results. A full load in the dishwasher vs. hand-washing 2 small plates had similar water output! Look at the water level in the sink!
For the electricity, (I don’t know truly if my computations and formulas are correct. Please do correct me if ever.) it uses 0.61 kWh for the eco cycle and .7 kWh for the normal cycle. Roughly electricity in the Philippines is averaging at PHP9.00 ($0.18) kWh. A standard cycle runs at 2 hours so that’s 1.22 kWh per run which is equivalent to around PHP10.98 ($0.22) per run. If you include that it might be double or triple price depending on which dishwashing detergent you use. You can’t use the normal dishwashing liquid.
The one that came free with the dishwasher was the Maximus dishwashing tablets. They are pricier than the powdered detergent. They are PHP500.00 ($10) for 30 tablets. So estimated around PHP17.00 ($0.34) per use.
I was curious with alternatives for dishwashing detergents, and there are a lot online. The simplest that I saw was 2 drops of dishwashing liquid and filling it up with baking soda. I tried it out and yes, it works! I will mention it again. Never fill the dishwasher with dishwashing liquid! It will create too much bubbles and make your dishwasher overflow maybe even causing it to malfunction and destroy it in the process.
Honestly I value my time a lot more these days. And spending around PHP28.00 ($0.56) per cycle is more than worth it for me. You have to also take into consideration the cost of the dishwasher itself.
There is also the cost of the dishwasher salt and the dish helper (which came free with the dishwasher) that you have to refill from time to time. I’ll mention these in the next portion of the review.
Maintenance:
Cleaning the dishwasher is pretty straightforward. The outer is easy to clean with a cloth. And the inner can be cleaned through running the cleaning function of the dishwasher (although doesn’t the dishwasher clean itself during the cycle?).
You have to occasionally take the filter out and clean it since food particles and others do get stuck in there. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to do.
But here is what people don’t really mention in reviews or talk about when it comes to dishwashers. This dishwasher has a water softener function, so you have to put dishwashing salt (not regular salt) into the salt container when it runs out. Luckily there is an indicator that tells you exactly when you need to fill it up. For the science behind it, there are magnesium ions and calcium in hard water that creates the limescale buildup and stains in the dishes. The salt helps with removing the magnesium ion’s calcium, making the water “softer”.
Also there is an optional dishwashing aid that you can use if you want your dishes to dry quicker and be sparklier. Honestly I didn’t see much of a difference. And because of that, I don’t think it’s necessary.
Price
I bought mine for PHP 22,999.00 ($460)
Here is their website for reference.
Here is a quick summary!
Form
Is it nice to look at?
Yes.
Function
Does it do what it's supposed to do well without effort?
Yes.
Do the features compliment what it does?
Yes
Do the materials used compliment what it does?
Yes.
Maintenance
Is it easy to maintain?
Yes
Pros for me:
The size, convenience and plug-and-play feature is what makes this dishwasher a no brainer to get. No need to think about making a provision, drilling holes, or installing additional pipes for the water source and drainage. If you have a standard kitchen sink with a faucet, you can use it as soon as you bring it home.
It really does save time and resources.
Cons for me:
You can use most dishwashers as a fruit or vegetable washer, but since all the functions of this dishwasher heats up water, you can’t use it as that. There is no separate function for it too.
Some might still find this size too small.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day, the dishwasher is there to help you take care of your dishes and save you time and effort - and this does exactly that and I am pretty happy about it. I am actually writing this review as my dishwasher is doing it’s job.
Always remember, before wanting to get anything, even if my reviews say that it is the shit. Ask yourself these three questions.
1. Is the price fit for you? (You may want to use the Object Usage Worth formula)
2. Does it complement the look of your other items?
3. Do you have space for it?
As always, thanks for reading!
