Samsung StormWash Dishwasher Review: Three Years With a Solid Mid-Range Workhorse

Let me get something out of the way up front: the Samsung StormWash is a good dishwasher. I ran one every single day for three years, it never broke, never leaked, and never left me re-washing a load by hand. If this review ended right here, the takeaway would be simple — you can buy this thing and be happy with it.

But there's a second chapter to this story. When we moved into the new house, I stepped up to a Bosch, and I have not looked back once. That doesn't make the Samsung bad — it makes it a solid mid-range dishwasher that gets you 90% of the way there for a lot less money. The interesting part is what lives in that last 10%. Let's get into all of it.

How I Tested This

This is not a spec-sheet writeup. The StormWash — specifically the DW80R5061US, the 48 dBA top-control model — was the dishwasher in my previous house, and it ran essentially every day for three years. Family dinners, holiday marathons, post-party disaster loads, baked-on casserole dishes I should have soaked first. It saw everything a real kitchen throws at an appliance.

And because I now live with a Bosch doing the exact same job in the new house, I can compare the two from daily experience rather than marketing copy. Where the Samsung holds its own, I'll say so. Where the Bosch pulls away, I'll say that too.

Design & Build

The StormWash is a standard 24-inch built-in with a fingerprint-resistant stainless front and a top-control layout — all the buttons live on the upper lip of the door, so when it's closed you see nothing but a clean steel face and the long curved bar handle. It's a handsome, minimal look that blended into my kitchen without announcing itself, and the "fingerprint-resistant" claim mostly held up, even with kids' hands on it daily.

The door action is sturdy, the tub is stainless, and after three years of heat, steam, and detergent, nothing inside had rusted, warped, or yellowed. Build quality was better than I expected at this price — this is the part of the review where I remind you that my previous experience with budget dishwashers involved a lot of mystery rattles. The Samsung never developed one.

Two line items from the spec sheet — StormWash and the AutoRelease door — are the headline features, so let's talk about what they actually do in practice.

Cleaning Performance: StormWash Earns Its Name

The signature feature is the StormWash option: a set of rotating spray jets in the back corner of the tub that blast concentrated water at whatever you park in front of them. This is where you put the lasagna pan, the crusted skillet, the mixing bowl with cement-grade pancake batter. Press the Storm Wash button, aim the worst offender at that corner, and it comes out clean. Not "clean-ish." Clean.

Day to day, the Normal cycle handled everything a reasonable household produces. Glasses came out spot-free once I kept the rinse aid topped up, silverware sparkled, and plates never needed a second pass. In three years I can count the true failures on one hand, and every one of them was my fault for blocking a spray arm with a sheet pan.

Pro tip from experience: Keep the rinse aid reservoir full. It's the single biggest lever on both drying and water spots with this machine, and the dispenser holds enough that you only refill it every month or so. The little indicator window makes it easy to check — actually look at it once in a while, unlike me in year one.

Cycles & Controls

The cycle list covers everything without drowning you in options: Auto, Normal, Heavy, Delicate, Express 60, and Rinse Only. In practice I lived on three of them — Normal for daily loads, Heavy with StormWash for the ugly stuff, and Express 60 when we needed the load done inside an hour. Express 60 is a useful cycle, not a gimmick; it won't dry as thoroughly, but for a lightly soiled load before company arrives, it saved me repeatedly.

The options row adds Hi-Temp Wash, Sanitize (great for baby bottles and cutting boards), a Lower Rack mode that focuses the wash below when you've only got a half load of pots, and Delay Start for running the load overnight on cheaper electricity.

Everything is a clearly labeled physical button. No touchscreen, no app, no Wi-Fi setup ritual — you press Power, pick a cycle, hit Start, and close the door. Coming from someone who reviews a lot of smart-home gear, I mean this as a sincere compliment: a dishwasher is exactly the kind of appliance where dumb-and-reliable beats smart-and-fussy.

The blue LED Time Left display is a small touch I ended up loving. A glance tells you exactly how long until the load is done, and indicator lights step through Wash, Rinse, and Dry as the cycle progresses. One thing to notice in that photo: yes, that says 2 hours and 50 minutes. Modern efficient dishwashers run long cycles, and the Samsung is no exception — Normal routinely landed in the two-and-a-half to three-hour range. It's quiet enough that it never mattered, but if you're coming from an older machine, the cycle times take adjusting to.

Racks & Loading

Capacity is rated at 15 place settings across three racks, and it swallowed everything our kitchen produced. The third rack up top is the flat, shallow kind meant for cooking utensils, spatulas, and lids — once you get used to laying long utensils flat up there, the standard silverware basket stops overflowing and the whole lower rack opens up.

The middle rack height adjusts to clear tall stemware or make room for stock pots below, and fold-down tines in the lower rack let you flatten a section for sheet pans and mixing bowls. None of this is revolutionary, but it's all executed well. My only gripe: the rack glide is fine, not luxurious. Fully loaded, the lower rack rolls out with a bit of a clatter — which foreshadows the Bosch section nicely.

Drying & the AutoRelease Door

Samsung's answer to the eternal dishwasher drying problem is the AutoRelease door: about 10–15 minutes before the cycle ends, the door automatically pops open a few inches to let steam escape and fresh air circulate. The first time it happens without warning it's mildly startling — after that, you appreciate it. Dishes, glasses, and anything ceramic came out reliably dry.

Plastics are the exception. Tupperware lids and kids' cups still emerged with pooled water in the recesses, because physics is undefeated and plastic doesn't hold enough heat to flash-dry. Every dishwasher at this price has this problem; the AutoRelease door mitigates it, but doesn't eliminate it. Budget ten seconds of towel duty for the plastic drawer and move on with your life.

Noise & Reliability

At 48 dBA, the StormWash is quiet enough that the Time Left display earns its keep — more than once I opened the door mid-cycle because I couldn't tell it was running. From the next room, it's inaudible. This matters more than any spec sheet conveys if your kitchen opens onto your living space.

Reliability was the StormWash's best feature. Three years of daily use: zero service calls, zero leaks, zero error codes, zero drama. The self-cleaning filter needed a rinse every couple of months, and that's the entire maintenance story. For an appliance category where horror stories are easy to find, that track record counts for a lot.

Then I Moved — and Bought a Bosch

Here's the part that complicates the story. When we bought the new house, I used the fresh start as an excuse to step up to a Bosch 800 Series — the dishwasher every review site (this one now included) tells you to buy — and the difference was immediate.

The Bosch is quieter in a way that's almost eerie; you verify it's running by looking for the light projected on the floor. The racks glide like drawer slides in expensive furniture. And CrystalDry solved the plastic-drying problem the Samsung could only shrug at — Tupperware actually comes out dry, which I didn't believe until I saw it. Once you've lived with that, the StormWash's rough rack glide and damp plastics stop being "totally acceptable" and start being things you notice.

But — and this matters — the Bosch cost roughly twice what the Samsung did. The StormWash delivers most of the experience for half the money, and there wasn't a single day in three years where it failed at its actual job of producing clean dishes. The Bosch is the better dishwasher. The Samsung might be the better purchase, depending on your budget.

Final Verdict

The Samsung StormWash is what a mid-range appliance should be: quietly competent, reliable, and free of gimmicks that break. For three years it cleaned everything we threw at it and asked for nothing but rinse aid in return. If your budget lives in the $500–$700 range, buy it with confidence — you're getting a machine that does its job well and keeps doing it.

If your budget stretches further, buy the Bosch. I did, and I never looked back. But I say that with genuine respect for the dishwasher that made the previous house run — the StormWash never once let me down, and that's the highest compliment you can pay an appliance you interact with every single day.

Where to Buy

The StormWash line is widely available — Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, and Amazon all carry it, and it goes on sale constantly around the big appliance holidays (Memorial Day, July 4th, Black Friday). I'd never pay full MSRP for it; a little patience routinely knocks $100–$150 off the price.

And if you're outfitting the rest of the kitchen while you're at it, the dishwasher is the workhorse — the espresso machine is the fun part. My guide to the best home espresso machines covers what's actually worth the counter space.