15 April 2009

Dishwashers and more from Blomberg

[Do NOT buy anything made under this brand name. Ignore every kind thing I've ever said about Blomberg. I apologize if I mislead anyone. Events and things I've learned since this post appeared originally have brought about a complete change of heart for me regarding Blomberg and their US distributor. --Paul 2/21/10]


Blomberg DW36100 Fully Integrated Dishwasher with 5 Wash Levels, 6 Programs, 5 Wash Temps, 3-Way Euro Filter System, Delay Start, End of Cycle Chime, 50db Silen


Over the last couple of weeks, I've been made aware a dishwasher brand I know nothing about and that brand is Blomberg. I hate not knowing what something is, so I set out to find out.





Blomberg DWT35200 Fully Integrated Dishwasher with 5 Wash Levels, 5 Programs, 4 Wash Temps, 3-Way Euro Filter System, Delay Start, End of Cycle Chime and 52db S


Blomberg is new to the US, but they've been a German brand since 1883. Blomberg is owned by Arçelik, the Turkish conglomerate who sell appliances in over 100 countries around the world. What's being sold in North America as Blomberg also answers to the brand names Beko, Leisure, Flavel and Digifusion, depending on the country in question. Folks in the UK seem to be particularly loyal to Beko, and Beko appliances have been top-sellers there for a long time. While Blomberg may be new to the US, the company behind Blomberg has earned its stripes.





Blomberg DW35100 Fully Integrated Dishwasher with 5 Wash Levels, 5 Programs, 4 Wash Temps, 3-Way Euro Filter System, Delay Timer, 52db Silence Rating and ADA He

In the North American market, Blomberg has been introducing its full product line gradually. They started with their dishwashers, then their washing machines and now their refrigerators. Ultimately, they'll be bringing in their cooking appliances and ventilation products.

My quest for information about Blomberg dishwashers led me to a conversation with Bernie von der Lieth, a consultant responsible for Blomberg's introduction to the US market. Von der Lieth provided me with a wealth of information and I now know more about Blomberg dishwashers, refrigerators and washing machines than I ever thought I'd want to know. And here's what I learned.

Blomberg appliances are luxury appliances, comparable to Bosch and Liebherr. Like other luxury brands, Blomberg appliances are feature-packed and highly efficient. The similarities stop there though. A Blomberg dishwasher or refrigerator will cost half what a comparable Bosch or Liebherr appliance would. Go to a website like AJ Madison and do a price and feature comparison yourself.




Blomberg DW14120 Full Console Dishwasher with 5 Wash Levels, 4 Programs, 3 Wash Temps, 3-Way Euro Filter System, 54db Silence Rating and ADA Height: Black

All Blomberg dishwashers have stainless steel interiors and all of them feature an in-line water heating system. Unlike most American dishwashers which have heating elements inside of them. These elements waste energy, make the wash cycles take too long and prevent a dishwasher from attaining an optimal temperature. An in-line heating system has no heating element, instead the water is heated directly as it's piped into the machine. This maintains a water temperature of 165 degrees while using far less energy. No heating element also means that you can place plastic ware in the lower rack. 

Blomberg dishwashers are the quietest on the market due to their unique, three-layer insulation system. Their dishwashers have an on-board water filtration system and some models have a built in water softener. The racks inside are full adjustable and in a tip of the hat to appliance installers everywhere, a Blomberg dishwasher's rear leveling legs are adjustable from the front of the machine. If you've ever wrestled with a dishwasher installation, that's a very welcome feature.





Blomberg BRFB1040 10.6 cu. ft. Counter-Depth Bottom-Freezer with 3 Spill Proof Glass Shelves, 3 Freezer Drawers, HygION Antibacterial and Bottle Holder

Their refrigerators are similarly well-thought-out and equipped. All of their refrigerators' interior surfaces are treated with a process Blomberg calls HygION.  HygION uses silver nitrate (a potent, non-pharmaceutical, anti-microbial substance) to render the interior of a refrigerator an incredibly hostile environment for the wee-beasties that can make you sick. The glass shelves inside are all made from tempered, safety glass; all of their models have a suspended bottle holder, clear vegetable drawers and are highly efficient users of electricity.

My earlier reference to these appliances as feature-packed doesn't do them justice.

Blomberg's timing couldn't be better, they're introducing luxury appliances at a non-luxury price point. In a time of lowered expectations and slashed budgets, these things are a God send. I used to say Ich lieb Liebherr and think I was clever. But that was in a time when people wanted a $6,000 refrigerator "just because." Those days are gone obviously, so I'm changing my tune to Ich Lieb Blomberg. Or maybe I aşk Blomberg (that's Turkish), considering that they're made in Turkey.

19 comments:

  1. love it! I am remodeling my kitchen and chose a blomberg DW after talking to my sales rep and seeing it in the showroom. I felt it was a bit of a gamble because I could find so little information about it online. Thanks for making me excited about my choice!

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  2. That's really good to hear Rachele, Blomberg DWs are the real deal and you made a great choice.

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  3. They do sound lovely and a good line, but here's where Ms. "Once Bitten" starts asking questions:

    No matter how long they've been in other countries and how successful they are, when companies first dip their toes into North America, they focus on the marketing first, and not repair. I understand it, as why put the millions of dollars in without knowing it's going to be a success? They need to get their dealer base up first, before they focus on the rest.

    So when ANY company comes into North America, here are the first things I ask:

    Where can one get parts?

    A very quick online search show me a U.K. website. The main site shows "pending" for dealers and distributors on their North American website.

    Is there a warehouse/repair shop? How many registered repair people ("authorized service agents") are set up in the U.S. and Canada to handle repairs?

    So far they have 5 in the U.S. - 4 of them are in Washington State, one in Oregon.

    There's more in Canada, mostly in B.C. and Alberta with a lone eastern province (Quebec) thrown in.

    Which is great for the West but perhaps not as advantageous for your neck of the woods.

    Don't get me wrong: they look to be a solid company (and Canadians tend to be cautious, so seeing the amount of dealers in the Vancouver area is encouraging), so I imagine Blomberg will eventually come into the mainstream.

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  4. You really do your homework lady! I forwarded your comment to my contact at Blomberg, Kelly. I've asked them to reply to you either here, or to you directly, or both. Stay tuned!

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  5. This is good news all around as I find 'a little competition is good for the soul'. Foreign or not, I do wish them success. Thank you Paul for the enlightening post.
    WISHING YOU A DELIGHTFUL EVENING! -Brenda-

    P.S: If you happen to be viewing your sidebar, I am not reading three postings at one time; nor am I lurking or stalking you. It is just that I have you bookmarked and that particular post comes up, so then I browse for your most recent.

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  6. Brenda, I'm just happy you're here. Linger as long as you'd like and I won't protest a bit.

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  7. Kelly,

    I just heard form my Blomberg guy and here's what he said in response to your comment:

    Hi Paul:  Every Distributor I set up has to carry parts and they help in setting up Independent Service Agents who are trained by our own Service Manager. Our Service Manager is in Phoenix and he trains all of the Independent Service people. Wherever we have set up Distributors so fa,r we have Service and Parts available.  However not every Distributor wants all the Service Dealers revealed, so a customer is usually directed to the Distributor by the selling Dealer, because as you well know not every complaint needs a Service call.  Q:  my dishes are not getting dry! A: Why?  Did you use Rinse Aid as instructed in the Manual? NO, well that may be the problem right there. Please try it Mr. Jones and call us back if the dishes are still not dry.    And I could go on.  Also, No Distributor wants to take on a line of Products if there is no Service or Parts availability."

    And there you have it.

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  8. Perfect, even if he didn't answer if he had any East Coast folks set in place yet. *cheeky grin*

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  9. You're a hard, hard woman Kelly. That's also why I like you so much. He does have some East Coasters in place, and there will be more to come. However, Blomberg won't abandon anybody with a service problem as they develop their distribution network. They are in it for the long haul.

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  10. *laughing* I figure they'll do very well -- they're a pretty solid company and it isn't easy easing into a new market.

    Sorry for putting you on the spot. You're a good sport, my friend. :D

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  11. Oh you're fine Kelly. You raised a really valid point and I wanted to hear the response as much as you did. The guy who's bringing them into the US is who set up Bosch's network, so I trust him to do this correctly. Now if it were someone who'd been involved with Asko I wouldn't be so trusting...

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  12. What are the reasons that you are retracting your glowing raves about Blomberg, in your original report? I am concerned because I just made a purchase soon to be delivered.

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  13. Blomberg gave away a dishwasher in a contest on this site. I selected a winner, turned over the winner's name and contact info to them and they said they'd take care of it. Then nothing. Three months later I contacted them again. They swore they'd get right on it. Then nothing. At six months, nothing. At nine months, nothing. They have never so much as acknowledged any of this other than to lie to me to get me to stay quiet. The whole thing reeks of sleaze. It reeks.

    I gave them an enormous amount of publicity and they not only reneged on their side of it, they won't even take my calls anymore. I don't know much about their appliances, but any company who behaves this way is not someone I want to do business with.

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  14. I purchased a Blomberg 14110 a few years ago. At that time I did a bit of research, the dishwasher had good reviews. Just after installing the dishwasher, I was teasing my brother-in-law about their noisy $1200.00 dishwasher.

    This week the dishwasher was making and odd noise. (I thought this was karma finally returning for revenge).

    I have a technical background, so I decided to pull the dishwasher out and try to determine what part I will have to replace.

    It took me a few minutes to develop my plan of attack. I was able to remove the bottom pan by removing 4 screws to expose the mechanical components.

    I isolated the noise to the waste pump.

    With closer inspection I was able to remove the bottom part of the waste pump assembly by simply depressing the locking tab and twisting the assembly. I found some dental floss wrapped around the propeller. Removed the floss, reassembled the dishwasher without any issues.

    I was rather impressed with the overall mechanical design. There were features in this dishwasher that I was not even aware of, for instance the float valve that will trigger if the bottom pan fills with water. What a great idea!!! Never seen that in a dishwasher before!

    Well done Blomberg!!!!!

    Karma will have to wait for me another day.

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  15. Just try to get ahold of someone locally here in Vancouver! I purchased a Blomberg dishwasher, and was VERY glad I also purchased the stores extended warranty, as its been repaired three times, and now is getting fully replaced.

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  16. Piece of Junk. Started making noise in year 1, quietly and intermittently, so did not report it. Now in year 3 it sounds like grinding bearings every time we run it. Of course, warranty is expired, and so no support. Very dissapointed. I could have bought a less 'prestigious' domestic brand with a five year extended warranty at half the price.
    - an unhappy purchasor in Canada

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  17. I thought I'd share my experience in the hopes that this is useful to someone who has a Blomberg dishwasher. Mine started making a whining, trumpet-like noise about 1.5 years after purchase. It got worse with time. Also, the cleaning performance wasn't nearly as good as it had been initially. I had a repair person come out eventually who told me (for $150) that I'd be using too much detergent. He told me that high efficiency machines like the Blomberg require a very small amount of detergent, and often people use too much and it cakes on the water pump and causes noises to occur. He told me I just needed to run the machine without any detergent a few times. That didn't work so well, but I also bought some dishwasher cleaner (Finish Jet Dry is the one I use but there are others). I use this once a month. The noise has completely gone away and the cleaning performance is very good again.

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  18. Bought a Blomberg in July 2012. It has never worked, ever ! Not washed a single dish ! The serviceman said it needs a new "motherboard", which basically means the whole machine is defective. The part is "on back order" and is not expected to arrive until at least October 2012. That's 3 months without the machine working at all !
    Blomberg will not approve a replacement machine. Seriously ? That is just unbelievable.
    Bottom line: DO NOT BUY A BLOMBERG !

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  19. i purchased a Blomberg dishwasher in 2008 and it worked great for teh first 2 years. however since then I've replaced float level switch and pump. which cost close to the original purchase price of teh whole machine.
    The front handle is now cracked which requires complete front panel replacement and the pump is going again.

    DO NOT BUY A BLOMBERG !!!!!

    Poor quality parts and expensive to fix

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