Haier I-Pro Shine Series 6 review: What it's like to live with a seriously clever dishwasher

When I moved in to my new house the previous owner had left a dishwasher installed in the kitchen. I worked out it was nearly 20 years old, and it was long overdue an upgrade.

The dishwasher in my old house was also a bit tired, and my wife and I had often looked at upgrading it, because we use the dishwasher all the time.

You can imagine how keen I was, then to take the nice people at Haier up on an offer to test out a new high-end smart dishwasher - to see how far the technology has come.

You might think there isn't a lot more that a dishwasher can do beyond washing dishes - but you'd probably be quite amazed at the features you get in a modern, top-of-the-range machine.

For several weeks now, I've been living with the I-Pro Shine Series 6, one of Haier's smart appliances, and it's fair to say my wife and I have put it though the coals.

In fact, during the last weekend alone, we ran it six times, to keep up with a backlog from a small house party.

The I-Pro Shine Series 6 was pretty much made for this onslaught, though. It has a 14-place-setting capacity with Wi-Fi connectivity, automatic programmes, and a light-based hygiene system called Biovitae.

It has an automatic door-opening system, it projects a countdown on to the floor, and of course it connects to an app. It can even scan the contents you've burdened it with and tweak its cycle to get its washing process exactly right.

All this tech, obviously, comes at a price. It's £799. But there is a Black Friday deal on right now, which means you can get one for £649, and if you have a Blue Light card you'll save an additional £64.90.

Yes, I know you can get a dishwasher for a couple of hundred pounds and, yes, the old one we've replaced did still clean dishes, but that's what makes this test important. Is it worth upgrading to a fancy dishwasher and investing in smart tech? I was itching to find out.

What I liked about the Haier I-Pro Shine Series 6

Straight off the bat, the I-Pro Shine Series 6 has some wow factor. You open the door, turn it on using the slim touch panel, and a blue light illuminates the inside. It's not entirely necessary, but it does look rather spectacular and has attracted plenty of admiring glances from guests.

Then there's the process of loading it. Every chamber, slat, nook, cranny, bracket, and groove has been well thought out. Fitting 14 place settings into a standard size can't be easy for designers, but it is possible.

We have some big pans, some huge serving implements, big knives, and some awkwardly-shaped glasses and mugs, but they've all found a home quite easily. The inside is cavernous.

And then there's the process of getting it started. You could, if you wanted to, pick one of the preset programmes. At least two of them use an AI system to work out what your load needs and how dirty it is, and makes necessary adjustments, or you can freestyle it and pick your own time and temperature preset.

Or, if you wanted to, you could go into the accompanying app, and pick one of 38 programs, some of which are incredibly quick, some of which are designed for delicate crockery, and some that can either polish off a load in 20 minutes, or in complete silence.

There's even a mode that lets you sanitise dishes and even personal items such as glasses and keys. It's all done using UV-free LED and it's less scary than it sounds.

Most of these programs have a half-load setting, so you can wash little and often if that floats your boat, and most have an "extra dry" option, which is great for Tupperware.

If this all sounds a bit bewildering, I guess it is. But there's a clever feature on the app that can pick a program for you from a photograph. You'll also find a dish-placing tool, and a "guided wash". It's all quite remarkable.

Of course, it has other features such as an adjustable basket, a cutlery drawer, and it'll tell you with a notification when the filter needs cleaning, or when the rinse aid or salt is running low.

This isn't just a dishwasher, then, it's pretty much a personal assistant.

What I didn’t like about the Haier I-Pro Shine Series 6

It might have a bewildering number of settings, but if you're like me you'll probably just use one of the two core AI functions and just leave it to its own devices. The only issue is, they both take a while. One is around three hours, depending on the load, and the other is nearly four most of the time.

There are ways to shorten a full load, but the shortest time I've got it down to is one hour an 44 seconds, which is a long wait for your favourite spatula. Having said that, in most programs, quite a chunk of the time is allotted to a drying phase, and the door is open, so if you need a wine glass in a hurry (we've all been there), you can sneak one out.

The really short settings are for half loads, and they need to be pretty clean. That said, it's remarkable just what these will manage.

As you might have guessed, a lot of the app functions feel quite gimmicky, over time. I soon got bored of taking a photo of my load before each wash, for example, and I haven't used the layout guide much because I'm a man and instructions make me itch.

I like the idea of a cutlery drawer, but in practice, it's a bit of a faff. Laying out each knife, fork, and spoon is quite time consuming and, if I'm honest, I've just commandeered the basket from my old dishwasher, plonked it in the bottom tray, and I just pile all the cutlery in now.

This might be a personal gripe, and the cutlery drawer is still used daily for bigger things like tongs, spatulas, and ladles, but I quickly got bored of finding the perfect slot for a handful of teaspoons.

Overall verdict: Should you buy a Haier I-Pro Shine Series 6?

This is an entirely personal decision. Should you soldier on with your tired, old dishwasher and, if it does die, should you shell out for the best in the business?

I've now lived with both, and the value of going for what is widely considered to be one of the best dishwashers on the market is quite obvious.

The feature list on this machine is absolutely incredible. Sure, some breach into the "gimmick" category, but far fewer than you'd think. The vast majority are genuinely useful, and they make the kitchen chore I seem to spend most of my time labouring over so much easier.

The obvious downside is the forbidden fruit aspect. I've now been treated to a short glimpse of just how amazing dishwasher tech can be, and if I ever have to go back to a basic dishwasher, I'm fully aware it'll probably do a decent job of washing my dishes, but I'm not sure I can live without the fancy blue light, an app to walk me through it, and I definitely don't want to live without a cycle projector on the floor again.

Yes, £649 is a lot of money for a dishwasher, but you'd be surprised what I'd be prepared to sell for the privilege of owning one like this. It's absolutely terrific.