Dishwashers were invented in 1886 but did not really hit the commercial US market until the 1950s and were certainly considered a luxury kitchen appliance. Dishwashers are simple to use as the machine simply adds water, heats it, automatically opens the detergent compartment, distributes the water through a spray arm that cleans the dishes, drains out the dirty water, rinses the dishes, drains the water again, and can produce heat to dry the dishes if that setting is used. As far as overall reliability, Bosch and Whirlpool are the top contenders in this category.