Sonett Dishwasher Detergent Tabs
Review Score
Ewg Rated	NA
Ingredients	Sodium Citrate Sodium Carbonate Sodium Percarbonate Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate Carboxymethyl Inulin Sodium Metasilicate Sodium Bicarbonate Sulfated Castor Oil Coco Glucoside Sodium Gluconate Potassium Soap
The company are superb and the ingredients are plant based, cruelty free, sustainable and biodegradable. Unfortunately, the results aren't as good as the packaging. The dreaded dishwasher spots were in abundance, and try as we might, we couldn't find a sweet spot with these. If the company could produce tablets that actually clean, we'd be recommending these to the world.

Sonett Dishwasher Detergent Tabs are made by a German-based company who prides itself in being both ecologically and consumer friendly. The origin of Sonett cleaning products was born in the 60’s and eventually developed into a company in 1977.

After visiting the company’s website, a part of me felt like by buying this product, I was actually becoming a part of a movement, or religion, or something else greater than myself. With statements like, “Our corporate philosophy and quality concept is based on anthroposophic spiritual science.” (I had to look that one up, and it basically means that they believe that objectives can be achieved in an intellectually comprehensible spiritual world through humans’ self-determination.)

Deep, huh? So, in a nutshell, this company cares A LOT about the earth’s longevity, and that’s good! I was also delighted to find out that this small company of 50 employees, supplies jobs and charitable contributions to a nearby institution for disabled grown-ups, Lehenhof. So, before you read on, I must say that this company’s platform touched my heart and mind.

We’ve actually reviewed one of their products previously, their laundry liquid, and we were mightily impressed.   So I had really high hopes for these dishwasher tablets.

Okay, so what about the product?

The package arrived and looked professional.  Plain and simple.

I might note that the backside was a bit hard to read. The font was small due to the fact that they had to make room for 5 other languages.

This company is definitely prepared to hit the global market in order to make the world a better place. Nevertheless, I am getting older, and I had to pull out the old reading glasses to take a closer look.

Does it pass the test?

I had researched this product before I ever put it to use, so I was really hoping that it would pass with flying colors.

Unfortunately, it did not. My first go at it, I tried one tab in my stainless steel dishwasher. Here is a look at my first round of results:

This glass vase was probably the best results I found. It’s a very thick glass. Very few spots, and not filmy residue. I think if this were the only thing you were washing along with pyrex-like cookware and porcelain plates and bowls, you’d be alright.

The baby bottles and other clear plastics were a bit spottier.

The same results were found with silverware and dark colored dishes. A few spots, not film.

I must mention that there is a bit of calcium in the water where I live. We have an RO system, as well as a softener and ionizer. I am an anti-plastic bottler user gal, and we have these systems in place so we can always drink from the tap. I cut this detergent some slack because of these factors, but I thought I’d give it another try coupled with a citric acid additive that I normally use with my other detergent. The dishes came out looking virtually the same as before, whereas they would be completely spotless with my other soap.

Nevertheless, I was ready for round three. This time, I thought I might try two tabs and see if that did the trick. ***Spoiler: NEVER use two tabs. I took my dishes out and found that a sticky, honey-like residue was on all the dishes. The clear plastics were milky, and my silverware was covered in spots.

Bummer.

Look at these two plastic cups. The one on the left was cleaned with the first load, and the right one was cleaned with the third.

Yikes!

I wasn’t ready to give up just yet… mainly because I needed clean, non-sticky dishes. I tried the two tab combo again, but I added my little Lemi Shine friend.

Unfortunately, the results were the same.

So what’s inside these tablets?

Almost all of the ingredients are plant-based and biodegradable.  The website goes to great lengths in explaining each ingredient’s purpose in layman’s terms.

“The main active ingredients of the Sonett Tablets for Dishwashers are sodium carbonate, silicates and sulfated castor oil. They make food left-overs swell, emulsify and dissolve fat. Bleaching oxygen (sodium percarbonate) serves for removing tea and coffee residues from glasses and cups.

Citrate, sodium gluconate, carboxymethyl inulin and tetrasodium glutamate diacetate effectively bind hard water residue in dishwashing water. The ingredients are completely biodegradable as it is the case with all other Sonett products. Important note: Adjust the built-in water softener in your dishwasher to be 8 °dH (German degrees) above your local water hardness.”
Sonett Dishwasher Detergent

I still couldn’t figure out why all my dishes had a honey-like residue when I used two tabs. I re-examined the ingredients list and decided it might be one of two possible culprits; Sugar surfactant & Balsamic additives.

After doing a little research, I struck out twice. I had one more idea, Silicates.

After a little research, I’d come to the conclusion that it was the silicates that were at least partially responsible for the residue.

As for the second part of the ingredient explanation about binding hard water residue, I saw no evidence.

In Conclusion

I could get behind and will get behind Sonett as a company. I feel that it is extremely important to take care of our water supply. After all, we only have one supply!

Limiting a home’s output of harmful chemicals is a good thing.

However, it is also a good thing to have clean dishes to eat from. I feel that while Sonett dishwasher tablets failed in several areas, they did a good job on a portion of my dishes. I definitely will not be throwing them out. I will just have to use them only when washing my tableware, pots, and pans.