Dishwashers

[DeepCleanNeeded]

Are they worth the money/hassle?

We are pretty skint, and we rent, but there is a space in the kitchen next to the washing machine (probably from a dryer, but that means there is plumbing nearby, right?). We could save up for a washing machine if it would stop the towers of washing up sitting there looking at us while we eat. The landlords are nice, so if it is simple I'm sure they won't mind us plumbing it in.

yes

Get a Bosch (or Siemens, they co-own the appliance company) or a Miele if you can afford it.

John Lewis do a 2-year guarantee as standard, and sometimes have clearance or special offers. Their service is very good.

They are easy to plumb in, you might need a "Y" connecter for the supply and a new bottle trap for dirty water. I would strongly advise a brass connecter from ebay/local hardware store. We could only find plastic ones in the locality and they leaked. FUN. If you go into any hardware store and tell them what you need to do they will find you the right equipment, the pipes are usually pretty long to reach the water/waste supply.

Go for the lowest water/electric consumption you can find, your bills will only rise over time so it makes sense not to get a wasteful machine.

Applianceonline.co.uk is very good, I got my Bosch logixx from there, excellent service, and cheaper too.

Our electric bill halved when we got ours as we have an immersion heater for water which guzzeled electric, and the water bill went from 18 units a quarter to 4.5. Which I expect to drop even further as I've just fitted tap inserts everywhere. .

Mine only uses 9ltrs of water per eco cycle and roughly 10p of electric. It takes 2hrs 50mins, the other cycles are quicker but use more energy and water to get the same results.

Tesco Daisy powder is vv cheap, as is homebargains/savers rinse aid and asda do a cheap dishwasher salt.

I really couldn't be without mine! It does make life so much easier especially if you are like me and naturally inclined to put off washing up until you really really have to

I recently tripped over mine, the door was open and i completely killed it. We are not replacing it. It has been fine just doing the dishes, we are a family of 5 and i cook everynight.

Found even when i cleaned filter, used expensive tabs, i still got stuff welded on in the hot washes. So i would wash them again by hand.

i can live without mine.

food fragments stuck to dishes usually indicates poor spray. If you cleaned the filters and they were not damaged, it might have been clogged jets in the arms, or the water heater not working, more rarely the pump not working properly, very rarely an ineffective machine. The price of the tablets is pretty immaterial.

Get one. You won't regret it, I think the dishwasher and a cleaner have saved
My marriage

Ours has been cleaned serviced etc and things still come out grubby. When it was still under guarantee we got a bloke to come out and look at it, he just shrugged and said it was normal, so I asked if there was anything I could do to get clean dishes, his reply was not to put anything dirty in it

Anyway, all that to say it's probably worth investing in a decent one because cheaper ones just don't work.

Had a house without one.

It was top of the list of things the house had to have when we moved.

It makes life just a bit easier - I now bake, cook and generally am much more chilled about mess as I know I can just bung stuff in and not worry.

And go for Bosch - my dad has one that he put in when I was about 14... so coming up for 20 5 years with no fault

And I do tend to rinse plates and things before they go in - not totally clean, just taking the excess sauces/crumbs off; I rarely have anything in the trap and therefore it doesn't smell.

we have a Miele which was expensive but the plus side is it is very quiet and washes well.

I find I break much less crockery compared to hand washing & drying, when you can drop it, or it gets knocked off the draining board etc etc.

I also think it's whole lot cleaner.