Which dishwasher to buy please?

[hypercalifragilistic]

I have to confess that I have never had a dishwasher before , so I don't know how to chose one, now that I finally have the space.

What do you like/dislike/hate with yours?

I have have no idea how you chose the best one for your budget.
-how long the cycles last (I'd rather a faster one than one going on for hours)
-how expensive they are to run
-I like the idea of seeing how long before the end of the wash, but it's probably not essential.

Apart from that, a dishwasher is a dishwasher, am I missing something?
I was thinking to buy a Bosch one, their appliances are normally quite good, but any thoughts would be great. Thank you

I'd highly recommend a Bosch. Our old Bosch dishwasher was half the price of a current Miele and was a better machine. The baskets were more flexible and easier to stack. The bit where the glasses go on our Miele is too square, unlike on the Bosch where they were slanted, so glasses often fall over in the Miele. In the Bosch they were leaning against the side of the baskets, so they didn't fall over. Kind of hard to explain if you've never had a dishwasher, but the manual will give you tips on how to stack.

In answer to your questions, dishwashers take about the same time as a washing machine - around 90 minutes to 2 hours. They are very cheap to run as they use very little water and constantly recirculate and spray the water that they use around. They're actually cheaper to run than handwashing, because you get way more in 1 full dishwasher than you do in 1 bowl of washing up. You don't need to prewash or prerinse anything either, just scrape off any food bits and put it straight in the dishwasher.

We usually fill our dishwasher up during the day and then put it on before bed and empty in the morning, so the time isn't an issue for us. Most dishwashers have a quick wash cycle anyway for when you need things done quicker, although the quick wash on our Bosch and Miele was just a wash and didn't do the drying part of the cycle. The Bosch however, had a variospeed option which was handy.

This one looks good! Lots of cycle options, variospeed option, delay start and a time remaining display.

ao.com/product/sms53m02gb-bosch-serie-6-standard-dishwasher-white-36400-23.aspx

thank you so much for taking time to reply, that is so helpful!
i can't wait to order mine, Bosch it is

Our Bosch is fab - can't fault it.

I see you've decided, but I just popped in to say I second Bosch. I'm on my second one, my first lasted 18 years without any faults.

My current Bosch looks very similar to the one in rabbit's link, except that mine is silver. It's so quiet we are hardly aware that it's on.

I have a Bosch one and it's good. But I also have another one with a cutlery tray like a drawer instead of a basket and I like it better as it's easier to load/unload.

We've got a Siemens one which is ten years old and we've only had to call someone out to it once in all that time, and that was when we moved it into our new kitchen. Siemens, Bosch and Neff are the same firm. Worth paying a bit more for in our experience. It's almost silent running too.

I also recommend Bosch/Siemens. I love my dishwasher and it loves me.

My beko machine that I bought as a cheap stop gap is fantastic

Still going strong 5-6 years later. Only ever use cheap tablets too.

Hasn't broken down once

I have a Bosch logixx which has a cutlery tray rather than a basket which frees up space in the bottom rack

I have the basic Bosch (still has timer countdown though)

I only ever use the 30-min quick wash. I do help along any stuck stuff with a scrub first but it's worth it for the time saved

Actually I lie - I do occasionally put all the oven & hob hardware in for a good going over & I use the heavy duty programme for those

We've got the most basic model Bosch and it's brilliant. Reliable, quick, quiet - no more doing the boring, boring dishes. I wish I'd bought one years ago. Got it from John Lewis as they priced matched and are so good on delivery etc.

I use the Auto cycle the most on ours. It senses how dirty the water is going through the filter and adjusts the wash time, water heat and pre-rinse according to how dirty things are so it only ever uses as much time and energy as it needs to. Plus that way, you're not worrying abut using the right cycle or not, it does all that for you.

Detergent wise, we use Aldi Magnum. It's cheap as chips but equally as good as Finish and way better than those fairy pod things that don't shift tea stains!

A little tip - all in one detergents don't work. You still need to use rinse aid, otherwise everything comes out still wet. We found that out the hard way. If you use rinse aid, you'll never need to dry up. Just straight out of the dishwasher and into the cupboard.