Far too excited about prospect of a dishwasher - where do I start?

[carrotcakecupcake]

So we've recently moved house and have space for a full size, free standing dishwasher does happy dance. I've started my research but am feeling overwhelmed by all of the options and wondering you wise MNetters can give any advice or opinions from your own experience? We are a family of two adults and one DC (soon to be two), and I'd like a model that's fairly quiet and has an option of an eco setting. Budget is around the £350-400 mark (unless you can convince me otherwise ).

No help just dishwasher . I have no room for one. I have tried. Good news is finally at 13 I have persuaded ds he should take his turn. One of us washes one walks ddog.

No suggestions as ours is built-in, but they are fab. Our kitchen looks so much better now we have one.
Consider how noisy it will be when it's running. (We have an open-plan living space.)
Also get one with a turbo / short programme. Use this one all the time. Stops things piling up while we're waiting for a cycle to finish.
Consider how large you largest plates are and make sure they'll fit. (Ours didn't in the last one we had. SO annoying.)

We have a bosch logixx which has a cutlery tray at the top rather than a basket in the bottom rack. It is quiet too

Love a cutlery tray in a dishwasher instead of the basket, which always gets in the way when stacking plates and pans in the bottom.

yes to cutlery tray and also make sure you can fit tall wine glasses on one of the racks.

Absolutely what yomellamoHelly said. Look at noise levels, variety of programmes and capacity / if your dinner plates / casserole dish / main cooking pan will actually fit in.

We had an Indesit which was rubbish. Never dried anything properly and was pretty loud. Had to rewash a few bits as well. Had the kitchen re done last year and went for a Beko from ao.com which was a decent price and had good reviews. It's been great so far. It's really quiet and has done the job on the crustiest of lasagne dishes and the greasiest of baking trays. Mine's integrated so point in giving you the model number however.

Cutlery tray rather than basket, definitely
Adjustable height of upper shelf is good for big stuff.

Get decent tablets (they are on offer quite regularly, so we buy then)

Remember to clean it regularly

I LOVE my dishwasher, it changed my life!!

I got 90 fairy dishwasher tablets for £7.99 from home bargains last week!

Thank you all! How would I go about checking if my plates fit?? Definitely not one I would have though of; should I be thinking about taking a casserole dish to the shops with me??
I cannot WAIT to be released from this chore even though DH does most of it!

Mine is integrated. The freestanding ones are so much cheaper - you can get one with lots of interesting additions for less than the cost of a basic integrated one!

I have had a Hotpoint freestanding for appx 7 years and that needed a couple of replacement heating elements and something doing to the door. Then I had and AEG integrated one which lasted for 15 untroubled years, until it died just before Christmas . I now have a Miele one, chosen for the robustness of the baskets etc on the inside. We went round shops and poked around at them. As it is integrated we don't want one that needs mending or dies too soon - however, I am wondering if the kitchen will last that long now.........

If you are tight frugal use dishwasher powder rather than tabs, far more economical IMO. Agree with pp about checking that glasses will fit. I have 2 Bosch ( different models) and they are quiet. I never use the Eco programme, it takes to long.

I bought plates/cutlery/pans to fit after I got the first dishwasher. The ones I had before were old and the pans too small anyway.

I shall join in with your excitement carrot, I'm having a new kitchen fitted next week, and for the first time in my life (I'm nearly 70), I'll have a dishwasher! Even though I live on my own! It will be an integrated Siemens model - I can't wait!!

Isn't it exciting NanTheWiser?!
I've recently had my first one (ripe age of 62!) installed in my new kitchen and I absolutely love it 😀

I use the cheapest tablets I can find as has salt/finishing stuff so installer said go for the cheapest tablets and run a very hot cycle with it empty of crockery once a month or so.

We have a Bosch which was here when we moved in. Very quiet and efficient. In our previous house we had an Indesit which had an adjustable top basket, so that was handy. I hate the pull out cutlery trays - I much prefer being able to chuck stuff I'm the basket!

I got a new Hotpoint Eco one last week. Sorry I don't know the model number but it is incredibly quiet. I think 42 decibels? My favourite function is 'extra dry' which adds 5 mins to the cycle but means everything (including plastic!!!) comes out totally dry and ready to out away. The top drawer is also adjustable to fit different sizes of dinner plates in below. So those are good features to look out for. It was on special offer at £325 so was a good price.

Make sure it has a 30min quick wash and only use this one!

Use salt and rinse aid even if you use all in one tablets, they wash better with them. I only ever buy tablets when on offer. I prefer the fairy ones as they look nicer than other brands!

Do a hot long wash every month to give it all a good wash out - you can also get dishwasher cleaners to use once a month, the do seem to work well!

Oh and never use lemon scented dishwasher tablets, apparently the citric acid can corrode the dishwasher. Not sure of the truth of this, but I don't ever buy the lemon ones just in case!

We had a free standing Bosch that was absolutely brilliant. Sold it when we re-did the kitchen & now have an integrated Miele that was double the price and not as good. I'd lobe another Bosch.

I don't like the top cutlery tray. It means either I can't fit wine glasses or pint glasses in the top of if I lower the top rack, the spray arm gets stuck on the plates and doesn't wash anything.

We always get Finish classic DW tabs from Home Bargains & use separate salt & rinse aid. Even if you get all in one tabs, use salt & rinse aid. It will wash & dry better.

Oh, and as for cycles, we use the normal 65 degree daily cycle for everything. Only ever use the intensive 70 cycle when running a cleaner through the machine. The quick wash on ours doesn't dry so leaves everything dripping wet

I love my dishwasher so much! We had a bosh that was brilliant, moved house where they had an indesit (a bit crap) and then moved again where I bought my dream machine! I'm a big fan of cutlery trays rather than the basket as it gives you more room to chuck pots and pans in the main drawer.

I'd only buy Bosch/Sienens/Miele to be honest after moving with a few and my parents experience with a faulty hotpoint. Choose a more basic machine from a more reliable brand, we find we only use two of the many different cycle options available to us so bells and whistles weren't really necessary

Miele - it's fantastic (can't remember how long it's been going...a long, long time). Worth every penny.

I've got a Bosch and it's great - really fast and really quiet. Just make sure your plates can fit in easily, though. I've seen one with a separate cutlery drawer, which gives a lot more space.

Got to say, I hate the cutlery trays. By the time you've finished faffing with them you might as well have washed all that stuff up by hand. We have a Bosch with a basket. It's really good and very quiet.