Buying my first dishwasher: what do I need to know?

[PerkingFaintly]

It's for a one-person household and I'm torn between a slimline and a desktop – but blow me the desktop is so much more expensive.

If I get the slimline and run it every second day, will my plates get clean or will I just have sad, dried-on lumps?

Thoughts on that, and all your other dishwasher wisdom, very much appreciated.

We have a slimline and run it either every day or every other day, depending. It cleans no problem if the dishes are stored dirty in there for a day or two before putting the dishwasher on.

Ours is an 18 year old Hotpoint Aquarius. When it packs up, we'll get another slimline one.

I'd prefer a slimline one to a desktop simply because it gets it out of the way on the floor rather than taking up space on the worktop.

Aha, that's good to know.

I reckon with a slimline I can also follow the dirty minger MN advice to wash my kitchen bin in it.

Do you find you use all the programmes, or basically just the same one?

Go for slimline, make sure you get rinse aid and salt as well as the tablets. Clean it regularly (depending on your use) by clean I mean either a product cleaner or white vinegar wash and cleaning the filter and spray arms. You don't mention what brand you're looking at but if you follow the steps above it should last had a Bosch one for11 years had to leave it when we moved as it was intergrated 💔 it was still like new.

You can do a quick wash which blasts it for 20 mins, and then do a proper wash every other day. Or just chuck more stuff in it and run it every day.

I only use the Eco wash programme, don't use the other ones. Just out of habit really.

And I put things like the washing up bowl and compost caddy in the dishwasher occasionally.

We live in a very hard water area, so I do use the separate salt and rinse aid as a previous poster mentioned.

When there was just DP and I we did the same as Incredibly - if it wasn't full enough to wash, we just put it through on a rinse to stop anything drying on.

My top tips:

If you drink wine, make sure it has the little doodads to stop the wine glasses falling over.

If you have particular plates/glasses you like, consider taking an example set with you to try in the dishwasher. Yes, you look a bit odd, but it's awful to get home and discover that your favourite dinner plates don't actually fit.

Speaking of which, the ones that have the upper shelves that raise/lower without you having to take them out are v. handy.

In one place I rented there was a siemens that was very good, but otherwise I stick to Bosch (until I win the lottery and buy a Miele) - I had an AEG and it wasn't better than the Bosch.

Ah this is all so useful. Shall juggle plates in the showroom regardless of strange looks!

I haven't a clue about which make.

Eg What do I get in a Bosch ( www.johnlewis.com/bosch-sps46iw00g-freestanding-slimline-dishwasher-white/p3567268 ) that makes it worth more than twice this Beko, for example: www.johnlewis.com/beko-dfs05010w-freestanding-slimline-dishwasher-white/p1997493

I'd probably get the Beko.

The reviews are very good on the John Lewis site and you get two years free warranty. If you wanted to, you could pay the extra £80 for the further 5 year warranty and it would still work out much cheaper than the Bosch. So for £260 you know you've got 7 years of maintenance cover for the machine, so even if it is a load of old crap John Lewis will sort it out or replace it.

The Bosch looks like it has loads of options that you'd never use. DosageAssist for Christ's sake. More stuff to go wrong in my book.

We got a Beko tumble dryer a while back (it was dead cheap and I wasn't expecting much frankly but it was the only one small enough to fit in the cupboard). It has been absolutely fine probably because it is quite basic so not much to go wrong.

We have Bosch washing machine, fridge and oven by the way, so not against Bosch at all.

Ignore the claims of all in one tablets, they're shite. Always use separate salt and rinse aid.

We use vinegar for rinse aid.

I had a Bosch dishwasher and it only lasted 4 years or so - I have a Beko now that is 11 years old and still going strong. I use 2 programmes on mine - a quick 60 degree wash if it needs to go on during the day and I use the eco wash if I out it on overnight.

Also worth taking a couple of your regular glasses to see how well they sit in the top rack - at work they have a Zanussi (built in that came with their new build house) and the design of the top rack is awful and glasses are always toppling over.

It's a galley kitchen, so when a full-height door's open I'll be trapped one side of it.

I can see that getting old quite fast.

I had a smeg slimline, it was great.

I have the beko one , opted for full size in the end as I had the space. I've had it about 18 months and it's the best thing I ever purchased! It's really quiet , unlike my mums bosh one! If you can get on with the cutlery rack rather than the caddy as it means you can fit more in.

Check out the fisher & paykel drawer dishwasher - we have a double drawer one but could manage with a single now it’s just the two of us. Love it. Pricey but wonderful.

Otherwise looks for basket and wires inside that are relatively tough and give lots of different options for how to stack stuff.

HOW MUCH?

I can see why you like the two drawers rather than full-height door, but

OK, I'm excused from even gaping at the Fisher & Paykel because they're built in, not freestanding.

I do love that drawer arrangement, though.

We have a slimline beko one but as we're a family of 5 it's on at least once a day if not twice!

I would recommend getting one of the ones with the cutlery tray at the top rather than the basket as in a slim one it takes up so much space.

I try to wash up as little as possible so try to put pans etc in but it's very tricky with the basket in.

I've found liquid capsules are better in my slimline than powder tabs - they were leaving sandy grime.
Mine won't hold wine glasses and I wish I'd noticed that.

I see what folk mean about the cutlery drawer.

Another Q: beeping.

Does yours beep every time you touch it?
Or sing when it's finished?
Or make any other gratuitous noise that will go right through my poor ol' head?

We have had a slimline Bosch for 3 years now and it's good. There's just the two of us but we usually manage to run it every day and I am too paranoid to put glasses and most plastics into it

It has the cutlery drawer which I think is fab.

I would echo the comments about not using all in one tablets - I use Aldi or Lidl basic tablets plus salt and rinse aid. I run a cleaner bottle through it about 3 times a year. We had a small issue with it recently and the guy who came out to look at it said if I told him it had been installed the previous week he'd have believed me. I think that, although it gets used most days, it means we're not overloading it which definitely helps.

Apparently some of the Bosches don't have beepy buttons.

We have the slimline Hotpoint Aquarius too, it must be 11 years old and it works brilliantly. Never had any trouble with it.
We are a family of 5 so will be replacing with a full size soon.
We use Eco mode, buy 3 in 1 tablets (Aldi usually) and also put rinse aid and salt in. I love ours and wouldn't be without it.