Dishwasher -cutlery drawer or not?

[QuirkInTheMatrix]

Need a new slimline freestanding dishwasher. Really don’t want a white one either so options seem to be limited to £250 ones like Sharp/Hotpoint/hoover. Or I’ve seen a £550 Bosch one which has a cutlery drawer rather than a basket. Have read mixed reviews about whether a cutlery drawer causes issues with there then not been enough vertical space for plates? Any thoughts?

I love the cutlery drawer! Our dinner plates are quite large and I have no issue fitting them in.

We have one with a cutlery drawer as we were putting IKEA units in and so needed to get a built in dishwasher from them, and the drawer kind was all they had.

it doesn’t clean the cutlery well at all. Half of it consistently comes out covered in dried up stuff which is then on rock solid and hard to get off. I do really like the idea of them in that it’s useful for other small items like jar lids, water bottle lids, egg cups etc. But in practice it’s not working and is irritating me each morning. Also like others have said you need to be quite prescise in how you lay everything out in the little grooves and my partner is shit at this, he throws everything in so I have to reorganise it. Maybe I need to start rinsing all the cutlery before putting it in. But then that’s even more faff. I didn’t need to do this with our old basket one.

My dc have been able to load our cutlery drawer since they were 6. How are people finding it hard?! I love it. Would never go for a dishwasher without that drawer now.

we have a neff dishwasher which is quiet and has a red light dot that shines on the floor so you can see it’s on and not open it mid cycle. Big le creuset plates fit no issue.

We've got a drawer on our Bosch and I hate it, it means a compromise on the height of the lower racks, if you have the middle one high you can't put tall glasses in it and if you have it low you can't get big plates or pans in the bottom rack. A basket is easier to load and unload and cutlery gets cleaner in it. Nothing to like about it whatsoever.

I meant lower priced Bosch, have slimline Bosch, will replace when needed

We have a Bosch with a drawer and would never go back to a basket. I think if your cutlery isn’t clean in it @Newbie887 there may be a fault somewhere. I think it cleans it much better than the basket and I love having the extra space for pots etc.

We raised the upper tray slightly and can still fit out large ikea wine glasses in with no issues.

Love our cutlery drawer. It means we get the full bottom rack to use. We hand wash glasses and other delicate things - 2 minutes soaking and a quick wipe and rinse so not exactly arduous and we don't use a lot of them anyhow.

The cutlery drawer gets loaded through the day with forks, different spoons etc all together so they're just lifted out and put in the right part of the drawer with no sorting involved. It's also useful for little things like lids that flip over easily and kitchen scissors that need the blades cleaning but tend to fall through the wire racks. Our cellulose kitchen sponges also get washed on the cutlery drawer.

Wouldn't be without mine.

We got a new Bosch with a cutlery draw about 3 weeks ago and love it. When put in there correctly, the cutlery is better spread out than when in a basket, so comes out cleaner.

Another vote for the cutlery drawer, much easier to unload than the basket.

You can find out if you have OCD, by how orderly you organise the tray.😐

Be aware that some have a spinning are above them, so be careful not to obstruct.

I have a Bosch with draw and love it. I had a basket one before and put steak knifes in, lent over to add something and caught my arm on the upturned knife blade, 7 stitches later …

but that aside I get on really well with draw the only issue I have is the big serving spoons don’t fit but a just slot them into the middle draw.

the one I have also has an attachment that you take out the middle draw and put this sprinkler thing on so you can put really big stuff on the bottom shelf brilliant for oven trays etc

I love our Miele cutlery drawer. I hated the baskets, felt like not all of the cutlery would get clean. The drawer is really useful for things like small tupperware pot lids, or the top of my reusable coffee cup or the kitchen scissors if I don't have a lot of cutlery for a load. I wouldn't go back!

I love my cutlery tray. I don’t let anyone else load it.

I line them up perfectly neatly, big knives then small knives in one quadrant, forks in another, spoons and teaspoons and serving spoons/ peelers etc in the other.

Mr Bean wouldn’t be any geekier about it than I am. It’s a joy to pull the tray out at the end of a cycle and see them all in sparkling size order! A perfect clean.

To be fair, he generally does the dishwasher.

Mainly because if I look at the abomination he refers to as 'loading it', I'll have conniptions.

Cutlery drawer all the way. I recently took a big stack into our open dishwasher (blinded by afternoon sun and general clumsiness) and once I stopped crying and swearing I remembered a friend of mine having a similar accident and getting her shin impaled on an upturned paring knife in the basket. Whereas just a few bruises and scrapes for me. So it’s a safer option too haha!

DH cannot fathom how I can arrange the most perfect cutlery drawer with everything grouped together in descending size order. And yet I never hang the socks out in pairs as he believes is necessary.

Agree . I cannot be bothered with putting cutlery in neat rows .Just chuck it in the basket and forget!

My Bosch has a cutlery drawer; the top rack is not only height adjustable but you can tilt it so one side is high the other low - on a slant iyswim. So plates can go one side, taller glasses the other.

BUT 🚨Alert!! Alert!!🚨

You can easily take out the cutlery drawer altogether and use a cutlery basket any time you choose!!!!!

My previous dishwasher was my first with a cutlery drawer and I often took it out to use the basket from previous dishwasher instead. My current one, the Bosch, I don't so often because the slant on the adjustable rack!

I've used both, and prefer the basket too, so much quicker! Aren't they cheaper as well than the drawer ones?

I find the cutlery drawer really annoying and tune consuming. We kept the basket from our old machine and use that, and use the cutlery drawer for utensils.

Our full size Bosch has a cutlery drawer , it was on the list of must haves when I was looking for a new dishwasher . We had always had a basket before and my husband was very sceptical but he’s now a convert .

I've used both and far prefer the basket. My DW is an IKEA one. The basket got bent in the base and things were falling through, so I bought a new one from a spare parts place (and a new filter at the same time) and it's a much better design.

I like that you can lift the basket out and take it to the cutlery drawer to unpack. You can also leave it out if you have lots of pots, if it's a wash after cooking but before serving, for example, just save any cutlery until next time. Gives you extra space.

Re knives and injuries - always put sharp knives point down, surely?

I do want a new DW, so if I get forced into buying a drawer one I'll dispose of it and keep my cutlery basket!

I second this.

Hated our cutlery tray. Was so glad when the dishwasher died and I could go back to a basket. In our new dishwasher, our basket can be moved anywhere on the bottom drawer and can also go on the top drawer. I absolutely love it.

I went to Currys with our plates, bowls and glasses and tried all the dishwashers out to make sure we would fit things in without having to adjust the height of the drawers.

I definitely find the tray far easier when it comes to emptying the dishwasher

That is genius, did they think you were bonkers? I would so do this. I don’t think curry’s near me have the dishwasher in stock but you know I’m going to go tomorrow to look and I’m taking a big dinner plate and a baking tray with me!

Same in our house! I have always had Bosche dishwashers but I can’t adjust the middle drawer on this one so have to wash the Artisan bowl by hand as it’s too deep. Pint glasses have to go on the bottom and DH just flings cutlery into the pull out drawer. I prefer a basket and adjustable second drawer.

although, if it was a slimline dishwasher with little space for a basket I’d have to think harder.