Dishwashers - too much choice - what do I actually NEED?

[Whippet]

Haven't bought a dishwasher for about 10 years and the market now seems to have become a 'confusopoly'!

Lots of 'useful features' like:

• raising shelves
• cutlery trays on top
• variable speeds
• low water functions

yada
yada

Please give me you wise views and experience, and any recommendations. I'm particularly looking at Neff and AEG at the mo....

I have a kuppersbusch which is actually made by whirlpool. Best thing about it is its very quiet .We are open plan so this is very important.
AEG and Bosch do quiet ones as well i thnk. Decibel levels are usually below 50 on quiet ones
Other than that the other features are not importsnt to me

Any view on the cutlery tray at tops vs. a basket?
I quite like taking my basket out to put cutlery away/ stack in new dirty stuff?

I just went for the cheapest but with the best energy rating. So I have an AAA dishwasher, cutlery basket on the bottom (removable) and thats about it!

It has 6 different programmes, although I only ever use the "normal" and "economy" options.

Your call really, but I paid £160 in the January sales for mine and I love it!!!!

I'm just bumping this thread as I'm hopefully going to be buying one soon as we're moving house and the kitchen there has space for one. Stupid I know, but I'm really excited as I have never had one! Have had a little look and there seems loads of options.

My washing machine has loads of programmes too yet I tend to use the same one all the time !

I've just replaced my Zanussi with a Hoover one.

The Zanussi broke down just out of the 12 month guarantee, caught fire 2 years after that. Got repaired FOC by Zanussi and has broken down 6 times in the last 6 weeks.

I got the Hoover one as its AAA rated and its black. There was a nice Smeg one as well but it was £180 more and though its a better make I can't afford it.

Oh and after the catching fire incident my advice would be never use the delayed timer feature so it uses cheap elec in the middle of the night.

Our house would have been very badly damaged if I'd done that and the engineer said he has investigated lots of dishwasher faults where the house has been very badly burnt after the dishwasher caught fire.

I have a Bosch one which is very quiet - that was a major feature for us. It is also very adaptable about where various racks are - you can fold down the plate racks which means you can put big awkward dishes in more easily.

We only use the main cycle normally, though it also has a "delicate" one and a "tough" one - I don't think there's much point having lots of choices when running it, as you nevcer use them.

Steer clear of Kenwood.

I've got a new AEG and I love it. DH possibly loves it even more than me

virtually the only programme I ever use is a 30-min cycle. Stuff has to be really gross and greasy to use any one of the other million programmes on it. It's a sensorlogic 50877

I just went to see what one we have but it doesn't have a name on the front! It was about £160 in the B&Q sale at Christmas and is white and completely basic looking. It's not as good as our previous more expensive brushed steel snazzy one but if it saves me washing up it'll do.

We have Bosch it's very quiet and reliable (had it 2yrs). Don't get Zanussi we had years of it breaking down, was a pain in the arse.

Ooohhh had a lovely Bosch once too

SIL's mum recommended getting one where you could just do a quick wash of the top stuff (ie glasses) for big family meals/dinner parties.

We have an electronic one.

The electronic bits have broken down several times and although I didn't have to pay (I got a long warranty), we went a whole summer (pregnant, zillions of house guests) without it while waiting for parts.

Repair man recommended anything with an actual "dial" you turn ie not electronic.

Our washing machine is like that and has been going for 15 years wishes it would break down!

I have a smeg that has broken after 6 months.(the buttons have all popped out.)
faultless cleaning though.

i like my removable basket too.

the movie-uppy-downy racks are good if you have a lot of wine glasses, say, or baking trays. i've only used a few times after parties.

OOh - thanks for all these comments!

I would second what Stripey says about not using the delayed timer overnight - my good friend's (new) kitchen was destroyed in a similar incident, and the whole family had a lucky escape at 2 am in the morning... thank god they had smoke alarms! It took here months to get rid of smoke smell & damage all over the house. She said the firemen who came said that they are always being called out overnight to fires caused by dishwashers overheating .

One of the biggest problems I'm finding in looking at dishwashers is that lots of them don't actually seem to tell you how long the different washes take? Grr...

We have a Hotpoint Ultima and it's brilliant. One of our main criteria was a delay timer, so I was gutted when I read about the supposed fire risk of this. I'm too paranoid to use it now.

However I'm still really glad we got this model because:

a) it is really really quiet, and has an even quieter setting
b) the normal setting (as opposed to the lower temperature one) is pretty economical and not too lengthy - important for us as we have a private water supply and need to use a wash with very hot water
c) adjustable height drawers and adjustable racking - both a godsend

All in all, I can't recommend it highly enough.

You can usually download the instruction manual from the manufacturer's website, which should give you all the information you need about cycle lengths etc.

oh - that's a good idea about manuals - thanks!