So, we had a dishwasher installed this week. I was excited to finally not wash dishes and waste water. Generally, I don’t care too much about appliances and fancy features. I just want the dishwasher, washing machine, oven or whatever to do its basic job. Clean or cook or reheat. So from my recent experience here are my tips on how to choose the right dishwasher.
Size of your dishwasher
There is a standard size for a dishwasher, it’s about 800mm high and 600mm wide. This is the space I usually allocate when designing kitchens. Of course, there are smaller and larger options but that’s standard.
We opted for a standard size and started researching various retailers online like Good Guys.
Budget for your dishwasher
Our research gave us an idea of price. Did we want to spend over $1000 on a European brand or around $600 on a Chinese brand?
Price impacts other factors such as water efficiency, warranties and so on. Another key aspect to price is cost of delivery and installation.
Some retailers offer free delivery and removal of your old dishwasher but then charge a larger sum for installation.
We opted to buy Australian and looked at various dishwasher models by Westinghouse. Which is owned by Electrolux, a Swedish company but some appliances are still manufactured in South Australia.
Efficiency & Different cycles of your dishwasher
Water and energy efficiency are important and luckily we have a star rating system for appliances. This star rating is clearly labeled on a sticker on the appliances. It’s is a good and easy way to understand this feature of a dishwasher.
There is also a water rating system but we focused on the energy rating. With the highest being six stars. We opted for a dishwasher that was 4.5 stars. I think price impacts how energy and water efficient dishwashers are.
Cycles are important too. We wanted a fast cycle for a quick clean of dishes that are not so dirty. We also wanted a normal or robust cycle for really dirty dishes. But there are now eco cycles and sensor cycles too.
Plate size
But the most important feature of a dishwasher, I think, is that it MUST fit your largest dinner plate. So after all the research we did, and all the comparison. As well as all messing around with the installer who was running late for one appointment. He forgot another appointment, had to reschedule, etc. Our new dishwasher does not accommodate our largest dinner plates.
You can imagine how disappointing this is. From my perspective it’s a massive design flaw. I’m not sure what our consumer rights are in this situation, obviously we chose the dishwasher.
So, my biggest tip when shopping for a dishwasher is to take your largest dinner plate with you. Alternatively, if shopping online, ask if the sprinkler clears your dinner plates, whatever size they are.
I love design in any form when it’s done right. But when design fails to perform its basic function it’s really sad and frustrating. What where the designers of our dishwasher thinking? They forgot about the end user.
The designers forgot to check the size of a standard dinner plate. They also forgot to see if the sprinkle would clear the dinner plate when in operation. So that’s how to choose the right dishwasher, check your dinner plates clear the sprinkler.
