Dishwasher advice

adonis10

Looking for some recommendations to replace our outgoing Hotpoint dishwasher which has failed twice in the first 8 months. We bought it in May and over the past 2 months has broken down due to the same issue and the repair team today said they'll write it off for a replacement or refund - I have opted for the latter as I now don't trust the brand and also their customer service is absolutely appalling (cannot speak to anyone on the phone). We have had a Beko in the past which was excellent although that did fail after a couple of year, however we think this was due to the plumbing (Hotpoint one was plumbed in differently and 100% correctly).

Given that such appliances are made on the cheap these days and not designed to last more than a few years, I don't really want to spend more than £350, but also don't want a really cheap piece of kit as I did notice that the Beko we had (most expensive) was by far and away the best for cleaning.

Recommendations please!

Racky_Roo

My last one was a John Lewis one, wish I had taken it when I moved as the one I have now isn't as good. It opened at the end to dry and had a little light which shone on the floor so you knew when it was working. Also cleaned really well. https://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-jlbidw1419-fully-integrated-dishwasher/p4233088. However it isn't cheap. The hotpoint I have now is cheap and honestly, I wish i'd paid the extra.

greensalad

I have a Miele. My Mum had a secondhand Miele, got to be 20 years old. It wasn't too expensive being secondhand but despite the odd repair over the years it still runs well. The repair guy for it said that they always sell all the parts you need for ages afterwards so although it's one of the more complicated ones to repair, you can keep doing so for a long time.

It was over £1,000 so definitely not cheap but I believe they do others that are better priced. 

TadleyBaggie

All my kitchen appliances are exclusively Bosch, my dishwasher must be 15+ years old and has never missed a beat. 

macman

Go for a mid-range Bosch. Hotpoint is a budget brand, you get what you pay for. Anything at £350 is built down to a price.

DullGreyGuy

Had a Bosch that came with our place, was never great and slowly different bits stopped working over time. It was of an unknown age so cannot read too much into it.

We bought a mid range Bosch washer dryer, was surprised how much our corporate discount was on it! Its been reliable for 4.5 years so far but performance isnt great, particularly in the drying. When we replaced the dishwasher we decided to move away from Bosch but were fortunate to both have more budget than the OP and corporate discounts. 

Apodemus

23 year-old Bosch here, too.  Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that the new ones are built as well as they used to be!

EssexExile

TadleyBaggie said:

All my kitchen appliances are exclusively Bosch, my dishwasher must be 15+ years old and has never missed a beat. 

Like almost all appliances today, the name on the front doesn't tell you much. I have a Bosch dishwasher, my friend has exactly the same machine but with Siemens written on the front. Both are made in Spain and are nothing like the quality of Bosch from years ago.

adonis10

EssexExile said:

TadleyBaggie said:

All my kitchen appliances are exclusively Bosch, my dishwasher must be 15+ years old and has never missed a beat. 

Like almost all appliances today, the name on the front doesn't tell you much. I have a Bosch dishwasher, my friend has exactly the same machine but with Siemens written on the front. Both are made in Spain and are nothing like the quality of Bosch from years ago.

This is why I am reluctant to go too expensive with the next one - sad state of affairs but it's a throwaway world now so it's hard to know how much extra quality you're buying when paying over a certain amount, or simply adding to their profit margins whilst getting the same cheap rubbish components. With the Hotpoint one the repair guy even said that the particular part that failed is no longer being used, some 6 months from purchase, which is likely an indication that they tried to go super cheap and it back fired.

I don't even know what a useful life is now for a standard, £300-400 appliance. Ours have never lasted more than 2.5 years from new, whereas my parents' first one last them 17 years. I guess chipping away at the quality to save money, year by year, has this impact.

DullGreyGuy

EssexExile said:

TadleyBaggie said:

All my kitchen appliances are exclusively Bosch, my dishwasher must be 15+ years old and has never missed a beat. 

Like almost all appliances today, the name on the front doesn't tell you much. I have a Bosch dishwasher, my friend has exactly the same machine but with Siemens written on the front. Both are made in Spain and are nothing like the quality of Bosch from years ago.

We have to consider the relative price of appliances though... a quick google shows basic dishwashers in 1995 being sold for £300-£400. Add inflation to that and we are talking £580 to £774

The OP however is looking for one at £350... so in real terms half the price of one from years ago. Can we really say there is much surprise that if you half the price you dont get the same quality?  Sure, mechanization of production etc can bring costs down a bit but realistically something else has to give especially when you consider what you get now has more functionality than the "amazing 3 programme machine" in the 1995 advert.

Siemens license their brand to Bosch for production of white goods and Bosch has owned the NEFF brand for a while, if you asked wide enough one of your friends probably has the Neff version too. Its not uncommon for a manufacturer to have multiple brands to either target different price points or different market segments. Bosch is supposed to be function over form whereas both Neff and Siemens are supposed to be more stylish.  Gaggenau  is their other brand but at a very much higher price point (circa £4k for their leading dishwashers) but will still have some shared components.

adonis10 said:

EssexExile said:

TadleyBaggie said:

All my kitchen appliances are exclusively Bosch, my dishwasher must be 15+ years old and has never missed a beat. 

Like almost all appliances today, the name on the front doesn't tell you much. I have a Bosch dishwasher, my friend has exactly the same machine but with Siemens written on the front. Both are made in Spain and are nothing like the quality of Bosch from years ago.

This is why I am reluctant to go too expensive with the next one - sad state of affairs but it's a throwaway world now so it's hard to know how much extra quality you're buying when paying over a certain amount, or simply adding to their profit margins whilst getting the same cheap rubbish components. 

The reality is you always get diminishing returns. In absolute terms manufacturers make more from selling the top end items than the bargain basement ones. What makes it even harder to judge is how much you are paying for additional features, how much is going into more robust appliance and how much is going to the shareholders. 

As per my thread the other day, many times these things are bundled so when buying our dishwasher we wanted certain features but that meant it came with others as well (eg internal light). Unless you pay a massive premium you wont get someone offering offering a dishwasher with basic features for £350 and another one with identical features but made of higher quality materials etc for £500.

I really wonder how many would buy that £500 rather than the one with wifi that projects the finish time on the floor and messages you when you are low on tabs. 

Gavin83

I have a relatively new Bosch Fridge Freezer and Dishwasher and both do the job well enough. Like DullGreyGuy I also get a corporate discount with them which did sway me a bit. Once upon a time I used to sell Dishwashers and even then Hotpoint was considered a budget brand.

When we redo our kitchen and assuming we have the money (because they really aren't cheap!) I like the idea of getting the double doored Fisher & Paykel Dishwasher. They're a thing of beauty, obviously a premium brand and I'd find the double door aspect useful, especially given there's only two of us.

Anyway, I'm waffling. You won't go wrong with Bosch.