Dishwasher newbie

marcia_

I have a full sized dishwasher for 3 people. I have 3 sets of plates, cutlery etc which means I fill the dishwasher and only use it every 3rd day. My water bill has gone down significantly

casper_gutman

We have two slimline dishwashers for four of us. Might seem a bit weird, but works very well for us.

There's always a place to put dirty washing up, which was important when we went for an open plan kitchen-dining room layout. There's flexibility to wash a smaller amount efficiently rather than having to choose between running a full size model half empty or waiting days to get a favourite mug back. The two together have more capacity than a single full size machine.

Also, two relatively basic slimline models were far cheaper than the fancy dishwasher drawers magazines and bloggers were touting as the latest thing. The USP seemed to be that you could run one drawer, but we get that advantage and still have independent pump, controller etc for each machine. If one machine broke down then we'd still have the other.

We fill and run one of ours most days, but as soon as one is running we can start filling the other and will run both if we had a particularly washing-up intensive meal like a cooked-from-scratch roast dinner. They take everything - including large stainless steel pans and oven trays, with a bit of thought about how to arrange the contents. Over the years we've gradually replaced anything that couldn't go in the dishwasher with things that can, so very little gets hand washed.

Rosa_Damascena

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82104792#Comment_82104792

Rather than who stacks it? Thankfully not an argument I need to show up for, given there is only me.

I am a master tesselater and run my family-sized DW every 6-8 days. The cutlery point is well made, so I bought extra spoons accordingly - I have more than enough of everything else. I'm a big on beverages, so there are usually around 35 mugs amongst the full load, as well as bowls of various sizes. I am also v strict about washing everything before it goes in, I cannot abide the risk of a smelly DW.

flaneurs_lobster

I am also v strict about washing everything before it goes in, I cannot abide the risk of a smelly DW.

Now there's a row to be had!

Many claim that the dishwasher detergents/cleaning agents need a decent amount of gunge to become properly activated to maximise their cleaning power.

I just scrape off the lumps, but there's always at least one "intense" wash a week to avoid potential DW hum.

KittenChops

My recommendation would be to buy one with a cutlery drawer, not a cutlery basket - the cutlery comes out cleaner and although you've lost a bit of height, you now have more space where the basket would have been

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82105043#Comment_82105043

@otb666

Even in a hard water area you can reduce the dosage of salt significantly, if you are using 'all in one' dishwasher tablets/pods. ( nearly every body does)

You can usually adjust the salt dosage if you read the instruction manual how to do it.

On our machine there is a scale of 1 to 7 ( hardest/most salt) Ours should be on 6, but as there is salt in the tablets , I have reduced it to 3 with no ill effects and a longer time between the salt needing refilling.

You can do the same with the rinse aid dosage, and save on rinse aid and reduce the amount of chemicals going down the drain.

casper_gutman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82105623#Comment_82105623

Conversely, I prefer one with a cutlery basket. When I stay somewhere with a cutlery drawer I always seem to run out of headroom for taller items - e.g., wine glasses, oven trays etc. Also, the kitchen drawer where we store the cutlery is away from the dishwasher, so having a basket to transport the cutlery makes it easier to put everything away.

Rob5342

We've got a slimline one and when there are two of us at home it's fine and we run it once a day. When our daughter is home from university and there are three of us then we can often just put it on once a day, but we fairly frequently have to put it on twice, especially if we've had a roast dinner or something like that. A lot comes down to how you use it. If you are fairly minimal with what you use when cooking and pack it carefully then you don't have to run it that often, but my wife seems to create as much washing up as she possibly can and then puts all the small things in first and complains that there is no room for the big things. It's quite common for her to have a load of stuff on the worktop and say that the dishwasher is full, and for me to then rearrange it and get everything in. Having said that, if you have got the room then go for a full size one. We've got a Bosch one too.

Ms_Chocaholic

Definitely a full size, we are only a small household but put ours on a quick wash every day, especially in this weather as it starts to smell otherwise and I can't be bothered to wash all the plates clean before loading, I may as well wash them up by hand. It's just a quick 30 minute wash.

Don't understand comment above about cleaning the filters after every wash, ,seems a bit overkill to me. I do ours every two or three weeks and it's not too bad.

In terms of the cutlery, we've had both, a basket and a tray and I like the tray best. When I fill it I try and keep all knives together, all forks together, you get the gist so you can just grab a group of about 8 knives in one go and pop them in the drawer which is about one large step away from the dishwasher currently. No drips from a cutlery basket either if you have to take it over to the side and then unload.

Valli

I have a full sized one, though there's only me most of the time, I just run it when its full - but it gets baked on stuff off dishes - eg lasagne and I can get all my oven shelves and grill pan in it too. I love it. Saves water, gets everything sparkling clean. I used to hate drying dishes - I have not yet tired of emptying the dishwasher!