I want to talk to you about dishwashers; more specifically about the convenience and cost-cutting they can bring you.
Yes, I know, dishwashers are generally viewed as being right at the ‘luxury’ end of the white goods spectrum and not a real necessity. Plus, with utility-dealing fat cats jostling to further line their capacious yet already extensively lined pockets, is another expense possible when electricity and gas suppliers are gleefully encouraging bills to rise even faster than the oceans?
Well, yes, if you buy both savvy and eco-friendly, you can save time and money in abundance! Not to mention avoid disfigured “dishwasher hands”.
What should you look for in a dishwasher?
First and foremost, it should be eco-friendly – that means not only purchasing a machine that is rated to be energy efficient, but also utilising your new tumble toy in a manner that continues to protect the planet and your pocket in equal measure.
Let’s look at some stats from Utilita Energy’s dishwasher expert:
That’s a lot of wasted water and, quite literally, money down the drain. So, stick with a machine that comes with an energy efficiency rated no lower than ‘D’, is suitably sized to just see to your specific needs and little more and, of course, don’t half load!
To help you discover a dishwasher that fits you like a well-moulded Marigold, I’ve found five that run the grime-removing gamut across price, capacity and cash-saving eco-credentials, so ditch the sponge on a stick and wash your hands of all that scrubbing once and for all…
Best freestanding dishwashers at a glance:
Haier I-Pro Shine Series 3 (XF 5C4M1X-80)
Best for: Higher-end performance, Haier price
I like Haier. In fact, I recently reviewed Haier’s smart-as-a-whip X Series 11 tumble dryer for these very esteemed online pages, so the striking I-Pro Shine Series 3 with its finely designed 15-place setting capacity seemed like an obvious option to throw into this dishwasher mix.
As sleek and slick-looking as the Miele, with its brushed stainless steel finish, dot matrix display and eye-catching under-handle half-light, the Haier is not just a highly functional part of your kitchen kit conglomerate, but an easy-on-the-eye feature point in its own right.
Rated ‘C’ for energy efficiency and overwhelmed with precision programs to keep you covered in any dish-cleaning scenario, I-Pro Shine Series 3 owners can even use a combination of Haier’s hOn app and the machine’s own AI abilities to take a photo of the dishes within the baskets and then let the smart stuff suggest the most optimised cycle depending on what it sees.
Auto door opening at the end of each cycle means natural, energy-saving evaporation occurs without the need to interfere, and if you don’t wish to involve the app in your daily dishwasher duties, the highly intuitive display inside the top of the door gives you access to all you need, including info on water temperature, cycle duration, water consumption and even the amount of energy used.
The Haier may not have the Miele’s ‘A’ efficiency rating, but in all other areas it absolutely holds its own… and at less than half the price. Intelligently designed and intelligently run, if your budget will stretch the I-Pro is an investment in an appliance that you’ll never regret.
Buy now £629.00, Haier
Hotpoint H7F HS51 X
Best for: Bigger family, lower costs
Still one of the most trusted appliance brands in the UK, Hotpoint has been cleaning up after British families since 1911. A company known for making reliable white goods at an affordable price and with decent longevity, the H7F HS51 X might not have the most friendly name, but when it comes to being chummy with the environment it comes packing a ‘B’ energy efficiency rating, meaning that it’s kWh (kilowatt-hour) usage is second only to ‘A’ and therefor consumes less power, saving you more moolah.
It's a machine that’s more than capable of dealing with the daily dirty dishes of a 4+ person household, the UK average in 2023 being 2.36 people and that of London standing at 2.57 people, although what .36 and .57 people look like is not worth considering. In any event, the space inside is ample, thanks in part to the Hotty’s ‘Maxi Space’ tub, which purports to give 10% more play than other dishwashers of these dimensions.
With a bevvy of cycles, covering Delicates, Eco, Intensive Mixed, Quick, Self-clean, and Soak, all bases are covered, even those baked-on ones due to the extra inclusion of a ‘3D Zone Wash’ system, involving an independent spray system delivering extra water-power oomph to those trickier trays.
An excellent, sub-£600 option for above-average size settlements, the Hotpoint H7F HS51 X effortlessly deals with the dishes while going easy on the environment and your hard-earned.
Buy now £549.00, Amazon
Hisense HS673C60WUK
Best for: Better connected cleaning
Now, I’m not saying everyone needs a dishwasher that comes connected to the Wi-Fi to deliver total pot-cleaning control to the palm of your smartphone-clutching hand, but once you’ve experienced the DRUNK WITH POWER this imbues you with it may be hard to go back.
So, yes, all smartified thanks to the Hisense ConnectLife app, you can easily access Hisense’s features and functions from the comfort of anywhere you have a phone connection, select and schedule programmes, check in on progress and be alerted as to when the cycle is complete, all without having to get up and physically look. And for those with middle-aged knees, this is a gift without comparison.
On top of all that smart comes an epic amount of internal space, with room for some 16 place settings, making it one for larger households, specialist programmes for glassware, night running, and eco-saving, plus an energy efficiency rating of ‘C’, making it pleasing for both planet and pocket.
Add to this a self-clean filter to stop you from having to fiddle about with collected plate filth and a 15-minute quick cycle that will have you dinner-party-ready in a mere quarter of an hour when you’d forgotten to clean up from the previous evening’s entertaining, you social animal, you.
A bargain too at just £429, with the Hisense HS673C60WUK, you can really, ahem, clean up.
Buy now £429.00, AO
Comfee Mini Plus Dishwasher CDWMT305W-UK
Best for: Countertops, students and small families
Not everyone needs a dishwasher as capacious as a cup-cleansing black hole and, equally, not everyone has the space for an under-counter dishwasher at all. Indeed, with property rental prices in London rocketing more than SpaceX, while rental property sizes shrink to almost Lilliputian levels, the majority of those eking out a living in the capital will find that space comes at a premium and, as such, they have to play clever with what little they have. So, for those in cramped conditions who still need to get dishes clean, there’s this: the Comfee Mini Plus Dishwasher.
Energy efficiency rated ‘D’, this diminutive dishwasher perches upon the kitchen worktop, taking up a minuscule 42 x 43.5cm amount of footprint space, yet still manages to offer up to 5 place settings, meaning you can always make sure its fully loaded before running it through any of its six cycles (Hygiene, Intensive, ECO, Glass, 58-minute Wash, Rapid), saving money on the amateur mistakes made by half-load halfwits.
With auto-door auto-drying to save you the effort of having to pop the lock yourself, a commodious 6-litre built-in water tank if there is no access to mains, and a child-proof lock to ensure your little poppets don’t half-flood the kitchen, as a simple solution to low-cost, low-run-cost, small-space dishwashing, the Comfee can’t be beat.
Buy now £230.00, Amazon
Miele G 7600 SC AutoDos
Best for: Upper echelons of eco dishwashing
Miele, a brand name synonymous with the greatest of white goods. Do Miele machines cost considerably more than all around them? Yes, of course, they do, but that’s because these hi-tech Teutonic beasts are on another level when it comes to performance and robust reliability.
Take this, the G 7600 SC AutoDos, for example. With space inside for an ample 14 place settings, this ‘A’ rated machine may demand far more on initial outlay, but the savings you’ll make over the many years the Miele will serve you are equally considerable, so if you’re looking at the long-game when it comes to protecting the pennies and, indeed, the planet, this is an excellent investment.
Finished in slick stainless steel/CleanSteel with a minimalist black control panel, there’s no denying the Miele has the looks to stand alone and stand out in a suitable modern kitchen aesthetic, which will be a consideration for those seeking to spend this kind of money.
Then there’s the performance. Featuring automatic detergent dispensing thanks to AutoDos, low running volume, highly constrained water consumption, and more programme options covering anything you could comfortably fit inside it, the Miele auto opens at the end of its cycle to allow drying and, yep, also comes boasting its own app, Miele@Home, for smart home networking and remote control.
Smart in all senses, then, Miele dishwashers are designed to last for around 20 years and are more than capable of running for 12- to 18-years maintenance-free, so more money but also more quality, more performance and much more longevity.
Buy now £1619.00, Miele
Verdict
Some people enjoy washing up, but I see those people as masochistic freaks. Taking one of the most tedious tasks within the realm of domestic drudgery and outsourcing it to a machine makes absolute sense, and once you’ve experienced the home-life-completing convenience of a dishwasher, there really is no return to the grim old days of manual dish manipulation. Here I’ve looked at five desirable dishwasher options that will appeal to households of small to medium to large sizes, and across price ranges from ‘bargain’ to ‘blimey’, in the hope that one appeals to your dull duty-dodging eye.
For me, when it comes to price, form, function and the specific demands of my household, it’s the Haier for the win, hands down. But to each his/her/their own, and one of these five should prove freestandingly fantastic for you too.
