Three essential features to look for in a new dishwasher

May 25th, 2012

When the dishwasher went unexpectedly on the blink there was no time to wait for a sale to pick up a bargain. Wash the dishes by hand? No way!

But despite the rushed purchase, there were three essential things that Lois Cocks would not compromise on.

How to buy a dishwasher based on efficiency:

For Lois, eco modes and fast washes are important, but not essential.

“Yes, this new dishwasher has got an eco-mode,” Lois says, peering at the buttons. “But I’d have to put on my glasses and fiddle around with it to get it going, probably,” she says.

“Really, to be fair, it is very simple to operate.”

“What I really love is being able to programme the wash cycle to start during the night. Using off-peak electricity saves us money.”

The delay function on the Fisher & Paykel dishwasher is a popular feature.

How to buy a dishwasher based on noise:

“The best thing is that we have it going at night and we don’t hear a thing!”

Before buying a dishwasher, it is possible to find out at what decibel the machine operates. Around the low 40s constitues a fairly quiet machine. This is what you should shoot for if noise is a concern.

How to buy a dishwasher based on results:

“Now that there’s only the two of us at home we don’t have too many dishes to wash on a daily basis. So sometimes we only put it on every four days or so.”

“We always pre-rinse the dishes. It would stink otherwise.”

This means Lois pre-washes dishes (or more precisely, Ray, her partner does).

Despite the new Fisher & Paykel being a top dishwasher the old habit is going to die hard in this household. All dishwasher makers these days insist this is an unnecessary effort and wasteful of water.

“Anyhow, the dishes come out dry!” She exclaims as if it were a miracle. After years of hand-drying dishwasher washed dishes one might appreciate the feature.

Keri Algar

Having once had to sit on the washing machine to stop it from bouncing into oblivion, Keri is today delighted with the new (smoother running) technologies that make housework easier every day. A self-confessed lazy-bones, Keri seeks out quirky inventions that ease the human workload, such as the robotic vacuum cleaner (wow). And as soon as someone figures out a Jetsons-like self-cleaning house, she will happily lay her pen to rest and retire from appliance journalism. Until then, her pick is a fridge that will tell her smartphone when it's time to pick up more beer on the way home. Magic.

One response to “Three essential features to look for in a new dishwasher”

washing machine cover says:

June 13, 2012 at 11:24 pm

There are a lot of considerable things before buying a
dishwasher and these include durability, offering sensors, making use of
streams to boost cleaning, other convenient features including unusually styled
controls and interior and exterior designs, etc. These are some basic things that
are required to be checked.