Planning a kitchen Kitchen appliances
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The best appliances for you
Our test labs rate more products, more thoroughly than any other organisation in the UK.
Each of our reviews gives you buying advice and tips for choosing appliances with the features you need.
We regularly update our reviews of built-in ovens, range cookers, freestanding cookers, washing machines, tumble dryers and fridges all year round. Each review includes our ‘Compare products’ tool to help you select models that suit your home and lifestyle.
The best appliances for your individual kitchen
Whether you live in a flat or a manor house, we’ve tested appliances that will fit your kitchen and life.
Live in a bijoux home? Below, we show you the super-compact appliances to look out for that will fit effortlessly and make your life easier.
Conversely, if you have a home of generous proportions and have a huge family to take care of, we highlight below the handy oversized appliances and their extras that will make any extra work a breeze.
Buying the best on a budget
Go to our 'how to get discounts on products' page to find out how to get new appliances without blowing the budget. There are also tips there on when to buy, to make the best of seasonal sales.
Look out for our links to clearance shops as well as online bargain basements.
Compact and slimline dishwashers can help save space in small kitchens
Compact appliances for small kitchens
The trend for downsizing when you reach a certain age has been spotted by manufacturers, so compact appliances are no longer a niche market. A once basic range has been joined by a growing number of high-end, luxury models.
For example, Bosch has created a collection of glossy, coloured table top, compact dishwashers in red, yellow, silver and black, which can hold six place settings to clean.
Miele, Neff and John Lewis all make slimline dishwashers that are good for petite kitchens as they are narrower, at 45cm wide, than a standard dishwasher. These models maybe slender, yet they can wash up to 10 place settings at once.
Our Best Buy slimline dishwashers will get your crockery super clean, but poorer performing models can struggle and few clean as well as full-sized models as the spray water can’t get into corners.
Combine appliances to save space
For example, a combi microwave merges an oven, microwave and grill. A fridge with a freezer compartment is a good compromise if you don’t have the space for a full-sized fridge freezer.
A combined washer-dryer is also a good consideration if you don’t have space outside to dry your clothes. After washing a full load, remove approximately half and switch to the dryer setting.
Our Best Buy washer-dryers all have decent reliability scroes, but lesser brands tend to be more unreliable than a separate washer and dryer.
Luxe brands include Miele and AEG Electrolux.
We haven’t found any compact washing machines or tumble dryers that are good enough to be Best Buys because there’s little room for clothes to move around.
Large appliances for your kitchen makeover
There’s a trend to super-size appliances among manufacturers. LG has brought out a washing machine that can clean a huge 11kg of laundry, compared with a typical 6kg capacity, but the space that it needs is no larger than a standard size machine (LG F1443KD).
Some large dishwashers now have space for 14 place settings. However, the Atag VA9611TT can hold a vast 17 place settings – extra space comes from having the detergent dispenser in the upper rack rather than the door, which is super slim and three baskets that hold all of your crockery.
Bigger can equal better
In our tests, we’ve found that bigger is often better. In washing machines, outsized drums allow laundry to move more freely, making cleaning more effective and spinning better.
Having a generously proportioned tumble dryer drum allows clothes to tumble from a greater height, so they dry faster.
Wider dishwashers mean spray arms can spurt water over an extended area, effectively blasting pots and pans clean.
While super-size appliances are good for large households (at least five people), they’re only economical if you fill them every time. Half loads will waste energy and water.
If you’ve got a lot of mouths to feed, an immense Best Buy built-in double oven should be able to cater for all of your family’s needs. We’ve also rated many vast American-style fridge freezers.
