Best dishwashers 2020

Q: Best dishwashers: what features should you look out for?

Delay start - most dishwashers come with a delay timer, which allows you to set the dishwasher hours before you want the wash program to start. Adjustable racks - if you regularly host dinner parties you might want adjustable racks so you can fit platters and wine glasses in with ease. A child-safe lock - will protect your dishwasher’s control panel from curious little fingers. Smart features – this allows you to control and monitor your dishwasher remotely via an app on your smartphone or tablet. Automatic open door drying – this opens the door of your dishwasher slightly near the end of your wash to let the steam escape, allowing your dishes to dry better. Sensor wash or fuzzy logic – a more advanced feature, this measures how dirty the dishes are, and adjusts the temperature and length of the wash accordingly. Which? experts offer advice on how to buy the best dishwasher in our dishwasher buying guide

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Choose the best dishwasher for you

Buying a great dishwasher means kissing goodbye to washing up by hand. Our expert guide tells you what you need to know to buy the best dishwasher for your home.

One dishwasher may look like another, but our rigorous tests have revealed huge differences in how well they clean and dry. The best will leave your crockery gleaming, while the worst will see you standing at the sink re-washing still grubby plates and bowls.

Picking the right model for you also comes down to your budget, the size of your kitchen and the capacity and features you want.

Best dishwashers: what features should you look out for?

Delay start - most dishwashers come with a delay timer, which allows you to set the dishwasher hours before you want the wash program to start.
Adjustable racks - if you regularly host dinner parties you might want adjustable racks so you can fit platters and wine glasses in with ease.
A child-safe lock - will protect your dishwasher’s control panel from curious little fingers.
Smart features – this allows you to control and monitor your dishwasher remotely via an app on your smartphone or tablet.
Automatic open door drying – this opens the door of your dishwasher slightly near the end of your wash to let the steam escape, allowing your dishes to dry better.
Sensor wash or fuzzy logic – a more advanced feature, this measures how dirty the dishes are, and adjusts the temperature and length of the wash accordingly.

Which? experts offer advice on how to buy the best dishwasher in our dishwasher buying guide.

Best dishwashers for running costs

Be careful not to pick an inefficient machine. Although most models have an A rating for energy efficiency, this doesn’t mean they won’t guzzle gallons of water during each wash. Which? rates each machine out of five stars for water and energy use. Shop smart and you could save yourself £37 every year.

Our best buy dishwashers not only ensure your items are left sparkling clean but also using less water in the process. If you only put your dishwasher on when it's full, the best will use less water than the usual washing up bowl, despite cleaning more than a hundred items.

Our top rated dishwasher has been awarded an "energy saver" badge and can use up to 40% less energy and 25% less water than other models.

View all of our best buy dishwasher reviews >

Best dishwashers for 2020

We've selected our pick of the best dishwashers to help you find the right model for your home.

These models are great all-rounders and will leave your dishes sparkling clean - they are the very best dishwashers that we've tested this year.

Best dishwashers overall

86%

£999.00

Reviewed Sep 2020

Balancing cleaning and drying power with energy efficiency is a tricky task, but this model does just that. It can whisk away a whole menu of grime and dirt, all while saving you money on your energy bills.

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85%

£669.00

Reviewed May 2019

This dishwasher flew through our tests without breaking a sweat. It cleans and dries fantastically and is easy to load and unload. Sure, we've found others that are a little bit more efficient. But what sets this dishwasher apart, and gives it a lead over most, is that it runs almost silently.

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Best dishwashers by size: full-width, slimline and compact

Whether you want a compact, slimline or full-sized dishwasher, we’ve got a top-scoring model for you. Hundreds of dishwashers have passed through our labs, including models from Beko, Bosch, Hotpoint, Miele, Zanussi and others. The picks in the table below are some of the very best dishwashers we’ve tested.

Best full-width dishwasher

86%

£999.00

Reviewed Sep 2020

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Best slimline dishwasher

75%

£599.00

Reviewed Oct 2020

This is one of the best slimline dishwashers we’ve ever tested. It cleans and dries brilliantly enough to be a Best Buy.

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Best compact dishwasher

58%

£839.00

Reviewed Mar 2018

This semi-integrated one-drawer dishwasher that has room for 60 items. It has a child lock, a delayed start feature and six programs to choose from. But can this dinky drawer dishwasher get your dirty dishes sparkling clean? Read the full review to find out how it coped with sticky baked-on egg, spinach and mince in our tough lab tests.

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Best dishwasher by type: freestanding and integrated

Freestanding dishwashers are designed for front door to remain fully visible. They're available in a range of colours white, black, grey and silver.

Integrated dishwashers are designed to be incorporated into built-in kitchens. They fall into two categories fully integrated and semi integrated. Fully integrated dishwashers are hidden behind a kitchen cabinet door. Semi-integrated – where most of the front is covered, but the control panel is left visible at the top.

Best freestanding dishwasher

85%

£949.00

Reviewed Sep 2020

If you’re looking for a freestanding dishwasher, they don’t come much better than this. It can clean and dry brilliantly, is energy efficient, and has lots of great features which makes it easier to use.

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Best fully integrated dishwasher

86%

£999.00

Reviewed Sep 2020

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How much should you spend to buy the best dishwasher?

Whether you’re looking for a freestanding, integrated dishwasher or the best slimline disahwasher, our experts discovered that spending a fortune doesn’t guarantee quality. In fact, Which? have uncovered an £800 dishwasher that does such a bad job we've labelled it a Don't Buy, and Best Buy-rated models for half the price.

We currently have 50 Best Buy dishwashers including a budget option that costs less than £220 and our top-rated model is under £630.

Cheapest Best Buy dishwasher

75%

£249.00

Reviewed Oct 2018

Apart from being noisy, this dishwasher is fantastic, and it passed our tough cleaning tests with flying colours. It dries well, doesn't leave watermarks and the eco program doesn't use much water or electricity.

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What are the best dishwasher brands?

Discover the best and most reliable dishwasher brands, according to our Which? independent test lab reviews and survey of dishwasher owners.

We’ve asked thousands of Which? members about their dishwashers, to find out which brands impress when you install them at home. Our tough tests have also uncovered plenty of Best Buy machines that will leave your crockery and cutlery spotless, but we've also found some that fail to shift grime.

Our research means you can now see at a glance the brands that should give you unrivalled cleaning over a number of years and those that could prove a costly waste of money.

Below, we share what we’ve learnt about the big dishwasher brands – such as Bosch, Hotpoint, Indesit and Miele – and bring you the top dishwasher brands for 2020.

Compare best dishwashers by brand

View Beko dishwashers >

View Bosch dishwashers >

View Hotpoint dishwashers >

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View Miele dishwashers >

Don't Buy dishwashers to avoid

Some dishwashers do such a poor job of cleaning and drying in our tests that we’ve labelled them with our Don’t By warning. They're annoyingly noisy and the worst are a chore to load and unload, too. The Don't Buy dishwashers below are definitely best avoided.

42%

£399.00

Reviewed May 2012

Despite coming from a reputable brand, this dishwasher disappointed. Quite simply put, it is one of the worst cleaners we've ever seen.

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36%

£608.00

Reviewed May 2017

We weren't impressed by this dishwasher. It's difficult to use and dreadful at cleaning, so you can expect to find traces of last night's supper left behind on your freshly washed dishes. It's definitely one to avoid so we've made it a Don't Buy.

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33%

£939.00

Reviewed Jun 2017

This semi-integrated one-drawer dishwasher that has room for 60 items. This 2017 model, however, failed to clean our dirty dishes, and is a disappointing Don't Buy.

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How we test dishwashers

Which? is independent – we work for you, the consumer, so you can be sure that our dishwasher recommendations are influenced only by our test results. We don’t take advertising and we buy all the products that we assess ourselves. With more than 50 years expertise in testing appliances, you can trust that we’re the experts in separating the good from the bad.

Every dishwasher is assessed in the Which? test lab using a strict range of criteria. From how easy the machine is to load to how much water and energy it uses, our tests will reveal everything you need to know about a dishwasher.

Most importantly, we check how well each dishwasher cleans. We dirty dishes with milk, tea, minced meat, eggs, oat flakes, spinach and margarine, baking on these substances in a heated cabinet to ensure we give dishwashers a tough, realistic test. We then go one step further and add in some clean dishes to the load, to see if the dishwasher spreads grime around the dishwasher - you wouldn’t want to buy a machine that just moves dirt from one plate to another.