Beko DWD4310

...kept jumping out was the Beko DWD4310W, which was a standalone dishwasher in white, which was the same colour as our fridge, was marketed as a 12 Place Dishwasher, which more than fitted the bill for our family of four, and was available from the Co-op Electrical shop for £174.99. Whilst this price didn't include installation, I figured that it couldn't be much more difficult that it was to install a washing machine which even a DIY novice like me ...
...this review, the co-op electrical store also dispose of your old disconnected appliance for a fee of £14.99. So having ordered the machine I then sat back and waited for it to arrive, growing increasingly frustrated at having to wash dishes manually for the best part of a week.

~~~~ How easy was the machine to install ~~~~

Now I'm not sure whether this issue is unique to ourselves, but the water outlet pipe was too wide ... more

What is it with electrical products. Is it just me or is it that when one product breaks down another one or two soon follow suit. As most of you will be aware if you have read my previous reviews, my washing machine was sent to its maker in the summer of 2007, and just after having this installed, my dishwasher decided to join it in sympathy. Basically the hinges had gone on it, and the door would now no longer close. With two small children about, the risk of the door falling on them was not worth taking, and given the likely cost of repair, it was decided it was time to invest in a new machine.

Before moving into our current house five years ago I had always considered a dishwasher to be a bit of a luxury item, and indeed for many months I continued to wash the pots in the sink, and the dishwasher wasn't really used. The only real exception to this was at Christmas, where if you weren't careful you could literally spend all day washing pots. However, since the birth of our second child just over two years ago, any device which saves a little bit of time is a godsend, and now I am in a situation where I simply couldn't live without my dishwasher. That and the fact that there would be a big gap where the previous machine was located anyway.

~~~~ So what criteria did you look for when deciding which machine to purchase ~~~~~

Although our previous machine was an integrated dishwasher, these tend to be more expensive that stand alone versions, and as we already had a stand alone fridge in the kitchen, it wouldn't make the kitchen look ungainly if we purchased a standalone dishwasher. In addition, we didn't want a condensed machine, as we had a space in our kitchen which we wanted to fully utilise, and also one which would easily accommodate the every day cutlery and crockery needs of a family of four. Cost was also clearly a factor, but for those of you who have read my previous reviews, make was not a particularly important concept for me.

~~~ So which machine ticked all the boxes ~~~~~

Having done a price comparison on various internet sites, the machine which kept jumping out was the Beko DWD4310W, which was a standalone dishwasher in white, which was the same colour as our fridge, was marketed as a 12 Place Dishwasher, which more than fitted the bill for our family of four, and was available from the Co-op Electrical shop for £174.99. Whilst this price didn't include installation, I figured that it couldn't be much more difficult that it was to install a washing machine which even a DIY novice like me had managed to undertake. Whilst not directly relevant to this review, the co-op electrical store also dispose of your old disconnected appliance for a fee of £14.99. So having ordered the machine I then sat back and waited for it to arrive, growing increasingly frustrated at having to wash dishes manually for the best part of a week.

~~~~ How easy was the machine to install ~~~~

Now I'm not sure whether this issue is unique to ourselves, but the water outlet pipe was too wide to fit through the hope which had been drilled in the property to enable the pipe to be connected to the waste pipe. This necessitated me having to cut the end of the pipe, to make it a little thinner, but even then it was still too wide to fit through without a lot of messing about with pushing the old pipe through from outside, inserting this inside the new pipe, getting my wife to hold the two pipes together as tight as she could whilst I pulled the pipe from outside. As I say I'm not sure if this problem is unique to us, but I guess not. Connection to the water hose was straightforward, and for information, the machine is fitted with just a cold water inlet which is more energy efficient.

~~~ So after much cursing and swearing, is there anything else we need to know about the installation process ~~~

The product guidelines advise you to select a pre-wash programme before using the machine for the first time to remove any excess water which may still be in the machine following production testing etc.

The product guidelines also advise you to add 1 litre of water to the salt container before the first wash. However, I found that when I came to add the salt, there wasn't an awful lot of room left to add any salt, so I would be tempted to add the water, run the initial pre-wash programme without salt, and then add the salt when you come to use the machine in earnest.

~~~~ So what are the dimensions for this machine? ~~~~

Height = 850 mm
Width = 598 mm
Depth = 598 mm

The beauty of this machine is that the worktop can be removed from the machine if you have a tight space to work with which then makes the height of the machine 820 mm and the depth of the machine 570 mm.

As you would expect, the machine is supplied with adjustable feet to ensure that it can be perfectly levelled.

~~~ You mentioned salt earlier, do I have to use special salt ~~~~

You should only use special pelletized dishwasher salt to soften the hard water. Other types of salt do not dissolve easily and will damage the appliance.

When the dishwasher is run, the water softener will be full of water, so salt should only be added before you start the dishwasher. There is supposedly a visual indicator so that you can see when the salt dispenser is full, but it is not the easiest thing to actually see. Because the float supposedly drops and is no longer visible when the salt container needs to be filled, if you can't see it at the best of times, you run the risk of operating the machine with no salt in it.

~~~~ Although it's advertised as a 12 place dishwasher, how many place settings can you fit ~~~~

Realistically, I think you would struggle to fit 12 place setting into this dishwasher in one go. However, there is easily enough space for breakfast and dinner pots, with a little bit of space left over. One downside with this machine is the time that it takes to complete the cycles so you wouldn't want to be using it more that you really need to.

~~~~ So how long are the cycles then ~~~~

There are four separate washing functions available with this machine which range from a 14 minute prewash, to a 136 minute economy wash. There is a rapid wash programme which is designed for lightly soiled dishes which lasts thirty minutes, but frankly this programme doesn't work if you have the remotest hint of dried on food on your dishes, and then you have to put it through the full 2 hour plus programme in addition. There is also an Intensive programme which washes heavily soiled dishes. Whilst this takes slightly less time than the economy programme it isn't as efficient.

Because we pretty much use the economy programme all the time, we tend to put the machine on last thing at night, so that when we get up in the morning, the pots have been washed, and have also cooled down.

The other point I would add here, is that the machine is a lot louder than the previous machine which I had, which may be something to consider if you can't shut the door where the machine is located.

~~~~Overall Opinion ~~~~~

Whilst I have niggles with the machine, particularly with the width of the outlet hose, the difficulty in reading the visual indicator to see if more salt is required, and the length of time of the wash cycle (my previous machine completed the cycle in about an hour and was also a lot quieter than this machine), the quality of the cleaning is second to none, which when all is said and done, is the main function of a dishwasher. In this regard, for the money which we paid, I would highly recommend the machine. 

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