Indesit DI-450

I have had my Indesit now for approximately nine months. It was allegedly "free of charge" with the kitchen I bought, (obviously we are all to simple to work out the price of the kitchen is hiked up to cover it). Any way. here is my opinion of the machine.

General Description
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Firstly the dishwasher is "Fully Integrated". ...
...is not possible with the Indesit machine, however this is again a reflection on the price.

Wash Performance
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I don't have the faintest idea how the official figures for these are calculated. Officially these are rated as "B", having said that I have found the wash performance to be very good. To a large degree the wash performance ... more

I have had my Indesit now for approximately nine months. It was allegedly "free of charge" with the kitchen I bought, (obviously we are all to simple to work out the price of the kitchen is hiked up to cover it). Any way. here is my opinion of the machine.

General Description
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Firstly the dishwasher is "Fully Integrated". This means that the appliance is designed to be hidden away or disguised as one of your kitchen cupboards rather than just free standing.
This appliance is hardly top of the range and is more of an entry level budget appliance, as they say "You get what you pay for". Dishwashers are generally available in two different sizes, the first being standard size and the second being slimline. The particular model is "Slimline" and is designed to fit into a standard 500mm housing. In relation to the size buyers should be aware that these are designed for light to moderate use and not really suitable for large families. The dishwasher is marketed as a nine place setting. I may be wrong with this, but as I understand it this means that the dishwasher will cope with a dinner service for nine people. If this is the case all I can say is "best of luck". It is a bit like "how many people can you get into a phone box". If your plates and dishes etc are all of a standard regulation size than it may be possible, however in the real world "It just ain't going to happen!"

Internal design
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In general the layout of the trays are well designed to make maximum use of the space available. Loading of the dishwasher is easy enough and the controls are very easy to access and operate at the top of the door opening. Loading the detergent / rinse aid is again easy to access and strait forward. Not quite as easy is the salt compartment which can be awkward and require a certain amount of contortionist training to access without half of it ending up on the dishwasher floor.
The big disappointment for me is the fixed top shelf. Admittedly rarely required, it can be very useful to lower or raise the height of the top tray to accommodate larger items. Sadly this is not possible with the Indesit machine, however this is again a reflection on the price.

Wash Performance
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I don't have the faintest idea how the official figures for these are calculated. Officially these are rated as "B", having said that I have found the wash performance to be very good. To a large degree the wash performance results do depend on the quality of detergent used. Very very occasionally items that have been baked on need to go in for a second attempt, however this is the exception rather than the rule.

Wash programmes
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There are five different wash programmes on the machine consisting of the following:

Heavy intensive wash for heavily soiled items including oven ware with baked on food.

Standard wash, this programme is designed for medium stained dishes with pots and pans etc. To date I have never used this programme ass the Eco wash does a great job.

Eco wash is basically for every day washing. This programme will remove all but the most heavily baked on items.

Quick wash, very similar to that on a washing machine. This is designed for the sort of things you would normally throw in the washing up bowl such as plates and cups etc.

Soak, I must admit I have never used this or really seen the point of it. The idea is that as the name suggest soak the dishes prior to washing.

Drying Performance
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Drying performance on the machine is rated as "A" in actual use, I have found drying to be very good. Once again this to a certain degree is aided by the quality of rinse aid used. With the exception of the "Quick Wash" programme, every thing does come out dry and relatively quickly.
The machine uses what is referred to as residual drying. A little piece of trivia I picked up from the service engineer is that dishwashers use two forms of drying. The first being "Residual" and the second being "Hot Air". The hot air system involves re-heating the the air inside the cabinet and blowing it around the inside. Although this method is quicker, it is less energy efficient as it is in essence the same process as running a tumble dryer. Residual drying uses the heat generated during the wash cycle, although this takes longer, it is far more energy efficient. Presumably opting for this method goes a long way to the "A" rating the machine has got for energy efficiency.

Criticism
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There are only two minor niggly points I would criticise with this machine. As previously mentioned, the first being the fixed height of the top loading shelf. The second being the noise levels produced by the machine during its wash cycle. I wouldn't say it was overly excessive, but than again it's not what you would call quiet either. With both of these points though, you need to bare in mind the initial cost of the appliance. If you want quiet and flexible, you have to expect to pay more.

Warranty
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The warranty is the standard 12 months parts and labour. There is an option to take out additional cover at a reasonable price direct with Indesit.
Regardless of what you pay for an appliance, things can go wrong. I did have to call an engineer out to the machine approximately six moths into use as the machine had stopped taking in water. I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised with their level of professionalism with regards to after sales service. When calling I was expecting the "Well we can't get out to you for another three weeks" scenario. In contrast, they arranged for an engineer to come out three days later. The engineer was on time, courteous and had the machine running again within minutes which to my mind was a first class service.

Opinion
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Would I recommend this appliance?
Depending on your budget I would say yes. If you are on a restricted budget and specifically want integrated, than this does the job. On the other hand if you can stretch your budget, eliminating the two criticism's above would be worth the extra cost.

Finally thank you for reading my review, it may well have bored the pants off some, but hopefully will be useful to others.

Specifications
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Dimensions (cm) (H)82.0 x (W)44.5 x (D)55.0
Manufacturer Warranty 1 Year(s)
Energy Rating A Rated
Wash Performance B Rated
Drying Performance A Rated
Drying Method Residual Heat
Noise Level 55 dB
Number of Place Settings 9 Place Setting
Number of Programmes 5
Energy Consumption 0.81 Kwh
Water Consumption 14 Litres 

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