Kenwood KDW243A > Reviews > Kenwood KDW243A Integrated Dishwasher

Author's product rating:   

Performance	Excellent
Ease of use	Easy
Durability	Long
Noise	Low
Value for money	Excellent

Advantages:	Triple A rated, 7 Programs, Cheap
Disadvantages:	Limited top basket  see review

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I purchased the item then read reviews on other websites.
At this point i was regreating the purchase as it sounded to be a bad integrated dishwasher well most reviews i read about the ones i liked were bad. comments were complaining it was small inside and wine glasses did not fit in and that if you had large dinner plates the top washer arm got caught so it did not clean the top basket.
I felt sick inside reading review after review thinking what have i done should have replaced my Zanussi DA6141 with the Zanussi ZDW 321 which was £269.99 at currys.
Well if youve seen the bad reviews read on as you may well be pleasently surprised
Our Zanussi dishwasher stopped working after 3 years, it stopped taking in water , the appliance of science was dead, My dad looked at it and it could have been the control board which failed, fixing it would have cost about £100 and what else was going to stop working once this was fixed

Since the freestanding Zanussi items in our kitchen fail to work we are replacing them with integrated items one by one. One down 3 to go
Kenwood Dishwasher bing the first
Price £249.99 Currys as of october 2007
Size 600mmx 810mmx580mm WxHxD i.e fits where a freestanding unit fits. just need a door to fit in with the kitchen
Spec:
Size: Full sized
Place settings: 12
Rating: AAA Its a triple A rated item so good for the environment
Water consumption: 16 litres on a standard wash again good for your pocket and the environment
Energy Consumption: 1.05Kw per wash again saves you money
Settings: 7 Individual wash programs normally you will only ever use one but the option of 7 programs as opposed to 4 on other machines is an advantage, You never know
Timer: Timer delyer for start so great for those on economy7 and dual electric tariffs, you dont have to wait up to start it
Quick Wash
Compared to Integrated Items below the kenwood is better because
Homark 249.99 @ Argos B Rated better as its AAA rated
Proline 199.99 @ Comet B Rated as above
Matsui 249.99 @ Currys B Rated as above
Compared to Freestanding
Zanussi ZDW321 269.99 @ Currys cheaper
Zanussi ZDW501 309.99 @ Currys far cheaper

Underpinnings
As we all know most of the big brands are now owned by other companies
Kenwood is part of the Hotpoint Matsui range, you can tell this by opening up the machines and looking for similarities in the trays and interior fittings infact the proline looked similar inside too

Size wise i will give it a bit of a thumbs down and up with the top basket in the low position you can not fit large plates but you can fit wine glasses in the top basket and if the top basket is in the upper position tall wine glasses will not fit but what you do is put the tall glasses in the bottom, problem solved, another nifty little thing is the rear plate racks are foldable meaning they both fold flat to the basket base so larger items can be placed on the bottom basket so for design it gets a thumbs up
Kenwood have managed to shoehorn in a lot of racking and although the plates are closely packed even on a quick wash with sainsbury's own brand 3 in 1 tablets the results are better than our Zanussi it repalced, no more baked bean encrusted bowls or dirty plates
The bottom basket is the same size as the Hotpoint freestanding model it is based on, top basket is smaller but this is because the control panel is mounted in te door rather than on it so the door panel cuts into the space a little bit more but we are talking 1 cm at the most

Powder Dispenser:
Yes it works unlike the Zanussi which caught on the upper basket and not dispensing the tablet or powder ,

Please note i do not have a downer on the zanussi as we got given it brand new for free but I always considered it to be a superior brand but zanussi does not live up to it old reputation and the new dishwasher is proving to be a good buy in the end

Delivery:
Collected it from store, we ordered it sunday collected wednesday

Look out for the replacements to the fridge, freezer and washing machine hopefully not too soon