Best dishwasher 2024: keep your kitchen and cookware spick and span

The best dishwashers are life-changing, time-saving and energy-saving all in one. They're not just good for the environment, but good for your bank balance, enabling you to get your dishes squeaky clean without using frightening amounts of electricity or wasting water.

No matter how many people you're cooking for, you'll find a dishwasher in this guide to get your cutlery clean, your plates and pots perfect and your glassware glistening. The best dishwasher for you may be one that's more compact or more affordable than others, or it may be required to replace an integrated model or sit on a countertop without taking up too much space. While the models here are all quite different, they all deliver excellent value for money.

In this guide, we'll show you the best dishwashers for country kitchens, small flats, open-plan living and cramped quarters. No matter which one you choose, we can promise this: it'll save you tons of time, so you can spend it doing something more fun than scrubbing pots and pans.

Best dishwashers ranking 2024

This best-selling mid-priced 60cm freestanding Bosch has space for 13 place settings and a smorgasbord of features, including wi-fi connectivity, five wash programs, automatic door opening, two separate cutlery holders and a decent Class C certificate for energy consumption.

Let’s start with the cutlery. Most cheaper dishwashers use a simple removable cutlery basket on the bottom which inevitably gets in the way when it comes to loading extra plates or pots and pans. This model also comes with a lower basket but it also features a separate cutlery tray above the top rack. In other words, you get the best of both worlds.

Like all decent dishwashers, the Series 6 is equipped with a two-stage height-adjustable top rack and six foldable plate racks in the bottom rack. Unlike most other models, this one’s top rack also features an ingenious Extra Clean Zone comprising three rotating water nozzles that blast cement-like dried Weetabix off cereal bowls.

There’s no shortage of programs on offer with this machine. In fact there are five main washing options – Eco 50°C, Auto 45-65°C , Intensive 70°C, Express 65° and Silence 50°C – plus a gaggle of handy ancillary functions – Remote Start, EfficientDry, Half Load and SpeedPerfect+. The interface itself is tucked away out of sight in the top of the door though there is a highly visible digital countdown on the front fascia.

Users rate this model very highly, siting its ability to complete a full wash in one hour when using the Express setting. They also love the countdown LED on the front, the automatic door opening for efficient drying and its overall silence when in operation. Highly recommended, in other words.

Fully integrated dishwashers are a brilliant option for fitted kitchens where everything is hidden from view to create a neat, uncluttered appearance. However, they are best installed at the same time as the kitchen is being fitted. This is because the front fascia of the dishwasher is designed to be replaced with the same decorative panel that matches the rest of your kitchen cabinets. Retro fitting a dishwasher panel to match an existing kitchen is much more difficult, simply because it’s harder to source a panel that perfectly matches the rest of the cabinets, especially if they were installed years ago. Always bear this in mind if going for a fully integrated machine.

Now that’s out the way, what’s the Siemens iQ500 like and, more importantly, would you be happy having it in your home? Absolutely. This is a sterling machine from a high-end brand, so chances are reliability will not be an issue. The iQ500 has no door handle for added aesthetics – you simply push the panel to unlock – and it comes with an excellent feature set, including an aquaSensor that monitors the amount of dirt in the water, adjusting its water output accordingly and Zeolith drying which uses natural minerals to absorb moisture and magically replace it with heat which in turn speeds up the drying process without using extra energy.

The iQ500 has a capacity for 13 place settings and features a glass zone with silicone surfaces for extra protection plus six dedicated spray nozzles. The flexComfort baskets, meanwhile, allow for a number of stacking permutations while up above there’s a wide cutlery drawer with space for small espresso cups. The whole shebang is beautifully lit from within and there is even a pair of side lights for added atmosphere.

This is not the cheapest of dishwashers, mind, but there are some great deals to be found if you do some research.

You know you're living in the future when you're controlling your dishwasher from your smartphone, and that's exactly what you get with the Miele G7110 SC – you can start washing and drying cycles remotely, check up on the status of the machine, and even order more detergent through the accompanying app (or via voice control).

There's an integrated system for holding enough detergent for up to 20 loads, and dispensing just enough each time, so you don't have to measure detergent out every single time you want to get some plates, knives, forks and glasses cleaned. You also get what's called a 3D Multiflex tray, specially designed to allow you to load smaller items like cutlery or chopsticks more efficiently.

The economy of the Miele G7110 SC is really good, the controls are nice and straightforward, and included among its modes is a quick power wash setting that's handy if you want to give the contents of your dishwasher a fast blast with soap and hot water. Definitely one of the best dishwashers around at the moment.

Aside from its ability to accommodate a substantial 14 place settings, the matte black freestanding LG TrueSteam QuadWash DF455HMS comes with a broad assortment of impressive tech, including four washing arms instead of the usual two for proper blitzing of all and sundry, dual zone washing for heavily soiled pots and delicate dishes, automatic door opening at the end of the session to promote natural drying and, as the moniker suggests, the power of steam to loosen the sticky remnants of last night’s lasagne and help reduce water marks on glassware. Like all the best dishwashers, this one also comes with height-adjustable racks, foldable tines and a space-saving cutlery tray at the top.

You get ten programs with this machine, including intensive, delicate, express, eco and, for the ultimate in spotless cleaning, a turbo wash sequence which is said to deep clean heavily soiled dishes in less than an hour. And, for those who like using an app with their home gear, this one lets you download new wash cycles, adjust its preferences to suit your lifestyle and diagnose any technical issues. It will also send you a reminder when it’s time to select the self cleaning cycle. 

The LG TrueSteam QuadWash DF455HMS is at the higher end of the price spectrum but its excellent C energy rating suggests that, in the long term at least, it should be cheaper to run than many other dishwashers on this list.

This fully integrated 13 place settings model from the house of Neff comes with a variety of useful features, including a Chef 70°C programme that is said to remove all manner of baked on substances by ramping up the spray pressure and increasing the water temperature – a perfect setting for overly grubby pots, pans and casserole dishes.

The Neff N 50 comes with Flex II baskets which means you can adapt the space inside to your individual needs. Crucially, this model also features a cutlery tray rather than a basket. Cutlery trays take a little longer to stack but the method ensures cleaner cutlery and more space in the bottom basket for larger items.

Integrated dishwashers have all the controls hidden from view in the top of the door – including all exterior lights – and this can make it difficult to tell if the machine is in the middle of a cycle, especially if it’s a quiet machine like this model. With this in mind, Neff has fitted the N 50 with a red light that shines on the floor so you always know when it’s on.

Figure in Neff’s Home Connect app-controlled smart washing and you have a fully featured machine that is both efficient as well as functional.

The Beko BDFN15430W is particularly suitable for anyone looking to spend as little money as possible on their next dishwasher. You miss out on some extra bells and whistles as a result, but it's a trade-off that a lot of people are going to be fine with.

What you do get with the Beko BDFN15430W are 14 place settings, four programmes to pick from (including a quick 30-minute cycle and a 58-minute Quick&Shine for fuller loads), and four different wash temperatures. It's a straightforward, no nonsense dishwasher that's not going to let you down in terms of the speed or the quality of its washing cycles. And it's not bad in terms of energy and water use either, though fancier models do better, of course.

Not every home has enough room for a full-sized dishwasher, so if you're short of kitchen space, a slimline dishwasher such as this Bosch is an excellent solution. It has room for nine place settings, can do a quick wash in just 40 minutes and is frugal with its water usage. It's quiet, too, so it won't interrupt your chat if you're entertaining. We particularly like the extra cutlery tray at the top for smaller items.

The Bosch Serie 4 features an auto programme that runs for as long as required and an Extra Dry function that leaves ensures everything is properly dried, including pesky plastics. It’s wi-fi connected, too, so you can keep track of things without getting off your butt.

If you have a small kitchen or live on a houseboat or narrowboat, this model is pretty much a shoo-in.

If you have a fully integrated kitchen and find loading a dishwasher a physical chore that requires bending when your body no longer wants to bend, this cracking model from Fisher & Paykel might just fit the bill.

This dishwasher is quite unlike any other on the market because it slides out on a drawer which can be positioned at waist height. This make loading and unloading a comparable breeze whether you’re physically less supple than you used to be or fit as a fiddle. The New Zealand-based producer of higher-end kitchen appliances produces two types of dish drawer, a double-drawer version or the single drawer model we’re looking at here.

The stainless steel-clad DD60SDFHTX9 measures 82cm in height, a standard 60cm in width and 56cm in depth, so it’s a good size for most standard kitchen cabinets. Inside you get a modest six place settings and a cutlery basket. Despite the machine’s smaller proportions, the main plate rack is capable of accommodating extra large plates up to 31cm in diameter. Plus you get space on the side for bowls and two fold-down side racks for cups and mugs.

Granted, this machine is quite pricey for the size and facilities on offer, and it’s not the most economical to run, but if you’re after a dishwasher that is much more practical than the norm, head over to your favourite online store and snap one up.

Bosch doesn’t do things by halves although in this instance, perhaps it does. The Serie 4 is a table-top dishwasher for those who don’t have the space but still despise washing dishes by hand. It comes with enough space to accommodate six average-sized dinner plates, a few side plates, a quartet of mugs, a carving knife or two and a clutch of cutlery.

Like most mid-priced dishwashers, it also comes equipped with a sensor that measures the level of contents within and adjusts water consumption accordingly. And because it’s pretty quiet, it shouldn’t disturb the peace if you live in a studio or open-plan.

The Serie 4 features five washing cycles from 40 to 70 degrees C, and does a solid job with most things. It’s pricey for its size, but if you're allergic to doing the washing but strapped for space, the Serie 4 could be an absolute godsend.

How to buy the best dishwasher

If you've not bought a dishwasher for a few years (or ever) you may be surprised to find that the cutlery basket at the bottom is now a cutlery drawer at the top. We initially found these fiddly to fill – more so than dumping a load of spoons and forks in a basket, certainly – but we've come to appreciate the improved cleaning and increased space on the bottom shelf.

By definition however, cutlery drawers do leave less space in the top shelf, so tall wine glasses, for instance, will now have to be relegated to the bottom. That aside, buying a dishwasher is pretty simple: measure up, pick a budget and get down the shops to inspect the goods, if possible. We don't recommend slimline dishwashers unless space is really at a premium; they're just never as good (and usually, not very space-saving either).

We don't really subscribe to the idea that there is a 'correct' way to load a dishwasher. So long as you don't totally overload your machine – and keep it topped up with salt and rinse aid – you should get decent cleaning results for years, even from the cheap machines.