10 best dishwashers

Hands up – who feels like they spend their lives loading and unloading the dishwasher? With our help, you can find the right dishwasher for you and bring a bit of sparkle back into the kitchen. When looking for the right model, consider your space and what you want on show. Standard dishwashers will take the 600mm-wide space of the average kitchen unit, which will tackle an average of 12 place settings. You may want to integrate the machine into your existing kitchen look, so check with your kitchen manufacturer if there’s a matching door available to affix to an integral model. Go slimline if you have only 450mm to spare or consider a table-top version if space is really limited. 

With features such as wifi connectivity, height-adjustable shelves and baskets and sensors to gauge if water is clean enough to recycle for another rinse, there is a lot more to it than soap and water. The energy ratings for models here range from ultra-eco A+++ (Miele) to A (Indesit) and so can all be classed as energy-efficient in terms of cost to run as other new models can score all the way through to a D rating. Eco wash programmes will help save money, too. Although they take longer (typically about three hours) they use cooler water to get results. The decibel reading will also appear on the ratings label, so do consider the noise your dishwasher will make, especially if you are living in an open-plan space. We put a range of machines to the test to find the “best in class” for different size and space needs.