8 things our dishwasher expert wouldn’t do

For about 10 years, our dishwasher expert Erin Bennett has been poring over these results and deciding what overall score each machine will get. With a decade of thinking about dishwashers under her belt, she knows a thing or two about how to open the door to sparkling dishes.

So, we asked Erin what common dishwasher mistakes we might be making in the hope her tips will save you time, money and frustration when you put on your next load.

Common mistakes you could be making

1. Leaving the door closed while the dishes cool down

Erin says opening the dishwasher door just a few inches and letting the dishes air-dry for about an hour will mean you don’t have to get the tea towel out. Just make sure the steam can escape out a window, so you’re not transferring the problem of damp dishes to a damp house.

2. Ignoring the auto-sensing mode

If your dishwasher has auto-sensing mode you could save time, energy and water by leaving it up to your dishwasher to detect how much it needs of each.

3. Rinsing dishes under the tap first

If Erin could have a dollar for every time she’s had an argument about this! Despite a lot of people insisting that you can’t put your dishes straight in the dishwasher without running them under water, Erin hasn’t budged on this one. “Scrape off the food scraps but most dishwashers have a rinse cycle at the start of the wash, so if you rinse them in the sink, you’re just doing it twice.”

4. Having cutlery pointing up in the basket

Doing this gives Erin the heebie-jeebies. The pointy end of knives and forks should always go down, she says. But if you’re talking spoons, put some up and some down so they can’t have a cuddle.

5. Buying any old dishwasher detergent

We’ve made our dishwasher detergent test free for everyone to see. While some expensive Finish products dominate the top of the results, there are some much cheaper products from other brands that also get our recommendation.

6. Putting up with items hitting the spray arm

You might not know how easy it is to adjust the position of the top basket to give any higher dishes in the bottom basket more room. It’s usually just a case of lifting it up until it locks into its new position.

7. Not giving your dishwasher a hot wash every now and then

If you want your dishwasher to clean your dishes, you’ve got to give your dishwasher a clean sometimes. Even if you tend to the filter regularly, there are hard-to-see parts that can get grease and limescale build-up. So, Erin recommends an occasional hot cycle when it’s empty.

8. Buying an unreliable brand of dishwasher

There are two brands we rate the lowest for reliability – Smeg and Electrolux. Then there’s the one with the lowest customer-satisfaction rating – Haier. Think twice before you buy!