I have checked it out, the Bosch SKT5102 worktop dishwasher.
A worktop, freestanding dishwasher, with a decent sized wash compartment. Cleans relatively quickly and quietly. Spoilt by a small dishwashing tablet compartment and a strange cutlery holder.
The unit is white, with a dial programme selector, on/off button, door open button and a window to see salt levels. The door is drop down and the washing basket slides easily to the front, giving ample room to wash up 4 place settings with cutlery.
Not being any sort of DIY enthusiast, we called a plumber and it was fitted within about 15 minutes, this included cutting a hole for the water pipes in the
kitchen work surface. The machine is cold fill, so there is only one small-bore input and one drain to deal with.
The dishwasher has a one way valve for incoming water and you just need to ensure you have sufficient water pressure to open this valve, which should be the case in most kitchen water supplies, but may be a consideration if you are intending to put this on a high work surface in the utility room.
Inside the machine, the water revolves from the floor, so all cups, glasses etc. need to be face down. The basket has places for 11 plates. But if you are using the cutlery basket this reduces to 9, though you can fit another plate in to a central divide. If set up this way, you also have room for 4-6 glasses.
Additionally there is a small rack which is set high in the
dishwasher, which will take long items, such as knives in a horizontal position or can retain thin items with large handles, as the gap is way to large for a knife or similar. Maybe a potato masher, slotted vegetable spoon, or similar.
Inside the machine is the salt dispenser, this is a bit fiddly to get to and extremely frustrating if you fill up the dishwasher and then realise you need to add salt, as the inner basket has to be drawn out to reach the dispenser, which is on the side of the machine and if the basket is laden, you just won't be able to get there. That said, its a minor point. We are in a hard water area and use the dishwasher at least once a day, needing to fill up with salt every couple of weeks.
The real frustration is the small dishwasher tablet compartment, which sits inside the door. It wont take a full tablet. We used to use the three in one tablets, break them in halfish and possibly again, fit as much of the tablet in as possible and throw the rest away. Now use powder, which is far more efficient at cleaning and less wasteful.
The cutlery basket. 'We manage', is the best description. There are a variety of slot sizes in the basket, most of which we find completely useless as they are too thin. Forks have to sit, prongs up and long knives have to sit face up, placed in the larger slots. Teaspoons sit nicely, as do short knives (Butter, and bread) A decent sized dinner knife, won't fit face down, as the handle will catch the roof of the dishwasher, so have to be placed face up. This leaves lots of empty slots, but with many utensils fitting two to a slot to accommodate them.
That said, the machine gets them clean, so it does work well.
There are 4 start settings. Heavy, normal, light, glass. All work as they should and at about an hour for the longest setting, not a bad time.
The
drying of items is very good, with the exception of mugs, which we find have water on the base (Bear in mind they are upside down to wash) other than that, the drier is absolutely fine and there is no need to do anything other than put the things away after the wash cycle has completed.
When we first got the machine, we were convinced it had a fault, as part way through the cycle, there was a load bang. It's not a fault, it is the spring door for the dishwasher tablet opening and banging on the side of the machine.... Apart from that extremely load bang, the machine is relatively quiet. You can sometimes hear it filling with water, occasionally jetting water, but not obtrusively, even when standing in the kitchen.
All in all, for a compact dishwasher it is great value for money, very efficient and most importantly does what it says... Washes dishes... Because it is compact, there are bound to be a few space issues, but these are more than made up for in its cleaning ability and for a small family, the interior compartment is perfectly adequate. I wouldn't go back to a full size dishwasher, if for no other reason, than it is so easy to load and unload at waist
level, rather than bending under the worktop. We have housed it in a unit and it looks absolutely fine, it has freed up space for more lower shelving and we also have a room for cupboard above it.
What about doing things you shouldn't? I have put roasting pans into it and they have come out clean, so it can handle some real washing. I wouldn't recommend it often, or for a pan needing some real elbow grease, as I can tell the pan was 'quick washed' but its fine if you are cooking and need to use the same pan later in the meal preparation . Usual dishwasher proof applies.
We are happy and would happily buy again, but it would be great if the banging tablet compartment was enlarged and revised.
Ratings time on checked it out.
Reliability - 5 stars, no problems
Noise - 3 stars, it is a bit noisy, but not unbearable.
Washing and drying - 4 stars, some residual water on the cups
If you are after one yourself, here is a place to try (this is the latest model, which has some additional features)
Bosch SKT 5102 EU Dishwasher
