Poor design is a big issue for me.
1/5
I'm sorry this is all negative, but my complaints are about the product itself rather than it's performance. Firstly, I still haven't worked out how to adjust the setting for the use of salt. I have followed the instructions but nothing happens. Fortunately I am in a soft water area so not using any salt may be an option. The Beko website will let me chat with an engineer but I have to enter my credit card details and pay a pound to do so. Secondly the design of the top basket is poor. I can only get about half as much crockery in as in my previous dishwasher. The front of the basket is shaped, leaving two spaces either side of the handle which could comfortably fit a mug or a glass, but, because the bottom rail does not continue right to the front edge, they tip over and will not stay in position unless wedged by something else. The row of prongs running up the right hand side is positioned too close to the right hand side to get my mugs glasses in between them and the side, so I have to put them over the prongs. However, as the base wires are shaped, they will not sit flat or securely and tip from side to side. This also wastes a lot of space. On the left hand side of the basket there is a row of shapes rather than prongs. I'm not sure what these are designed for, but, if I can balance a bowl on the front one (slightly awkward because the front of the basket is contoured, as already said), then I can fit a row of bowls on these shapes. However, again this wasted space, as there is a gap all along between the edge of the bowls and the basket, which is too narrow to use for anything. The rest of the top basked it contoured in such a way that cups and other crockery tip and fall about. It is difficult to load, when it isn't full, crockery falls about and hits other crockery, and when it is loaded there is a lot of wasted space. I can only fit one line of bowls and one line of mugs comfortably, with some other odd bits and pieces wedging them. In my previous (also slimline) dishwasher, I could get a line of bowls or bowls and plates, plus two rows of mugs. This is all due only to the odd design which wastes space and is difficult to load. I think it is particularly important for a a slimline to make maximum use of space. There is a similar issue on the bottom basked, where the front corners have been 'curved' (it's actually a diagonal line), which means the cutlery basked cannot fit neatly into the front corner if you wanted it to. Again a waste of space, but not as big an issue as the front basket.
Living on my own, I used to use the dishwasher only a couple of times a week when it was fully loaded (with a rinse if necessary after a couple of days). Now, because I cannot get as much in, I have to use it every other day, increasing my electricity bills and the amount of water I use (metred) .
I chose it from a Which? review which said that the basket was 'counter-intuitive' to load, but everything else was fine. I didn't think it was a big issue, compared to cost etc; I thought that I would learn how to load it with experience, but basically it is an impractical design which is inefficient and costing me money. I would not have chosen it if I had realised how bad it was. I am currently trying to find out if there is a better designed basket I can buy which would fit. I wish I had kept the basket from the one that was taken out.
