"Essentials" Appliance Range

Marky · 18 Apr 2019 at 10:18

Hi all,

When I bought my property last year, the previous owner told me that the integrated oven was broken, and they promised to replace it before exchanging. Obviously, as expected, they replaced it with the cheapest one they could find, which was an "Essentials".

I've actually had no problems with it, and it does the job, so I decided to keep it. Now I am after a Slimline Dishwasher, and I am considering getting an Essentials again.

Does anyone have any experiences with an Essentials Dishwasher? I know it's the cheapest "own-brand" make, but money is a bit tight at the moment

Alternatively, if you have any other recommendations on Slimline Dishwashers, please let me know

Thanks,
Marky

square_imp · 18 Apr 2019 at 10:39

We had an essentials full size dishwasher for about 14 months as a stop gap while we were planning an extension and new kitchen etc.

Worked pretty well overall - no complaints at all for the money. The door felt quite light and a bit flimsy as did the trays but it cleaned fine. No idea about how efficient it was/wasn't and it was a bit louder than our new integrated Bosch but yeah would say go for it if you wanted to save a bit of cash!

Freakbro · 18 Apr 2019 at 10:40

I've had a Beko slimline dishwasher for quite a few years now and it's been great, same with my folks and they are pretty cheap.

Not sure how the price compares to an essentials range

eddiemcgarrigle · 18 Apr 2019 at 13:39

Beware of Beko fridges, known to cause house fires.

a1ex2001 · 19 Apr 2019 at 10:59

eddiemcgarrigle said:
Beware of Beko fridges, known to cause house fires.

Beware of 10 year old beko fridges that have a tiny risk of causing a fire and will be fixed for free by the manufacturer if you contact them.

lewism · 19 Apr 2019 at 20:05

Bought a cheap Currys Essentials Freezer for £50 off gumtree to stick in the shed. Was a year old, been out there for 4 months and not put a foot wrong. Looking for a fridge now to stick out in the summer house too.

eddiemcgarrigle · 19 Apr 2019 at 20:09

a1ex2001 said:
Beware of 10 year old beko fridges that have a tiny risk of causing a fire and will be fixed for free by the manufacturer if you contact them.

Many people aren't aware of the increased risk of a Beko fridge. Beko have acknowledged there is an issue and it isn't just contained in their ancient models.

a1ex2001 · 20 Apr 2019 at 16:18

eddiemcgarrigle said:
Many people aren't aware of the increased risk of a Beko fridge. Beko have acknowledged there is an issue and it isn't just contained in their ancient models.

It’s the pre 2007 models that are subject to recall so I would say ancient and not relevant to someone buying new.

Double07 · 20 Apr 2019 at 19:11

If money is tight you do know that you can just do the dishes yourself, like normal people should.

eddiemcgarrigle · 20 Apr 2019 at 20:27

a1ex2001 said:
It’s the pre 2007 models that are subject to recall so I would say ancient and not relevant to someone buying new.

Tell that to the family who owned the house that had it's kitchen gutted by a new model. Yep, I was there too, saving the rest of the house.

xb8browney · 20 Apr 2019 at 20:34

I've got an essentials integrated dishwasher and it's been spot on and much cheaper than branded gear.

a1ex2001 · 20 Apr 2019 at 21:42

eddiemcgarrigle said:
Tell that to the family who owned the house that had it's kitchen gutted by a new model. Yep, I was there too, saving the rest of the house.

One incident doesn’t mean they are all a fire risk, the models recalled as a fire risk were pre 2007. It was a Hotpoint fridge that burnt down Grenfel tower should we avoid them as well?

On a side note which have decided 75% of fridge freezers in the market are a fire risk as they have plastic backs.

Orionaut · 21 Apr 2019 at 22:37

Double07 said:
If money is tight you do know that you can just do the dishes yourself, like normal people should.

Quoted for truth.

After all, how many dirty dishes does a typical family create in a day? (And since OP said "I" I am presuming single, so even more to the point) How long does it really take to wash a couple of plates and a bit of cutlery by hand? is it really that much of a chore that you feel the need to have an expensive machine to do the job for you?

a1ex2001 said:
One incident doesn’t mean they are all a fire risk, the models recalled as a fire risk were pre 2007. It was a Hotpoint fridge that burnt down Grenfel tower should we avoid them as well?

On a side note which have decided 75% of fridge freezers in the market are a fire risk as they have plastic backs.

Much domestic white goods these days are mass manufactured examples of Badge engineering.

Individual brands manufacturing thie own products lost out to generic globalization and anonymous manufacturing long ago.

Hotpoint went down the pan a decade ago! 20-30 years ago they were really good! These days even "Good" stuff like Bosch is really rather disappointing!

a1ex2001 · 21 Apr 2019 at 23:02

Orionaut said:
Quoted for truth.

After all, how many dirty dishes does a typical family create in a day? (And since OP said "I" I am presuming single, so even more to the point) How long does it really take to wash a couple of plates and a bit of cutlery by hand? is it really that much of a chore that you feel the need to have an expensive machine to do the job for you?

Much domestic white goods these days are mass manufactured examples of Badge engineering.

Individual brands manufacturing thie own products lost out to generic globalization and anonymous manufacturing long ago.

Hotpoint went down the pan a decade ago! 20-30 years ago they were really good! These days even "Good" stuff like Bosch is really rather disappointing!

The real truth is most domestic white goods these days are incredible, they are highly energy efficient and have very respectable reliability particularly if they survive the first year!

Orionaut · 21 Apr 2019 at 23:31

a1ex2001 said:
The real truth is most domestic white goods these days are incredible, they are highly energy efficient and have very respectable reliability particularly if they survive the first year!

Not convinced.

Best washing machine we ever had as a family was a Hoover Keymatic.

AND, it lasted for well over 30 years! It never broke down. Its death (In the late 90's) was down to the fact that the drum was enameled steel rather than stainless and when it rusted through we couldn't get a replacement. Had we been able to do so, we would probabally still be using it!

It could do a standard mixed cotton wash in around 40 minutes (Having hot fill was a major part of this I suspect). Nowadays many machines take over two hours for that, and dont do as good a job either!

They may well use less water and/or energy. But there has been a price to pay for that!

Also, the keymatic was programmable! As new wash cycles were developed for new materials, we could use them simply by getting updated key-cards.

Spec me a modern machine that can actually be programmed and updated via software/user choices??

Keymatic was over 50 years ago, it was an easier machine to use too since it had all the advantages of a side loader (IE it could be put under a work top) but you didn't have to get on your knees to load/unload it.

(You could even add items once it was underway simply by opening the door, which also acted as a platform for ones wash basket when loading and unloading the machine)

If Hoover (Or somebody) produced a modern version of the Keymatic I would crawl over broken glass to buy it! Really!