Credit:
Reviewed / Jonathan Chan
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Credit:
Reviewed / Jonathan Chan
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
Learn more about our product testing
The Beko DUT25401X is that it pairs an excellent, energy-efficient performance with an incredibly low price tag—a great value. Read More
The Maytag MDB4949SKZ is an average dishwasher with some helpful features, like sanitize rinse and heated dry. Read More
The Bosch 100 Series SHE3AEM2N is an excellent entry-point into owning a Bosch. Its good cleaning and drying performance make it a nice value. Read More
This is a mid-grade dishwasher with large capacity, decent cleaning performance, excellent drying, and a fingerprint-resistant stainless steel finish. Read More
The Samsung DW80R2031US has an adjustable upper rack, sanitize mode, and powerful cleaning, all for an unexpectedly low price. Read More
When it comes to dishwashers, no one wants to sacrifice cleaning performance to save money. Of course, there’s always a balance between cost and available features, but it’s important that the basics are covered. In the case of dishwashers, that’s pure cleaning ability.
With a bigger budget, you can buy a dishwasher with all the bells and whistles, but having a smaller budget—usually between $300 and $800—doesn't mean you have to put up with inferior cleaning power. You can skip the high-end features and still find an affordable dishwasher that does a great job cleaning dishes.
Here at Reviewed, we care about consumers finding great value, which is why we brought top-rated budget dishwashers into our labs to find which ones are worth purchasing.
After testing the best affordable dishwashers, our evaluation found that the Beko DUT25401X (available at AJ Madison) offers the most value for its price by a large margin. It gets dishes spotless, but it won't clean out your bank account.
The Beko DUT25401X dishwasher features convenient racks that flip down for larger kitchen utensils.
Auto and Normal cycles scrub out most stains
Gets dishes dry
Sanitizing rinse cycle
Cleaning performance is low compared to peers
Lacks customization
Appropriate cleaning power
Gets most dishes dry
Smart features
Some features only accessible via app
Lacks some common rack features
Decent cleaning performance
Dries dishes decently
Fingerprint resistant stainless steel
Issues removing some stains
Not many extra features for the price
Multiple wash cycles and options
Hidden touch controls
Connects to SmartThings
May have some issues with redeposit
People on a budget who don’t want to settle for a “cheap dishwasher.”
There are plenty of dishwashers that are affordable and clean dishes well, but there are some other things to consider, as well.
Materials: The price of a dishwasher depends on a number of factors, including features and materials. For instance, most of the affordable dishwashers we tested have either stainless-steel tubs or hybrid stainless-steel tubs, not the full plastic you would expect from cheaper models. Typically, dishwashers with stainless-steel tubs dry dishes better and are quieter than models with plastic tubs, but may cost more. However, that won’t impact cleaning ability. To save money and ensure good performance, look for dishwashers with at least some stainless steel present.
Features: With affordable dishwashers, you shouldn’t expect the same number of features that you would find in high-end dishwashers, like Wi-Fi connectivity and a third rack. Still, some models in the lower price bracket can have similar features to those you would find in higher-priced dishwashers, like the Whirlpool WDT750SAKZ with its third rack and powerful cleaning.
Water and Energy Efficiency: The Energy-Star certification for dishwashers has changed over the past few years, but people who are interested in how much water and energy dishwashers use, be sure to check out the Energy Star Dishwasher Guide to find rated dishwashers.
Drying Ability: To reduce energy consumption and improve safety, many manufacturers have eliminated dishwasher heating elements, which can impact drying abilities, especially with plastic items like Tupperware. Instead, manufacturers use different ways to dry dishes. Whether it's accomplished with rinse aid, a built-in heater, a built-in fan, or another method, people expect their dishes to be dry, as well as clean.
Finish and Design: Buying a budget dishwasher doesn’t mean that you have to totally sacrifice finish and design. The dishwashers we tested come in a number of finishes, including stainless steel. While you should be able to find a dishwasher that matches your other appliances, be ready to pay more for any finish more sophisticated than black, white, and stainless steel. While some of the dishwashers in our evaluation have control panels on their fronts, others are more sleek in their design, opting for top controls instead.
While all appliance manufacturers offer at least a one-year limited warranty for dishwashers, which cover replacement parts and labor, some manufacturers offer more. Hisense guarantees its appliances for two years, and Samsung, LG, and Maytag ensure certain parts for up to a decade. However, most warranties won’t apply if you don’t properly care for your appliance. In the case of dishwashers, forgetting to clean the filter is often the biggest culprit of poor performance, so put that on your regular home maintenance schedule.
The Appliances Team at Reviewed has spent many years putting major appliances through their paces. Through standardized testing in a controlled lab environment and using the product just like you would in your own home, we’ve determined the best dishwashers on the market at a variety of price points and values. That means that we can recommend appliances that are bargains at their price points, and appliances that have really useful extra features.
At the end of each wash cycle, we determine how much stain has been removed from each dish. Ideally, each dish is 100% clean.
Whether testing high-end dishwashers or models that cost less than $500, we put all dishwashers through a battery of tests that are repeated with the same accuracy and precision for each model. Our evaluation focuses on three major things: performance, features, and usability.
When considering a dishwasher’s performance, we look at stain removal prowess, cycle time, drying abilities, and redeposit (any food matter that isn’t captured in the filter and lands back on clean dishes).
No one wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a dishwasher that can't get your dishes clean. That’s why we test each dishwasher on the three main cycles—normal, heavy, and quick wash. We loaded dishes stained with tough-to-remove food particles—milk, spinach, egg, oatmeal, meat, and more. After each cycle, we determine how much stain has been removed from the dishes.
When assessing features and usability, we look at the various cycles, cycle options, and dishwasher specs and determine how useful they are and how easy they are to use.
The experts consistently include similar models on their lists of best affordable dishwashers. To save you some time and trouble, we’ve gone ahead and done the research for you. From what we can tell, Whirlpool and LG appear repeatedly on best-of lists.
User comments around the topic of best dishwashers seem to display the typical amount of rancor and infighting. We’re pulling these user reviews from sources like Reddit and large appliance retailers.
Beyond the usual complaints about receiving a lemon or appliances that don’t last as long as they used to, the most common relevant complaints are control panels that stop working and cycle selections that can be confusing.
Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.
Jonathan Chan currently serves as the Lab Manager at Reviewed. If you clean with it, it's likely that Jon oversees its testing. Since joining the Reviewed in 2012, Jon has helped launch the company's efforts in reviewing laptops, vacuums, and outdoor gear. He thinks he's a pretty big deal. In the pursuit of data, he's plunged his hands into freezing cold water, consented to be literally dragged through the mud, and watched paint dry. Jon demands you have a nice day.
Freelance Editor, Kitchen & Appliances. Danielle has a B.S. from Syracuse University and a AAS in Culinary Arts from Newbury College. Previously, Danielle was a Test Cook and Associate Editor at America's Test Kitchen, as well as a freelance recipe developer and food writer. She’s the mom of two boys and loves making pizza on Friday nights.
Our team is here to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and experts obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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