Tall built-in dishwasher; review of various devices

Hello everyone,

thanks to the great help here in the forum, I also managed to cobble together my kitchen with a built-up dishwasher. Here comes my experience report, in the hope that some of you will find it useful:

I really wanted a built-up dishwasher and oriented myself according to the principles suggested by the Ikea expert: On the right and left are each 200 cm tall tall cabinets with 40 cm wall cabinets on top. (I want and have to get the maximum storage space out of it). Underneath the dishwasher (Enastaende) is a 40 cm high and 60 cm wide wall cabinet, which I reinforced with metal brackets. Additionally, I placed a 60x60 front panel on top to better distribute the weight of the dishwasher onto the side walls. Below that, just the normal Metod legs. So overall, the machine is raised by 48 cm. Above, over the Enastaende hangs a 60 cm high base cabinet on the hanging rail, on which the tall cabinets beside it also hang. And above that is a 40 cm tall wall cabinet. As suggested by the IKEA expert, I cobbled together a 10 cm drawer above the dishwasher using some leftover pieces that I screwed onto the adjacent tall cabinets. I covered the feet of the Enastaende with a 10 cm panel (drawer front), which I attached using magnetic catches.

So that brings me to a total height of 248 cm: 8 cm legs, 40 cm wall cabinet, 10 cm panel, 80 cm Enastaende, 10 cm drawer, 60 cm corpus, 40 cm wall cabinet.

Since I of course screwed everything to the adjacent tall cabinets, the whole construction is really stable.

I chose the Enastaende because I didn’t want an unsightly gap below the dishwasher front. This model is the only one from IKEA that doesn’t require special sliding rails but comes with a sliding hinge as standard, which is also suitable for built-up models. This was worth the relatively hefty price of 500 bucks to me, otherwise I would have had to leave a gap below or bevel the panel above, which would have been difficult for me as a layman and it should also look clean. Also, the machine had a good rating from Stiftung Warentest, and although I had already read some critical voices here, I decided to take the risk. Otherwise, I would have had to take a third-party brand suitable for built-in installation: the Ikea/AEG models that fit for this end with the model designation 1P (for PerfectFit hinge), from Siemens/Bosch the solution is called VarioHinge. But none of them are cheap. So far I have only had very simple dishwashers and was satisfied with them, and since I always only use the same program, it doesn’t need to have great variety for me.

But the Enastaende was a huge disappointment. It already started with the fact that the included manual was the wrong one, namely from Hjälpsam. However, all the accessories were included correctly, so I just downloaded and printed the manual myself. The attachment of the front to the machine is a disaster. Two plastic rollers are screwed to the front at the top, which are supposed to glide along a plastic recess on the machine front. But these things are only attached to the furniture front with two thin and short screws. The entire force when opening the dishwasher pulls on these. After opening three times, the screws broke out of the front and of course could no longer be reattached. Furthermore, according to the manual, thick plastic rings should have been installed between the front and the plastic rollers. As someone else already described in this forum, this makes it impossible to get the front vertical, it sticks out almost a centimeter at the top.

I have Veddinge fronts and Blankett handles. I was warned that the handle screws should be recessed particularly well so that they don’t scrape along the dishwasher front inside. But since the Blankett handles go once all around the front at the top, there is of course a long edge on which the front catches when closing the door. This causes the screws to be levered out of the front every time.

I tried to explain my problem to the Ikea hotline. After several attempts and 40 minutes on hold, I finally got through and could speak to someone. As soon as I started, after the third sentence, the connection was cut off. Of course, Ikea didn’t call back either. I myself then didn’t feel like spending another 40 minutes on the phone…

Okay, so I help myself. I left out the plastic rings. I turned the front 180 degrees and drilled new holes so that I don’t have to buy a new one. This time, I got the thickest screws available from the hardware store (they can’t be too long, I don’t want to drill through the front). I attached the plastic rollers to the front with these thicker screws, as tight as possible. To make it glide easier, I sprayed the recess for the rollers on the machine and the rollers themselves with Teflon spray.

I sawed off the back of the Blankett handle so that it only sits on top of the front. I attached it there with screws. It doesn’t look particularly nice, but it works. By the way, I also treated the entire inside of the front with Teflon spray to make it glide as easily as possible.

This construction has held for about four weeks. How long it will last remains to be seen.

The second reason why I am very dissatisfied with the machine: the drying performance is really lousy. I’m not talking about plastic parts, but when I have to take out my stainless steel cutlery, my glasses, and the porcelain equally dripping wet (and I don’t mean just a few drops of water, but literally dripping wet) from the machine, I find that more than disappointing. You can forget the eco-saving program at 50 degrees. I don’t feel like drying my dishes myself, after all what’s the point of having a machine? The automatic program doesn’t help either. There are only two programs that dry even a little for me: the 70-degree program, which accordingly uses a lot of energy and takes forever, and the 30-minute program, which is only suitable for lightly soiled dishes. Overall, this has shaken my confidence in the Stiftung Warentest ratings quite a bit…

Also, the machine in my case stops about every third time with an error message (no water inlet). Then I turn it off and on again, and it runs normally. I will probably have to call customer service for that, who may then tell me that I don’t have any warranty because the high built-in installation is not foreseen by Ikea.

The only thing that really works as promised: The front does not move down when opening, so you don’t have to leave a gap below the machine.

And here are a few unrelated tips and information that I would have liked to have had from the start:

- What doesn’t work: a 10 cm drawer at the very bottom with a wide Blankett handle. Since the very bottom drawer is mounted differently, in this case the handle would hit the side walls of the pull-out.
- What works: wire baskets do not require 153-degree hinges unlike internal pull-outs. They can also be mounted with the 125-degree hinges, which require a bit less space on the inside.
- What exists: a pull-out that is only 45 cm deep, for sink cabinets. I didn’t know that, which is why where necessary I took a 37 cm pull-out to avoid conflict with the siphon.
- What works: mounting Metod cabinets directly under the ceiling. I have a ceiling height of 2.51 m and was worried whether you can even mount the 2.48 m total height when hanging from above. But with the hanging rail, that’s no problem because you could also push the cabinets in from the side.

Oh, and one more thing: In July I ordered kitchen parts for almost 5000 euros in the online shop and only paid 59 euros for the entire freight delivery. In the meantime, shipping costs have increased sharply as I have seen, and you may have to pay several hundred euros. But a parcel shipment only costs 6.90 euros shipping. If you only need a few parts, it can be worth splitting these into several orders to stay below the weight limit for freight delivery. However, there is also a maximum size for parcel delivery.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the Metod kitchen. The quality of the Maximera drawers is absolutely convincing, my little son likes to sit in there sometimes. They are also easy to install. The hinges are great too. I treated myself to Maximera full extension drawers and hinge dampers everywhere and have not regretted it. The assembly is also possible for non-craftsmen, provided you just dare. You just have to follow the instructions very precisely – not a line too many or too few, and you have to pay attention to the smallest details.

Except for the Enastaende, I have integrated only third-party appliances – an oven from Termikel that opens sideways, an AEG induction cooktop, a no-name fan unit, because I found the Underverk too expensive – and everything works flawlessly.

Maybe the info helps some of you. Have fun building! Edit: there are some photos of the project in my gallery.

Hello,
thank you for your detailed report and the pictures in your gallery. It looks very successful.

It is quite surprising to continue selling the BLANKETT handle like this. It already does not fit in the oven drawer with Faktum. So the problem is not new and the handle could be made to fit.

The 45 cm deep drawer is only available in the tall version, 60 cm and 80 cm wide. If you need it in a different height, you can take a normally deep drawer and exchange the back panels.

Watch out with the load in the drawers. The slides are designed by Blum for a load of 30 kg. The load is indicated as lower by IKEA because IKEA uses only 13 mm chipboard instead of the 16 mm thick panels as actually intended by Blum.

The high installation of course does not justify rejecting any warranty claims, but who will go to court if necessary? Consider whether, like another user here, you want to throw the device in IKEA’s face and invest a bit more in a machine from BSH with a Vario hinge. If you get annoyed for years constantly, that is not enjoyable. If necessary, I would first look at the functionality of the Vario hinge.

Well, I would really like to return the Enastände and look for a Bosch or Siemens. But I bought them in the online shop back in July, so before Ikea extended the return policy. I don’t know if they would take back the machine if I dragged it to an EH (*ugh*) or if only customer service would come?!

The customer service should definitely come beforehand so that you can also say that the customer service is not capable of eliminating the defect. It would be interesting to see what the technician says when he has to confirm that the defect is due to the design and cannot be eliminated.

According to the description, Enastaende should have drying efficiency class A.
At haushaltsgeraetetest.de it says:
The drying efficiency class is, similar to the energy efficiency class, a value that must be listed on the EU energy consumption label (EU energy label). Here you can find classes from "G" to "A", where class "A" represents the best achievable value.

The classification into one of the 7 drying efficiency classes gives the buyer of such a device an indication of the efficiency of drying the dishes. However, in order for the drying mechanism to work at all, the dishwasher door must remain closed for about 30 minutes after the end of the washing and drying process. In devices from class "A" the dishes should then be completely dry.

And how is the drying efficiency class of a dishwasher determined? Here one must and can rely on the manufacturer's information, who conduct a test of the drying efficiency index for each device according to the regulations of EU Regulation 1016/2010. From this index, the drying efficiency class is ultimately derived.

The text of the EU Regulation can be downloaded from the servers of the European Union: EU Regulation 1016/2010.