Built in appliances

Built in washing machines and other appliances are desirable for may people with fitted kitchens. The downside to built appliances is that they often have smaller capacities due to them needing to fit in the confined space. They also tend to cost more, there’s less choice available and some engineers won’t touch them as they are often a real pain to get out and work on.

I’ve been to built in washing machines and dishwashers that have taken 25 minutes and a lot of struggle to get out with a constant worry about damaging flooring or other parts of the kitchen units. It’s also sometimes difficult to refit to the customer’s satisfaction with everything aligned properly. It has to be said that if installed properly it shouldn’t be that difficult, but a surprising amount of built in appliances are badly installed. This is why I and many other engineers I knew simply just didn’t call out to built in appliance preferring to stick to free standing ones.

I’ve seen a surprising number where a built in appliance has been installed, then floor tiles have been cemented in front. If the appliance hasn’t been raised up an equal amount to the depth of the tiles then because there isn’t any headroom to lift the appliance up, it’s impossible to pull the appliance out to repair.

Buying advice

The advice as to which built in appliance to buy should be roughly the same as with the free standing ones because the standard of the appliance shouldn’t be different from a manufacturer’s free standing appliance. For washing machines see Buying washing machines advice.

If you have the space I would go for free standing but I appreciate many people want built in. I would look at AEG, Bosch, Zanussi, or Miele (if rich).