Voltas Beko 8 Place Table Top Dishwasher

I have slightly edited my review, now that ive been using it for nearly a year.Bought this model after a lot of online research, and I’m very happy with its performance.Beko is an international brand that’s tied up with Tata and selling this product in India.The delivery was on schedule, on a Sunday, however the delivery guys refused open box delivery as they were not aware of it. I didn’t want to push so I accepted the box.The packing was thorough, full marks for that.The installation and demo guy came the next day. The guy who came for the demo had not even seen this product and had a very faint idea of how a dishwasher works. Do not rely on him. Read the instruction manual thoroughly. Everything you need is in that. Read it before the guy comes or in his ignorance he might damage your machine.The installation will be done by the guy but in case any stop cock etc is required, that will be at your cost. (200-300) and you will have to provide it. Or worse get plumbing done for it.I’m attaching a photo of what is required.There are 3 things you will need to buy to operate the dishwasher :1. Dishwasher salt (add abt 1kg with 1lit. Water)2. Dishwasher soap3. Rinse aidI suggest you order all 3 at the same time from Amazon when you order the dishwasher. IFB is a good brand.Of these 3, the rinse aid and the salt you will have to load into the dishwasher at the start and then only once the indicator lights up asking you to load more.Detergent you will have to load with every wash.The machine has 6 different settings, on a normal setting it takes 2 n half hrs to wash one load out of which the last 40 mins or so it uses to dry the utensils. there are other faster settings as well. but i stick to the normal mode by habit.If you feel you will have more utensils or want to use once a day, please buy a bigger machine.Loading the dishwasher is an art in itself and will take a bit of time to master. I have attached pictures of a load of utensils, but you can load more than those.When we bought it and started using it we were novices so we would less utensils, and would have to use the dishwasher twice a day. But as time went by , we learnt the technique and now we load it much more efficiently and use it only once in the night after dinner.Just make sure you don’t load anything that’s in the way of the spinning arms.It uses much much less water than would be used to wash the same number of utensils by hand. also the utensils come out much more cleaner.Pros :1. Compact space saving table top model2. Does an excellent job at cleaning, cleans throughly, inside the ridges, oily kadhais and pans, everything comes out sparkling clean3. Dishes come out dry so no need to wipe before putting in place4. relatively silent, doesn’t make loud noise.Cons :1. Limited big utensils can go in at once2. Very big utensils don’t go in.Hope these clears most of your doubts!PS. this was clearly THE most important life saver Gadget in our house during the lock-down.

I’ve been looking for dishwashers for long time but seeing the price for other brands I use to give up on the thought of buying until I stumbled upon Voltas beko 8place model.8place means it’s sufficient for the utensils used by 8 persons in one meal.We being a family of 2, the size of this model perfectly fits our need.Prerequisites.1. Needs a 15ampere socket, don’t risk it by using a 5ampere one.2. A 3/4inch angle cock to fit the water inlet pipe. Easily available in market3. Make sure the place you will drain the water is not far from dishwasher. Since it’s a table top model ideal to keep it near the kitchen sink.Usage1. You need not rinse utensils before putting in machine2. Take out all food leftovers before putting in3. Can use a all in one tablet or a combination of dishwasher salt + rinse aid + detergent. Some good brands are finish, fortune, ifb, crystale which can be bought from Amazon or any other site.Pros1. Results are really good. If the dishes are placed correctly it gets 99%cleaned. Used finish tablets and clean and shine mode on dishwasher.2. Easy to accommodate utensils for family 33. Easy to operate.4. Doesn’t make lot of noise5. Fits in most of indian kitchens, do check the dimensions before buying and the prerequisites aboveCons1. Can’t place big plates that have elevated circumference. It. Blocks the spray arm2. Tall cups are also a no.3. Being a 8place it still uses same amount of water as for a 14place4. Dishwashing all in one tablets are expensive where avg cost of 1 tablet is rs18. Do the maths before buying. You can go with a salt detergent and rinse aid combo which is slightly cheaper than tablets but don’t expect that it would cost the same like using vim.5. When you buy dishwasher also buy the tablets or detergent combo. The demo guy won’t demo without it.6. Installation can be hassle if it doesn’t meet the prerequisites mentioned above. Voltas technicians will only plug it in and fit the inlet pipe. Don expect they will do the electrician and plumbing work. So make sure you have all things in place before buying

So, is this dishwasher any good? Simply put, yes.I see a number of negative reviews of this machine but in my opinion and 2½ months of experience, I can say this machine is almost as good as a full size machine.So what’s the biggest problem with this dishwasher? The awkward design of the baskets. The baskets are designed for Western dishes and cookware and some Indian dishes, such as stainless steel plates with high sides don’t fit easily in the baskets. Also difficult to load: pressure cookers.But why is that important? Because of the way the hot water hits the dishes from the bottom. If the dish isn’t sufficiently exposed from the bottom, then it won’t get clean. So it’s very important to learn how to load the dishes correctly. It took me about 10 days before I learnt how to do that properly. This, importantly, is the same for all dishwashers.Once the loading has been figured out, it’s important to learn the limitations of any dishwasher, big or small, high tech or low tech. They can’t fully clean dishes that have dried and stuck food (milk, curds, dal, rice, etc). Those can be difficult to clean even by hand. So help the machine by using a brush or a scrubbing pad.Once the loading and preparation are done correctly, I have found that the dishes come out just as clean as from bigger machines such as Bosch that people in my extended family have. That too on the eco mode that requires less water and energy.As for the long cycle times, I get around it by planning – I load the dishwasher and use the delay function so that the cycle starts late and ends at a convenient time.On the whole, I find that this little dishwasher perfectly suits small families of 2 or 3 people. At the price that’s about half of a full size machine, is actually very good value for money.Edit – July 2020The machine is working very well and I’m very happy to have bought it. It was a real boon during the lockdown. We faced difficulty in finding good dishwasher detergent or tablets during the lockdown so now we have stocked up.Tip for good dishwasher performance: Avoid using old detergent or tablets. The expiry date is usually about 2 years after manufacture. Expired or badly stored detergent/tablets don’t wash the vessels very well and you might end up having to rewash some vessels.