Beko 16 PS Freestanding Dishwasher BDFB1630

Poor design – Very good price and warranty, but unfortunately after 3 months there appears no setting that leaves the dishes dry - drops of water everywhere. It tries to do everything, and appears very good value at purchase point but is basically a bad, over complicated design and doesn't remotely compare with the 10year+ LG we had. Show details

Good value dishwasher – Used to replace our old machine that finally died (failed heater element). Same as our old machine, I removed the cutlery tray to enable larger plates to be easily added to the lower basket whilst having taller glasses in the top. I suspect that these trays are put into these standard sized machines to increase the number of settings they can… Read more

claim they can hold. Unless you have small plates, then personally I think these cutlery trays are pointless if you don't have an "XL" dishwasher that has more internal space.

Back to the review. The dishwasher has the option of automatically opening the door after the cycle finishes - this is in my opinion one of the main reasons to get this machine. It allows steam to escape naturally, leaving dishes much drier. No fan noise, just the 'clack' of the door unlatching. Speaking of noise, overall the machine is fairly quiet - including the happy beeps it makes when it finishes. No squeaking noise as one person observed - I wonder if some packing material was left in their machine. The sound of the door opening can give you a surprise the first few times it happens though! There was a small amount of water in the pipes when installing it, but that would just be from testing at the factory. To get rid of this stale water, I made sure to run the machine through a cycle first before actually using it to clean anything. The "aqua intense" option, where it blasts more water at dishes on the lower front right hand side is an interesting feature - have used it a couple of times now and it seems to have done a pretty decent job with the roasting rack I put there.

What could be improved: * Starting with my biggest gripe - at first this was not cleaning the dishes well at all. After a cycle, a few plates or bowls would come out still with food on them. Very disappointing. I slowly went through the different options and eventually found it was acceptable when using the "Intensive" cycle, although still not always perfect. Then it clicked. The machine has a tablet/powder dispenser, and correctly recommends not to use tablets in short cycles (as the tablet may not dissolve fully so could leave residue) but no option or mention of pre-wash detergent. I know most people tend to only use tablets now, and the machine came with some sample Finish tablets that obviously implies you should use them, but if you don't put in any detergent for the initial prewash cycle then more food residue will be left behind for the main wash to have to struggle with. Our old machine had a 'tablet' option that I think ran the prewash cycle a bit longer to compensate a little for the lack of detergent. Some other manufacturers provide a specific location for prewash detergent, or simply just suggest sprinkling a small amount of powder onto the door. Some people I think believe that the tablets with the multiple different coloured gels etc are designed to slowly release some detergent for the prewash, and then the rest for the main wash, or do some other magic thing. Nope. During the prewash the detergent door stays firmly closed. It is only during the main wash that the door pops open and everything in that tablet is dissolved. If you find this machine isn't cleaning as well as your old machine, then try putting some extra powder or gel (or an additional tablet) in the machine for that pre wash cycle. I would note that the manual does show a way to enable a tablet option, but this machine does not support it (the manual is generic and covers multiple machines, with not all features available). * When you turn it on, it goes to the default settings. It would be nice if it could go to the same cycle that was used last. * The cutlery basket could be a little bigger - if you use the cutlery tray then of course you might not even use the cutlery basket at all. Not a big issue though, and in fact we kept the old basket from our old machine and use that. * The touch buttons don't always detect touches - this is partly because hands can be dirty/greasy/wet after loading the machine, but it can be annoying. Not sure how that could be improved, although again our old machine also had touch panel and it was more sensitive.... * It is missing the "Aquasafe" sensor that can detect leaks at the water inlet - would be nice to include that. * The automatic door opening operates by a solonoid unlocking the latch, and the springs then pushing the door open. The drawback is to close the door takes a little more pressure than you might expect. Maybe a small motor would have been better to open the door, although that would of course be one more thing that could go wrong. You do get used to this, so it's not a big issue. * Not convinced that the layout of the lower basket is optimal - I think that it is designed for smaller dishes than the ones we use. Not a show stopper, but we are still trying to work out the best way of packing this thing.

Overall, this is a decent machine that is worth considering. As well as the self opening door, the other big sell for it is the extended warranty you get on registration. If you do buy it, and find that it's not cleaning dishes well, definitely consider adding a small amount of dishwasher powder/gel into the machine for the initial pre wash cycle before starting it.

** update ** 12/5/2025 - over a year later and so far so good. The machine still cleans dishes well, and we are continuing to use a small sprinkle of dishwasher powder on the door (for the pre wash) and a small amount (less than half) in the normal dispensing drawer. Cheaper than tablets, and does a much better job.

Only issue - yesterday there was an "E01" error message on the display. This apparently indicates an issue with the filter or draining or even a leak inside the dishwasher or possibly a blocked water feed. A lot of possible issues. Anyhow, took out the filter and it was ok (had only recently cleaned it) but I found a small piece of glass but more importantly also a small rubber plug inside the drain itself. No idea what it had come off, but I suspect that it was preventing the dishwasher from draining water quickly enough. The dishwasher still came up with the E01 error, but that went away after I turned the power off to the machine for maybe ten seconds. Ran another cycle through, and it was fine again.