Need to Know Info: All About IKEA Dishwashers
IKEA has long been a strong option for kitchen cabinets, and now they offer appliances too, so you can order your entire kitchen from the Swedish retailer. How do IKEA dishwashers stack up against other models at similar price points? We did a little research to find out.
Warranties & Repair
IKEA makes their appliances in partnership with Whirlpool, and all of their dishwashers come with a five-year warranty (except for the LAGAN, which has only a one-year warranty). IKEA doesn’t have a dedicated service team, so if you experience a problem with your appliances, you can call their Warranty Service Line, and they’ll send someone out to fix it.
Individual Models
The LAGAN, which sells for $279, is IKEA’s most budget-friendly dishwasher. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t have a ton of bells and whistles — the racks aren’t adjustable, and there are only three wash cycles. But Consumer Reports, which tested out this model, did say that it does a good job at washing dishes. At 59 dB, the LAGAN is relatively loud, but it’s also one of the cheapest dishwashers on the market.
The next priciest option, the first of a series of IKEA dishwashers to be called RENLIG, retails for $399. It has five wash cycles and a stainless steel door, but the interior tub is still made of plastic, which means the dishwasher operates at a relatively loud 55 dB.
There’s also a RENLIG that sells for $599: it has a stainless steel door and a stainless steel interior, which makes it a little quieter, at 51 dB. While its performance is about average for this price point, it’s one of the most budget-friendly all stainless-steel dishwashers, so it’s worth a look if that’s important to you. This RENLIG also has a sensor cycle, which will customize the wash cycle according to how dirty your dishes are, and a delayed start function.
The big selling point for the BETRODD, which retails for $699, is its hidden controls. The controls are located at the top of the door, so when the dishwasher is closed all you’ll see is the stainless steel door and handle. It has six wash cycles and a delayed start option, and its stainless steel interior gives it a noise rating of 51 dB.
IKEA’s priciest dishwasher is the built-in RENLIG, which, somewhat confusingly, appears to have five different listings on the IKEA website, all with different prices. They’re actually all the same dishwasher, which can be purchased with different with different combinations of doors so the dishwasher will integrate seamlessly into your IKEA kitchen. (Apparently the RENLIG can also be hacked to blend with cabinets made by other manufacturers, if you’re enterprising enough.) It’s fairly quiet, at 48 dB, and at $849 (sans door) it’s one of the cheapest fully integrated dishwashers on the market.
Known Issues
Noise: One consideration that a lot of people have when shopping for dishwashers is how loud they are when they’re operating. Modern dishwashers are a lot quieter than older models, with some operating as quietly as 38 decibels. According to Noise Monitoring Services, this is about the volume of a quiet library. 5o decibels is about the sound level of an average home, and 60 decibels is the volume of an average conversation, meaning that if your dishwasher is operating close to that level you may not be able to have a conversation in your kitchen while it’s running. Quieter models tend to also be more expensive. With the exception of one model (RENLIG, at 48 decibels) all IKEA models operate in the 50s.
Wash Cycle Duration: Another consideration is wash time, something IKEA dishwashers tend to get dinged on. When Consumer Reports tested a series of IKEA dishwashers, they found that some had wash times as long as 160 minutes. Surprisingly, the IKEA dishwasher with the shortest wash time, at 115 minutes, was the $399 RENLIG, the second lowest priced model in the group. Also (we have an IKEA dishwasher in the office, so this is based off personal experience), the stoppers on the top and bottom racks tend to be a bit finicky, so if you’re not careful they can fall out, dumping your dishes onto the floor.
Shipping
Another thing to keep in mind when looking at IKEA appliances is that the prices don’t include shipping. If you are able to pick up your oven from a local IKEA, it’s free, but if you need delivery the prices start at $99, and go up from there depending on how far you are from a store. Stores like the Home Depot, Lowes, and others will often ship appliances for free, so that’s worth factoring in when you compare prices. Of course, if you’re already ordering (and paying delivery fees) for a kitchen from IKEA, this is less of an issue.
Final Takeaways
The consensus about IKEA dishwashers, across several publications that I read, is that their performance is comparable to other dishwashers at similar price points. It’s worth choosing an IKEA dishwasher over other brands if you really like their sleek, modern look. And if you’re putting in an IKEA kitchen and want a dishwasher that will integrate with your cabinets — then the RENLIG is a very good choice.
Here’s a little more reading you can do about individual models:
- Are IKEA Appliances a Good Deal? from Consumer Reports
- Every IKEA 2016 Dishwasher, Reviewed from Reviews.com
Do you have an IKEA dishwasher? What has your experience been?