Choosing a dishwasher for heavy glass doors

[MintyTarsier]

Hi there,
My old Smeg integrated dishwasher (which was in place when I moved into my flat) has finally died after a long, slow demise. I ordered a replacement Bosch, but, when the engineer came to fit it, he told me it wasn’t suitable. My kitchen units have very heavy glass doors (this one weighs 11.5kg). He explained that I would need to adjust the tension on the door to support such heavy glass and the Bosch wouldn’t cut it. He took the dishwasher away with him and I was refunded.
The problem is, I can’t seem to find any information anywhere on which models will be suitable. I’ve trawled John Lewis and AO, spoken to their staff, read through all the specs on Bosch, Miele and Smeg’s websites. I’ve even downloaded the manuals and scoured their installation sections. I haven’t yet found a single dishwasher that specifies maximum door weight. In this article:
https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/buying-advice/installation-advice/2635-decor-doors-on-integrated-appliances
it says:
“Manufacturers general have specifications for all integrated appliance and normally they do state the minimum and maximum door weights allowed, sadly most kitchen planners and installers ignore this totally, much as they often ignore the rest of the installation instructions as well.”
I just can’t find this information anywhere.

What should I do? Are there any brands (e.g. Miele) that are reliably good in these circumstances? Should I just buy another Smeg in the hope that if it was OK 7 years ago it’ll be OK now? Or should I chuck the stupid heavy door away, cut a hole in the kick board and get a freestanding dishwasher?!

Any advice extremely gratefully received!

[don]

Under normal circumstances I would have said phone the manufacturers you may have been interested in but as most our now only operating service related issues. I have some tech enquiries outstanding from December!!

Back to your problem, I have not come across this either. You could try Bosch on 0344 892 8979 remember though only skeleton staff are working so phone calls may take a while.

Or as you say replace it with a freestanding model.

Don

[MintyTarsier]

Ahhhh thank you so much, Don.

I’ll give Bosch another go. I rang them up and went to an automated message about how due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ my call can’t be taken. I’m assuming it’s covid related, but worth another shot!

I really appreciate the advice. Cheers!

[electrofix]

looked up smeg
if you go on the website and look at the dishwashers

if you look at downloads one of them is the installation manual

model STL7231L gives below

also these days Bosch build quality in the cheaper models is not as good. If you do get one make sure its got an all metal tub

Dave

[MintyTarsier]

Thank you so much for this, Dave! I really appreciate you taking the time to go through the manuals.

Smeg may end up getting my custom just because they publish this info!

Thanks again.

[Author]

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