High One FBI 12S49 D WAD929C (dishwasher Fully integrated with 12 place settings): our review

Sunday lunch can leave a surprisingly varied collection behind: dinner plates, pudding bowls, glasses and the dish that held the roast potatoes. The High One FBI 12S49 D WAD929C provides 12 place settings, the usual capacity of a full-size dishwasher. That standardised measure covers plates, glasses and cutlery; it is a loading guide, rather than a promise about how many people you can feed before running a cycle.

Room for the roasting dish? Allow for its footprint before counting the remaining spaces. Cookware has a habit of interrupting tidy arithmetic. We like the straightforward appeal for a household clearing ordinary meals, although a gathering with serving dishes will demand more thought when loading. Fully integrated installation means a kitchen furniture door covers the appliance front, with that furniture door supplied separately. Plan the cabinetry alongside the washing-up.

The declared eco noise level is 49 decibels, among the highest declared levels. That matters if the kitchen opens directly into the sitting room. Put a film on while the dishwasher runs and you may find yourself wishing the washing-up had waited until you were elsewhere. We would favour running it when you leave the kitchen, rather than choosing it for an evening spent nearby.

Timing matters here. Switching on just before bed might suit a kitchen away from bedrooms, but the specification gives us no reason to promise an unobtrusive night. Where will you be while it runs? Treat that as a buying question, alongside the furniture finish. The figure belongs to the eco programme; it does not describe the intensive or quick programme, and neither programme should inherit an assumption of quieter operation.

Eco runs for 210 min, a long programme in keeping with most dishwashers. There is nothing inherently wrong with that wait: allowing more time is part of how eco saves resources. It suits dishes you can leave alone while the evening moves on, rather than plates needed again shortly after dinner.

Consumption gives us more pause. Electricity use of 82 kWh/100 cycles sits among the highest declared figures, while 11 L/cycle means water use above the declared average. These are eco figures, not forecasts for every programme. The energy classification is D. Intensive, Quick and Eco cover familiar washing choices, with an emphasis on essentials rather than extras. Quick is worth recognising as an available option, but its name supplies no verified duration. For regular full loads, we would give resource use considerable weight before choosing this model.

This model is well placed overall in our scores, but the alternatives give you clear reasons to look beyond its straightforward specification. Start with the chore you most want to reduce, rather than collecting programme names you may rarely use.

The Hisense HS693A90XAD is better suited to large loads of dishes, with its higher capacity of 16 place settings offering more standardised loading space. That makes it a useful direction for households whose supper dishes regularly spill into another load.

The Miele G 7980 SCVi AutoDos K2O is better suited to a kitchen open to the living room, with its lower declared eco noise level of 41 decibels. For evenings spent reading or chatting within earshot of the kitchen, that lower figure addresses a practical concern. Choose around the room and the routine you actually have.