Verdict

Pros

• Fab programme choice
• Extra-large door
• Generally excellent spin results
• Great value

Cons

• Average wash results
• 15-min wash leaves clothes dripping wet
• Unclear start/pause button

What is the Beko WMB91442L?

The Beko WMB91442L is among the top-of-the-range products offered by Beko, available in either white or, if you can find a retailer with stock, a rather out-there deep red finish. Beko is a budget brand mind, so its flagship products still offer great value for money and the Beko WMB91442L is widely available for under £300. Packed with features, it offers 16 pre-set programmes to suit different clothing types, a 9kg capacity, an extra-large door porthole and is designed to be ‘EcoSmart’ which Beko claims could save you around £18 per year, or put another way, give you 119 washes for free.

For the busy household there is a Daily Quick programme, which will wash a max load of up to 9kg in only 39mins or an even faster Xpress Super Short wash. This is geared up for up to 2kg of lightly soiled laundry and washes in just 14mins. With a clear LCD display to keep you informed of your washing progress and countdown timer, the Beko WMB91442L surely has it all.

Beko WMB91442L: What is it like to use?

Right from the start, with a push button on/off switch, this is a great little machine that is very easy to use. All 16 programmes are arranged around a simple control dial and the LCD display at the side allows tweaks to be made such as adjusting the temperature or spin speed, as well as adding extra rinses or crease control. The only downside is the start/pause button is the same grey as the rest of the buttons so takes a bit of looking for and would have better highlighted in a different colour for ease of use.

The extra-large porthole makes loading even the largest items a doddle and the up to 24hr time delay function enables you to time your wash to start while you are out or a night-time when the cheaper electric tariffs kick in for Economy 7 tariff customers. When the wash is underway the countdown timer indicates at what stage the wash cycle is at and we found the minutes left timer to be one of the most accurate that we have found.

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Beko WMB91442L: How noisy is it?

This machine actually measured remarkably quiet, although not as near silent as Beko’s quoted figures would suggest. We measured 57dB against the 52dB Beko quote. This is still a good result for a single glazed door washing machine as 60dB is a quiet speaking voice, so this Beko is verging towards whisper quiet if not silent.

Conversely, the spin result was even better than Beko quoted 73dB figures as we measured an exceptionally good 69dB.  The only issue was that the drum did have a tendency to become a bit unbalanced when using a full load on a spin, as there are no fancy mechanisms to balance the load. This lead the machine to perform the classic unbalanced thump, thump, thump noise before it got up to speed. That aside, 69dB is about the same as a quiet vacuum cleaner, so once it was settled, the noise was very good indeed.

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Beko WMB91442L: What programmes does it have?

You really will be spoilt for choice with the 16 pre-set programmes of the Beko WMB91442L. Apart from the usual cotton, cotton eco, synthetic, woollen, hand wash and delicates wash there is a baby care, which also caters for allergy sufferers by heating the washing for longer and has an extra rinse. There is a duvet wash, a sports, shirts and fashion care wash for todays mixed fibres and an A Class 40 wash, which is the same as the standard cotton wash but washes at 40° instead of 60°.

The real winners are the two quick wash programmes, a Daily Quick for up to 9kg of washing that takes just 28mins to complete, and the Xpress Super Short for up to 2kg of washing that is complete in 14mins – a great timesaver.

Separate rinse and spin options complete the pre-set programme line up with further additional options available via buttons around the LCD display that includes extra rinses, spins and a handy anti-crease function that will gently tumble your washing after the spin cycle to loosen the fibres and lessen the wrinkles before ironing. In terms of programs the Beko is not left wanting.

Beko WMB91442L: How well does it wash?

For our tests we ran three different wash cycles; a 40°C cotton wash with a 7.2kg (80%) full load at 1400 spin speed, a 40°C cotton wash with a 3.6kg (40%) load at 1400 spin speed and a 40°C cotton eco wash with a 3.6kg (40%) load at 1400 spin speed. The choice of an 80% load is more in tune with a genuine load as very few people stuff their washing machine to maximum capacity. We included a test stain strip in the first wash, stained with dried on ketchup, coffee, blood, red wine, fresh blackberry juice and engine oil. We used a major brand non-biological detergent washing powder.

All the timings indicated at the start of the programmes were the most accurate of any machine we have tested so far, including models from the flagship brands. It’s not a big thing, but if you are waiting for a load to finish before you go out, accurately knowing how long it will take is very useful. The first wash was only 6mins over the 1hr 24mins indicated, with the second wash being 4mins longer than the same time.

There does not appear to be any clever gadget that adjusts the wash time depending on the weight of the wash load so the indicated times were the same for a full and half load. The eco wash, which is generally a lot longer wash, took just 9mins longer than the 2hrs 20mins indicated so a very accurate result all round.

We also tried out the Xpress Super Short wash, which did actually take only 15mins and would be ideal for quickly rinsing out sweaty gym kit, but the spin is not at all effective in this mode so the items come out dripping wet.

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Left to right: Wine, blood, ketchup, coffee, juice, oil.

The wash results on all the cycles were average, and really no better than any other budget machines we have tested. The stain strip showed signs of the juice, pen marks and the good-old-engine-oil, which have yet to be removed without biological help. Indeed, this result is slightly worse than the similarly-priced Servis W714F4HD.

The spin results were generally exceptional and way above average with the first load leaving just 1.9kg (26%) of water from a dry weight of 7.2kg and the second wash leaving 1.1kg (30%) of water from a dry weight of 3.6kg.  Only the eco wash fared a little poorer, leaving 1.8kg (50%) of water from a 3.6kg dry weight but this is not the worst and we have found that the average eco wash spin across models we have tested is around 46% of water retained anyway. That includes much more expensive machines too, because spin cycles times are reduced to save electricity in this mode.

Beko WMB91442L: How much will it cost to run?

The Beko WMB91442L works out to be very reasonable indeed, coming in at 16p per wash for a full load, which is on par with most of the other machines that we have tested in this price range. If you only used the speedy quick washes then that would further reduce costs and it is worth it for the huge choice in programmes available.

Based on an average UK household use (200 x 40°C 80% max load and 40 x 40°C 40% half load with a 50/50 split on normal and eco programmes), the Beko WMB91442L’s annual running cost is a low £35.84. Specific figures for power and water use are listed at the bottom of this review.

Should I buy the Beko WMB91442L?

This is a simple, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin machine with plenty of programmes. It is easy to use, easy to load and easy to read, looks smart with its chrome door surround and the detergent tray is easy to remove for cleaning. It’s outstanding value for such a large capacity machine.

But the wash results are really only average for the price. They would improve with the help of bio washing powder, but they’re not as good as similar price (albeit smaller) machines we’ve tested.

Overall, this is a good option if you have a large household and don’t have much to spend. It’s not perfect, but it’s very flexible and very cheap.

Also consider the 8kg, £399 Servis W814FLHD or read more washing machine reviews

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