Samsung DW60A8060BB Review
A dishwasher suited to tall wine glasses
Verdict
If you’ve ever tried to load your dishwasher and found it frustrating as items just don’t seem to fit, you’ll love the little touches in the Samsung DW60A8060BB. From the lower wine glass rack, which is perfect for long-stemmed glasses, to the clever cutlery trays, this dishwasher takes away the everyday annoyances. It’s relatively cheap to run, too, and my one minor complaint is that the auto mode didn’t deal with the toughest of stains, although the more intensive wash option did.
Pros
- Flexible internal space
- Takes very large wine glasses
- Clever cutlery rack
Cons
- Auto mode didn’t clean toughest stains
Availability
- UKRRP: £949
Key Features
- Place settingsThis integrated dishwasher has space for 14 place settings.
Introduction
Often with a dishwasher, it’s the little things that make it frustrating to use: wine glasses that won’t fit in the top rack, annoying-to-empty cutlery racks, and the like.
The Samsung DW60A8060BB integrated dishwasher has been designed to remove those frustrations, with some neat touches, app-control and low running costs.
Design and features
- Can handle tall wine glasses
- Clever cutlery trays
- Lots of flexible space
The Samsung DW60A8060BB is an integrated model, so it needs to have a door that matches your kitchen cupboards fitted to it. Fortunately, integrated dishwashers don’t lose out of space compared to freestanding ones, and the Samsung DW60A8060BB has some clever tricks to make it less annoying to use than much of the competition.
First up, there’s the issue of what to do with tall wine glasses. In many dishwashers, only the shortest glasses will fit in the middle rack, and that’s the case here. However, Samsung has added wine glass holders to the back of the bottom shelf, which will take bigger items. Sure, it cuts down on space for plates and the like, but if you’ve got tall glasses, such as those that I use for testing, it’s nice to have space for these glasses rather than precariously balancing them.
Otherwise, it’s business as normal for this dishwasher’s bottom rack, with fold-down tines giving more space for larger items, such as pans, when you have fewer plates and bowls to go in.
The top rack is height adjustable. In most cases, it will need to be in its higher position to stop the water arm from hitting plates below. This is easy to do using the handles on the side, and the rack doesn’t have to be removed to have its height changed.
This rack has a clever adjustable glass holder that moves some tines to grip cups or wine glasses. There’s a handy pictorial image that shows you the setting, locking more delicate items into place. There’s then the usual fold-down tines that you can use to hold smaller plates or move out of the way for larger items.
I love a top cutlery rack, as I think they get knives and forks cleaner than a basket. They can be annoying to empty, particularly if your cutlery drawer isn’t near the dishwasher. Fortunately, Samsung has implemented a clever design on this dishwasher, and the top rack has two cutlery trays that simply lift out. That’s the best of both worlds there.
There’s a standard detergent dispenser on this model, which can take pods, liquid or powdered detergent. Plus, there’s rinse aid, filled in the normal way.
Controls are on the top of this dishwasher. Auto is the default selection, where the dishwasher will sense how dirty items are and then apply the appropriate programme.
If you want to have more control, you can just use the other programmes, including Eco (best for energy saving), Intensive (heavily soiled items), Express, Self Clean and Baby Care. It’s possible to clean items on the lower rack only, to save money when you’ve got a half load.
Once a wash programme is selected, the LCD shows how long it will last. This counts down during the cycle, although you can’t see the screen while the dishwasher door is shut.
I do like the blue light that shines on the floor, though. This visually shows that the dishwasher is running and stopped me from accidentally opening the door mid-cycle.
As this is a Samsung machine, the DW60A8060BB works with SmartThings. Remote control gives you all of the options that you get at the control panel, plus some downloadable cycles for special items including Baby Care (rinses and dries without detergent for handwashed items) and Plastic (reduces the risk of melting items).
To be honest, I found it easier to use the control panel, but I did find the alerts when a cycle was completed to be useful.
Performance
- Low running costs
- Can clean well on intense mode
- Auto mode didn’t work on my dirtiest dishes
I put the Samsung DW60A8060BB through all of my normal tests, preloading the machine with a series of dirty items, including a coffee-stained cup, red-wine stained glass, a plate with dried on mac-and-cheese and – toughest of all – a glass bowl that had been used to make microwaved scrambled eggs.
I started with the automatic programme to see how this performed. According to my measurements, this cycle cost 32.67p to run which is very competitive. This did well on most of my tests. With the coffee mug, the dried-on residue was removed.
My wine glass, placed in the lower rack, had the red wine removed and the glass came out shining.
I found that my plate was clean, too, with the remnant cheese from the mac-and-cheese removed completely.
However, the dirty egg bowl was a different matter, and the dishwasher couldn’t touch the stains on this, leaving a lot of residue behind.
To test again, I put the dishwasher into Intense mode, and ran the cycle again. This time, the running cost jumped up to 57.19p per cycle, which is much higher. However, the results were better, with most of the egg gone, although I did have to finish off the last bit of the clean by hand.
Most dishwashers can’t get a perfect result on this test. Only the LG DF455HMS freestanding model did, using its steam option; that cycle cost 71p, which is considerably more, though.
For most days, the Eco mode will do the job, and this costs just 30p to run, according to my measurements. That’s a good result, and highlights why this dishwasher has its B-rating.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a dishwasher that can take odd-sized items and has low running costs, this is a great choice.
If you want auto-dosing detergent alongside auto cleaning, look for a different model
Final Thoughts
If you want a full-on automatic machine, it’s worth looking at the Miele G 7160 SCVi AutoDos, which not only sets the temperature and cycle automatically, but it can auto-dose detergent, too. However, that machine costs a lot more.
What you get with the Samsung DW60A8060BB is a very flexible dishwasher, well suited to taller wine glasses, and with the best cutlery rack that I’ve used. Its auto programme struggled with the toughest of stains, but the intense cycle fixed that. And, for most uses, the cheap Eco cycle will do the job. Unless you regularly have heavily soiled items, then, this is a great integrated dishwasher.
How we test
We test every dishwasher we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
We measure water and energy usage for each dishwasher to see how efficient they are.
We use real-world mess to test a dishwasher’s ability to clean.
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FAQs
This model is a large one, taking 14 place settings.
Yes, it integrates via SmartThings.
Trusted Reviews test data
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
