Reviews of Medelstor and Skinande dishwashers

The affordable dishwashers offered by the furniture supermarket chain IKEA have attracted many people's interest, but experience with these appliances remains limited, making it unclear whether they are reliable or worth buying. In this article, we've collected reviews from consumers who have purchased dishwashers from Medelstor and Skinande and can share their impressions of these new IKEA products.

Medelstor reviews: over 1 year of use

Alexey, Vladivostok

I bought a Medelstor dishwasher by chance, along with furniture from IKEA. A friend liked the kitchen set on display at the exhibition stand, and it already had a built-in dishwasher. They assembled the kitchen for us, and the dishwasher was installed quickly and professionally. For the first few dishes, we used Finish detergent and Finish salt. About six months later, we switched to a cheap detergent from Auchan, and the dishes still come out clean.

For a year and two months now we haven’t washed dishes by hand and it gives us a lot of pleasure. I used to shudder at the pile of dishes in the sink and on the counter, knowing I'd have to wash them all. Now I can easily transfer the pile to the dishwasher (often in two batches), and it cleans everything perfectly. This dishwasher with its dubious, little-known name turned out to be very good.

Evgeniya, Vladimir

I wanted to buy an affordable, high-quality dishwasher, and a relative recommended the IKEA Medelstor dishwasher. Some might find our choice odd, but my sister-in-law, grandmother, and cousin already have IKEA dishwashers. My grandmother has a Lagan, my sister-in-law a Medelstor, and my cousin also has a Medelstor. All of their dishwashers work great, and everyone is happy. I looked at both the Lagan and the Medelstor, and I liked the latter better, so I decided to go with it.

My husband installed the machine himself and kept swearing about the cord being too short, missing screws, or a faulty hose. He ended up extending the cord, buying longer hoses, and some other hardware—I don't even know what it was—but we connected it and it worked. It washes dishes averagely; I used to have a Bosch dishwasher, and it washed better. It's just as noisy as my old Bosch. I expected the new one to be quieter, although the extraneous noise doesn't bother anyone in the family. I'm happy with the dishwasher; it's excellent technology.

Reviews of Medelstor: less than 1 year of use

Irina, Krasnodar

Six months ago, I decided to give myself a gift – a dishwasher. It's not that I hate washing dishes, but I still wanted to add some variety to my boring routine. I searched for a long time, reading countless reviews about Bosch, Indesit, Samsung, and other brands, even Lagan dishwasher reviewsI researched expert advice and ultimately decided to buy a Bosch dishwasher, but instead bought a Medelstor. It all turned out pretty funny: I went into IKEA to buy a coffee table and walked out with a dishwasher.

The sale and the salesperson's persistence did the trick. And now, for six months now, I've been washing dishes every day and taking care of my hands. I found two drawbacks in the Medelstor dishwasher: the tray for spoons and forks is very inconvenient, I can really only put teaspoons in it, The dish baskets are also quite small, so they don't fit all the dishes I've piled up, so I have to wash them in three batches, which is annoying. I give the machine a solid B, but it doesn't quite reach a B.

Larisa, Moscow

I have great respect for IKEA; almost all my furniture and lighting fixtures are from IKEA, but I was hesitant about the dishwasher, even though the salesperson insisted I buy it. Ultimately, I was convinced by the fact that their Medelstor built-in dishwasher comes with a five-year warranty. After all, they wouldn't give a five-year warranty on some "crappy" product.

Noted the following:

• The dishwasher is quite wide, even for a full-size built-in dishwasher, at a whopping 68 cm, compared to the standard 60 cm. It's a good thing I was able to calculate the niche dimensions after purchasing the dishwasher, otherwise it would have been easy to screw up the dimensions.
• The stock hoses are a dead giveaway, and it's not even the length that's the issue, but the quality. The mechanics who installed the car immediately advised me to buy longer ones with leak protection, since the distance from the drain to the niche is almost two meters.
• The washing tank holds up to 9 standard place settings, which is generally enough, but I have three children and relatives often come over, so I would like a larger capacity.
• It washes dishes very well with any detergent. I've tried expensive German powders, tablets, cheap Russian ones, and even homemade powder - the result is excellent.

My Medelstor has been working for 7 months now without any glitches or serious complaints. I clean the filters, baskets and inner walls regularly, monitor the amount of salt and try to add the detergent according to the norm.

Skinanda reviews: less than 1 year of use

Tatiana, Moscow

I only just realized how miserable my life was without a dishwasher. Dirty dishes, dirty dishes, dirty dishes. My husband and kids love to eat, and he often cooks all sorts of delicious dishes, but washing dishes, apparently, isn't a man's job. Rather than argue with him over trivial matters, I decided to buy a dishwasher. I liked the built-in Skinande dishwasher, specially made by Electrolux for IKEA. It's very high quality, and I got it on sale for only $170. If you're in the same situation and don't know which dishwasher to choose, buy a Skinande—you won't regret it!

Yuri, Kamyshin

I had a Siemens dishwasher for six years. It was a great machine, cleans dishes perfectly and is indestructible. At least, that's what I thought until the control board on my Siemens burned out. I had to remember what it was like to wash dishes by hand. I didn't like remembering that, and I didn't have the money for a new one at the time. A neighbor who was moving to Moscow and selling off her appliances saved me. I bought her Skinande built-in dishwasher for next to nothing; it fit perfectly in my kitchen cabinets. It's practically new, two months old, and I've now been using it for five months.

The brand certainly seemed odd to me, but I had no choice; I desperately needed a dishwasher. So what's the result? It turns out I bought a gold mine for a mere $80. The machine washes dishes twice as well as my old Siemens, and the dishes sparkle. No need for any expensive cleaning products. The capacity is very good - 12 sets, and even during intensive work the machine does not make loud noises, you can load the sink overnight - it will not hurt. Skinande gets five stars with three pluses from me.

Skinand review: service life over 1 year

Elena, Saratov

I chose a dishwasher like no one else! I scoured every catalog, every online store, asked friends, and read hundreds of reviews and appliance magazines. I approached the matter with great care and research. The result of my research was the Skinande dishwasher. At a relatively low price, it offers a wealth of advantages: efficiency, capacity, a good selection of programs, low noise, and convenient baskets. Plus, it’s built-in and the manufacturer provides a 5-year warranty. I've been using this machine for over a year now and I don't regret purchasing it for a second; the dishes are always consistently clean.

Skinande and Mendelstor dishwashers are quite high-quality appliances, as confirmed by consumers. However, it's not worth idealizing them, as, in fact, only 1% of dishwasher owners in Russia use these types of dishwashers. That's essentially a couple thousand people. If sales of these appliances increase, we'll be able to see any trends emerge—we'll have to wait and see.

   

2 reader comments

1. March 12, 2017 at 12:47 PM

   Danil:

   IKEA itself came up with such strange names for dishwashers and other appliances. Everything is made to order. Essentially, it's either Electrolux or Whirlpool.

   Answer
2. March 22, 2018 at 7:30 PM

   Natalia:

   Larisa, Moscow, wrote this in her review of the Mendelstor dishwasher? It's strange, the standard width of the dishwasher is 45 cm. But she says it's a mere 68 cm. I've never seen dishwashers that wide anywhere, especially not at Ikea. 🙂

   Answer