We've all been there before and know what it feels like. It's the worst thing that can happen in a commercial kitchen is if your dishwasher breaks down. A dishwasher is the centre piece of all commercial catering kitchens and if it fails you are left stranded. You call out the engineer, but he can't fix it, so the only thing left to do is buy a new one. But how can you be sure that when you buy a new dishwasher it won't suffer the same fate? This little guide will talk you through making sure you buy the right machine and a quality warewasher

Plastic components inside dishwashers are possibly the number one thing to avoid. There are a lot of commercial dishwashers out there on the market that use plastic interior components and they simply aren't up to the job. Plastic components cannot stand up to the extreme temperatures reached inside commercial dishwashers without weathering, warping and eventually cracking and breaking over a long period of time. The material simply is made for commercial use and although it may be acceptable on domestic dishwashers where temperatures are lower and use is also less, it is a definite no-no on commercial dishwashers.

As an alternative to plastic commercial dishwashers, for the reasons outlined above, stainless steel commercial dishwashers are definitely the way forward. Stainless steel commercial dishwashers are able to stand up to everyday use for a much longer period of time. Stainless steel does not weather in the same way as plastic does with temperature and will not crack, split or warp like plastic. Stainless steel is also a much better surface for lime scale as lime scale struggles to bond with stainless steel in the same way as it does with plastic. This means machines take longer to scale up and when they do, they are much easier to un-scale with chemicals.

They have built up a huge industry around the machines and because the country is rich in stainless steel, a lot of the machines made here are entirely stainless steel like was described earlier. With famous names such as MACH and Electrolux coming out of Italy, it is always a good idea to buy an Italian made machine. Italian Made Dishwashers and Italian Made Commercial Glass washers are usually hand built with Italian pride rather than mass produced in giant factories in the Far East for much lower prices and therefore much lower quality.