A slim washing machine saves depth, not width. UK front-loading machines are universally 60cm wide, and a slimline model keeps that width but cuts the depth from a standard 55-60cm down to somewhere between 40cm and 50cm, depending on the model. If your gap is narrower than 60cm, depth doesn’t help: you need a top-loading machine instead. This guide covers how to measure the gap correctly, what depth to expect from three currently available slimline models, and what a wash actually costs to run under the current Energy Price Cap.
We have not tested these machines ourselves. Dimensions, capacities and energy figures below are taken directly from manufacturer spec sheets and checked against current UK retailer listings, all linked throughout.
Width vs Depth: Why “Small” Means Slim, Not Narrow
Standard UK kitchen carcasses and freestanding washing machines are built to the same 60cm width, front-loader or not. A slimline machine doesn’t change that. What changes is how far it sticks out from the wall: a standard machine runs 55-60cm deep, a slimline one runs roughly 40-50cm deep, according to Beko’s own washing machine size guide.
That shallower body keeps the door from swinging clear of your cabinet fronts and leaves enough rear clearance for the cold water inlet and waste pipe in a tight utility cupboard. If the gap itself is under 60cm wide, a front-loader won’t fit regardless of depth. See the top-loading section below, or budget for altering the kitchen cabinetry to widen the gap instead.
Measuring Your Gap: The Rear Clearance Void
Matching machine depth to worktop depth isn’t enough on its own. The cold water hose and corrugated waste pipe both sit behind the chassis, and if that void is too tight, a crushed pipe will leak or drain badly. As a rule of thumb, add 4-6cm to the machine’s stated depth to get the minimum gap you actually need, and check the installation manual for the specific model, since the void varies by design.
Three currently available slimline models, with manufacturer-confirmed dimensions:
| Model | Depth | Capacity | Spin | Price (checked Aug 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COMFEE’ CFE10EW70/W | 40cm | 7kg | 1200rpm | ~£244 (RRP £269) |
| Beko BM3WT3741 | 49.6cm | 7kg | 1400rpm | ~£289.99 |
| Russell Hobbs RH612W110B | 50cm | 6kg | 1200rpm | ~£279.99 |
(Prices vary by retailer and move around often. Treat the table as a starting point, not today’s exact figure.)
COMFEE’ CFE10EW70/W
This is the genuinely narrow option of the three, at a true 40cm chassis depth against a 59.5cm width, roughly 10cm shallower than either of the other two models here. That makes it the one worth checking first for the tightest under-stair conversions or older, shallower fitted units where the other two won’t physically go in, though it’s still worth budgeting the usual 4-6cm rear void on top of the stated depth for the waste hose. It matches the Beko on capacity at 7kg but spins at 1200rpm rather than 1400rpm, so laundry comes out slightly wetter and takes a little longer to line-dry or tumble-dry. At around £244, it’s also the cheapest of the three by some margin. COMFEE’s own product page lists the full spec, and it’s also stocked on Amazon UK. Unlike Beko and Russell Hobbs below, COMFEE’ doesn’t consistently publish an energy efficiency class across the retailers checked for this guide, so that’s left out of the comparison rather than guessed at.
Beko BM3WT3741
At 49.6cm deep, this sits in the middle of the slimline range rather than the shallow end, worth checking against your actual gap before assuming “Beko” automatically means the narrowest option. It’s a 7kg, 1400rpm machine, the fastest spin of the three here, which matters if a load is going straight into a tumble dryer afterwards, since a faster spin leaves less water for the dryer to remove. It also carries the best energy rating of the three, Class B against Class D for the Russell Hobbs below, and Beko’s own fiche lists 43 litres and 0.513 kWh per cycle, the figure the running-cost calculation below is built on. At around £290, it’s the most expensive of the three, which roughly tracks with the faster spin and better energy class rather than being an unexplained premium. Which?’s independent review is worth reading for a second opinion on real-world performance, since this guide is a specification comparison rather than a hands-on test, and the model is also listed on Amazon UK.
Russell Hobbs RH612W110B
Official dimensions put this at 50cm deep, 6kg capacity, 1200rpm, shallower than most standard machines but, again, not as narrow as the COMFEE’ unit above, despite sometimes being marketed as one of the shallowest on the market. The 6kg drum is the smallest capacity of the three, which suits a one or two-person household better than a family wash, and it carries a D energy rating, the least efficient of the three compared here, worth knowing since a lower energy class means a higher running cost even on an identical wash despite the machine itself costing roughly the same to buy as the COMFEE’. Its 15 programmes include a rapid wash and a wool cycle, per DIY.com’s listing, and it’s also available on Amazon UK at a similar price, giving a choice of retailer rather than a single point of purchase.
Running Costs Under the Current Energy Price Cap
Using the Beko BM3WT3741’s own product fiche as the worked example, since it’s the only one of the three with a published energy and water figure to check this against: 0.513 kWh and 43 litres per Eco 40-60 cycle.
- Electricity: 0.513 kWh x 26.11p (the current Ofgem price cap for Direct Debit customers, 1 July to 30 September 2026) works out to roughly 13.4p per wash.
- Water: metered water and wastewater rates vary a lot by region and supplier, from around £3.40/m³ up to £6.10/m³ combined. On 43 litres (0.043m³), that’s roughly 15p to 26p per wash.
Combined, a single wash on this machine costs somewhere in the region of 28p to 40p, depending mainly on your local water rates. Run four loads a week, and that’s roughly £58 to £83 a year in electricity and water combined. Call it £70 as a rough midpoint, though your own supplier’s rate will move that either way. Neither COMFEE’ nor Russell Hobbs publish an equivalent per-cycle figure as readily accessible as Beko’s, so treat this as a representative slimline-machine estimate rather than a claim about all three models specifically.
Vibration and Noise on Suspended Timber Floors
Wooden and laminate floors flex more than concrete or tiled ones, and that flex is what turns a spin cycle into a machine “walking” across the room, according to Currys’ own washing machine installation guide, which specifically calls out suspended wooden and laminate floors as more prone to vibration than a solid base. The same guide’s fix is straightforward: level the machine properly with its adjustable feet and a spirit level, and add a rubber anti-vibration mat if the floor itself is springy.
A slimline machine doesn’t inherently make this worse than a full-size one. It comes down to how well it’s levelled and how firm the floor is underneath, not the depth of the chassis.
Top-Loading Alternatives for Gaps Under 60cm Wide
If the gap itself measures under 60cm wide, no front-loader will fit, slimline or not. Top-loading machines solve the width problem instead: they’re typically 40cm wide and around 60cm deep, using a horizontal drum accessed from above rather than the front, so they need vertical clearance to open the lid rather than door swing.
Smaller drums, front-load or top-load, pack clothes tighter and hold more residual moisture after spinning. Without space for a full-size tumble dryer, a dehumidifier for drying clothes or a small condensing tumble dryer both work as flat-friendly alternatives to line-drying indoors.
When connecting any washing machine’s waste pipe, the installation needs to meet the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, which set out backflow-prevention requirements for the cold water connection specifically. It’s a straightforward standard fitting on a modern washing machine hose, but worth knowing the regulation exists if a plumber mentions it.
“Will It Fit?” UK Gap Calculator
Use this tool to check what style of machine your kitchen or utility gap can actually take.
Enter the exact dimensions of your gap in centimetres to get a straight answer: front-loader (slimline or standard), top-loader, or neither without altering the space.
📏 “Will it Fit?” UK Gap Calculator
Enter the exact dimensions of your kitchen or cupboard gap in centimetres.
Common Questions
Is a 44cm-deep washing machine the same as a slimline one? Roughly, yes. Slimline generally means anywhere from about 40cm to 50cm deep, against a 55-60cm standard depth. There's no single fixed cutoff, so always check the specific model's listed depth rather than assuming "slimline" means one exact number.
What's the narrowest washing machine sold in the UK? Width is standardised at 60cm for almost all UK front-loaders, slimline or not. A handful of top-loading machines run closer to 40cm wide, which is the option worth looking at if the gap itself, not just the depth, is under 60cm.
Do I need a plumber to install a washing machine? Not necessarily. Most washing machines connect to a standard washing machine tap and waste pipe that a competent DIYer can fit. A plumber is worth it if there's no existing washing machine plumbing in place, or if the installation needs to meet the Water Fittings Regulations covered above and you're not confident doing that yourself.
