A detergent dispensing unit (3) is disposed in the upper part of an automatically controlled washing machine, the unit having at least one chamber (8 to 10) for a hand-metered addition of a detergentor liquid detergent portion, and a supply channel (18.1, 18.2, 18.3, 18.4, 18.5) for supplying fresh water for each chamber (8 to 10). Liquid or gel-like washing aid can be stored in at least one storage container (23, 24, 32) attached in the machine part. A unit (25, 26, 33) for the automatic metering of the stored washing aid is associated with each storage container, said unit comprising a transfer line (27, 28, 34) for the dose to the detergent dispensing unit (3). In order to avoid the risk of harmful deposits during the automatic metering of washing aids, without substantially increasingefforts therefor, at least one of the supply channels (18.1) comprises a bypass (29, 30, 35), the inlet side (35.1) of which has a fluid connection to the supply channel (18.1) and the outlet side (29.2, 30.2, 35.2) to the transfer line (27, 28, 34). In this manner, this allows minimized distances for an automatically metering washing aid and low maintenance for the storage unit, while avoiding further disadvantages.