Is a Tabletop Dishwasher Right For You?

Many people these days can’t fathom life without a dishwasher.  The majority of households in the western world have them, and some people seem to have forgotten how to wash dishes the old fashioned way – by hand.  Though most homes have full sized dishwashers that fit right under the counter top, there are some situations where having a large dishwasher just isn’t possible.
Here are some of the situations where tabletop dishwashers might come in handy.

• Apartments that have tiny kitchens – Sometimes there is no room for a full sized dishwasher.
• Office kitchens – These are great for office kitchens.  Nobody wants to clean up after the whole office, and this way everyone just puts their coffee mugs and other dishes into the dishwasher, and it gets turned on when full.
• Camping – These mini-sized dishwashers are perfect for camper trailers.  Nobody wants to spend half an hour doing dishes when they are camping.  One of these dishwashers comes in very handy for families on the move.
• People on the move – If you are constantly on the move, staying a year in one place, and then moving on, one of these comes in handy.  They are easy to pack up and can be moved with other household things easily.  Although manufacturers will call this appliance a portable tabletop dishwasher, it isn’t as portable as it seems.  Weighing in at around 50 pounds, you wouldn’t want to carry these machines too far, though they are easy enough to take down the stairs if you are moving.

Here are the most common tabletop dishwashers available:

Heir – The Heir tabletop dishwasher is big enough to hold four place settings.  That means it can hold 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 glasses, and so on.  As dishwashers go, this is about as small as they get, but if you want to save space and don’t have many dishes, it is perfect.  It is about the size of a large microwave oven.  It comes with a few convenient features as well.  It automatically shuts off if the door is opened, and if it starts to overflow, it will shut off the water, which saves you from having to clean up water that spilled all over the place.

Danby – The Danby tabletop dishwasher is about the same size as the Heir.  One feature that the Danby model has is what it calls a “sani-wash” setting.  What this means is that the dishwasher reaches 158 degrees inside during this cycle, and kills pretty much any germs and bacteria that are inside.

Setting up a tabletop dishwasher is a simple affair.  You place the dishwasher either on the counter or on a kitchen cart or some other table.  You need to have it located relatively close to the sink.  Screw the water intake hose onto the sink faucet, and put the water drain hose into the sink.  I read a tabletop dishwasher review by someone who couldn’t figure out how to screw the hose into her faucet.  If it seems as though the faucet on your sink has nothing to screw onto, that is usually because it has a cap on it.  Try turning the cap counter-clockwise to unscrew it.  If it is too tight, a pair of pliers will do it.  Be careful not to scratch and damage the cap though!  If you are concerned that a dishwasher will use too much water, you should be happy to hear that the Danby tabletop dishwasher uses only 2.3 gallons of water each time.  That might even be less water than you would use if you washed the dishes by hand.

If your kitchen is really, really small and you just can’t figure out where to put it, here are some ideas.  I have seen kitchens that have about one square foot of counter space available for preparing food.  There just isn’t room for one more appliance on it, especially not a big one like one of these dishwashers.  One idea is to get a two level table.  You can put the dishwasher on top and the microwave on the bottom, or vice versa. If you get a cart with wheels on the bottom, you can keep it against the wall, and then simply push the cart next to the sink when you want to use the dishwasher.

Tags: Appliances, Dishwashers // Add Comment »