Portable Dishwasher?

Dear J.-

I really cannot speak to 'particular' portable dishwashers today...but two quick stories!

When I was about 10...my dad was a professor at west point...we lived in OLD quarters...nice...but OLD. Anyway, that x mas...he got my mom a dishwasher that hooked to the sink...had a beautiful 'cutting board' top...I WAS thrilled (as the 'chief' dishwasher...) My mom...not so much! Her thought was the gift should have NOT been associated with HER job....I think she was hoping of something a tad more romantic...

Years later...they retired...and moved to an old farm house in NH...the kitchen was huge...but no dishwasher (and I was LONG out of the home). She REQUESTED a portable dishwasher there first x mas there!!!

It worked great as I recollect...and that one had the 'cutting board top' as well!

TY for some good memories!

Good luck!
michele/cat

I had one and it worked pretty well. Def. did the job and the dishes came out clean.

the year my husband and I got married we bought a little ranch style house. No dishwasher. (few cabinets even lol) anyway he bought me a portable dishwasher. It had hoses that clamped to the sink. It was on wheels that just moved across the kitchen floor. I loved it. when we bought our next house we brought it with us and had it installed. (most of them have the ability to be installed permanently if you want to do that. Good luck and go for it.

My BIL has one, I'm not sure what brand, but he loves it, much better than doing all the dishes by hand.

We have one. This (it's a Danby) is actually our second one that we bought after our 20 year old Kenmore portable broke. We picked ours because it's what we could afford at the time, the Kenmore ones were just too expensive.
We rent, so having a dishwasher is a hit and miss. The portable is small, but it helps with the smallish stuff (plates cups and silverware). You will still have to do the pots and pans and larger bowls and such by hand.
Both portables that we own(ed) leak just a tad, it is also a frequent complaint when you read reviews (about a 1/4 cup of water). Since it's in the kitchen it's not a big deal for us, we are just used to wiping up after. They are also much louder than a modern built in one.
You do have to install an adapter on your faucet, which can be a problem if you have a fancy faucet. Another drawback is that you cannot install the adapter and a faucet water filter (which I would love to have) at the same time.
All in all it's a good solution for us, much better than hand washing all of our dishes when both hubby and I work full time!
Good luck.

Growing up we always had a portable dishwasher, I didn't know they even came built in for years. LOL Then when my husband andI moved to a new city we had a rental with a dishwasher that didn't work and our Landlord had tried to fix it so many times that he just wrote in the contract that he would not fix it and we would have to come up with our own solutions. So not wanting to pay for a dishwasher to be fixed or replaced in a house we didn't own we opted to buy a portable and it has be the best purchase ever. We have to roll it across the room, but other than that it's AWESOME!! Way better than washing dishes by hand. Now we are glad we have it cause we are considering another job where the house is old and doesn't have one....how cool is it that we have one to bring with us. :) I don't think you will be dissapointed and if I remember right the price was less than the built in kind.

Good luck with your decision!

Before we remodeled, we had a portable. I was thrilled. I felt the dishes was more sterile, and it kept the dishes out of the sink when there was just a few and not enough to actually wash.

I had a portable diswasher about 30 years ago. It was full size and worked well. I wheeled it over next to the sink to hook up to the faucet when I wanted to run it. It came with the option of installing it as a conventional model which we did later. If your kitchen has room to move it away from the sink when not in use, then I don't see a problem.

I had a portable in my last apartment and I loved it! It was so much better than doing dishes by hand and the extra counter space was extra nice. We never had any trouble with it as long as we hooked it up to the sink right.

Hi - I have used portable dishwashers for the past 13 years in my house - I recently replaced an old GE model with a new Maytag (we have gone through 3 in the past 13 yrs). Overall, I've been very happy with them, although obviously they don't last forever. The most recent one was about $450, and it has a 2 level sprayer which seems to get the dishes cleaner than our last one, which only had a sprayer on the bottom. I use it twice a day, so it does get heavy use, and is much better for me than having to hand wash everything! Definitely worth it.

when we had our go out last year when family was in town. We looked for one on craigslist to get us through until ours could be replaced.

I have lived in my current home for 14.5 years. It was built in 1948 and the kitchen is too small for a built in (I would lose precious cabinet space). We got a used portable right after we moved in and it was great until it died 2 years ago. We bought another used one and it didn't last long. My suggestion - do the research and spend the money on a good one. I don't remember the brand of the first one but it didn't leak until about 6 months before it died. We just put a kitchen towel under that area when we ran it since it wasn't much. Right now I'm hand washing and can't wait until we can afford to buy another one. We still have the dead one in the house because I couldn't stand to get rid of my "prep" space.

When I first got married, we moved into a duplex that was built in the 50's. I loved that place, but it didn't have a dishwasher. So hubby went out and bought me a portable. It was WONDERFUL! We lived there for 10 years and never had a problem with it. I still have it, but it is in storage at the moment. It has a cutting board top and can be installed under counter if we need to after we move again. I never had a problem with it leaking and the dishes always came out clean. I would definitely recommend it.

When we were first married, we had a house that was built in 1910, and the kitchen was probably nearly that old. We bought a Kenmore portable dishwasher with a butcher-block top, and it worked really well! (Plus, it provided a little extra counter space.) The only downside was that while it was hooked up to the sink, obviously the sink couldn't be used for other things - so I would start it right before we went to bed. Anyhow, it's a lot better than hand-washing!

We have one. I cook so it is my husband's "job" to do the dishes. He puts everything, and I do mean everything, in the dishwasher and it pretty much always comes clean. Occasionally something has to be run through twice. Ours also has the butcher block top and that makes for a wonderful prep/cutting surface. I don't think anyone ever regrets having a dishwasher (unless you are like my favorite aunt who just adores doing dishes).