Help choosing a portable dishwasher

Entriech

My wife and I have just purchased a new house (yay), however the house has an older kitchen without the room for a built-in dishwasher (boo). With the outlay for the new house, any dreams of major kitchen renovation are 5-10 years in the future, and we'd really like to avoid going without a dishwasher in the interim. Thus the desire to buy a portable one.

The kitchen's big enough to handle a free-standing model that we'd roll over to the sink, so that'd be our preference. My searches for reviews or buying guides on the net have come up pretty dry, so I'm turning to the PA community for any information folks might have. Looking for model suggestions, things to look/watch out for, etc. Thanks!

Aurin

Well, I think namebrand would be pretty easy to find... GE, Whirlpool, etc. Be prepared to replace the wheels on it, especially if it has to travel over rough surfaces (my Dad has a portable dishwasher, and it rolls over carpet... so he ended up putting huge new wheels on it so it actually moves.)

I just don't think a lot of people use the portable dishwasher option, so that's probably why you haven't found any reviews on them. Regular reviews for the built-in type should be comparable, since I do believe they just stick the wheels on them and build a different outer enclosure.

So, in closing... strong wheels! >.>

witch_ie

We're renting a place with no dishwasher so got a portable one. It works pretty well. I don't remember which brand it is, but we got it from Sears. I'll check when I get home and let you know. Just remember though, with portable dishwashers as with many other things, you get what you pay for.

Edit: We have a GE.

Entriech

Thanks, you two. I guess I'll keep an eye out for a good quality namebrand with some kickass wheels.

Dissociater

My wife and I just bought a portable dishwasher from the bay (Canada). It works fine, and cost about 500$

I also forget the brand, it might be a kenmore. Anyways, we got the 19 inch model, so it's thinner and smaller than most portable dishwashers. This is good because it's only the two of us, and we don't have a whole lot of dishes, so we can actually fill it up before having to use it. No half-loads required.

Try and make sure your faucet is threaded though, before you buy one, otherwise you'll need to replace it. We had a double lock faucet and had to buy a new moen so that the dishwasher could hook up to it.

Kris

Dissociater wrote: »

My wife and I just bought a portable dishwasher from the bay (Canada). It works fine, and cost about 500$

I also forget the brand, it might be a kenmore. Anyways, we got the 19 inch model, so it's thinner and smaller than most portable dishwashers. This is good because it's only the two of us, and we don't have a whole lot of dishes, so we can actually fill it up before having to use it. No half-loads required.

Try and make sure your faucet is threaded though, before you buy one, otherwise you'll need to replace it. We had a double lock faucet and had to buy a new moen so that the dishwasher could hook up to it.

Little FYI: it's definitely not a Kenmore, as that brand is Sears-exclusive.

Arch Guru XX

My wife and I have a portable dishwasher as well (got it from Sears, it's a GE I think), and we've been very pleased. Something you might consider is that some portable units are designed so that they can be converted into stationary units - it costs a bit more, but it might come in useful if you're planning on remodeling your kitchen down the line.

vonPoonBurGer

Kris wrote: »

Dissociater wrote: »

My wife and I just bought a portable dishwasher from the bay (Canada). It works fine, and cost about 500$

I also forget the brand, it might be a kenmore. Anyways, we got the 19 inch model, so it's thinner and smaller than most portable dishwashers. This is good because it's only the two of us, and we don't have a whole lot of dishes, so we can actually fill it up before having to use it. No half-loads required.

Try and make sure your faucet is threaded though, before you buy one, otherwise you'll need to replace it. We had a double lock faucet and had to buy a new moen so that the dishwasher could hook up to it.

Little FYI: it's definitely not a Kenmore, as that brand is Sears-exclusive.

If it's an 18" wide portable dishwasher, it's probably this one from Danby. I'm actually considering buying one, I've read good things about it and I loathe doing dishes by hand.

The same company also makes even smaller counter-top dishwashers, but I wouldn't recommend one of those units. For some reason they felt compelled to put a freaking window in the front door of all their current counter-top models, which is an idiotic design decision. No one needs to watch their dishes being washed, and it's an extra gasket that can break down and start leaking. Sure enough, if you read reviews of the counter-top units, one of the frequent complaints is that the window starts leaking at some point.