The advent of dishwashers relieved households a lot of time in doing one of the most cumbersome tasks at home. Investing in one is a great time-saver for busy moms and dads, working people, and even aging parents who prefer more independence by still running the house by themselves.
Since dishwashers are built for convenience, the first models come bulky with lots of room to wash a lot of your dishes at a time. But this convenience is at the expense of more soap and water use. You may not also get the level of cleanliness you want with an overloaded dishwasher.
With these areas for improvement coming to light, this paved the way for the rise of a portable dishwasher.
Being small does not mean short in features. A compact dishwasher still does what a built-in, normal-sized dishwasher can, and still has room for extra features like food disposers, filters, eco mode, etc. A portable dishwasher also comes in sleek, classic, and modern designs that fit your kitchen’s aesthetics well. Since it is mostly a countertop dishwasher, it is important that it is aesthetically pleasing and can be a good conversation piece for your home.
And with a portable dishwasher, you can now bring convenience with you even on road trips and vacations.
We checked Amazon for the best portable dishwasher and top rated dishwashers that do not take so much space in your kitchen countertop.
We narrowed down our options using the following criteria:
- Space requirement
- Adjustable racks
- Design/color options
- Energy efficiency
- Cleaning performance
Here are our top 3 recommendations:
| Name | Key Feature | |
|---|---|---|
| Farberware FDW05ASBWHA Complete Portable Countertop Dishwasher– Editor’s Choice | With a built-in water tank but can still work with a water hose hooked up to the faucet | Check Price |
| hOmeLabs Compact Countertop Dishwasher | 7 intelligent washing settings – normal, heavy, eco, high temp, quick wash, glass, rinse | Check Price |
| Danby DDW631SDB Countertop Dishwasher | Quiet operation at only 54 dB | Check Price |
Farberware FDW05ASBWHA Complete Portable Countertop Dishwasher – Editor’s Choice
If you are looking for more convenience in a dishwasher (even if the appliance itself is already convenient to use), this portable dishwasher is the one for you.
This Farberware portable countertop dishwasher has 5 washing settings, which can match most of your dishwashing needs.
- Normal – can effectively work on your usual dish load.
- Rapid – are you in a hurry to replenish your plates for more guests arriving? Do you just need a quick clean for newly purchased dishes? The rapid setting can clean the plates faster. It automatically activates the air circulation and finishes cleaning the load in 40 minutes.
- Fruit wash – do you need freshly washed fruits and vegetables served fast? Your portable dishwasher has a basket included draining your load.
- Baby care – aside from effectively cleaning your baby essentials, this setting also releases steam to disinfect them.
- Glass – the ideal wash setting for your delicate glass dishes.
Aside from these 5 wash programs, you can also use the air refresh function. You can combine this with any of the programs to hasten the drying process and improve its performance as well. Allowing your dishes to dry right away minimize the risk to develop bad odors and mold growth.
As a modern touch, you will see digital LED controls where you can adjust the settings and view the current water level of your dishwasher machine tank.
This portable dishwasher is indeed made to be mobile. It has a built-in water tank which can be filled with up to 5 liters of water. The indicator on this standalone dishwasher lets you know if you already reach the correct water level according to the setting you choose.
Yet, you can still hook your portable washer to a faucet with the use of the included water hose and a faucet adaptor (must be purchased separately so it’ll fit your faucet size). This allows you to have a continuous water supply for all your dishwashing sessions.
Users who appreciate seeing their dishwasher in action will be thrilled to know that this one is a clear dishwasher. You can see how each setting works, or just simply find something so satisfying to watch.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 5 wash settings – normal, rapid, baby care, fruit wash, and glass | Noisy when it is working |
| With a built-in water tank but can still work with a water hose hooked up to the faucet | |
| Clear dishwasher door | |
| Digital LED controls | |
| Can hold plates up to 12”, angled |
Conclusion
If you need an efficient, reliable, and compact freestanding dishwasher with its own water tank, the Farberware FDW05ASBWHA Complete Portable Countertop Dishwasher is your best pick on this list.
hOmeLabs Compact Countertop Dishwasher
Installing a dishwasher is one step away from convenience, but if you could skip this one, why not? Thankfully, a portable dishwasher is just an online order away from you.
This portable dishwasher by hOmeLabs has 7 washing programs you can choose from to match the situation of your load of the day.
- Normal – fits most of your daily dish loads, except steak nights or other nights that you served greasy and saucy dishes.
- Heavy – great for heavily soiled dishes or when having some guests over.
- Eco – saves you time in doing light loads, great for cleaning new dishes you just bought from the store.
- Quick wash – needing that favorite saucer and cup pair really quick? Run your portable dishwasher in quick wash mode – no rinsing here.
- High temp – needing to clean baby dishes, toys, and small items? Your portable dishwasher will run some steaming sessions to disinfect the load.
- Rinse – if you will be skipping the soaping step, you can immediately proceed to rinse.
- Glass – best for lightly soiled glass dishes
The hOmeLabs Compact Countertop Dishwasher is decently sized to fit the space for your dish drainer. It also offers the convenience of connecting to your faucet for its water supply. No need to get a plumber as the whole assembly and connection process is easy.
This portable dishwasher received an Energy Star rating for its energy consumption efficiency. In the same way, it also uses less water than doing the same number of dishes manually. Not only you are saving time, but also energy and water in the process. That makes it a worthy investment for any household.
Aside from the soap, this portable dishwasher also uses a special drying aid – a liquid that is placed on the appliance’s dedicated compartment that is only released in the last rinsing stage. This ensures cleaner and streak-free dishes. It is also equipped with an indicator that will tell you when it is time for a refill.
The hOmeLabs Compact Countertop Dishwasher comes in two finishes – stainless steel and white. Most users prefer either stainless or white dishwasher since both look timeless and modern, and can fit almost any kind of kitchen theme.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 7 intelligent washing settings – normal, heavy, eco, high temp, quick wash, glass, rinse | Needs to be directly installed in your kitchen faucet |
| 6 place settings for dishes and cutlery | |
| With Energy-star rating | |
| Cleans better with a no-streak cleaning aid |
Conclusion
The hOmeLabs Compact Countertop Dishwasher fits modern minimalist homes looking to include only the essential appliances in their small kitchen space.
Danby DDW631SDB Countertop Dishwasher
This portable dishwasher has features and settings that fit most small families and their needs. The 8 washing programs allow you to customize the work that fits your load. This way, you ensure that it cleans effectively without wasting energy, water, and soap.
- Normal – fits your regular dish load that utilizes only the right amount of soap and water. The normal water requirement is only about 3.1 gallons per cycle.
- Heavy – for those days or nights you are having oily and saucy dishes that need extra cleaning action
- Mini-party – having guests at home means more dishes and types of food served. You get the idea about the load you have here.
- Eco – fits usual cleaning loads that you do not want to leave at the sink to wait for your next meal.
- Glass – great for lightly dirty glass dishes
- Baby care – best for baby essentials like dishes, cutleries, and small washable items. It has a steam function that sterilizes these items as well.
- Speed – great for those quick washing like for last-minute guests arriving
- Rinse – if you just need only the rinse function from your dishwasher.
Loading the dishwasher is also easy with this Danby portable dishwasher because of its 6 place settings. It allows you to sort your plates, serving dishes, cups, and cutlery so they will be cleaned properly during each cycle. It also has enough room
In terms of performance, uses an enhanced mechanism in its spray arm and filter, which significantly improves its cleaning capacity and power. It also uses less water per cycle, and runs more quietly than other models/brands, at only 54 dB, even lower than the 60 dB safe hearing threshold.
Connecting a dishwasher is also more convenient since it already comes with a water hose and a faucet adaptor that fits most faucet diameters. This portable dishwasher also comes in stainless steel finish and donning a digital LED settings display where you can easily view the set wash program, the time remaining for the cycle to finish, and other indicators.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 8 wash programs – normal, heavy, speed, mini-party, rinse, baby care, eco, glass | Fits dishes only up to 10 inches |
| Energy star rated portable dishwasher | |
| An enhanced mechanism in its spray arm and filter | |
| Stainless steel finish | |
| Quiet operation at 54 dB | |
| Delay to start function |
Conclusion
The Danby DDW631SDB Countertop Dishwasher is a great countertop or mobile dishwasher because of its size, weight, and performance. Your small family will not feel getting fewer features with its 8 wash programs, delay to start function, quiet operation, and energy star rating.
Final Verdict
With similar features, the deciding factor for our Editor’s Choice is, of course, a portability aspect – the best countertop dishwasher for us is the Farberware FDW05ASBWHA Complete Portable Countertop Dishwasher. By having its own water tank, you are not limited to bring it to places that do not have access to a faucet as you can get water from other sources and still run your portable dishwasher.
The Farberware FDW05ASBWHA Complete Portable Countertop Dishwasher also has the right number of washing programs that fit most of a small family’s washing requirements. The clear door is also a plus, as well as the black and white color combination that can easily fit most kitchen aesthetics.