I admit - I've daydreamed about having one of these when I'm feeling lazy. Does anyone know how this affects your water bill? I rent and was curious how my landlord might react to this.

Hmm. Love the concept, but I don't have any counters (have a large dresser with a glass top serving as one) and my sink is a standalone vintage one with a built in drainboard... and a plug? Forget it! I love my huge vintage kitchen and all, but it doesn't sound like it's practical to have a dishwasher, even this kind. :(

I was going to say put it on a rolling cart and move it out of the way, but you might as well just get one of the full size mobile ones in that case. Most modern dishwashers will not make your water bill go crazy, especially if your current practice is to wash a couple of plates/glasses at a time rather than wait and stack up a sink full before you do one big wash. More likely to have an impact on your electric bill, but you can skip the heated dry and that seems to make a difference (your dishes will be a little spotty, but it cuts a lot of time off the cycle)

Doing dishes by hand is part of the charm of my charming vintage apartment.

as much as I hate doing dishes, I cant bring myself to spend $300 and a huge chunk of my counter space on one of these

My landlord just replaced a stand-alone dishwasher for us. It's a pain in the butt to hook up to the sink but hey, it beats not having one at all!

My landlord just replaced a stand-alone dishwasher for us. It's a pain in the butt to hook up to the sink but hey, it beats not having one at all!

I had a kitchen with little counter space and installed one of these in the cabinet under the sink. When I bought the house, there were great cabinets in the tiny kitchen. There was no reasonable space to remove a cabinet and install a 'normal' dishwasher.

There was about an inch of clearance between the top of the machine and the bottom of the sink bowls. The machine was not as wide as the full cabinet/double sink, so there was still enough space for the sink trap. It was fully plumbed in I didn't use the faucet attachment and drain hose into sink; instead the intake was plumbed into the main water line and the output was plumbed into the sink's drainage).

I didn't lose counter space. There was about 8 inches to the side of the machine to store dish washing powder and other cleaning supplies (the sink trap was over this space, but it still worked). The cabinet doors hid the ugliness of the machine and provided sound insulation too.

It was awesome.

In a small kitchen it would just eat up counter space, and they only hold about a sinkful of dishes. may as well go ahead and wash a sinkful of dishes faster than this can go through a cycle. i guess you have to really HATE dishwashing.

I just moved into a rental house with a dishwasher and I thought my life was saved. Oddly enough, we have only used it once, after our Superbowl party! There are only two of us, so if we put the dishes in the dishwasher as we use them, we run out of dishes to use before it is full enough to run!

In our last home (with no DW), we bought an 18" wide "portable DW"; it's on wheels & hooks up to the sink faucet when used. It does take up a parking space, but it also contributes another surface for a cutting board or something. Worth a look.

I would love to need one of these, but I doubt I need them that bad. Handwashing isn't that bad, you just need to keep up with it. For me, it's not the plates and flatware that bother me, it's the pots and pans, which a countertop unit may not handle. Besides, my vintage place has only 1 (one, ONE) accessible outlet, right next to the sink (!!!).

I had a countertop dishwasher in an old apartment of mine and found it just didn't work that well and didn't hold much. I eventually gave up on it.

I don't mind hand-washing, but my boyfriend hates it, and hand drying doubly so. It was hard for me to want to wash up after dinner when I could be relaxing on the couch with him, so a big chunk of counter space was constantly full of un-washed dishes.

So, roughly two years ago, we got a Danby model on sale. I can't remember what we payed, but it was worth every penny. The counter space it takes up is what was previously taken up by gross dishes, so that's no loss. It's energy and water-efficient, though our rent is inclusive, so while I haven't seen the bill, our landlord hasn't complained.

Pots, pans, and other awkward items (wood, tupperware) don't go in, but it gets our plates, cups, bowls, and silverware clean with minimal effort. We run it probably every other day. My sister was inspired by mine, and as she lives alone, she has room for her pots in it.

One warning: if you ever see one with a window, avoid it. It's cool to see the water swooshing around, but ours started leaking about a year in. We removed the gasket and used silicone caulking to seal it. The next year's model ditched the window too, so I imagine this was a common problem.

I'd totally recommend it to anyone who hates washing dishes but doesn't have the space or commitment to a full-sized one. All of our dishwasherless friends are jealous.

The only thing that has had a greater effect on our chore-doing is the sink-hookup apartment-sized laundry machine, but that's another post entirely.

I had the Danby countertop dishwaser. We lived in an apt that was built in 1940. I found it worked great. It also saved us money on water. We paid for our water and when I got the dishwasher our bill was reduced by $20 a month. We moved to a new apt with a built in and I gave it to an older woman who lived next door. She loved it too. Now, I have the portable washer and dryer and I love them too. If you don't like doing dishes, this is great fro two people. Any more than that and you may have to do multiple loads.

I'm one of those people who hates hand washing dishes. I bought the EdgeStar (#2) about 6 months ago off Craigslist for $200. It was brand new in the box and I'm so glad I bought it. It's perfect for 1-2 people. I do a load of dishes every day and my dishes positively sparkle. It's easy to use. It does take up some valuable counter space, but it's worth it.

Is it really too much trouble to write out "modern conveniences"?

Who spends 'hours over a sudsy sink' unless you work in a restaurant or are doing a spring cleaning of every dish, washable accessory? These just look more big and clunky than a microwave and unlike a micro, can't be set on top of a fridge or mounted under a counter.

Does anyone know where I can find a countertop dishwasher that is a little smaller than the 18" H ones listed here? I would LOVE to get one of these, but only have 15" between my counterop and cabinets.

I bought the #8 SPT (Supentown) last fall when I moved from a modern apartment with a full-size dishwasher to a former mansion built around 1900 that was later subdivided into a dozen apartments. The kitchen in my 1BR is tiny and has almost no counterspace. I would have loved a standalone to wheel back and forth, but there was simply nowhere to put it! So I bought this SPT online from Home Depot (they delived it for free). It was well worth the investment! When I divided the cost by the minimum length of my lease -- well, I spend that much per month on far more trivial items than a dishwasher.

The dishwasher is Energy Star rated, for what it's worth, and I think they estimate that it adds about $7 to your electric bill per year. Many of these countertop units do not have true drying cycles, so they do not eat up that much electricity, but they dry very rapidly if you just open the unit and pull the tray out when the cycle finishes. I think the dishwasher actually saves water, because I run it maybe twice a week when it's full.

It takes up my only countertop space, so that is annoying, but as another commenter said, that is where a basket of dirty dishes would pile up otherwise. I'd much rather the dirty dishes be stacked neatly and out of sight inside the dishwasher.

Installation is not difficult. I am not particularly handy but was able to do it myself.

I can fit some small pots and pans into the unit, and it cleans them well -- just depends on how full it is of dishes as to whether or not they will fit. It does have a pots & pans cycle.

If you've been on the fence, get one of these! This was the most helpful purchase I made for my new apartment. You won't regret it.

Thanks for this post, AT. It was hard to find good reviews of these countertop units when I was looking for one -- it felt a little bit like flying blind trying to pick one out!

I bought the #8 SPT (Supentown) last fall when I moved from a modern apartment with a full-size dishwasher to a former mansion built around 1900 that was later subdivided into a dozen apartments. The kitchen in my 1BR is tiny and has almost no counterspace. I would have loved a standalone to wheel back and forth, but there was simply nowhere to put it! So I bought this SPT online from Home Depot (they delived it for free). It was well worth the investment! When I divided the cost by the minimum length of my lease -- well, I spend that much per month on far more trivial items than a dishwasher.

The dishwasher is Energy Star rated, for what it's worth, and I think they estimate that it adds about $7 to your electric bill per year. Many of these countertop units do not have true drying cycles, so they do not eat up that much electricity, but they dry very rapidly if you just open the unit and pull the tray out when the cycle finishes. I think the dishwasher actually saves water, because I run it maybe twice a week when it's full.

It takes up my only countertop space, so that is annoying, but as another commenter said, that is where a basket of dirty dishes would pile up otherwise. I'd much rather the dirty dishes be stacked neatly and out of sight inside the dishwasher.

Installation is not difficult. I am not particularly handy but was able to do it myself.

I can fit some small pots and pans into the unit, and it cleans them well -- just depends on how full it is of dishes as to whether or not they will fit. It does have a pots & pans cycle.

If you've been on the fence, get one of these! This was the most helpful purchase I made for my new apartment. You won't regret it.

Thanks for this post, AT. It was hard to find good reviews of these countertop units when I was looking for one -- it felt a little bit like flying blind trying to pick one out!

I've seen these in videos of Japan, but never knew these existed here in the good ol' USofA, but yep, they DO exist, who'd da thunk?

Anyway, find them intriguing and it seems they are actually usable. Though to be honest, if I had another outlet on the left side of my sink, I'd consider one of these in my current apt. But I don't and the one lone outlet is on the other side where I use as a secondary prep station (and where the food processor and coffee pot sit), and a place to put dirty dishes until I can wash - by hand.

that space to the left is my drying rack and mat for placing the clean dishes to dry as I'm a stacker.

Now I'd kill for the portable washer/dryer combos though, or a counter height freezer instead!

I looked into getting one of these, but couldn't really afford to give up any counter space. So I got an 18" portable model instead. Takes up a bit of space in the kitchen, but it gives you another work surface, too. It's a Danby. Does an incredible job washing dishes, considering the price, though the standard cycle does take F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

Doesn't use much power though, and it uses very little water. Like, not even half a sink's worth for an entire pots-n-pans cycle. Amazing. Far more water-efficient than I am when I wash the dishes by hand.

This may have already been discussed in the posts (not entirely sure as I read most but not all of the comments...) but if you are a renter and not a home owner you should first check the rules and regulations on your building pertaining to dishwashers. Similarly you should check before buying a gril/barbecue and installing a satellite dish.
I work for a property management company so I've dealt with this before. I've been told that most buildings that decide to ban countertop dishwashers do so based on the supposed tendency to leak found within earliest commercially available models. I'm also a renter and my unit's rules and regs state I can't own a countertop unit but if I wished to I could install a low-profile built-in unit.

I had a Haier one (that I got off Craigslist, so take the following with a grain of salt). It didn't add to my water or electric bill at all, but it wasn't without its drawbacks. It took forever (up to 1hr+) to go through a cycle, which is to be expected with portable machines; I have a Haier portable washing machine that also takes forever, but at least it thoroughly cleans my clothes. After waiting for the dishwasher to finish a cycle, my dishes were no cleaner for the effort. Plus, I live by myself, so it was easy enough to wash a plate or a bowl and utensils, I really came to use the dishwasher after dinner parties. And, when after the I'd cleaned up the rest of the dinner party and the dishes STILL weren't clean? I gave up on it. Perhaps it was the second hand aspect of it (don't want to say the brand because my other appliances from Haier work fine), but countertop dishwashers are no longer for me. However, I may invest in one of portable apartment sized ones in my next kitchen, with the added counter space to boot. They cost about e same and I've never seen one that didn't work.