Customer Reviews

Portable Countertop Dishwasher with Digital Controls - EdgeStar

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

**UPDATE***
April 1, 2008
Still washing a year later!


**UPDATE***
March 23, 2007
Still incredibly happy with this machine. Have it on the stainless steel rolling cart that is the perfect size. A great solution to a small kitchen and a sink full of dishes!


I just got this dishwasher yesterday, so I will update this review if things go horribly wrong! Installation was easy -- the hard part was replacing my fancy kitchen faucet with a standard one to accommodate the attachment hose required (but that's a different story).

Within 15 minutes my friend and I had it up on my narrow counter (note that the legs of the machine are spaced at about 18" wide and 15" deep, and it's also a bit shy of the 19" depth stated in the specs), hoses tightened, faucet adaptor screwed in, and dishes loaded. I was able to fit in quite a bit of stuff -- but I doubt that my larger dinner plates will fit, since they are significantly oversized. But I usually just use my salad plates, as they are oversized as well.

With much excitement, I turned on the water and pressed the power button. And away it went! When it was done (maybe 40 minutes???) everything was clean except for the two coffee mugs that had been sitting with coffee for several days (ring of coffee that I had to wipe off). Oh, and there was a little chunk of salsa on the plate that had sat out overnight and dried. I wanted to test this little guy with some really dirty dishes. It passed. Oh, and there was no water leaking from any part of the machine, so apparently we did a good job of tightening the hoses. So after dinner and more dirty dishes, I ran it again before going to bed. So nice to not have a sink full of dirty dishes!

Overall, the machine is not tiny, but not huge. I will be buying a rolling cart to keep in on. I only have about 4 feet of counter space, so the goal is to free up the area that was used for drying dishes. It is also fairly quiet -- no louder than a traditional dishwasher (except for the water draining into the sink).

So, overall, I am very happy with my purchase. Since it only uses 3 gallons of water, I think I will be using less water than hand washing. And it also has a 1-year guarantee, so that gives me some piece of mind. Oh, and the best thing... It's silver.

I ordered thru [...] and it arrived quickly and in perfect condition. So if you're debating over a countertop model, and are willing to add a slightly odd looking contraption to your kitchen, I'd say give it a shot.

I hate doing dishes. Passionately. So much so that I have been searching rental ads, looking to move to a different house, specifically one that has a dishwashwer. Turns out a better investment was buying the EdgeStar portable dishwasher - purchased in a fit of frustration after using the last clean dish in the house. This little device is amazing. I can't believe how well it cleans even caked-on or sticky, etc. dishes. It also holds my large plates, wine glasses, smaller pots & pans... the only things I have to wash by hand anymore are cookie sheets and large pots/pans. I was able to install it myself, just screwed the attachment onto my sink faucet with no additional hardware needed. (You clip a second hose attachment on/off the screwed-in attachment when you need to use the faucet.) And it's so simple - just put in the soap, clip on the hoses, turn the machine on, turn the water on, and that's it.

Only drawbacks (but it still gets 5 stars because it works so well overall):
-Installation was a little confusing; I didn't think the directions were clear, and I ended up figuring it out by trial & error. I also had to use some electrical tape to wrap around the screw-in fixture to keep it from leaking at the connection to my faucet. Could be my old faucet hardware that is the problem.
-At first, my dishes came out spotty and/or filmy and not that clean. After the first couple washes, I was really disappointed. But then I switched detergents, and it made ALL the difference. Now my dishes come out crystal clear and squeaky clean. I recommend those little combo detergent/rinse agent packets - they work great for me.
-It's bigger and heavier than I expected (yes, I read the dimensions, but I have pretty poor visuospatial skills). If you have limited space, make sure to measure carefully because it is much bigger than a microwave (which is how I had kind of pictured it).
-The connection to the faucet still isn't great, and for me, a bit of water trickles out and runs down the side of the clip-on attachment while the machine is in use. It is not a lot, and certainly a lot less water than I would use washing a sinkful of dishes otherwise. Again, could be my faucet.

All in all, I love this dishwasher more than I ever thought I could love a kitchen appliance. It works brilliantly and has made such a difference in my life. I cook more, my husband and I never argue about the dishwashing chores, and I don't have to move to a new house!

I've had it less than six month and the hose that connects to the sink fell apart. Problems include leaking and you constantly have to tighten the hoses in the back and put a towel on the floor. Besides being too small to fit standard 10" dinner plates, the rack that pulls out is awkward, with prongs that don't allow for normal dish layering, instead you can only fill it halfway skipping every other one. Not the best apartment purchase I made, unless I can get a replacement hose promptly from Edgestar, this week I'm going to invest happier in a half sized rolling floor model that might be $100 more, but able to fit *all plates*. Not to mention it's super heavy! We had to purchase a stand because it doesn't fit between the counter and cabinets so it's a constant eyesore right in front of the sink.

-- update. it's now been two weeks since i've emailed edgestar several times about purchasing a replacement hose. i've received no response. my best advice is to spend the extra $100 and get one of those larger floor moving models.

This item arived quickly, it was fairly simple to set up. But be carefull to tighten all hose connections even the ones that are pre conected to the faucet adapter they are not shipped tightened. Nice look a little noisy but its what you would expect from a compact. seems solid and does a good job of washing my dishes. My only complaint is my lack of confidence in the quality of the hook up hoses they seem a little light duty. I just make sure not to leave them preasured up after use. otherwise a nice overall unit.

I bought this great appliance online, and quickly installed in my small kitchen. For 11 months it worked well--even when I overloaded it. Last week, it stopped draining dirty water. I contacted EdgeStar and they sent a replacement drain pump ASAP--it arrived yesterday via USPS. I will fix it myself, but if you're not as handy as I am, heed this warning.

The edgestar countertop dishwasher is a very good dishwasher. It is short enough to fit under my cabinet doors, and just the perfect size to fit between my sink and oven. You will definitely want to measure hieght, width, and length of your countertop next to your sink before purchase, since if it is even a little too large, it obvious won't fit and makes it's relative usefulness 0.

The product in question cleans my dishes well. Some dishes have to be placed in the dishwasher at an angle. You can fit most pots and pans in there, as long as you are willing to dedicate a wash to just one or two pots or pans. The only thing I haven't been able to fit are cookie sheets.

On a daily basis, I usually must preform 2-3 washes between me an my fiancee to keep the dish sink empty. The item is relatively light weight, and with the exception of it's size, I had no problem lifting it up to the counter.

If you are restricted to a small apartment without a dishwasher, this is a great idea in order to keep your dishes clean.

The product recommends attaching a permanent water line, which kind of defeats the purpose of a portable dishwasher. However, the sink attachment works great. Both hoses are attached together, so you don't have to worry about one flying out of the sink. It easily detaches and reattaches, no leakage as long as you make it secure. It also has a release button to release pressure safely before you remove the attachment.

The dishwasher consists of three cycles. Normal/short/ and rinse. When you start Normal cycle with the eggtimer style clock it will continue on through short cycle. After short cycle is done, it stops. You will need th start rinse cycle manually, but since this cycle is only a convenience, not a necessity, it's up to you whether to use it. There are two other buttons, the power button (self explanatory) and the saniwash dry button. The sani button superheats the water in order to be sanitary. It also seems to help with the after drying, seeming to be kind of a steam dry. It is very useful if you accidentally let some bacteria start growing on something you washed to be extra sanitary. I would not recommend using all the time however, since the hotter temp it uses probably puts more wear and tear on the dishwasher, although thats just a theory, nothing confirmed.

Anyway, great device for people who hate doing dishes and want a slightly easier time. It's noisy, but not much more than any standard dishwasher. Make sure it fits and you shouldn't have any difficulty with it.

Update:

About two months after getting it, the attachment to the sink broke. I called them back, they asked for my tracking number, which I had to obtain from the seller. After that, they sent me the attachment free no questions asked, arrive in 5 days, not a bad deal...


UPDATE 2:

I no longer have this dishwasher. The attachment I spoke of breaking I ended up having to replace 3 more times before I finally used my own hose attachments and rigged my own attachment that was metal and held up better. Shortly after, the dishwasher started leaking through the glass door. This was roughly two years after getting it. At that point, I had to put it to rest, as I was unable to repair it. It does seem to be the best dishwasher out there for that size, but I have found it riddled with problems and there always seemed to be something with it breaking. It's great if you don't have a choice, but for $100 more, most cheap full size dishwashers could outperform this one any-day.

Fairly good peformance so far as others have mentioned. Here are some comments:

- Chincy branding--not that it's so important, but the Edgestar logo is made up of individual stickers that come right off. Mine was sitting crooked so I just removed them entirely. (Note: This doesn't seem to reflect on the actual product design--it looks very clean and nice).

- Installation took some work for me. The manual could've used a little more detail by including more helpful pictures/diagrams and by stating instructions more clearly.

- I decided to go the permanent connection route by sharing the water supply with my washing machine (via a Y-adapter). The male connector that's supposed to connect to the water supply didn't seem standard. Instead, it seemed like it was somewhere between 3/8" and 1/2". I took the hose to my local hardware store to find an adapter that would make it fit a standard 3/4" faucet, but was unsuccessful even with the help of some folks there. So I decided to purchase some washing machine tubing with 3/4" male connectors on both ends--this size would fit both the water supply and the dishwasher. I used threading tape and rubber washers to make it a tight fit.

- There are some large spaces in the dish rack bottom where smaller items can fall through. I imagine because of it's compact size, Edgestar made the rack to fit a pretty specific configuration in order to fit standard plates. It's not that you can't do a load of all cups but you just need to be careful to position things properly.

- The front door window is a neat feature but I'm not exactly sure how it's useful. Maybe to see if things have fallen through the rack? If you've got nothing better to do, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. Oh, and get a flashlight because it's dark in there.

- The "Hot-Wash" feature which raises the temp to around 150° F is supposed to help with drying. After doing an overnight wash, I opened the dishwasher to find lots of condensation and water droplets. I'm gonna do some more research into this...

It's not perfect, but it does an excellent job with it's primary purpose--washing the dishes. Looking forward to doing the dishes tonight!

I bought this dishwasher from Compact Appliance (through Amazon) a year and a half ago. It was GREAT for that year and a half--super clean dishes, no problems AT all with it in any way. We LOVED it (especially for the price). However, a week ago it started dripping water down the side. I figured maybe I was using too much dishwasher detergent (I had recently switched brands and figured maybe I wasn't used to the new one yet and was using more than i should for a smaller machine). I put a paper towel below and started using less detergent. Still leaking. A few days later (of using it once a day), the dripping got much heavier (I now needed a small towel), and after 2 more days like this, I opened the machine at the end of the cycle and found that the seal on the inside of the front window had completely come loose. Leaking issue cause found--unfortunately, I couldn't find any sort of hot-water durable caulk or silicone seal that would re-seal it safely without risk of leaching out chemicals onto my dishes. So... we're going to have to buy a new one. I don't think we'll be buying this one again because the front window seems to create more problems than it's worth (if Edgestar had left out the window and just had a solid front, we'd probably still be enjoying our portable dishwasher).

I've had this dishwasher for about one year now and it's been quite a pleasure to own. When I moved into my new apartment, I knew I wouldn't be able to live without a dishwasher anymore, so I ended up buying one of these. Though I don't have a particularly good place to put it, I ended up putting it on top of a microwave cart I got at Target, next to the sink and it has worked out well.

Key points I've observed:
* The red button on the hose is to reduce the pressure in the hose prior to removing it from the faucet -- it would be nice if someone told me that before the first time I used this.
* I had some trouble with getting the facuet adapter to fit well, but after I put a washer in and had it in for a few days, I've never seen the slightest drip out of it
* The hose is too short to make this practical in a lot of situations and I couldn't find anywhere to buy the appropriate hose. A movable cart is a good idea if you don't have room to house is permanently next to the sink.
* Use the tabs or packets of detergent. I had very poor results using regular liquid detergent, and there's no where to put a rinse agent. Electrosol tabs ought to be 2x too much detergent for this, but all I know is they work great.

I can't wash pots and pans like I could with my full-size dishwasher before, but they never fit in right anyway and used up most of the room. I am able to cram 6 full size plates into this dishwasher easily, along with lots of other stuff. The one problem is glasses. There is no good place to put any but the tiniest glasses. Since I rarely use any, I don't find this to be a problem, but it could be a decision point for others.

I bought this for my mom, who has a small, oddly shaped kitchen that wouldn't allow for a larger dishwasher. It was easy to set up (though I found the directions kind of confusing, there aren't many parts and it's pretty much obvious). We had one leak during the first load, but my brother discovered it was just that I hadn't fully tightened the connection between the sink and the machine. Since then, no problems and my mom even recommended it to her hairdresser.

I also really like the form/design. The sleek silver look is very sexy and modern.