Whether you make simple meals or you’re an at-home recipe developer such as myself, we all have to deal with the inevitable: washing dishes. If you’re lucky enough to have a built-in dishwasher in your home kitchen, this might not seem like too big of a chore, but for those who don’t, meticulously hand-washing plates, mugs, silverware and everything else you use daily can seem like a never-ending struggle.
If you’re an apartment dweller without a dishwasher like me and are seeking size-appropriate solutions, there’s a sea of countertop dishwashers to sift through online. That’s why I decided to put one of the most popular — the Danby DDW631SDB Six-Place-Setting Countertop Dishwasher — to the test. I spent countless hours cooking (and creating mountains of dishes) for nearly three months while I was recipe testing for my upcoming cookbook, a perfect environment to put a countertop dishwasher through its paces: If it could get me through the trudge of daily recipe testing, then it could certainly get through the ebbs and flows of everyday home cooking. After putting it through this dishwashing gauntlet, here’s what I think of the Danby Countertop Dishwasher.
This countertop dishwasher from Danby doesn’t take up too much space and is simple to use. It has some flaws, but there’s no denying how much it helps you save on water, time and effort. If you truly dread washing dishes by hand, it’s worth a look.
What we liked about it
Throughout my testing, during which I’ve had to dirty too many dishes to count, I’ve really come to appreciate the Danby countertop dishwasher due to the sheer amount of time and effort it’s saved me. Is it perfect? No (more on that later). However, its flaws are outweighed by the benefit of not having to wash my dishes by hand. I was able to cook comfortably and set up my mise en place with abandon without worrying about spending the whole evening hunched over the sink. It’s quiet and uses a significantly conservative amount of water to get the job done.
Setup and size is manageable
This 21.7-inch-wide, 19.7-inch-deep and 17.2-inch-tall countertop dishwasher is a hushed option to wash the dishes. It’s not a particularly fashionable or trendy look inside your kitchen, but it’s sleek enough not to distract from the rest of your design. It comes in white and silver colorways and looks nice on the countertop without being too bulky. It does, however, have to be close to the sink for its function and is bigger than an average microwave or toaster oven, though significantly smaller than a traditional dishwasher. As long as this countertop dishwasher slides comfortably into a space next to your sink and there’s space to open it, you won’t have any issues fitting it in your kitchen.
Set up for the Danby was quite simple and, with the help of my partner, exceptionally swift. However, there is a little bit of preparation that needs to be done every time you want to use the Danby. It has a hose that connects the dishwasher to the faucet of your sink to drain and fill the machine, and a separate cord that connects to the outlet. There’s a small adapter that allows you to connect the machine’s hose to your faucet that you ideally leave on permanently. But even though you can leave on the adapter, you’ll need to connect the dishwasher’s hose to the adapter every time you run a cycle and disconnect it once the cycle is done so you can use the kitchen sink for other tasks.?The hose itself doesn’t retract, nor does it have a way to be put neatly out of sight with much ease. I kept mine behind the faucet for accessibility, which worked but isn’t aesthetically ideal. All in all, this setup process took just a few seconds each time, and even though it’s a few extra steps, I didn’t find it too annoying for the convenience.
Uses less water and easier than handwashing
Per wash, the dishwasher uses about 3.1 gallons of water according to Danby, which is significantly less than the 15 gallons the NYC Department of Environmental Protection projects people use in their household every five minutes of hand-washing dishes with a running faucet. That’s nearly five times less water waste than hand-washing in exchange for a much longer, hands-off wash cycle — a massive eco pro.
Usage is also easy and, even without the help of the manual, pretty intuitive. Similar to how you’d utilize a full-size dishwasher, you choose the type of cycle you need, with options that range from heavy to eco, glass and speed. The shortest cycle runs 20 minutes, and the longest is up to 110 minutes. (This uses between about 1.13 gallons up to 3.3 gallons of water per cycle max.) It can also hold a good amount of dishes in its basket, on average about 12 to 15 at a time; however, it’s wise to avoid packing it too heavily or the dishes won’t get a proper clean. Depending on my work for the day, I’d load the dishwasher from half full to pretty full, rinsing and scrubbing by hand before the bigger loads to ensure a squeaky clean. On days when exhaustion hit, I’d even pack up loads with just the Dutch oven and a pan — which I usually wash by hand — and even some wooden spoons.
Once the dishwasher is loaded, just pop in a dishwashing soap pod, lock the door, start the cycle and turn on the faucet and it’s ready to run. While the Danby runs, it emits an audible but low sound that’s not at all bothersome. The Danby is quiet enough to have a conversation, a phone call or play music over, and if you go to a different room you can’t hear it at all. The Danby is so quiet, in fact, you might miss the cycle’s end “beep” to signal it’s done if you’re wrapped up in a really good movie.
Another reason why we really like the Danby dishwasher is the fact that even though there are multiple gallons of water contained in the machine, after approximately six months, there have been no leaks to report.
What we didn’t like about it
Finnicky soap compartment
My biggest gripe with the Danby Countertop Dishwasher is that the soap compartments often fail to open during a cycle, which means you’ve got to run the cycle again in hopes that it will dispense properly. I’ve had to run up to three cycles to get the soap to dispense, which feels immensely wasteful. To remedy this, at times I pause the cycle midway and open the compartment to help it along. The con of doing this, however, is that I’ve found pausing a cycle midway doesn’t clean as well as when the cycle goes on uninterrupted.
To add to the soap sorrows, at times, even when the soap does get dispensed, it won’t dispense properly and about half will remain in the compartment. Additionally, the soap will often leave a residue on the plates so it doesn’t feel properly rinsed. When this happens, I resort to scrubbing the dishes and running a short cycle to rinse them thoroughly.
Not as powerful as built-in dishwashers
Speaking of scrubbing, you’ll want to rinse off food residue from your dishes before popping them into the dishwasher. Unfortunately, the Danby doesn’t do a great job of removing even not-so-stubborn messes. Popping in dishes with smears of sauces, remnants of a thick creamy soup or pieces of moist cake are likely to stay stuck and not wash off without some preliminary manual labor. And sometimes cups, but mostly bottles, prove difficult to get a good clean. What you’ll want to do is at the very least rinse your dishes before popping them in. If the dishes are particularly dirty, give them a quick scrub to release any residue and then place them into the basket for a satisfying clean.
Uses kitchen faucet and no drying feature
The Danby’s run time depends on how heavily it’s loaded and what cycle you choose, but during my tests, it was typically running between 45 and 110 minutes. This isn’t too much of a con in and of itself, but since the dishwasher uses your sink’s faucet, you won’t be able to use that sink for anything else while it’s running. I didn’t mind this much, though, as most cycles aren’t too long and it’s easy to strategize around.
Although, for a price tag above $400, it would be nice for the Danby to have a built-in drying function, like the ComfeePortable Mini Dishwasher. However, if you’re already accustomed to the labor that is washing dishes by hand and letting them air-dry, the countertop Danby can function nicely as a drying rack.
How it compares
With a price tag of $430 (on the Danby site), this countertop dishwasher has a higher price point than some of its competitors, which range from about $200 to $400. Depending on where you purchase it, and even what time of the year, you might be able to find the Danby at a lower price, around $350.
In size, its most comparable competitor is the Farberware Portable Countertop Dishwasher. The dimensions are exactly the same, both have an LED screen and a stainless steel exterior, and both are reportedly really quiet, spend the same annual kilowatts (203) and both hook up to the faucet. The Danby has eight cycle options and 120 volts, while the Farberware has seven cycles and 110 volts. The Danby also has a feature to set a cycle to run two to eight hours in the future and, ultimately, makes a great stationary countertop dishwasher because of its weight and size. Another ultra-quiet option is the ComfeePortable Mini Dishwasher, which also runs 8 cycle options, is about one inch deeper and has a drying setting that the Danby doesn’t. For more portable options that would be perfect in an RV, tiny home or other really cramped kitchens, consider models such as the Hava R01 Compact Countertop Dishwasher or the Farberware Compact Portable Countertop Dishwasher.
Bottom line
For someone who dirties plenty of dishes, the Danby Countertop dishwasher, even with its imperfections, is still worthwhile. Not only am I significantly reducing my water footprint but I am gaining back the time of my life I’d otherwise be spending hovering over the sink listening to a podcast. The soap dispenser malfunctions are definitely annoying, but as someone who doesn’t have a full-size dishwasher, they’re inconveniences that I welcome with open arms.
At the end of the day, learning to navigate the Danby is much less of a headache, and much less wasteful, than hand-washing. It isn’t perfect, but the fact that I don’t have to wash dishes by hand more than outweighs the Danby’s pitfalls. If you hate washing dishes, wasting water and losing time as much as I do, and you’re willing to deal with its finicky soap dispenser, the Danby Countertop Dishwasher can really make a difference in an apartment dweller’s life.
