Edgestar Countertop Dishwasher – Review

I have a small house and the kitchen did not come with a dishwasher or even a space for me to put one in, without taking out very useful cabinet space. I was getting really tired of washing all my dishes by hand, especially in the summer when it was hot and I would be standing at the sink working with hot water. I thought a countertop dishwasher would work great. I did lots of research and I decided on the Edgstar DWP40.

I was looking for a dishwasher that matched my kitchen. The number one deciding factor that sold me on the Edgestar DWP40 countertop dishwasher was the fact that it was black. I searched every countertop dishwasher and a black one was next to impossible to find, most are white or stainless steel.

The Edgestar dishwasher fits nicely on the counter, but there is a good chance that it might not fit under some cabinets, as I have seen mentioned that it could. It does not fit under my cabinets, kinda close, but it doesn’t. It is a little big, but if it were smaller it wouldn’t fit any dishes. It is just as big as it needs to be, to fit 4 place setting. They even seemed to have compacted the components that make it work, since it’s size isn’t much more than the inner space needed.

I have been able to wash larger pots and pans in it, but just one at a time, plus some glasses to fill it up. I haven’t really ever put 4 place settings in it. I usually put a variety of items in at one time, like plates, bowls, containers and glasses, but plenty at a time.

This dishwasher has one dishwashing arm and it is at the bottom of the machine. One of the things that really bothers me is that smaller plastic, light items, bounce around from the strength of the water and cause them to fall through the dishrack and block the arm from spinning and the dishes end up not clean. I know this happens with larger dishwashers too, but maybe a bit more with this one since the washing arm and dishes are so close. I have learned to place the lighter smaller items a certain way, but occasionaly they still find their way under the rack.

If you don’t have any small light items fall through the rack then this thing will wash great. I have had things with food still on them come out clean. There is even a place to put rinse aid in. It is placed in the back of the machine, but as long as you do not have a big bottle you can get use to reaching back there to fill it. The detergent is placed right on the door. I have found that the indent area for the detergent is a lot bigger than I discovered that I need. If I fill all the way my dishes end up with a detergent film on them. I use Mrs. Meyers liquid detergent and it seems to work great if I only use a little.

This dishwasher has a built in heater. You can use the hot water from your faucet or use the Sani. mode that heats the water to 158 degrees. There is 3 cycles, a normal wash, short wash and a rinse only cycle. It is an EnergyStar appliance, so it doesn’t use up too much energy during a cycle..

I really love that this dishwasher is very easy to hook up and un hook. It comes with a piece that you screw onto your faucet that allows you to quickly and super easily pop off the hose.

I bought my Edgestar countertop dishwasher over 2 years ago and it’s still running without fail. I bought it from CompactAppliance.com for less than $200, I think it was on sale for $179 at the time. I was really worried about buying such a big heavy appliance online, just in case it didn’t work. But, it turned out to work great and has been very useful addition to my kitchen. This is a great appliance for anyone with limited area for a full size dishwasher,