Most people dislike hand-washing dishes, grasping for the will to take on overflowing sinkfuls of plates, glassware, and utensils day after day (after day). But if installing a full-size dishwasher or a portable dishwasher isn’t an option, you might find yourself eyeing a countertop dishwasher.
Countertop dishwashers are about the size of a large bread maker and typically fit one or two place settings and a few other items; they’re ideal for RVs, cabins, boats, and smaller kitchens. Some require a hookup to a sink or a water inlet, while others have an internal water tank, which you have to refill with each cycle. Their squat size prevents them from accommodating plates bigger than 10 inches in diameter (without tilting), taller dishes and glasses, and standard-size pots or pans, which we recommend washing by hand anyway.
I’ve tested a few countertop dishwashers, and most of them clean just fine. Their inherent limitations, however, make them hard to recommend.
But recently I met a little dishwasher named Bob. This French import from the company Daan Tech became available in the US in the fall of 2024. The Bob Dishwasher has a stylish, fun design complete with a submarine-style porthole and customizable interior lighting, as well as a hefty price tag: At $700 at this writing, it costs about $300 more than most countertop dishwashers and about as much as our budget-pick full-size dishwasher.
Considering its price, it ought to rank at the top of its class. And judging by our testing so far, it does. The Bob (we’re on a first-name basis now that we’re more friendly) cleans well and has a number of useful features. The big question is whether you hate hand-washing dishes enough to spend top dollar for a potentially helpful appliance that has more than a few shortcomings.
This countertop dishwasher cleans better and more quickly than other models, and looks cute to boot. But it’s expensive, and it has the same limitations as all countertop dishwashers do.
At 19.3 inches tall, 13.4 inches wide, and 19.3 inches deep, the Bob is an inch narrower than any other countertop dishwasher we’ve seen. But it’s still large, taking up substantial room on a counter (I wouldn’t consider it a space saver). The Bob is also tall enough to fit plates up to 12 inches in diameter (which covers most standard large dinner plates) without your needing to tilt them, which can affect cleaning performance.
The Bob has mindful design details that other countertop dishwashers lack. The door opens with a gentle tap, and it automatically pops open at the end of a cycle to aid in the drying process—a feature normally found only on higher-end full-size dishwashers. The rack’s removable tines and silverware caddy make it easy to reorient for different kinds of loads.
Of course, these thoughtful touches wouldn’t matter if the machine didn’t clean well, but the Bob tackled our tough cleaning tests with ease. This dishwasher has five cycles: Daily, Express, Intensive, Glasses, and Eco. Right off the bat, I loaded the Bob for its Daily cycle with dishes dirtied with the simulated aftermath of a full breakfast for two, namely two large plates caked with baked-on eggs and tomato sauce, two plates smeared with yogurt, two coffee cups, two juice cups, and two sets of correspondingly dirtied silverware. I even threw in the egg-yolked whisk since the rack had some space left. Then I watched the Bob get to work.
Fifty minutes and one jaunty rendition of “La Marseillaise” later, the dishes were done, nearly spotless and mostly dry (save for the concave bottoms of the mugs). This result was especially impressive considering that even top-of-the-line full-size dishwashers can struggle with baked-on egg. The Bob’s standard 50-minute run time is far less than that of other countertop machines we’ve tried, which typically run for an hour-plus, and the opening of its door at the end of the cycle really did improve drying.
Even the Bob’s much-touted 20-minute Express cycle did yeoman’s work on a set of similarly soiled dishes. That shorter run didn’t ace cleaning the cooked-on egg, but most standard scraped dishes should come out clean.
The Daily cycle should be sufficient for most messes, but I wanted to push the Bob to its limits. To try out the Intensive cycle, I loaded the machine with a small casserole dish covered with burnt-on pasta and sauce (perhaps you plan to cook an itty-bitty lasagna), along with a bowl of crusty oatmeal scraps, cups with dried tomato juice, and some extra-dirty utensils. At the end of the cycle, I had a surprisingly clean and dry set of dishes.
I also test-ran the Bob’s 15-minute Glasses cycle. Next to silverware, glasses and cups are probably the most annoying dishes to wash by hand. I loaded up two wine glasses, two beer glasses, two cups of tomato juice, and four cups of chocolate milk (what kind of cocktail party are you hosting?) and pushed Start. They emerged a bit streaky, requiring some polishing by hand. Running the same glasses through the 20-minute Express cycle produced a better outcome; the Express cycle uses 1.2 liters more water than the Glasses cycle, and that showed in the results.
Though dishwashers in general consume less water than hand-washing, Daan Tech crows that the Bob’s internal tank uses about 4 liters of water or less for its cycles—most competitors, in contrast, use around 5 liters. You can hook up the Bob to a water inlet with a detachable hose, but it also has an internal water tank that you can use instead, though it requires filling before use. The filling process is a bit cumbersome, and it may be tough for people who have strength or mobility issues; the machine’s slow intake system can lead to some spills and spatters if you pour too quickly.
In the time it takes to completely fill the nearly 4-liter tank (about three minutes), you probably could rinse a set of dishes yourself, though you’d be using more water overall. Even if you don’t hook up the Bob to a faucet, the machine requires a drainage hose to run into a sink or another drain line. Though you could disconnect the hose between uses or try to tuck it behind the machine, it’s not exactly aesthetically pleasing while the dishwasher is in use.
Still, a countertop dishwasher is a lower-profile, lower-effort alternative to a larger portable dishwasher, which hooks up to your sink for water and is mounted on casters so that you can wheel it in and out of your kitchen. But the sink-hookup process can be tricky, and people with space constraints may find storing a portable dishwasher challenging.
Overall, the Bob performed impressively for a countertop dishwasher. But is it worth its price tag? Most people are better off slapping on some gloves, optimizing a dishwashing strategy, and scrubbing those dishes by hand. And if you can install a full-size dishwasher, even if you rarely run full loads, you’ll still save effort and energy in the long run.
But if you have an older kitchen without a dishwasher hookup, if you’re living the van or tiny-home life, or if you’re outfitting an in-law or au pair suite with a kitchenette, the Bob could be worth the investment. At least it’ll save you from pruny hands.
This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong and Courtney Schley.
