Frigidaire : FMP330RGB 18in Stainless Steel Interior Portable Dishwasher Review

After moving into my new place, I decided it was time to get rid of the Danby countertop dishwasher and get a standing, 18" portable. I'd always seen the countertop model as a stopgap, because most apartments I could afford didn't have a lot of countertop, but the Danby did well for me during the time I used it.

I'd had an 18" Sears Kenmore portable about 20 years ago, and was planning on purchasing another Kenmore because I'd been quite pleased with that one.Then I received a $500 bonus from work, in the form of an Amazon gift certificate, so I decided to give up on Sears and see what I could get through Amazon.I found this Frigidaire, which seemed to have reasonably good reviews at other sites, and ordered it.

On first blush, it was a lot like my old Kenmore, except the upper rack had an additional, fold-down shelf for small glasses.Once I started using it, tho, I was disabused of the hope that it would be an improvement over my old Kenmore, or even over the Danby.Its drawbacks are:

1. It is loud.Keep you awake at night loud.
2. The racks are so poorly designed that I can't stack bowls in the lower level unless I leave 2-3 empty 'slots' between them.The upper rack has enough space to accommodate bowls, but not enough prongs to hold them in place so the spray can hit them properly.Furthermore, the extra level on the upper rack is useless since even the manual warns you not to block the spray by stacking items immediately above one another.This means that you have only one level there, rather than the 2 levels you initially anticipate.
3. The lower level design may be intentional, because the water spray is underpowered. If I stack dishes too closely, the spray doesn't reach between them, and the top half of the plate or bowl remains dirty.
4. The rack problem combined with the low pressure water spray to make it impossible to fully load the dishwasher.I can do about 3 place settings in a load - just about the same amount I could do with the much smaller Danby.
5. The water hoses and electrical cord depend on friction to hold them in place, meaning that I have to stuff them back through a small opening into their storage space after using the unit.Dragging the hoses & cord back out causes them to scrape against the opening, and it looks to me like that will shorten the life of the rubber/plastic coverings.I've decided to leave the electric cord hanging out, but the water hoses need to be stored to keep them from dripping.My old Kenmore had internal reels for these two items, making it easy to pull them out and put them back.

The one plus that the Frigidaire has over either of my two previous units is that it does have a "Hi Temp" setting, which heats the water during the cycle.This is important since the water in the building pipes doesn't stay hot between the stages of the cycle.The Hi Temp setting uses more energy, but does get the dishes cleaner than they were when I didn't use it.

All in all, I wouldn't purchase this product again.I do prefer having an automatic dishwasher to doing all the dishes by hand, so when I purchase my next dishwasher, I'm going to take bowls and plates with me to test the rack design and, if it's a portable, I'll look for a better cord management mechanism.The other problems probably can't be assessed in a showroom, so I'll just have to hope someone else writes a detailed review of the product I'm interested in before I purchase it.

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Product Description:
Frigidaire FMP330RG 18" Black Portable Dishwasher - FMP330BK. 4 Wash Levels. Convection Drying System. Delay Start. Hi-Temp Wash. Detergent Dispenser. Stainless Steel Interior. UltraQuiet III Sound Insulation Package. Black Finish

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