Best Airbnb Dishwasher To Encourage Your Guests To Clean

The best dishwasher for your Airbnb is one that doesn’t have a lot of unnecessary features, is easy to operate and won’t break down.

Today I’m sharing two of the dishwashers we have in our listings that have checked those three boxes. They’ve both been working without issue for at least 2 years, and have been easy for our guests to operate.

Dishwasher vs. Hand Washing In Our Airbnbs

At the moment, we have 4 Airbnbs that we manage. Three of them have dishwashers and the other does not.

All 4 listings have silverware, dishes, glasses and mugs. And even though that one listing doesn’t have a stove top or oven, guests still cook from time to time with the microwave, toaster and electric skillet that we provide.

Cooking is less common, but it still happens. And from time to time we’ll have a guest that cooks a LOT.

I’m talking dirty dishes overflowing in the sink, appliances with dried up food, messes on the counter kind of cooking.

In my experience, when you have a dishwasher, guests are far more likely to clean up after themselves.

It’s much easier to toss your dishes in the dishwasher and push a button than it is to hand wash each individual item.

So if you provide kitchen amenities and give your guests the option to cook and eat in your kitchen (and I believe you should), then a dishwasher will save you and your cleaners plenty of time, and money.

It’s a worthwhile investment.

Check These Things Before Buying Your Dishwasher

Some household items are pretty much just plug and play. No matter which model/brand you buy they will work just fine.

A pull out couch for example will work in any room that’s big enough to fit it.

But this isn’t the case with dishwashers.

Before buying one you’ll need to verify a few things:

Dimensions

First and foremost you want to make sure the dishwasher fits space in your kitchen. There are some standard sizes, but make sure to measure height, width and depth before making your decision.

You want all dimensions to fit properly (it’s OK if your space is deeper than the dishwasher).

Water connection

For the most part, modern water connections are all standard. However, if you have an old house and/or old dishwasher it’s certainly worth verifying that the new dishwasher will connect.

Worst case scenario, if the connection doesn’t fit, you’ll just have to get a plumber over to update your old connections.

Our Airbnb Dishwashers That Have Treated Us Well

While I don’t believe your choice in dishwasher is a make or break type decision (unlike your mattress), you certainly don’t want to end up with one that breaks down on you or is difficult to use.

The rule in Airbnb is you want your stuff to be easy to use and hard to break.

We’ve had both of these two dishwashers in one of our Airbnbs for over two years without any issues.

It’s hard to differentiate between all the options available to you, so instead of trying to do that, I’m just recommending the dishwashers that have performed well for us in a real world setting.

Kalamera Built-in Dishwasher (we’ve used)

In use in one of our Airbnbs for over 2 years with no issues
Will work fine for big guest counts or longer stays
Obvious “Start” button for easy operation

View on Amazon

When it comes to appliances in an Airbnb, you really don’t need features. Guests aren’t going to know how to use those features, and they won’t care anyways.

And for dishwashers, you want something where guests can load it, put in some soap, close and push the start button. That’s exactly what you get with this Kalamera dishwasher. It’s obvious how to get it started, so guests never have to ask us.

And it’s been in the house since we bought it more than 2 years ago without a single problem.

Every once in a while we’ll find something that didn’t get completely cleaned, but then I’ll just hand wash that one item and move on.

It has a pretty large capacity, so it works great for bigger houses with bigger guests counts.

Overall, just a solid, easy to use dishwasher.

EdgeStar BIDW1802BL Dishwasher (we’ve used)

Used in one of our Airbnbs for over 4 years
A smaller capacity, so best for listings with a guest count of 4 or fewer
Obvious “Start” button for easy operation

View on Amazon

We bought this dishwasher for our second Airbnb when we bought it more than 4 years ago. We had someone else install it, so not sure about the difficulty of installation. But since we had it put in we’ve had no issues with it whatsoever.

It’s got a good clean look, the “Start” button is on the front of the door (rather than the top of the door) which makes it very easy to locate and use.

This dishwasher is a bit smaller, so it may not work well for listings that regularly have more than 6 guests. But the good news is it will still fit your pots and pans.

Again, it doesn’t have many bells and whistles and it checks all the boxes. It’s easy to use and hard to break, exactly the kind of appliance you want in an Airbnb.

Overall, a great mid-sized dishwasher for smaller kitchens and houses.

Countertop Option – KAPAS Countertop Dishwasher

We have NOT used this in one of our Airbnbs
Great option for kitchens that don’t have space for a built in dishwasher
Low capacity
Transparent door

View on Amazon

Honestly, I don’t know much about countertop dishwashers, and to be clear we have never used one in an Airbnb. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in an Airbnb we stayed in either.

But it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for our listing that doesn’t have a dishwasher.

The fact that guests will leave dirty dishes around really slows down the cleaning process, and I’ve begun to wonder if a countertop dishwasher might work for us.

I haven’t bought one yet, so I can’t speak from experience, but if you’re tired of guests leaving their kitchen messes, then maybe a countertop dishwasher could help alleviate that problem.

The KAPAS model appears to be a good, affordable, durable option, but again I can’t vouch for the product from experience. The reviews appear to be very positive.

One thing I’ve thought about is whether a transparent door makes sense. Generally you wouldn’t want guests seeing dirty dishes, but at the same time, they usually don’t stay long and will start the dishwasher only the morning before they check out. Either way, there are options without the transparent door if that suits your listing better.

Conclusion

The biggest benefit of having a dishwasher in your Airbnbs is that it makes it much easier for guests to clean up after themselves. This saves you and your cleaners time, which in turn saves you money.

There’s really no reason to go expensive with a dishwasher.

You want something that is easy to use (without unnecessary features) and hard to break. The two built in dishwashers I recommended have been working out great in the listings they occupy. And the countertop dishwasher is a new option that I’ve been considering for our kitchenette without a dishwasher.

Happy investing.