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  • The Interface

  • How It Cleans

  • Warranty

  • Best To Avoid

  • By the Numbers

  • Performance

  • Efficiency

  • The Interface
  • How It Cleans
  • Warranty
  • Best To Avoid
  • By the Numbers
  • Performance
  • Efficiency

Pros

  • Portable, but can convert to a fixed position

Cons

  • Poor cleaning performance

  • Bad user interface despite having very few options

No, we don’t mean it cleans your dishes with the top down, splashing water all over your kitchen. It’s actually a full-sized dishwasher built into a frame with wheels. You can keep it this way and use it as a portable, or after a kitchen upgrade you can disassemble the frame and install it under a counter.

It’s a compelling solution for those planning on upgrading to a larger kitchen someday. Or at least, it would be, if it were a better dishwasher.

The Interface

Controls, or lack thereof

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It's important to remember this portable—while $600—is based on the GSD3300KWW, which costs about $349. Hence, it has the trappings of a definitively entry-level machine.

Our first issue with this machine is its outdated mechanical control interface. You get just two cycles: Normal and Pots & Pans. A crank on the right has indicators around it like "Heavy" and "Rinse Only," but these merely add or subtract time from either cycle.

Frankly, a vague crank timer with confusing labels simply isn’t a user-friendly interface. While we were first getting accustomed to this machine, we'd often hear the dishwasher shut off right after turning it on. We'd nudge the dial to make sure it hadn’t stalled, which felt like the dishwasher equivalent of banging on an old TV set to get the picture to come in.

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How It Cleans

Break out the sponge

Certain stains—like baked-on meat, pasta sauce, egg, and even burnt sugar—were no match for the GE, but we did notice moderate redeposit spread across both racks.

More challenging stains, however, proved too much. Baked-on spinach was an insurmountable hurdle, and bowls were still covered in green specks at the end of each cycle.

Each cycle left behind lots of spinach.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Matthew Zahnzinger

Each cycle left behind lots of spinach.

And sorry breakfast-lovers: About half the time, bowls of oatmeal had a scummy residue left on the entire bottom of the bowl. We also include a small casserole dish with burnt cheese as part of one of our test loads, and this GE did nothing to remove the cheese... except make it damp and soggy.

For in-depth performance information, please visit the Science Page.

Warranty

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Best To Avoid

Roll it away

The GE GSC3500DWW is a tough sell. We reviewed multiple portable machines, and this was our least favorite. True, the convertible feature is neat. But if your kitchen is cramped, the full-sized width could be too much, even with the extra counter space afforded by the wood laminate top. And if you have the ability to install a dishwasher under a counter from the start, there are better machines out there for the same price or less—even with this one selling for $539 in stores.

If you can tolerate the cheap controls and don’t tend to leave excessively soiled dishes, it’s not the worst machine. But the right buyer is an unusually specific one with specific needs. And we'd be hesitant to recommend this GE even to them.

By the Numbers

We test three cycles per dishwasher: Normal, Heavy Duty, and Quick. With only two available cycles on the GE GSC3500DWW (MSRP $600), we duplicated our Normal cycle results for the Quick test so this model wouldn't be unfairly penalized. That said, dirty dishes penalized the GE enough on their own.

Performance

Protein-based stains like baked-on meat and egg washed off almost every dish. The Pots & Pans cycle also managed to remove burnt sugar, pasta sauce, and margarine from our heavy duty casserole dishes.

However, both Normal and Pots & Pans failed everywhere else. Our glasses all had caked-on milk, bowls with oatmeal were left with a gummy residue, and spinach removal was hit or miss. Redeposit across both racks was also an issue, and to top it off, our casserole dish full of burnt cheese was completely unaffected—it just came out more damp than it went in.

Each cycle left behind lots of spinach.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Matthew Zahnzinger

Each cycle left behind lots of spinach.

Efficiency

We ran our tests with Heated Dry turned off—the machine's default setting. Should you wish to use that feature, expect the energy used by the GSC3500DWW to increase. Here are our calculations without heated dry:

Annual utility costs for the GE GSC3500DWW.

Annual utility costs for the GE GSC3500DWW.

Meet the tester

Matthew Zahnzinger

Matthew Zahnzinger

Logistics Manager & Staff Writer

@ReviewedHome

Matthew is a native of Brockton, MA and a graduate of Northeastern, where he earned a degree in English and Theatre. He has also studied at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin and spends most of his free time pursuing a performance career in the greater Boston area.

See all of Matthew Zahnzinger's reviews

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