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Under-Counter Commercial Dishwasher vs. Upright
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
warewashing
Under-Counter Commercial Dishwasher vs. Upright
Picture this: you’re the manager of a Japanese restaurant that can seat up to 150 people. Every day, your kitchen deals with greasy plates, sticky cups, and grimy bowls caked over with dried rice. You buy an under-counter dish machine to manage this without taking up too much kitchen space, but it’s just not working.
The cycles take too long, and it doesn’t hold enough dishes. During the dinner rush, half of the dishes end up being washed by hand, and wait times seem to get longer every day. You want a more efficient solution, but do you know that a different dish machine will work any better?
At State Cleaning, we lease commercial dish machines that include periodic preventative maintenance and 24/7 emergency support. If you haven’t leased a dishwasher before or if you’ve had negative experiences, it can be hard to know what you need and where to turn.
To help you determine the right dishwasher for your facility, we’ll compare under-counter and upright dishwashers and explain when to use each. After reading, you’ll know whether an upright or under-counter commercial dishwasher will better suit your needs.
What is an Under-Counter Commercial Dishwasher?
An under-counter dish machine is a commercial dishwasher that fits under your counter. It can be used to wash dishes while saving space in your kitchen, making it especially useful in smaller facilities.
Under-counter dishwashers can be for general washing or a specific purpose, like washing glass. These machines can be high-temperature or low-temperature, as well as door type or carousel type. Under-counter dishwashers have variability—their commonality is their ability to fit into a small space.
What is an Upright Commercial Dishwasher?
Meanwhile, an upright dish machine is a large standalone commercial dishwasher. It can wash more dishes at once than an under-counter dishwasher, but it usually takes up significantly more space.
Upright dishwashers can be high-temperature or low-temperature and come in multiple different setups for general dishwashing. Generally, upright dishwashers are used for larger facilities, and they come in varying options to better suit these facilities.
When Should I Use an Under-Counter Commercial Dishwasher?
As previously mentioned, under-counter dishwashers are usually used in smaller facilities—and this is often where they perform best.
Let’s say that you run a coffee shop that seats 30. Yes, you have mugs and plates to wash, but probably not so many that you need an upright machine, which you also probably wouldn’t want to take up space with.
In this case, an under-counter dishwasher would be much more effective. It would take up less space while still efficiently washing your volume of dishes. Plus, if you require a particular function, like glass washing, you could get an under-counter machine for this specific purpose.
However, if you need an under-counter machine for a purpose like glass washing, it could also work well in a large facility.
Suppose that you’re a bartender in a steakhouse. The kitchen may have its own upright dishwasher for plates and trays and whatnot, but you’re specifically working with a lot of glasses all at once. Rather than go back and forth to the kitchen constantly, it would make your job a lot easier if you had an under-counter dishwasher for glasses.
Overall, under-counter dishwashers are great anywhere you need to get dishes done in a tight space or with low dish volume. Their options are variable, so it’s likely you can find something to fit your needs.
When Should I Use an Upright Commercial Dishwasher?
An upright dishwasher is the most efficient in large facilities or in facilities with a large volume of dishes.
For example, imagine you’re the head chef in a university dining hall that can seat hundreds at a time. With a constant influx of dirty plates, gunky ice cream bowls, and cups filled with soda-soaked napkins, you need a fast-acting, high-capacity dishwasher. In this situation, an under-counter machine would leave you flailing. But an upright option could more than handle your constant flood of dishes.
In situations like this, you would probably also want your upright dishwasher to be high-temperature. This would assist with heavy soil loads and heavy grease loads.
Just keep in mind that upright dishwashers require more space than under-counter dishwashers. The machine itself will usually be about 25 inches wide and require tables on either side of it. This will mean you usually need a space about 73 inches wide—although, with creative rack placement options, it’s possible to fit machines in spaces as little as 49 inches wide.
In small facilities or facilities with low quantities of dishes, an upright dishwasher just wouldn’t make sense. But in facilities with a large volume of dishes and the space for it, an upright machine is a better move.
Learn How to Choose the Right Commercial Dishwasher for You
When you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, it’s hard to choose the right commercial dishwasher for your facility. Now that you know whether upright or under-counter dishwashers are the right option for you, click here to learn more about how to choose the right commercial dishwasher.
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