The Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus is a compact unit that gives you a convenient way to clean up without doing everything by hand. Perfect for tiny kitchens (like mine), granny flats, small office spaces, caravans or camper vans, it handles up to three place settings with plates up to 270mm. It’s also “installation‑free,” meaning no plumbing is required and you can move it around almost as easily as your toaster.
I’ve been using the Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus for the past month. So what are my thoughts? And are my dishes actually clean?
The Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus Set Up
When I say this is installation‑free and easy to set up, I’m not lying. Stacking the dishwasher is actually the trickiest part (more on that later).
Pulling the unit out of the box, the protective coverings and tape had the door sealed. Inside were the instructions, hoses, a jug and funnel, a large silicone fruit‑washing bowl (freely admitting I’ve never used it), and a couple of dishwasher tablets. Once you remove everything and untape the internal components, it doesn’t take long to get going.
At the back of the unit are the inlet and outlet connections. The inlet lets you connect directly to a water outlet, meaning you won’t have to manually add water and it will behave like a normal dishwasher. I haven’t used this option, but it’s there. You can also leave the end‑cap on and simply fill the internal tank with water using a bottle or the included jug.
The outlet is for drainage. A rubber hose attaches via a hand‑screwed fastener, with the other end going to your drain. The hose was stiff at first, so a bit of hot water helped loosen it enough to bend where I needed it. After that, it worked perfectly.
Plug it into power and you’re good to go.
How it looks on your bench (and a warning)
The Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus is simple and elegant. Mostly white, with a small viewing window and a black panel for the LED touch controls, it sits neatly on a benchtop without being imposing. Inside, the stainless‑steel finish and dark grey wire drawer look great, especially with the cool blue LED lighting.
It’s not a massive unit. With the door closed, it is 420mm wide, 435mm deep and 465mm high; opening the door requires 780mm of space.
I will warn you, though: the feet of the dishwasher left marks on my white laminate benchtop. Likely a combination of weight, rubber feet and heat, I now have multiple scuff marks that match the pattern on the dishwasher’s feet. Hot water, soap, bi‑carb, lemon — nothing has removed them yet. If you’re precious about your benchtop and plan on moving the unit around, put down a protective layer.
As a result, mine now lives in my laundry, easily shifted between sitting atop the washing machine and dryer. It’s light enough to move without issue and still looks great.
Water Consumption
Before stacking and running the dishwasher, it needs water.
As mentioned, you can connect a hose to a water outlet, but the more convenient option is filling the tank through the top. It generally needs around six litres of water per load — less than filling my sink.
The best part is that filling through the top means the dishwasher can run with no connection other than power. You can pour in a few bottles of water and have the drain hose empty into a bucket, perfect for caravans or camper vans.
Filling through the top sounds awkward at first, but Midea includes a long, shallow funnel that sits neatly on top of the unit. This makes filling easy even when the dishwasher is under overhead cupboards.
Stacking the Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus
This dishwasher is small. Multiple people have called it “cute.” Don’t expect to cook a three‑course meal for six and fit everything in here. That said, it’s surprising what you can jam in.
I can usually fit three or four full‑size dinner plates, one or two smaller plates, a few glasses and some cutlery. Bowls are tricky, and the moment I add one of mine, everything goes out the window. But I’ve managed loads with five bowls, three glasses and a jar. Smaller tumblers let you drop the shelf down and fit more mugs or glasses atop. I’ve also washed larger microwave containers with bowls and cutlery.
The wire drawer has fold‑down dividers for plates, allowing you to fit larger pots or pans if needed. It all comes down to how precious you are and how good you are at Tetris. The instruction manual shows far more pieces than I’ve managed, but I have deep bowls and large glasses.
The dishwasher also comes with a large silicone bowl for washing fruit and veg. Go nuts if you want, but with the hottest cycle reaching 40°C, you might slightly cook things.
A Minor Design Frustration
One complaint: the cutlery holder. It’s a large plastic container that divides the drawer down the middle and holds 24 pieces of cutlery.
The problem is that it holds 24 pieces of cutlery.
Given what I can realistically stack — five bowls, a few plates, some glasses — I rarely need more than ten pieces of cutlery. Even with four coffee cups needing teaspoons, I still don’t need 24. And with the holder in place, stacking that many plates and glasses becomes a challenge.
Soap
The dishwasher comes with a couple of Finish Powerball Ultimate Plus tablets, and my first load using one came out spotless. The unit has a little Finish sticker, so I assume it’s the preferred brand.
A mate recommended Lucent Globe Ultra Concentrated Detergent Sheets. With no bleach, phosphates, dyes, parabens or fluorescent agents, and no plastic packaging, they’re a great option. They’re also grey‑water suitable, meaning I can recycle the water into my garden.
One note: be careful with how much detergent you use. A full sheet leaves soap suds in the bottom of the dishwasher at the end of the cycle. Half a sheet works perfectly and doubles the pack’s lifespan. Even with half a sheet, dishes come out spotless.
The Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus in operation
Turn the power on and select your wash mode. Hygiene clean reaches 70°C for sanitisation. Intensive clean tackles heavily soiled pots and pans. Eco clean is the standard cycle. Glass clean is for glassware. Self‑Clean handles the dishwasher itself. There’s a 58‑minute wash that reaches 50°C during the wash and 65°C during the rinse, and a Rapid clean that hits 40°C for lightly soiled items and takes just 29 minutes.
Once you have everything good to go, you can start immediately or use a timer delay up to 24 hours. A child lock also prevents small hands causing chaos.
The dishwasher is quiet. It hums along without interrupting sleep or overpowering your TV. If you missed something, hit pause and open the door to add it. Most cycles finish by opening the door slightly to release steam and complete drying via fan drying.
It all runs smoothly.
Water and Power Efficiency
As mentioned, it takes about six litres of water to fill the dishwasher manually. Each program uses slightly different amounts, some as low as four litres, but manual filling tends to result in the full six litres being used.
Power usage is surprisingly good. Running the Eco cycle last night — which takes 200 minutes and reaches 61°C during the rinse — used 0.221 kWh, costing me 7.1 cents. Today, running the 58‑minute wash that reaches 65°C during the rinse used 0.24 kWh, costing around 7.7 cents.
Despite its 3‑star water efficiency and 1‑star power efficiency ratings, I’m not devastated by the running costs. Especially when using grey‑water‑safe detergent and considering how much water it takes to fill my sink.
Overall thoughts on the Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus
This is a great unit.
Would I prefer a larger dishwasher that can handle plates, pots and pans all at once when I have guests? Of course. But as a single guy with a small kitchen and limited space, the Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus is a great option. It gives a more thorough and hygienic clean than hand‑washing, especially considering most hot water systems are capped at 50–55°C. Its capacity limitations are easy to adapt to — you may just run a couple of loads instead of one.
Beyond my tiny kitchen, I can see this being useful in many situations. Small office spaces with coffee cups and glasses? Perfect. Elderly people who struggle with floor‑level dishwashers? Perfect. Caravans or camper vans? A must‑have.
The Midea 3 Place Benchtop Mini Dishwasher Plus has an RRP of A$599 and is a great option to consider. It’ll definitely be used until I eventually renovate my house.
It’s available from Electrical Discounters (Online and in-store), Big W Marketplace (Online), Amazon, Ople Appliances (Online). It’s currently out of stock over on Amazon at the time of writing, but please check the affiliate link and consider buying via there if it’s available. It helps with the running of the site.
DRN would like to thank Midea for providing the review unit.
