Tall Tub Dishwasher vs. Standard

Wash Arm Setup

• Standard dishwashers and tall tub models both use a spinning wash arm to spray soapy water throughout the dishwasher. In a standard dishwasher, the wash arm sits in the bottom of the tub, under the bottom rack, and sprays up through the bottom and top racks. With tall tub models, the wash arm mounts to the underside of the top rack. Instead of spraying the soapy water only upward, the wash arm in tall tub machines sprays both up and down. This arrangement in tall tubs helps spread the soapy water more evenly between the top and bottom rack instead of large items blocking the water from reaching the top rack.

Washing Large Items

• A tall tub dishwasher provides more capacity for washing large items such as serving pieces, pots and pans that cannot fit as easily inside a standard size dishwasher. Since standard dishwashers have a wash arm on the bottom of the machine, they have a cone-shaped piece in the middle of the bottom rack that allows the sprayed water to reach the dishes on the top rack. This cone-shaped piece limits what you can place in the bottom rack, since anything that would cover the piece would adversely affect the machine’s operation. Tall tub dishwashers do not have a cone-shaped piece, allowing you to even wash items that take up the entire bottom rack.

Dimensions

• The exterior dimensions on standard versus tall tub dishwashers are roughly the same, with machines of both varieties having the same width and height. This means if you have a standard built-in dishwasher in your kitchen, you can replace it with a new tall tub model without changing out the cabinets or raising the counter. Even though they have the same exterior dimensions, a tall tub dishwasher provides more interior space, allowing it to wash more dishes at a time. The interior height of a tall tub dishwasher is greater than the interior height of a standard model, with the exact differences varying by different models.

Machine Location

• Both standard and tall tub dishwashers can be used in a built-in application. Having the dishwasher nestled between the cabinets under the counter keeps the dishwasher out of the way, but you also sacrifice space you could have used for additional food or dish storage. Standard and tall tub dishwashers also can come as portable models, meaning they sit in a wheeled cabinet you can place anywhere in the kitchen. With portable dishwashers you must connect the water supply hose to the kitchen sink’s spout.