The essentials in 1 minute
- According to BORA, the BORA Dish washes in 10 minutes when warm water is supplied, holds 7 place settings and is only 61 cm high.
- Whether it is enough depends less on family size than on how you cook.
- If you tidy up while cooking and run a wash in between, it will probably do even for five people.
- If you want to keep using the dishwasher as a store for the day, stay with a full-size one.
- Nobody has tested it in everyday use yet. According to BORA, the Dish is available from March 2027.
Rusi KolevArchitect & Founder
Real Estate Economist (ebs)
Questions in this guide 20
- What the BORA Dish does differently
- Today the dishwasher is a store for dirty dishes
- It is not about size, it is about how you cook
- My family: one of us is ready, one is not
- How much space you gain
- Who the BORA Dish suits
- What is still open
- My verdict
- The BORA Dish from us
- Frequently asked questions
- Is the BORA Dish big enough for a family?
- How fast does the BORA Dish wash?
- How much can the BORA Dish wash in one hour?
- Which programmes does the BORA Dish have?
- What dimensions and connections does the BORA Dish need?
- Does the BORA Dish work without a handle?
- Does the BORA Dish need tablets?
- What is the exchange basket system of the BORA Dish?
- Are there fast dishwashers from other makers?
- What does the BORA Dish cost, and when is it available?
- Next step: the initial consultation
Transparency: BORA is one of our appliance partners, and we only supply the Dish together with our kitchens. Technical data and dimensions come from BORA’s planning document, its 2027 product overview and bora.com. The rest is my opinion.
What the BORA Dish does differently
The BORA Dish is a fully integrated dishwasher that holds little but washes quickly: according to BORA, the xSpeed programme washes and dries in 10 minutes, which allows up to four cycles per hour. As soon as you have chosen the programme, it heats up while you load it. It takes 7 place settings, according to BORA including large pizza plates, tall vessels and the trays and racks of the BORA X BO and Oven Steam.
The 10 minutes only apply with a 44 °C water supply, which in practice means a hot-water connection, after completed preheating and with BORA’s own cleaning products. With colder water, BORA says, it takes longer. Every commercial kitchen knows the principle: short cycles instead of one big load. What is new for the home is that the Dish also dries within those 10 minutes.
The stainless-steel interior has a diamond pattern, and some components inside are black. It needs no tablets: it doses BORA’s own gel and rinse aid by itself.
Today the dishwasher is a store for dirty dishes
At home, our dishwasher is mainly a store, a store for dirty dishes. In our family, with a proud three children, it runs at least once a day, always at night. During the day I am in charge of playing Tetris in the basket: loading everything so that every piece gets its jet of water in the end.
That is how I plan our kitchens too, because that is how we live today: one big machine that collects all day and runs once. BORA challenges this. With the Dish, you wash the dishes straight after use, and the dishwasher is once again what its name says.
It is not about size, it is about how you cook
7 place settings sound too few for a family. But I believe size is not the question at all: how you cook is. Whatever you no longer need while cooking goes straight into the Dish, and as soon as it is full you start it, even if you are not finished yet. In the last phase, while the oven is running or the pot is simmering, there is time for one cycle. After the meal only plates, glasses and cutlery are left, so five place settings for five people and a second cycle.
Cooking and washing up then stop being two separate things: they run together. That is BORA’s idea behind the Dish. It is a change of habit, but it probably saves space and time.
In its showroom, BORA shows what the Dish is meant to wash in an hour: 4 cycles with 28 place settings in all, 320 pieces of crockery and cutlery. That would mean unloading and reloading every 15 minutes, like a Formula 1 pit stop. Nobody does that in everyday life, or at least I don’t. Two cycles are realistic, so half. That is around 14 place settings, roughly what a full-size dishwasher holds at once. BORA’s exchange basket, sold as an accessory, saves the unloading but needs space in a cabinet.
My family: one of us is ready, one is not
As it happens, I am the perfect test subject for this. After cooking I do not want to see a single dirty dish. While something simmers, I am already tidying up: whatever I no longer need goes into the dishwasher, and I wash big pots and wooden boards by hand straight away. I love the feeling of a clean kitchen after the meal and simply sitting down. Otherwise I keep thinking about the clearing up, and that annoys me. If you have the same quirk, you and I are ready for the BORA Dish, no change of habit needed.
My wife, on the other hand, loves cooking and leaves everything on the worktop and the hob while she does. The clearing up happens after the meal, by her or by me. For her the Dish would be a real change. So in our family it suits one of two cooks. Whether my wife would change her ways is another question. Would you?
How much space you gain
The BORA Dish is around 20 cm lower than a standard fully integrated dishwasher, 61 instead of around 82 cm, with the same width and depth. That saves about a quarter of the volume, enough for a drawer underneath. Or you raise it into a tall unit, which brings the basket closer to hip height. More on this in the guide on kitchen worktop height.
Who the BORA Dish suits
- Suits you without a change of habit: you tidy up while cooking and want a clean kitchen after the meal, however big the family. Also small kitchens where every drawer counts.
- Suits you with a change of habit: you cook first and clear up afterwards, but are willing to bring cooking and washing up together.
- Rather not: you want to keep using the dishwasher as a store for the day. Then I plan a full-size dishwasher, with the Dish at most as a second machine for glasses and breakfast.
What is still open
BORA has not yet published the energy efficiency class, consumption or noise figures, nor the running times of Eco, Intensive and Gentle, how long preheating takes or the prices of the cleaning products. Online, the discussion so far is mostly under the YouTube videos from the launch: some like the idea of washing smaller loads more often, others miss technical data and doubt the size for families.
My verdict
With the BORA Dish it is not about size but about rethinking how you cook. On paper, it works. I can only say for sure once I have tested it myself.
The BORA Dish from us
You will find the BORA Dish among our kitchen appliances. The RRP is €2,249 including 19% VAT, an introductory price from BORA (significantly cheaper with us than in online shops, because we pass the manufacturer’s terms on without our own markup). If you buy it together with a kitchen from us, our architect terms apply as with every BORA appliance. You will see your price in the initial consultation.
Frequently asked questions
Is the BORA Dish big enough for a family?
That depends on how you cook. If you load while cooking and start the Dish in between, after the meal you usually need just one more cycle: for five people that is five of the 7 place settings. If you leave everything until after the meal, you need two cycles or a full-size dishwasher.
How fast does the BORA Dish wash?
In the xSpeed programme, according to BORA, in 10 minutes including drying, with a 44 °C water supply, completed preheating (PreHeat) and BORA’s detergents. With colder water it takes longer, according to BORA, which has not yet published times for that.
How much can the BORA Dish wash in one hour?
BORA states up to 4 cycles with 28 place settings in all, 320 pieces in its showroom. This only applies with a warm water supply, and you unload and reload every 15 minutes. Two cycles, so around 14 place settings, are more realistic.
Which programmes does the BORA Dish have?
Four: xSpeed for lightly to moderately soiled dishes takes 10 minutes according to BORA, when warm water is supplied. Eco is for everyday dishes with moderate soiling, Intensive for pots and baking dishes with burnt-on food, Gentle for delicate glasses. There are also machine care, the Drying+ and Rinsing+ options and a delayed start. So far BORA has published a running time only for xSpeed.
What dimensions and connections does the BORA Dish need?
The appliance measures 597 x 610 x 550 mm (width x height x depth). The niche needs 600 to 606 mm width, 613 to 675 mm height and at least 555 mm depth. The furniture front may weigh 2 to 9 kg, up to 15 kg with a hinge set, and be 16 to 46 mm thick, thinner fronts only with a spacer. It connects at 16 A with a maximum of 3,150 W, ideally on its own circuit, and to cold or hot water up to 60 °C at 1.5 to 10 bar. For the 10 minutes it needs hot water arriving at 44 °C. It also runs on cold water, but then, according to BORA, it takes longer. No cabinet or other appliance may stand on top of it. The supply hose with Aquastop is 1.83 m long and the drain hose 1.90 m, and an extension is available as an accessory. If it is plugged into a socket, the plug must remain accessible after installation.
Does the BORA Dish work without a handle?
Yes. It opens with push-to-open, and the furniture front is mounted as a sliding door, with the hinges included, or as a fixed door.
Does the BORA Dish need tablets?
No. The BORA eDose dosing system adds BORA Dish Gel and rinse aid automatically. According to the planning document, these are two gels (detergent 1 and 2) plus the rinse aid. According to BORA, one container of gel lasts about 65 xSpeed cycles and the rinse aid about 160. A machine-care programme is built in, and BORA offers its own cleaning and care set for it. BORA does not say whether other detergents are allowed, and the 10 minutes only apply with its own. Prices for the gels have not been published yet.
What is the exchange basket system of the BORA Dish?
An optional accessory: you lift the basket with the clean dishes out by its side handles and put it on rails in a kitchen cabinet. A second, empty basket goes straight into the Dish. There is no unloading, and the next cycle can start at once. According to the planning document, the set contains a dish basket with all fittings, a cutlery basket and two rails, but additional pairs of rails are sold separately. BORA has not yet named a price.
Are there fast dishwashers from other makers?
Yes, but they work differently. Miele QuickPowerWash takes 58 minutes including drying. V-ZUG’s “Party” programme washes in about 11 minutes after 10 to 25 minutes of heating up, but only lightly soiled dishes, and they come out damp. In return, the machine holds 13 to 14 place settings. A Fisher & Paykel DishDrawer holds 7 place settings like the Dish, and according to the maker its fast programme takes 35 minutes without drying, measured with a 49 °C water supply.
What does the BORA Dish cost, and when is it available?
The RRP is €2,249 including 19% VAT, an introductory price from BORA (significantly cheaper with us than in online shops). You will see your price in the initial consultation. According to BORA, the Dish is available from March 2027.
Next step: the initial consultation
If you are wondering whether the Dish or a full-size dishwasher suits the way you cook, let’s talk about it in the initial consultation: directly with the architect, 45 to 60 minutes, for Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region.