This guide covers types of commercial dishwashers for Melbourne cafes and restaurants, what each does, who it’s right for, what features to prioritise, and how to size it correctly for your operation.

Ask any experienced restaurant operator what piece of equipment they most regret skimping on at fit-out, and dishwashing comes up more than almost anything else. It’s the category that gets the least attention during the excitement of opening a new kitchen, and the one that causes the most operational pain once you’re running services.

An underpowered dishwasher doesn’t just slow down your wash-up team. It creates a bottleneck that can stop a busy service entirely: not enough clean plates, not enough clean glasses, crockery that comes out wet or spotted, a pile-up of dirties that creates hygiene and space problems. And an oversized, over-specified dishwasher for a small café represents capital and energy wasted on capability you don’t need.

MRCE has been supplying commercial dishwashing equipment to Melbourne’s hospitality industry since 1984. Our team at 15 Station Street, Dandenong can help you select and size the right machine for your operation, obligation-free. Call (03) 9794 8627 or email sales@melbournerefrigeration.com.au

Why Getting Dishwashing Right Is a Business Decision, Not Just an Equipment Choice

Dishwashing is the clean end of your kitchen, and it directly governs the throughput of your service. A restaurant running 100 covers has approximately 300–400 pieces of crockery, glassware, and cutlery cycling through every service. A café serving 200 coffees a day has 200+ cups and saucers on top of all its food service ware.

Every piece of crockery and glassware needs to be washed, rinsed, and dried,  returned to the kitchen or bar clean, on time, every service. The dishwasher is the mechanism that makes this happen. Size it right and it’s invisible. Size it wrong and it becomes the most visible problem in your kitchen.

Key principle: always size for your busiest service, not your average service. A machine that barely keeps up on a quiet Tuesday will completely fail you on a busy Saturday night. The cost of undersizing dishwashing capacity is paid in every service you run at volume.

The Three Main Types of Commercial Dishwashers

Undercounter dishwashers

The undercounter (also called underbench) dishwasher is the standard choice for small to medium cafés, restaurants, and food businesses. It sits beneath a bench, takes up minimal floor space, and handles approximately 25–40 racks per hour depending on the model,  each rack typically holding a full service for 4–6 covers of mixed crockery.

Key advantages: compact footprint, lower purchase cost, and sufficient throughput for most operations up to around 80 covers per service. The main limitation is capacity,  for high-volume services, multiple undercounter machines or a step-up to passthrough becomes necessary.

What to look for: cycle time (sub-2-minute wash cycles are ideal for busy operations), rinse temperature (above 82°C for effective sanitation without chemical reliance), drain pump (gravity drain limits placement, a drain pump gives flexibility), and double-wall construction for heat retention and reduced noise.

Browse: Undercounter Dishwashing

Passthrough dishwashers

A passthrough (also called hood-type or rack conveyor) dishwasher is the step up for higher-volume operations. A rack of dirties is loaded on one side, the hood closes, the cycle runs, and the clean rack comes out the other side, no waiting for the machine to complete before loading the next rack. It’s a continuous throughput model that dramatically increases washing capacity.

Passthrough machines typically handle 60–120 racks per hour, making them the right choice for restaurants running 120+ covers per service, hotels, event venues, aged care facilities, and any operation where the dishwash cycle is a genuine service bottleneck.

The trade-off is footprint, a passthrough machine requires a wet bench on the inlet side and a clean bench on the outlet side, plus adequate drainage. Planning your dishwash area around the passthrough configuration before fit-out is essential.

Browse: Passthrough Dishwashing Machines

Glasswashers

For bars, hotels, and any venue with serious glass throughput, a dedicated glasswasher is a worthwhile investment separate from your main kitchen dishwasher. Glasswashers use gentler wash cycles, lower temperatures, and specialised chemistry that protects glassware from scratching, etching, and the residue that dulls glass over time.

A dedicated glasswasher also keeps your glass cycle separate from the kitchen dishwash workflow, critical when the bar is running flat out and competing with the kitchen for the same machine.

Most commercial glasswashers are undercounter format, compact, fast (sub-2-minute cycles), and designed to sit under a bar bench with a glass rinser on top.

Browse: Commercial Glasswashers

Key Features to Compare When Buying

Not all dishwashers in the same category perform equally. Here’s what to look at beyond the rack-per-hour headline figure:

Sizing Your Dishwasher: The Correct Method

Guessing dishwasher capacity requirements is the most common mistake operators make. Here’s the correct method:

Step 1 = Count your covers at peak service: your highest-volume service of the week, not your average.

Step 2 = Calculate items per cover: a typical restaurant cover generates 8–12 pieces of crockery, glassware, and cutlery. A café coffee service generates 2–3 pieces. Multiply covers by items per cover.

Step 3 = Estimate how many times items cycle: in a 2-hour service, most items cycle once. In a longer service or high-turnover café, they may cycle 2–3 times.

Step 4 = Calculate racks per hour required: a standard dishwasher rack holds approximately 25 pieces of mixed crockery (or 25 glasses in a glasswasher rack). Divide your total pieces per hour by 25 to get required racks per hour.

Step 5 = Add 20–30% buffer: for peak periods, staff speed variation, and the reality that racks are never perfectly packed.

The result gives you your minimum racks-per-hour requirement, which directly maps to dishwasher model selection.

Example: a restaurant running 100 covers at peak, generating 10 items per cover, with a 2-hour service = 1,000 items / 25 per rack = 40 racks. Add 25% buffer = 50 racks per hour required. An undercounter machine rated to 40 racks/hr will struggle. A 60 racks/hr undercounter or entry-level passthrough is the right specification.

Dishwasher by Kitchen Type: Quick Reference

Small café (under 60 covers)

• Single undercounter dishwasher – 30–40 rack/hr model
• Dedicated glasswasher if running a bar or significant beverage service
• Pre-rinse spray arm at the inlet bench – dramatically reduces loading time

Medium restaurant (60–120 covers)

• High-capacity undercounter (40–50 rack/hr) or entry-level passthrough
• Double bench configuration: wet inlet bench + clean outlet bench
• Dedicated glasswasher for bar section

High-volume restaurant / hotel / events venue (120+ covers)

• Passthrough dishwasher – 80–120 rack/hr model
• Separate pot washer for cookware and heavy items – keeps the main dishwasher running efficiently on crockery
• Dedicated glasswasher for bar
• Possibly conveyor dishwasher for very high-volume operations

Café with pastry / high plate count

• Undercounter with fast cycle time (sub-90 second) for rapid crockery turnaround
• Separate glasswasher if running cold beverages and juices in glassware

The Complete Dishwash Area: What Else You Need

A dishwasher doesn’t operate in isolation. Your wash-up area needs to be planned as a complete system:

• Inlet wet bench: for stacking, scraping, and pre-rinsing dirty crockery before it goes in the machine. Should include a pre-rinse spray arm.
• Outlet clean bench: for receiving clean, wet crockery from the machine, ideally with airflow to assist drying. Needs to be large enough to hold a full cycle’s output without bottlenecking.
• Pre-rinse spray arm: a high-pressure pre-rinse unit at the inlet dramatically reduces soil load on the machine, extends chemical life, and speeds up the overall wash cycle.
• Glass rinser: at the bar station, a quick cold water rinse of glasses before service, separate from the glasswasher cycle.
• Dishwashing accessories: racks, rack dollies, rack carts, crockery organisers these are the consumable ecosystem that makes your dishwash area work efficiently.

Browse: Sinks and Benching  |  Dishwashing Accessories  |  Pot Washers

The Most Common Dishwasher Buying Mistakes

• Buying the cheapest undercounter available: budget dishwashers have slower cycle times, less effective sanitisation, higher water consumption, and shorter service lives. In a commercial kitchen running multiple services daily, the quality gap becomes obvious within months.
• Not planning the dishwash area before buying: the machine must fit in a configured dishwash area with inlet bench, outlet bench, drainage, and water supply. Retrofitting around the wrong machine is expensive.
• Ignoring water hardness: Melbourne’s water is moderately hard. Scale build-up in heating elements and wash arms degrades performance and shortens machine life without regular descaling. Factor this into your maintenance routine from day one.
• Skipping the pot washer: heavy cookware, hotel pans, stock pots, baking trays, belongs in a pot washer, not your crockery dishwasher. Using the wrong machine for heavy items increases cycle times and accelerates wear.
• Underestimating throughput requirements: the most common mistake. Always calculate from your peak service, not your average. A machine that’s adequate for a quiet lunch service may be completely inadequate for a Saturday dinner.

Talk to MRCE About Your Dishwashing Setup

Whether you’re fitting out a new kitchen, replacing an underperforming machine, or adding capacity as your business grows, Melbourne Refrigeration and Catering Equipment stocks a comprehensive range of commercial dishwashing equipment from proven brands. Our team can help you select the right machine and plan the complete dishwash area around it.

Browse our full commercial dishwashing range online, or visit our showroom at 15 Station Street, Dandenong, Monday to Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm.

Call (03) 9794 8627 or email sales@melbournerefrigeration.com.au. Contact us here for an obligation-free recommendation specific to your operation and volume.

Finance options available on commercial dishwashing equipment. Ask our team about spreading the cost of your dishwash setup across manageable monthly payments.