Is the Black+Decker Portable Washer Worth It?
By Tom Reddick, appliances · updated 2026-07-27
Worth it if your apartment has a sink and no washer hookup
Worth it, with a location requirement
around $350price at time of review — check Amazon for current
- Worth it ifYou live somewhere without an in-unit washer hookup
- Skip it ifYou want to start a load and leave the house
Amazon shoppers rate it 4 out of 5 across 9,227 ratings. That is their number, not ours.
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You've stood in a laundromat at nine at night, feeding quarters into a machine that smells faintly of someone else's fabric softener, wondering if there's a version of this that doesn't require leaving the apartment. There usually is, but it comes with a catch nobody mentions until you're staring at your kitchen faucet wondering how the hose is supposed to attach to that.
Here's the actual trick with a black decker portable washer: it doesn't need a laundry hookup at all, it needs a sink. The quick connect adapter screws onto your faucet the way an aerator does, so the inlet hose taps straight into your existing water line instead of a dedicated valve. The drain hose then just hangs over the sink edge or into the tub and lets gravity do the rest. That's the whole workaround for not having in-unit plumbing, and it's why this thing shows up in apartments and dorms where a landlord would never approve real plumbing work.
Inside, a stainless steel tub uses an impeller, a spinning disc at the bottom rather than a center agitator post, which pushes clothes through less water instead of thrashing them through more. That's gentler on delicates and baby clothes and it's also why the manual insists on cold water and high-efficiency detergent: less water means the detergent has to work harder per ounce. Three water levels and six cycles cover the range, but the sink connection is the actual engineering, not the cycle count.
You're not really buying a washing machine here, you're buying a substitute for a laundry hookup you don't have. The wash quality is ordinary, impeller machines have been doing this for years, but the sink adapter and hose kit are what let an apartment without plumbing act like one that has it.
Worth it if
- You live somewhere without an in-unit washer hookup
- You have a sink you can tie up for the length of a wash cycle
- You're mostly washing everyday clothes, not bedding or bulky items
Skip it if
- You want to start a load and leave the house
- You regularly wash comforters, towels, or family-size loads
- You don't have consistent sink access near where the washer would sit
Not for anyone washing bulky loads unattended or expecting a full-size machine's capacity.
If you're in a rental with no washer hookup and a sink you can dedicate for an hour, this is a quiet yes, it beats hauling laundry to a laundromat. If you need to wash bedding, towels for a family, or want to start a load and walk away for the afternoon, the small tub and the need to stay near the sink during fill and drain will wear on you fast.
Check price on Amazon · around $350 or Add it to your Amazon cart to sit on it
Before you go
Do those portable washers really work?
Yes, the impeller mechanism and standard wash cycles clean clothes the same basic way a full-size washer does, the tradeoffs are capacity and the need to stay near a sink, not wash quality.
Can you manually fill a black and decker portable washer?
Yes, if you don't want to use the faucet adapter, you can fill the tub by hand or with a bucket since it just needs water in the drum to start a cycle.
Why do landlords not allow portable washers?
Most objections are about drain hoses siphoning back or overflowing onto flooring, not about the washer itself, which is why the sink connection method matters so much for staying in good standing.
Full spec sheet
| Product Dimensions | 21.7"D x 21.3"W x 36.6"H |
|---|---|
| Brand | BLACK+DECKER |
| Capacity | 1.7 cubic feet |
| Special Feature | Delay Start |
| Access Location | Top Load |
| Finish Type | Stainless Steel |
| Color | White |
| Cycle Options | Bulky, Drain, Normal, Spin |
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