yenlk Collapsible Washing Up Bowl at £6.29: Why Half The 1-Star Reviews Are About Size, And What That Actually Means For Campers

Why The Size Complaints Keep Coming, In Plain Numbers

The product page gives clear dimensions for the default 3.5L version: 26 x 26 x 9 cm. That is 26cm wide and 9cm deep. A standard UK washing up bowl is roughly 35-38cm wide and 15cm deep, so the 3.5L yenlk bowl is about two-thirds the footprint and half the depth of a normal kitchen basin. The dimensions are there in the listing. They are just not what most shoppers imagine when they read the words "washing up bowl."

Shauna's 2-star review captures this perfectly: "I bought it as a washing up bowl for camping. It's tiny to say the least. Can probably fit 2 cups and 2 very small plates. Clever idea but far to small for the purpose of a washing up bowl." She is not wrong about the size. She is just describing what a 26cm x 9cm basin will inevitably be.

The 5L and 9L versions are bigger, but even there things get murky. One careful reviewer, DocFrombo, actually measured the 5L and found it was 38cm x 29cm x 12cm with a 22cm square base, still didn't fit his sink. Another, Sarah, bought the 9L expecting 16.5cm depth and found it was 3cm shallower. Henrietta's "size fraud" review claims the 3.5L holds 2L of water in practice, which isn't impossible if you don't fill right to the rim.

So the size complaint is real. The bowl is small, the listing photos make it look larger than it is, and if you are buying for campsite dishwashing after dinner for four people, the 3.5L will disappoint you badly.

But Half The Reviews Love It, So What Are They Using It For?

Read past the angry 1-stars and a very clear pattern emerges. The 5-star reviewers almost never talk about washing up a family's worth of plates. They talk about specific, small-scale jobs where a 3.5L bowl is exactly right.

Baby bottles come up again and again. Elliot Kingdon: "Bought to take abroad to wash my baby's bottles. Folds down small so easy fit in suitcase, good quality and price." Casbert1: "Once filled with water till half way up the pink I can fit 4 Tommee Tippee 11oz bottles into it with space to still give them a scrub." JaciLondon: "Purchased to travel while washing baby bottles/pump parts. Easy to use, easy to fold, excellent water retention and good value for money."

Then there's foot soaking. jean Gaulter: "ideal for my feet in shower." p.bromley bought it specifically for cooling feet in hot weather. Cleocat uses hers for pedicures. Brudenell washes an elderly cat in one. Beverley Grime uses it for bed-washing her bedridden mother. Tom bought one for changing an ileostomy bag while travelling. Elisabeth Chambers keeps two, one as a dog water bowl on walks and one as an emergency sick bowl.

The truck and caravan uses land in the sweet spot too. David Felstead washes up in his lorry cab. Mr Darren Hoult uses his in a motorhome. Amazon Customer loves the caravan sink fit. These are people with tiny sinks, limited water, and one or two items to clean at a time. For them, 3.5L is plenty and the fold-flat storage is the whole point.

How It Actually Works, And Why The Fold-Flat Matters

The construction is straightforward. A rigid PP plastic rim and base, with silicone bellows walls that concertina down when you push the base in. It pops up when you pull the rim, it collapses when you press the base. The 3.5L version folds to around 4cm thick. Stacked, all three sizes take up about 1.5 inches of storage space. The listing's 70% space saving claim is a fair description of what you actually get.

For caravans, motorhomes, and tent campers where every cupboard is counted in centimetres, that is the genuine selling point. A standard washing up bowl is a huge, stupid object to carry in a camper. It's mostly air, but that air occupies a cupboard all the same. This thing flattens. You can slide it behind a cutlery drawer, tuck it on top of the fridge, or pack it in a suitcase side pocket.

The non-slip plastic ring on the base stops it sliding on wet worktops. The handles are oversized enough to carry a full 3.5L of water without the silicone flexing dramatically. There is a hanging hole at the top so you can hook it off a caravan cupboard handle to drip-dry, which matters more than it sounds when storage is tight.

The Three Sizes, And Which One Campers Actually Want

This is where most of the pain is avoided. The 3.5L is the smallest and by far the most complained about. The 5L is a middle-ground size. The 9L is closest to a standard UK washing up bowl, and the people who bought the 9L mostly seem happier, though not always (Stephanie bought both 5L and 9L and hated both: "Order 5l realisednit was too small. So ordered 9l and its only a tiny bit bigger. Absolutely useless.").

Here is the practical breakdown based on how reviewers actually use each size:

• 3.5L (26cm wide, 9cm deep): Baby bottles, foot soaks, rinsing hands on a fishing trip, backpack camping, washing small items in a motorhome or lorry cab. Not a family dishwashing bowl.
• 5L: Rinsing vegetables, small laundry items, bigger personal-care uses. Still not a full plate-and-pan washing up bowl, but closer.
• 9L: Actual washing up for one or two people, caravan kitchen work, larger hand-wash laundry. The closest match to what people picture when they read "washing up bowl."

If you are buying for real campsite dishwashing, get the 9L. If you want something that slips into hand luggage for a baby's bottles or a foot soak, the 3.5L is the right call. Between these two extremes, the 5L is a fine general-purpose travel basin.

Build Quality: Mostly Fine, A Minority Worry About Seams

Most reviewers describe the silicone as sturdy. Lyanne O'Rourke: "Seems very sturdy easy to collapse can be done with one hand." Chelley_Quirante in her detailed 4-star review calls the materials "high-quality and easy to clean, no odors or staining, even after multiple uses." Holly Gresham Court: "Really lightweight and folds up easily when not in use. When expanded it holds it shape really well, very sturdy."

There is a minority seam-failure concern though. Chey: "silicone part breaks easy. Hard to clean." Sophia Bobbett: "didn't seem durable at all in the seams where it collapses. Ended up returning." And Charlie received one with a hole in it on arrival, which reads like a quality-control miss rather than a design flaw.

Holly also flags a smell issue worth knowing about: if you leave the bowl folded up wet, it can develop a slight odour. A quick wipe and dry before storing fixes this. For a silicone product in this price range, that is expected rather than a fault.

The listing mentions "with lid" in the additional details, but Bubbles' 1-star review explicitly says the 9L bowls shipped with no lid: "I ordered 2 9l and both came with no lids, very disappointing." This looks like a listing inconsistency. Don't rely on getting a lid in the box.

Where This Bowl Actually Shines For UK Campers

Strip out the wrong-size buyers and the picture becomes clear. This is a space-saving travel basin for people who need a small-to-medium cleaning bowl that vanishes when not in use. The £6.29 price for the 3.5L, rising to roughly £10-£14 for the larger sizes, is cheap enough that buying two different sizes for different jobs is a reasonable strategy (which several reviewers do, china doll and Soooooooz and Wyn among them).

Strong use cases from the reviews:

• Washing baby bottles and pump parts on holiday or in a motorhome
• Hand-washing small laundry items on the road
• Foot soaks and pedicures in small bathrooms
• Caravan sinks that are too small for a standard washing up bowl
• Backpack and festival camping where every gram matters (this thing weighs 180g)
• Pet washing for small dogs or cats
• Emergency sick bowls or medical use (bed-bound relatives, ileostomy changes)
• Rinsing fish-handling gear after a catch
• Truck cabs and van life where sink space is non-existent

Weak use cases, the ones that generate 1-star reviews:

• Dishwashing for a family of four at a campsite (buy the 9L or a real bowl)
• Anyone expecting "washing up bowl" to mean "full-sized kitchen basin" without checking dimensions
• Large pans or multi-plate washing sessions

The Verdict

The yenlk collapsible washing up bowl is a good product with a listing that creates its own 1-star reviews. At £6.29 for the 3.5L, you are getting a BPA-free silicone and plastic basin that folds to a fraction of its open size, lets you wash baby bottles or soak your feet in a caravan without dedicating a cupboard to a rigid bowl, and weighs less than a pack of custard creams.

It is not a replacement for a full-sized kitchen washing up bowl. If that is what you need, either buy the 9L version or buy a proper plastic bowl and accept the storage cost. But for everyone else, the campers with tiny sinks, the parents travelling with babies, the motorhome owners who can't spare the cupboard, the lorry drivers, the fishing-trip hand-washers, this is a well-priced, well-designed piece of kit.

Read the dimensions before you buy. Pick the size that matches the job. Don't assume "washing up bowl" means "full-sized kitchen basin." Do those three things and you will end up in the 66-strong 5-star camp rather than the 19 who felt stung.