Dishwasher Use

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i don't have a dishwasher, yet!

i hate doing the dishes, but pots and pans are okay i guess;

i can't in a million years take up the scraps of food in the sink though, too disgusting and i hate wet paper with a passion;

 

I voted "Yes, always", but like some others, I pre-rinse, and if the items are large, I hand wash to avoid running a load for just a few dishes.

 

We're so oldskool.

 

With only two of us, we do not generate enough dishes to efficiently use the dishwasher on a daily basis. We do put plates & silverware in, and run it when it's full, once every two weeks or so.
Also, I've yet to meet a home dishwasher that can really do pots/pans, and I do not have the money or space to install a professional Hobart machine.

 

Tal - there are loads of reasons why I mainly wash by hand, even though I own a dishwasher.

Firstly, at every meal, there are usually a whole bunch of items that can't go in the dishwasher. So I've got to run a sink of soapy water to clean them, so I might as well wash a few other things while I'm there.

Plus, sometimes I need items again more quickly than waiting 3 days for the dishwasher to fill up and get clean. So I need to wash those by hand too.

Plus it must cost more power to run a dishwasher than do by hand, so I usually wash by hand. It's hardly a very difficult or time-consuming job.

 

I couldn't live without my dishwasher! I put all the babys things in it now as he's passed the age when we need to steralise them but I still like to give them a hot enough wash to kill any bacteria and you can't get a sink hot enough without scalding yourself!

Plus me and the Mr are too lazy to wash things by hand!

 

It depends on the individual and circumstance.

When I was newly single(divorced) and living in an apartment with a dishwasher; I never used the dishwasher....I barely ever washed dishes at all - I didn't hold cleanliness as a priority. My sister, at some point, offered to clean my apartment for $20 a pop (pity and disapproval, I suspect ) and she always used my dishwasher in her appartment cleaning duties(she even bought soap and left it there).

For the past five years, my brother(and within the last 4+ his wife and child) has resided with me. My household, in that time, has rarely washed a dish by hand. My sister-in-law adopted the responsibility early on and I am in no way going to debate her method of sanitizing dishes with her for the fear that the responsiblility will find it's way to me.

I have a property which I rent out to my best friends. I rent to a father and son(74 and 34) who absolutely refuse to operate the new dishwasher I installed while renovating the place. They use styrofoam cups and paper plates and microwave far more food than they cook on the gas stove. Their dirty dish output is very small and they find it more reasonable/practical to wash dishes by hand. Part of the reason they conserve the energy(by not using the dishwasher), in my estimation(I don't have to ask), is because the utility bills are on my tab. The other part of the reason is that the father spent 7 decades not using one.

I honestly could go on with examples of people using or not using dishwashers and why or why not. My point is that there should be no surprise that there should be so many different, viable, perspectives on why one would or would not use a dishwasher. It's a big and diverse world out there.

 

I don't know where people get the idea from that washing dishes by hand is hard work. I reckon its up there as one of the easiest of household chores. The only thing I like about the dishwasher is when I've just a snack and I need to deal with one plate and it's a bit messy to leave it lying around the kitchen, but it's a waste of detergent to wash one dish so I can put in the dishwasher. But if it's cleaning up after a major meal, then it's handwashing all the way for me.

 

Hand-washing your dishes builds character! I actually find it a rather relaxing activity, scrubbing them plates and spoons gives me time to think while contributing to the household. Plus I'm too poor to really afford a decent dishwasher, what with bills, food and beer.

 

I'm from a family of six and so there are a lot of dishes (so we had to wash every night or two) and we always did them by hand up until about four years ago. Then we replaced our non-working dishwasher (which we used for dish storage ) with a working one... Bliss, lol, even though we were down to three in the house for a bit it made things much nicer. We only had to run it every 4 days or so since we had so many reserve dishes, but it's much nicer than hand washing.

My main problem with hand washing was probably attributed most to our house layout. Our kitchen sink was facing away from everything else in the house, but close enough to realize what else is going on. So, I always felt kinda like dish washing was a form of solitary confinement. This doesn't go for lawn-mowing though, since you are completely isolated you don't feel as bad.

 

Have a dishwasher, use it for about half the things that need washing, the other half either shouldn't go in the dishwasher (knives, iron skillet, some glasses), won't fit (some glasses and pitchers) or I need it in a hurry again and just go ahead and wash it.
Living alone it takes several days to fill it up and I won't run it unless it's close to full.

 

on the poll side of things - seems like the u s of a is winning on the home-helping gadgets side

i sure would like to have one!

 

I hate, hate, hate, HATE doing dishes by hand. It sucks demon buttocks. So I use the dishwasher for everything I can possible fit into the damn thing.

Some people treat it as a point of pride "I do all MY dishes by HAND because I'm not LAZY and I can get them CLEANER than a MACHINE can. You can tell by my tone that I think I'm BETTER than YOU because of this!"

I hate people like this -- washing your dishes by hand does not make you a more moral person -- it makes you a person who has made a relatively minor lifestyle choice. Get over yourself. (I've obviously got someone *cough* former mother in law *cough* in mind here.)

 

Anybody who claims such obviously has no idea of the kind of chemicals and temperatures dishwashers use. The only situations where washing something by hand yields better results are when the dishes have been crammed in improperly or some crusty gunk has seriously petrified.

Machines all the way. I've got better things to do than scrub dishes.

 

Thats the thing about americans, i can outfit a kitchen with a dishwasher, range & refrigerator for about $1,500.00.
Does this make them happy? Nooo
They would rather have me install upper-mid to top of the line & waste $16,000 - $30,000 on these items.
We(as a nation) are so consumed with "keeping up/outdoing the joneses" that it is really hilarious(and sad) at times.

 

Well, I was always under the impression that a better oven leads to better results when cooking fancy stuff or when baking. I wouldn't know, because I just blast the hell out of my food -- it's not done unless there's some black specks!

I agree on the other appliances, though!

 

Do you have any source for that? Because I doubt that somewhat. You can be very water friendly when manually washing dishes, or you can waste it too. So I am curious about how they measured it.

 

I don't enjoy washing dishes, so I just rinse stuff before I use them, and wash properly only every week. I live alone and don't cook often, so this is sustainable
But I've never felt the need to bring another appliance into the kitchen, to save me the 15 minutes it would take to wash dishes. Even in a relationship, where I'd be required to wash up multiple times a day, I still think it's a waste of money, energy and space.