Is there a real difference in water and electricity consumption? Personally, I don’t use a lot of water to wash my dishes (by hand), but maybe I should install a flow meter to make sure.
What is your opinion on the subject? Do you have any evidence or studies available that could confirm your intuition? Or do you have other alternatives in mind?
By hand but only because I took the kitchen of the previous tenants and it had none and there is no space to easily install one. If I ever buy a new kitchen I would by one.
Dishwashers are superior to handwashing in basically every regard, and as such I lean towards it for everything in my kitchen that can handle it.
By hand. I’ve only lived in a place with a dishwasher for 1 year. During that time I felt like the dishes never got truly clean. Like if shit was stuck to a plate or bowl it would need manual intervention. If a pan sat for a day and shit got really caked on it wasn’t even worth putting it in the dish washer. I don’t see how it saves on water either. Like I don’t leave the water running while I wash the dishes. I don’t fill the sink. I rinse a plate. Turn the water off. Scrub it down. Rinse it again. Water is on for maybe 5-10 seconds a dish. Scrubbing does all the work.
Mentally, it’s kinda like taking a shower in the sense that my mind goes to a completely different place and all things that bothered me before are flushed out. That change in activity or environment really lets me process shit in a way that meling in front of a screen doesn’t.
Dishwashers are definitely the way to go. They use less water than hand washing (source: https://www.popsci.com/environment/science-of-using-dishwasher-vs-handwashing/).
I’m so firmly in the dishwasher camp that I installed a second dishwasher in my kitchen a few years ago and it has been one of the best upgrades I ever made on my house. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live somewhere with a single dishwasher again.
Also, there’s no need to buy any expensive pods or dishwasher detergent. The cheap store brand powder detergent works the best. Personally I use the Great Value brand powdered detergent and have been very satisfied with it. I do not pre rinse any dishes either. I just lazily scrape off my dishes in the garbage and put them straight in the dishwasher.
If you do go the dishwasher route, be sure to do your research and get a good dishwasher if you have a choice. I went with Bosch dishwashers based on reviews from Consumer Reports and have been highly satisfied with their performance. They’re so quiet my wife sometimes opens them mid cycle and gets a surprise. I find this hilarious because they shine a red spot on the floor to let you know that it is running.
Hello fellow Technology Connections watcher.
Can you explain the second one? Do you alternate them between dirty and clean like some kind of extra cupboard or is there more to it?
We run 2-5 loads of dishes a day as we do a ton of cooking at home. With a single dishwasher we’d have to immediately unload and load the next batch or we wouldn’t be able to keep up and it was exhausting. With two we can keep up with the dishes a lot better. It’s awesome to have another dishwasher available to put the dirty dishes in when the other is running. And when we host stuff at our house it’s awesome to be able to wash everything at once.
By hand. We are only two people, and we usually clean after we cook/eat. When one is cleaning only 2 plates + a pot/pan at a time, it is easy to use little water. Spray of soap, metal scrub, sponge scrub, and then turn the tap on to rinse for a few seconds. Utensils get individually scrubbed and then all rinsed together for a few seconds.
Maybe when we have kids a dish washer will make sense.
I use a dishwasher. It’s easier and uses less water.
I usually do both because I have never had a dishwasher that actually cleans anything off the dishes, no matter what I do or what cleaner I use. I am at the point I think they’re a myth propagated by Big Dishwasher. JK… or am I! Yeah, they probably do exist, but just for everyone else but me.
Unless your dishwasher truly has something wrong with it, there’s just a few things you should do every time for it to work flawlessly.
- remove big food particles off dishes (sauces, peanut butter is fine)
- if your dishwasher and sink share the same water line, most likely they do, run the sink until it’s hot before running the dishwasher
- put detergent in the actual dispenser and close it, it serves a purpose
- avoid using pods, powder detergent works fine
- clean filter regularly
those are the main things. if you really want to nerd out then check this video out.
Technology Connections provides great explanation of how they work and goes way more in depth on how to properly use a dishwasher, especially with detergent. honestly he provides great content on most things we use in our daily lives and is worth checking out.
My dishwasher used to be for sanitizing only - id have to hand wash first, but now I use the Kirkland pods and I don’t even rinse things. I used to also think dishwashers were a scam.
I’ve been using them for a while and maybe I’m just getting unlucky, but I still have to rinse and pre-clean.
Recently, I was house-sitting for friends, and the dishwasher broke. I had to pause it every few minutes to empty the water by hand. It amounted to 2 shallow oven dishes’ worth of water. And not filled to the brim, either: I had to be able to bring them to the sink without spilling.
It was a really, really small quantity of water.The house we bought a few years ago had a dishwasher. It doesn’t work.
We’d like to replace it but we asked the shop guys if they can help with that they told us they don’t have any local contacts who do dishwasher installs.
We’ve never used one before, but with two little kids it feels like hand washing is getting a bit much sometimes.
You just slide it out, turn off the inline tap, unplug it, plug the new one in, turn the inline tap back on, slide it in, you’re good to go. You dont need a professional for this, it’s a very basic job.
At least where I live? Maybe the US has weirder dishwashers?
That’s how it is in the US. Sometimes you may have to disconnect and connect things underneath with limited clearance, and usually have to disconnect the drain tube on the sink side. It may be screwed into the countertop. There are leveling feet to adjust. It also may or may not be hard wired. It just takes a few minutes in theory, but tight clearances can make it a pain.
Maybe the US does, but I don’t live there.
The existing dishwasher is built into the cabinetry. As I’m neither plumber nor cabinetmaker, I’m not going to do this on my own.
By hand. I cannot manage to load a dishwasher without being worried about everything in the top rack breaking.
And I hate having to dry them because there is no reasonable way to load cups and bowls without it pooling on the bottom.
Drives me insane
Dishwasher! Only my cast iron and stainless steel as well as my knives by hand. I spend too much effort sharpening them to throw them in the dishwasher.
I hate dishwashers, I wash dishes by hand.
What did they do to you?
They hurt her feelings. But truth is she just used shit soap pods instead of good quality powder.
Yes.
My sink is made for someone a good 3-4 inches shorter than I am and it absolutely kills my back to hunch over like that for any period of time so gimme that machine convenience over my slipped disk
By hand. I find it relaxing and a good time to get lost in my thoughts or listen to audiobooks. It’s also nice to just have some things that you do manually. I don’t like the idea of a world where machines take care of everything.
The dishwasher never does a good enough job anyway
