What is more useful for family w/kids, dishwasher or tumble drier?

Magicboo

I have had vented TD and now have a condenser and I LOVE my condenser drier! It works just as well as the vented drier, makes the kitchen warm & toasty (only use the TD in the winter as we have a washing line in the garden) so don't need the radiators on and I use the water from it to water my plants! How MSE and eco friendly am I?!

WestonDave

We had a tumble dryer first and later got a dishwasher. You will use the dishwasher every day, but hopefully the dryer will only be needed when you can't dry outside. However in an apartment you may not have line drying space, and kids tend to go through a lot more sets of clothes than adults, plus also tend to be cotton rather than quick drying polymer based fabrics. Typically with 2 kids we end up averaging at least 3 loads of washing a week without getting into bedding or towels. Contrary to other opinions our Bosch condensing dryer has been brilliant - we didn't have any means of having a vented one but this has been fine, has lasted 6 years so far and is still going fine. One side benefit is that with electricity so expensive, the heat from a condensing dryer tends to stay in the house whereas vented ones just create heat to throw it outside through the vent. I think the older condensors were very inefficient but you can now get heat pump ones which take the heat from the surrounding air in the house and concentrate it to dry the clothes, so they use a lot less energy.

I love the dishwasher as it was always (and still is mainly) my job to clear the dishes (as well as cook but we won't go there!) and I'd probably cry if it died (Bosch again so not likely as its only 4 years old) but head over heart I'd replace the TD first as I don't like the house getting damp from drying too much on radiators.

If you can I'd get the dishwasher (full size means you can run it once a day) and find a hiding place for a good quality condensing dryer.

Ginger_Poodle

Tumble dryer ahead of a dishwasher for me, no question. Had a TD in our garage in a past house - seldom used it as a result and (the shame!!!!) my husband once dropped a pair of my pants en route to it (terraced house, had to go out the back gate to access the garage) and didnt notice.

patchwork_cat

Tumble drier, but if you can fit tumble drier in your garage and dishwasher in kitchen then get both, it is no more difficult to go to the garage, usually, than peg out on a line. We had a slimline dishwasher in our old house with 2 kids, we managed better than we do now with full size!! It just went on more often.

aliasojo

What's the worst that will happen if you don't have a dishwasher? You will have to make the effort to wash the dishes by hand....bit of a pain, but not the end of the world. (I'm dishwasher convert - got my first when kitchen was refurbed so I can appreciate the benefits and how easy it makes things.)

What's the worst that can happen if you don't have a tumble dryer? You can't turn your washing around quickly (more important when you have young kids), you may need to put up with damp washing all over the house in front of radiators, you may run the risk of causing damp or condensation problems and you're stuffed if you need something particular in a hurry.

For me there's no contest. I'd have a dryer over a dishwasher. Would I put up with one in the garage? Depends if it was accessible via internal door from the house or if I had to go outside to get to it. (Not laziness, just thinking practically about winter times.)

jackieglasgow

dishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasherdishwasher

Get a dishwasher

martinthebandit

When our dishwasher broke down we went and bought a replacement within 3 days.

When our tumble dryer broke down it wasn't till nearly 2 months later that we went and got a replacement.

Full size dishwasher would be my must have for a family and a tumble dryer would be on my nice to have list.

For many years I had a combined washer dryer and was very happy with it so I am not sure why you are dismissing the option.

skylight

Come on Jackieglasgow.

Spit it out. Say what you really mean!!

Gigglepig

My main reason for having a dishwasher is that now that I don't have one I never bake and avoid complicated cooking, because it doesn't seem worth the mess :-)

I think we'll plan to rip out a kitchen unit for the DW space, and converting a storage cupboard (which sadly means that the storage space will be greatly missed, since it is only a flat) to fit a condenser tumble drier :-)

Gigglepig

martinthebandit wrote: »

For many years I had a combined washer dryer and was very happy with it so I am not sure why you are dismissing the option.

I had a combined washer dryer a few years ago but didn't really like it, it seemed quite noisy and inefficient.

And since the max dryer load is usually a lot smaller than the max washer load, so in order to do a combined wash/dry program the load needs to be small.

It wasn't a top end one though, and it was new about 6 years ago, so they may have improved.