A question about dishwashers.

ibizafan_2

We moved in 1989 into a house which we bought off an elderly couple who had installed a large modern kitchen, but with no space for a dishwasher. As a family of two adults and two small children, we put our dishwasher into the garage, fully intending to re-arrange the kitchen and plumb it in. I have never had a dishwasher again to this day and have never missed it. Now there's just the two of us, and in a smaller house now, I still don't feel I need one, although we are putting in a new kitchen at some point and could put one in. Just curious as to other peoples views on them as I've never met anyone else who's had one originally then not been bothered to have another. Is it just me?

tru

We bought our house in 1997, there was a dishwasher which I decided to use until it died, then not bother with another. By the time it died, I'd got so used to it that I replaced it. After a few months I realised I'd rather wash up by hand than unload the thing (I really hated that job!) so I gave it away and haven't missed it at all.

LilElvis

We bought our house 11 years ago and it has an integrated dishwasher in the kitchen. It has been used 4 or 5 times in all those years as my (daft) husband believes that they are wasteful and do a poor job. I'm happy to go along with his warped logic because he has to do all the washing up, even though I no longer work. If he wants to come home from work to all my coffee cups, plates and chopping boards piled in the sink then that's his choice. The redundant dishwasher doubles as a sneaky hiding place for presents - the 5 year old hasn't cottoned on yet!

It will be interesting when we get the kitchen enlarged and totally remodelled as I will be insisting on a new dishwasher going in as any buyer would expect one should we sell the house.

thorsoak

When we moved here and rejigged the kitchen, I insisted upon a dishwasher, with little space and just the two of us we installed a slimline one. We had installed one in our previous home when I claimed that I had 5 dishwashers, none of which worked!

Now I'm on my own, I probably use it a couple of times a week - but at least I do know that my dishes are properly cleaned and will be so in the future. I've been into the houses of friends who are older than me (I'm now 72) - and I surreptiously (sp?) wash up cups plates and cutlery which they can't see has not been washed up properly.

Cornucopia

A dishwasher, for me, is the most optional item of kitchen equipment.

I have had one in the past, don't have one now, and don't miss it. If I were going to have another one, I'd want a small, slimline one (if they still make them), as I hated stacking the dirty dishes over a period of days waiting to get enough for a full load.

Dishwasher Likes - sparkling clean glasses.

Dishwasher Dislikes - everything else.

msb5262

They do indeed still make slimline dishwashers and also dishwashers in a drawer! My parents have one and they love it. HTH.

edwink

We have recently installed a dishwasher and I have to say I could not believe how economical they are these days (we had one many years ago). The one we have uses 6 litres of water for the whole cycle and around 1 kw of electric (for us under 10p).

Why not work how much water you use washing up your breakfast/lunchtime items by hand and do the same for your evening items then get a total for the year. Yes you will use electric but most economy programs use around 1kw to run a cycle.

Have a look also at the cost you have for heating your hot water in your home. If you use a power shower for washing for example you may have a whole tank of hot water sitting there waiting for you to use for washing up which consumes around 3kw of electricity to heat up. If that is the case a dishwasher would be more economical.

Hope that is of some help.

FreddieFrugal

I never had a dishwasher until my wife and I bought our own house and there was space for one.

I'd never go back to not having one. Makes such a difference.

So I still have to do the rinse bit, scrub off thick stuff, before putting in dishwasher. But I always had to do that anyway when hand washing. One scrub wash in cold water, before doing the main wash with soap.

So the time it saves is by not having to do two soapy hand washes (run every other day)

It does mean I get out of the kitchen a lot earlier than I used to! It's easier to keep things clean as you go. While you're still cooking you can be putting the bits you've used for prep in dishwasher, so only have plates left to sort after meal.

It keeps the kitchen tidier, because as I said, can put utensils and things away in there as you go, leaving more space for sorting out the meal. Especially useful if you're doing something like a roast dinner.

I don't get people saying that emptying dish washer is a major job. It takes no more time than putting away things off a drainer, and considerably less time than drying things by hand before then putting away.

Time is too valuable to waste doing these things. I'd never go back. Yet I was very sceptical to start with about getting one. It easily saves me 2-3 hours a week.

Rambosmum

Our house had dishwasher in when we bought it, we weren't going to use it but did, it then started to be really rubbish so we stopped using it. We have recently redone our kitchen and installed a new dishwasher as it's a fairly large kitchen, we already had the space and the plumbing and got a good deal at the electrical (currys) discount store. I've only had it a week and I LOVE it. And we're expecting a baby so figure it will be useful for that too.

onlyroz

We had one in the house when we bought it but never used it because it was rubbish. We redid our kitchen last year and put in a slimline one, and I've been very impressed by how well it cleans things, especially glasses. I now use it every day.

sleepymans

Rambosmum wrote: »

Our house had dishwasher in when we bought it, we weren't going to use it but did, it then started to be really rubbish so we stopped using it. We have recently redone our kitchen and installed a new dishwasher as it's a fairly large kitchen, we already had the space and the plumbing and got a good deal at the electrical (currys) discount store. I've only had it a week and I LOVE it. And we're expecting a baby so figure it will be useful for that too.

:eek:DONT PUT THE BABY IN IT, FOR GAWDS SAKE,:eek: