Washing up bowl...yay nor nay?

YorksLass

I have one that lives in the cupboard under the sink and it gets used for anything BUT washing up! Usually it's for pre-soaking laundry that needs it and for me to soak my feet before a DIY pedicure.

Unless I've been baking, we wash up at the end of the day (only two of us) and throughout the day anything we've used sits on the draining board until wash up time. We scrape plates clean of food bits, up-end cutlery in a jug of hot soapy water, tip any fat into a small bowl until cold then scrape the fat into the bin, soak pans immediately after use - so the washing up takes no time at all. Then the sink gets a clean followed by a splash of disinfectant down the plughole. It's a small rectangular stainless steel sink (so it doesn't use any more water than a bowl) and the plug is on a chain. It gets a daily clean after the washing up followed by a splash of disinfectant down the plughole. Never had a DW and have never wanted one.

Also, when I'm baking I find it easier to stand the baking bowl in the sink rather than on the worktop - any spills go straight into the sink and it's easier on my shoulders. I don't think whoever fitted this kitchen thought about "littlies" like me!

As others have suggested, try doing without it for a while before you decide.

LameWolf

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Also, if you like to rinse the dirty/soapy water off your dishes before putting them in the draining rack (the optional use of which is another matter!), then without an inner bowl your sink will get more and more full of water, and eventually become too diluted with "clean" water to finish off your dishes.

Yes I have a draining rack too. Much easier to put the clean plates etc to drain in that than try and stack them up so that they don't fall and break. And if I'm feeling unwell, or am short of time, there's no absolute need to dry up and put away immediately (this is what Mr LW refers to as "a clean mess" - a term he says his grandmother coined many years ago).

I also keep a small plastic jug for filling the Br!ta filter jug from the tap, and the kettle from the filter jug (I can't lift a full filter jug) and the plastic jug lives upside down on the draining rack when not actually being used so that it's always to hand.

GwylimT

Yay to the bowl.

If I don't use a washing up bowl I cannot rinse dishes unless I do so after everything is washed. Not rinsing dishes is disgusting.

Our washing up bowl holds 1/4 of the water our sink holds, to wash without would require more water as you sometimes need a decent depth of water to wash up.

There are no scratches whatsoever on our sink due to using a washing up bowl.

If you're complaining your washing up bowl is dirty, clean everytime you use it you mingers!!! Just as you would clean the sink.

PasturesNew

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

I have one I use .... for collecting nuts and things.

Awww. Thanks for making me smile.

ivyleaf

I have a Joseph Joseph one and I really like it . Yes, it does stand on little legs, so its bottom doesn't get mucky. I have a slimline dishwasher so every two or three days I have to do some washing-up by hand, because some things don't fit in the dishwasher, and the bowl means I use less water than if I just did it in the sink

sillyvixen

I use a washing up bowl as my sink has a non standard sized plug that lifts with a lever and is no longer watertight and nd I can't find a replacement. A washing up bowl is much cheaper than a new sink (or replacement plug fitment, if I could find one). It also has the added advantage I can move a bowl of water for cleaning purposes to other rooms in the house.

tori.k

Mines kept because it reduces the amount of water I use. I do have a dishwasher but an older style so I use less if I wash by hand, left over water go out on the shrubs, I do more hand washing since I declutter and reduced our wardrobes, remaining water heads down the toilet, I use it when I wash the floors/ windows it carries veg and fruit from the garden, it's just a handy item to have.
Ours isn't a conventional washing up bowl but actually a large stainless steel animal water bowl in our attempt to use less plastic which is quite forgiving to being battered around.
Keep it around for a while to see if you actually use it more often than you think.

molerat

iammumtoone wrote: »

Once an item is washed it gets rinsed and put on the rack (I rinse some things as I air dry).

Even worse than a washing up bowl, I hate them things ! Mine just sit on the (shiny) stainless drainer.

dandy-candy

I do have a washing up bowl but I tend to only use it for presoaking items in bio before they go in the wash, and for the water when I wash the windows. Many years back when my kids were young it was used as a sick bowl in the bedroom if they were ill too!

busiscoming2

I have a dishwasher and a bowl in the sink. I use it to wash the odd bits that can't go in the dishwasher (plastic steamer bits etc) and wash the kitchen units down. It uses less water than filling the sink and in the hot weather can be emptied on the garden.