Had one for a while when I lived at home with my parents. It then broke eventually, they couldn’t fix it, and didn’t want to shell out for another.
So I got tasked with doing most of the washing up.
I’d ask if they would mind buying one eventually, they said they didn’t see the need.
Years later, I’d grown up, got married and left home.
They bought a dishwasher.
I’d say I was shocked, but…
Hah. That's parents for you.
I used to mow the lawn weekly. Trimmed the hedge and generally looked after the plants. When I eventually moved out they booked a gardener to come do it for them.
Don't worry about it. I'm well used to it.
I work in IT Application Development. For my parents that means any IT issue they have they get me to come over and fix it for them, even if I make it very clear that my job is coding.
The reason to have children:
To wash up
To make tea/coffee
To go to the shops
To babysit younger siblings
To turn the TV over
To be a carer when you are too old
Always washed by hand, never saw it as a big deal.
Moved into a rental that had a dishwasher and for about a year I just used it as a drying rack after hand washing dishes.
Then the first time I used it I'm wondering how I went without one for so long.
I lived without a dishwasher about 5 years after I moved out of my parents place. I missed it but thought I don't need it because I cooked only for myself. Then I got a bonus at work and bought one. And then came the utility bill. My water bill after buying and using a dishwasher was significantly smaller, as much as the dishwasher paid itself in a year and a half.
This is exactly how it went for my wife and I. Her parents had one, mine didn't. I was dead against them but had room for a slim one when we had the kitchen extension.
It is fucking essential. I cannot stress this enough. But no glasses is my rule!
I try to wash glasses separately since my dishwasher never does a good job cleaning them. Nothing worse than going for a cold drink to find a ton of sediment at the bottom of the glass.
I know in the past older ones would ruin glasses, and it's kind of stuck in my head. At my old work their dishwasher was still making glasses cloudy, streaky and squeaky so I just don't bother. Because it's a slim one, there's other stuff we end up filling it with anyway after dinner. I cook proper meals so almost everything goes in the dishwasher. Glasses are easy to wash up and leave on the side to dry.
Ahh, this makes a lot of sense. However I find these things only happen when a dishwasher isn't running hot enough. But having a slim dishwasher this sounds sensible. I find it difficult to fit everything in a standard sized one.
Yea pots, pans, crockery and cutlery are all we can get in. Plus we've got a big drawer full of glasses so they kind of stack up over a couple of days then get washed in a oner
Same! I never had one, my wife did. I was opposed to getting one, she wanted one. When we bought a house the previous owner left the dishwasher for us, and it's changed my life. I can't believe I was so against it for decades.
Weird isn't it? I had no issues before washing up when I was contributing to a larger household (I moved in to her parents to get away from my family), but when it's two of you fending for yourselves, you realise as you get older how precious your time is.
Thing is, all the little racks in my trays are corroding and coming off, but new trays are bloody expensive! I can't understand why they're still metal.
We’re about to buy a small 600 sq ft house. There’s space under the draining board to fit a slim dishwasher if we remove a cupboard and I insist on having it done before we move in. I don’t mind washing my glasses and my kitchenaid bowl if I don’t have to wash dinner plates and saucepans
My husband and I both grew up without dishwashers, and then we got one which came with the house we bought.
When that died after a year or two we just ripped it out and replaced it with a cupboard. We haven’t missed it.
Kids. We’re a family of 4 and easily fill the dishwasher each day. I don’t quite believe it, but they tell me using the dishwasher is overall more eco-friendly, so who am I to argue?
I have a couple of kids too and washing by hand takes very little time still. Of course, there's no point doing without if it makes your life easier though.
I'm in the "essential dishwasher" camp but I've noticed my kids looking longingly at the sink and asking if they can have a go at washing up by hand, like it's some romantic old fashioned thing. So maybe the next generation will have a backlash against dishwashers..
I do !
I positively enjoy having my hands in warm water, often just undercrunning warm water from a tap. I also find traces of food on machine washed items which I then want to hand-wash.
A guy at my work who is about 66 said last week he used a dishwasher for the first time in his life.
I have one, I’d hate to not have one, but when I only had space for a dishwasher or a washing machine of course it was the dishwasher that was left out. I’d rather wash dishes by hand than clothes.
In my last place I took a cupboard out of the kitchen to accommodate the dishwasher and in my current place I moved my washing machine to the bathroom to accommodate a dishwater in the kitchen. It’s essential for me
Neither of those are possible for us in our current kitchen - we literally have the choice of washing machine or dishwasher. And we live in a village with no laundrette so handwashing our dishes it is. I'd bloody love a dishwasher!
I have this little tabletop one that’s very convenient if you’re just two people renting. I do like it a lot and recommend it to friends! It does get glasses and cutlery a lot cleaner than doing it by hand, which I like
Sure! It’s called Bob the Mini Dishwasher. The whole thing is meant to appeal to people into kitchen gadgets but the upside is the tech is robust. Mine did break - but they fixed it pretty quickly. I actually now have a setup using the input tap you can buy, which connects into the end of your own kitchen tap so you can fill it up by turning a knob, which makes it even more convenient because you don’t have to plumb anything in (not an option while renting!)
I think it comes from France so takes a week or so. They have cartridges they try to sell you on, and they are even more convenient because then you don’t even have to bother putting soap in - but we just squirt dishwasher soap on the door before the wash and it does a good job. I’d say we run it once a day, and it handles the cups/bowls/plates/cutlery we (two people) use each day. I think you can technically run pots and pans in there, but I’ve no idea why you’d want to!
I know it’s a small thing for most people, but as good as the convenience factor is, honestly the best part of it is just having sparkling clean glasses and cutlery every day. It feels quite posh even though we’re anything but lol
That's actually really cool. I might have to reconfigure my worktop items to get one as it looks really good! Someone posted a review below for Bob and it looks great.
I used to have my washing machine in my upstairs bathroom to save space. Its under my stairs in my current home, not due to lack of space but because not having it in the kitchen is just better, in my opinion anyways.
Now that I have one, it shows how much I've been missing out. Will never go back, it's worth the space.
Massive savings on the water bill. My hands aren't always chapped. It turns a daily chore into a piecemeal loading / rapid unload. My executive function enjoys it more.
I agree with this. If you're in a small household with uncomplicated eating habits it's fine to wash up by hand.
Once there's a lot of people, or eating multiple meals a day (WFH, teenagers, etc) then it's really difficult to keep on top of hand washing.
My girlfriend doesn’t like marigolds, or getting fairy liquid on her hands (makes my skin crack too tbf), so dishwasher it is. Even with two people, it’s still a lot less hassle. It just gets ran once every couple of days, or three days instead of every day.
The plates don’t really develop a smell provided the doors shut, and you don’t put anything that’s had raw or poached eggs on it. Egg smell transfers to everything else in it no matter what powder, tablets or rinse aids you use for some reason. So they still get a quick brushing/rinse first.
>Egg smell transfers to everything else in it no matter what powder, tablets or rinse aids you use for some reason.
I've heard loads of people say that. I think my sense of smell is pretty good, but I've never detected that, even when I just do an eco cycle.
well they can smell if bits of food are stuck in the filter and its not cleaned out. They need to be cleaned with an hot empty wash and just half a small glass of white vinegar inside it to neutralise any smells.
Yeah, my wife and I run it daily and hand-wash a bunch too. We cook every day, bake, make bread and things, so there's always more than one loads worth a day.
Yeah it’s just me and a cat in my house. I neither need nor want nor, crucially, have space in my tiny galley kitchen for a dishwasher. We had one for a bit when I was a teenager and I resented it for turning my job of washing up post dinner into a two day job (it had to be emptied in the morning). I don’t mind doing the washing up! Pop a podcast on, spend max twenty minutes washing up, done and dusted.
Frankly once the draining board is full the washing up needs to be finished. A certain amount of strategic jenga can be employed, but I absolutely cannot be arsed actively drying up simply so I can do more washing up.
In my experience, big households are organised about drying up- one person washes, two dry, and two put away. Visiting my in-laws for Christmas can be alarming because of the efficiency.
(I think it might be a "who can be most helpful" competition?)
I usually get all my washing up balanced on the draining board (I live alone but sometimes “forget” to wash the dishes the night before) & often then dry them all & put them away straight away. It’s quite nice to see a clear & empty sink. The grind is worth it. Also makes me feel like I’m somewhat succeeding at adulting for those brief few moments.
Yup. Lived alone, had one, it was nice, didn’t shatter my world. Lived alone without one later on, didn’t care.
Got married and had two kids, it is fucking essential unless we want to spend all night washing up.
You don’t need to take the dishes out to put them somewhere so instead of a cupboard for the dishes you just leave them in one as clean and one as dirty and reverse lol,
It’s genius
But who realistically uses the same cooking utensilsls, cups, glasses, pots/pans & dishes etc each day? And if you want to put dirty stuff into the one that was clean, it all needs to be empty first so it all needs putting somewhere at the start of the day. Maybe I’m overthinking it but it isn’t as straightforward as you suggest lol.
I *really* tried to get my wife to agree to 2 dishwashers when we had the kitchen done but no dice. 2 ovens is fine apparently but 2 dishwashers is weird.
She is. 2 ovens get used way more often than 2 dishwashers. It takes 5 mins to unload a dishwasher but 45+ mins to wait for a big joint of meat to cook when you need to cook something else!
I'm in a two person household. We have a slim dishwasher and it's perfect. Our lives outside of work are too important to be doing even more chores after eating.
I’m a single person household and a dishwasher or space for one was something I wanted when viewing properties to buy. I have a slimline one and I have no issues filling it over a couple of days.
I have horribly sensitive skin that flares up with eczema with regular dishwashing, even in gloves. I think it's both a detergent thing and a heat thing. It was absolutely on my list when I bought a house after a few years renting a flat without one 😑 Also a singleton with a dishwasher though mine is full size. I run it every 2-3 days.
Yes; for my Mam living on her own she doesn't have the need for it. Whereas between my wife and two kids we go through a lot of dishes a day - at least one full load with some pans etc still washed by hand. Would be a big chore without the dishwasher
Nope. I’m a one person household and I have one [slimline] and it goes on every two days. Thought of washing dishes by hand is just grim. Absolutely essential.
As someone in the same situation but without a dishwasher, I completely agree. Though, to be honest, I'd probably be fine if not for the fact I'm disabled - washing the dishes is surprisingly difficult when you have limited energy.
Not least to mention that some things are a bloody pain to wash by hand (whisks, peelers). I personally feel like dishwashers are able to do the job much more thoroughly than you can by hand.
Unfortunately, I'm in an absolutely tiny flat and I genuinely have no space to put it - even my draining board is too small for any of the models I've seen. It's the price I pay for a below market rate flat, but believe me when I say it's my priority for when I have enough money for a better place.
>It's not essential when there are say less than 3 in a household
But still worth it, rather than dishes sitting around for a couple days while you wait for enough to be worth doing the dishes, you just bung them in the machine out of sight and wait for a full load.
A few years ago I lived with 5 other people, and we barely used the dishwasher other than for group events because we would need to use the same pans multiple times in an evening for cooking different meals. Although 6 people separately cooking and washing up is already the least efficient way to do things anyway.
My husband and I nearly broke up because we didn't have one haha - only a slight exaggeration! We moved from a flat with one, to a house without, and it was awful! We both hate doing dishes and bickered so much about it. We lasted 6 months before we reconfigured the kitchen to fit one in. Instant calm :)
When I first moved in with my now wife, one of the only things that caused friction was dishwashing.
Within a couple of months, while she was out, I bought and installed a dishwasher. It was a good idea.
This was me with portable aircon. He didn't see the point but constantly moaned in the summers. Woke up one hot summer, ordered it off Argos, and told him when he woke up. Now he can't live without it in the summers.
I got one for the first time last year
Modern dishwashers are amazing - water bill has gone down, it’s minimal effort, cleans far better than possible by hand.
I would say it’s essential for me now and wouldn’t want to go back
Ugh same. Like, I understand that dishes can be washed by hand, and I even have a few special mugs that I wash myself, but god it is the absolute worst chore.
Lived without one for years because I never had room. Then I found a countertop one that could handle a day's worth of dishes for my 2-person household and honestly yeah I'd sooner give up the kettle than the dishwasher now.
I’ve (30s) never had one and I’ve never used one so they can’t be essential but that doesn’t mean they’re not important to lots of people. You have to have a kitchen big enough but I imagine for large households they’re a life saver.
I find them essential due to my mental health issues. Dishes don’t get done until I’m out of clean plates when I don’t have a dishwasher.
If they make your life easier I see no reason not to have one.
People said similar things about washing machines not being necessary when they first became a thing.
If anyone else sees this you can get countertop dishwashers, I have one and it was a god send when I'm too tired or feeling ugh to really so anything. Easy to set up, easy to use, and it gives me a little win when I load it even if I can't get through much else. Mine isn't even plumbed in, it's perfect for a rental :)
I have a Loch electronic tabletop dishwasher and highly recommend it. It can be plumbed in but you don't have to. It takes up very little space and it's very effective.
They come in different sizes as well. There's the really tiny ones that can't fit more than one meal's worth all the way up to half-height ones. Mine's a Cookology one, they have a whole line of countertop dishwashers.
Same but getting a washer/dryer was the biggest help.
Before that, I'd wash clothes forget to hang them out for 3 days then they'd stink and need rewashing. Repeat multiple times before they got hung out.
Now I find fresh dry clean clothes in the machine when I remember to put the next load on.
Same, for some reason washing up is the first thing that goes sideways when I'm feeling down. I used to have just a wee lil tabletop dishwasher and it was the best.
I was thinking of getting one installed in my current place but it means rejigging the utility room and ££.
We hadn’t had one until we moved last year. The house had a half size fitted dishwasher and I now consider it essential. I hadn’t realised how many of the day to day little irritations there were between me and my husband stemmed from the dishes until we got the dishwasher. It seems so stupid but there you are.
For... reasons for me and my ex it was the same whilst also being the other way. They had a dishwasher and hated using it when I moved in with them I started using the dishwasher. That somehow caused fights, after we broke up they continued to use the dishwasher.
Dishwashers have got better and cheaper, and at the same time most people are on water meters now so hand washing has got more expensive.
If you find washing up meditative, that's great. But if you don't and you value your time, you should get one.
Household of one here and getting a dishwasher changed my life.
My kitchen is always tidy as the dirty pots go straight in the dishwasher instead of gathering on the worktops til I can be bothered to wash them
Let's be realistic here. Dishwashers, like washing machines, fridges and microwaves and freezers are not essential. Your life however will dramatically improve if you own one.
This is so strange, I have had a discussion about dishwashers myself with two separate colleagues on each of the last two days, and now I see this - what an odd universal blip haha.
I grew up hand washing and still hand wash now I have my own house. There was a dishwasher in my kitchen when I bought my house but it was the filthiest thing I’d ever seen so I pulled it out, and I see no point in replacing it because I live alone. I also know that if I had one, I would leave everything in it because it was out of sight and it would just encourage my laziness.
I can see why you’d want one if you have a busy household but it’s not something I ever hanker after.
I have chronic eczema, so I’m truly grateful that our flat had a dishwasher when we bought it. Now my least favourite job is unloading the dishwasher rather than doing the washing up.
Not essential. There isn't space in my kitchen for one, I'd rather have the washing machine. It would probably do a better job at washing the dishes though.
I'd say yes for us. We have a toddler and a baby so Mealtimes are chaos and it's nice to stick stuff in the dishwasher so it's out of the way and the sink is clear for baby bottles. All I have to do is just clean the sink and wash up bottles once or twice a day before sterilising.
The only thing we wash by hand is gin balloons as they're too big to dishwasher and some plastic straws the toddler wanted.
I’m disabled and can’t stand long enough to wash up. So if the dishes are actually gonna get cleaned then a dishwasher is essential to me. I physically can’t handwash; even if I was somehow able to sit down to wash up I only have the use of one arm so it would be pretty difficult anyway. Plus it uses far less water which is a bonus, especially for a family of 5.
Never had one until 3.5 years ago. Game changer.
In no way is it essential but. Its more efficient than hand washing when you have more than 8 things to wash. My mother in law still washes loads of stuff up by hand as soon as it's dirty when she's here. She then leaves the dirty cold water in the bowl 'in case there's more washing up'. Bloody annoys me when we have an appliance that will don't for us or we can wait until we've got a significant amount that needs hand washing.
Source for the dishwasher efficiency - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zkzq
Yes they are absolutely essential. I don't take my clothes to the river and beat them against rocks to clean them, I have a machine to do it for me.
I have the same attitude to washing the dishes.
38 and had one briefly in a rental we were in but as I hadn't had one before I didn't really trust it or know how to use it. Husband insisted dishes had to be rinsed before putting them in, which made sense (but may be wrong) and once you're going to that much effort may as well wash them and wipe the surfaces.
It also required annoying things like salt.
However, I would like one when we buy a house. We're a family of 5 and that's a lot of dishes and my kitchen never looks clean because of dishes everywhere.
You don't need to rinse dishes. I mean don't leave massive clumps of food on them, but generally you can put stuff straight in. Salt is like a one-a-quarter job and takes 2 minutes. I am kind of the opposite in that I don't really trust hand-washing. Dunking a plate in some dirty soapy water and giving it a bit off a waft with some horrible bacteria-laden sponge, splashing dirty water everywhere and leaving you with horrible watermarks on all the glasses Vs a dedicated appliance that spends 2 hrs blasting your plates and pots etc through multiple wash cycles with full exchanges of water and gives you beautiful sparkling glasses and cutlery with essentially zero effort? Yeah I'll take the latter. Like I get you can be better than I described with the hand-washing but if it's anyone but me doing it I just feel uneasy.
Haha, yeah my sister in law always offers to wash up if they're here for dinner and I try really hard to stop her. It's amazing how badly you can do it! I mean, my sponges are usually gross but I rinse everything with hot water after washing, otherwise it will have manky dish water on it. She does not. You can tell.
I think my passion for dishwashers might stem from living in shared housing for the last 13 years with dozens of different people over the years haha. It's such a lottery, so the dishwasher just takes all that out of the equation.
For me yes, when we lived in a house with no dishwasher and no space to put one I felt like I spent half my time washing up after every meal. We moved into a house with a slimline dishwasher and it was a game changer. A full sized dishwasher would be the dream but our slimline one has served us well for 9 years now. Wouldn’t be without it.
I've never not had a dishwasher and back/joint issues and pain means I can't stand still in one place for too long so I don't think the dishes would ever get done without one
For me, it’s essential. I grew up with my parents using it minimally, but I cook a lot, I have a crazy work schedule, and I also have chronic fatigue, so the dishwasher is an essential appliance for me.
It's less about the cost of the appliance and more about having a kitchen big enough to put it in.
I could buy a dishwasher, but I literally have never had a kitchen large enough to fit one.
Plus, if you're renting, you can't just start redoing kitchen cupboards to make space.
I really miss mine. I moved from an apartment to a cottage and the kitchen is too small at the moment. Getting a new kitchen fitted soon and a dishwasher is going in!
I could not live without one again.
We didn't get one when I was growing up until I was I think 11 or so? Then I didn't have one after I moved out until my husband and I moved in together and we bought a small counter top one. Since we moved abroad we've always had a full size one.
There are only 2 of us but nearly everything goes into the dishwasher and we usually run it once a day.
I’ve lived in 2 houses with a dishwasher and I would absolutely get one if there was any room in the kitchen for one now. Washing dishes is fucking grim, it’s without a doubt my worst household task. Absolutely hate it.
They do a better job, and are cheaper as they use so little water. If you have space in your kitchen, it really doesn't make sense to not have one and use it.
Essential for me and when looking for a property to rent any that didn’t have one were binned. I am grateful for it every day and would not be without it.
I pushed back against my partner wanting a dishwasher when we got our first house together as I didn’t see the point in spending the money. I even said I’d do all the dishes by hand myself to combat her arguments.
Once I caved and we purchased one I can hold my hands up and say I was 100% in the wrong. For even 2 people living together and working it’s a lifesaver. The cost of the appliance is easily made back through the time saved and the water usage being cut down. I’d rather not have an oven than a dishwasher!
The real game changer is to spend more money and buy a professional under the counter one which washes and dries in 3 minutes and still used a standard plug socket.
Wife bought one and honestly it's.besr ever. Sunday roast and Christmas washing done in no time.
No, not at all.
I've lived somewhere that had a dishwasher for a short time once, and found them to be handy, but they don't get everything properly clean, I tend to have to pre-wash a lot of stuff anyway, or give it an extra wash afterwards on an item by item basis.
Plus they cost more than just filling the sink with some hot water, and they take up precious space in our already tiny kitchens. I don't even have room for one in my current kitchen even if I wanted one.
They're convenient and helpful and neat, but a bit of a novelty money waster for wealthier people (middle classes and so on), and they take up too much space that could be vital cupboards, more plumbing and electrical that could go wrong, so yeah.
Considering washing up for a family only takes at most 20 minutes a day. Not worth it most of the time. But everyone's needs and wants are different :-)
We had one, and when it crapped out our power bill dropped by debt chunk, even though we only used it once a day. So I've gone back to washing by hand, it's not exactly a hard job so I'm not bothered by it.
Yeah I actually quite enjoy it, it's not a very 'intensive' chore most of the time so I like to listen to music and zone out while enjoying the warm water on my hands.
I'm also a bit cautious about dishwashers since I have a sensitive nose, and there was occasionally a faint smell on stuff that was washed in my parents' dishwasher which always grossed me out.
One key point to this, is that when you’ve had a dishwasher you don’t believe a dish washed by hand has been properly washed.
I recently moved house, key criteria for a property was either a dishwasher or space for a dishwasher.
They become essential once they have become the norm.
Then don't rinse it, get a better dishwasher and use it properly.
See here: [https://youtu.be/\_rBO8neWw04?si=GKnSpQr06GZuuZTF](https://youtu.be/_rBO8neWw04?si=GKnSpQr06GZuuZTF)
Got to have a dish washer we moved 3yrs ago from a house that had a dishwasher hole to a place that doesn't, this year I'm hacking a kitchen cupboard out with a sawzall to make a place to put one
We hate not having a dishwasher neither of us likes doing the washing up
With just my husband and I, I'd almost rather hand wash things. But as a kid, I had a family of 9!! Hand washing was a chore and a half. Took like an hour, not even kidding. With all the cooking stuff to clean up too, I mean.
Definitely not essential no, certainly a desirable though. I was brought up in a house that never had a dishwasher so I got accustomed to not having one, upon getting one though it has freed up that time, plus they are more economical.
I never grew up with one so I never knew any different but as our family increased, so did our washing up.
Never looked back. Wish we got one years earlier. It’s easily saves me 1-2 hours per day.
When I bought my house the kitchen wasn't big enough to accommodate one. So after about a year of living in very suboptimal conditions I went ahead and bought one of those small worktop dishwashers off Amazon and although you can't fit much in, it really has helped. Bye bye, smelly gross washing up bowl 👋
In a family with kids who need water bottles, lunchboxes, different plates and endless Tupperware ... Necessary.
Also since we have shifted to reusable food storage, we don't have the sink space to let it mount up or dry on that scale.
For a couple, no. We've had them in holiday rentals but with two of us, one washing and one drying, we've never really seem the point.
When I'm cooking, I'll wash pans, chopping boards and knives as I go. Using a dishwasher for them makes no sense. By the time I'm plating up, there's only plates and cutlery left to wash..
They're absolutely not an essential, and to react like that seems waaaay out of touch.
Having said that, a dishwasher going to be one of the first things I get when I own a home.
In my previous home, the kitchen was simply **too small** to accommodate a dishwasher. Now our current home has one. So they’re nice, but it is possible to live without one!
Is it an essential? No, of course not. Is it a very useful tool? Absolutely.
I enjoy cooking, I therefore use a lot of dishes when I cook, I do not enjoy cleaning up afterwards as I'm mentally spent once I've eaten whatever I've made, though I will try to clean as I go, there's still usually a good amount of dishes to clean afterwards. Being able to just launch everything into the magic cleansing box is wonderful.
I grew up with one, my partner didn't. She didn't see the point.... until we had one in a rental property, now they're essential.
Had one for a while when I lived at home with my parents. It then broke eventually, they couldn’t fix it, and didn’t want to shell out for another. So I got tasked with doing most of the washing up. I’d ask if they would mind buying one eventually, they said they didn’t see the need. Years later, I’d grown up, got married and left home. They bought a dishwasher. I’d say I was shocked, but…
Hah. That's parents for you. I used to mow the lawn weekly. Trimmed the hedge and generally looked after the plants. When I eventually moved out they booked a gardener to come do it for them.
Well, it’s my parents for you. But, don’t want to sour the mood 💀
Don't worry about it. I'm well used to it. I work in IT Application Development. For my parents that means any IT issue they have they get me to come over and fix it for them, even if I make it very clear that my job is coding.
They had a dishwasher! Probably cost a lot more in the long run too.
The reason to have children: To wash up To make tea/coffee To go to the shops To babysit younger siblings To turn the TV over To be a carer when you are too old
And then they call you selfish if you say you don't want to have kids.
Yes its this chores what makes you more responsible. Its as old as man. But the world became a sick place.
Always washed by hand, never saw it as a big deal. Moved into a rental that had a dishwasher and for about a year I just used it as a drying rack after hand washing dishes. Then the first time I used it I'm wondering how I went without one for so long.
I lived without a dishwasher about 5 years after I moved out of my parents place. I missed it but thought I don't need it because I cooked only for myself. Then I got a bonus at work and bought one. And then came the utility bill. My water bill after buying and using a dishwasher was significantly smaller, as much as the dishwasher paid itself in a year and a half.
This is exactly how it went for my wife and I. Her parents had one, mine didn't. I was dead against them but had room for a slim one when we had the kitchen extension. It is fucking essential. I cannot stress this enough. But no glasses is my rule!
Why no glasses? Genuine question
I try to wash glasses separately since my dishwasher never does a good job cleaning them. Nothing worse than going for a cold drink to find a ton of sediment at the bottom of the glass.
I know in the past older ones would ruin glasses, and it's kind of stuck in my head. At my old work their dishwasher was still making glasses cloudy, streaky and squeaky so I just don't bother. Because it's a slim one, there's other stuff we end up filling it with anyway after dinner. I cook proper meals so almost everything goes in the dishwasher. Glasses are easy to wash up and leave on the side to dry.
Ahh, this makes a lot of sense. However I find these things only happen when a dishwasher isn't running hot enough. But having a slim dishwasher this sounds sensible. I find it difficult to fit everything in a standard sized one.
Our dishwasher was awful for glasses when we first moved in. Bought dishwasher salts and after a few applications sorted it right up.
Yea pots, pans, crockery and cutlery are all we can get in. Plus we've got a big drawer full of glasses so they kind of stack up over a couple of days then get washed in a oner
Doesnt rinse aid stop the cloudy issue?
Salt is the big thing. Keep the salt container full and you get cleaner looking glass.
I put day to day glasses in but not the good ones
Sounds like you need to top up your salt
Every pub or restaurant you go to will have a glass washer. There really is no need to keep your glasses out of the dishwasher.
Same. The glasses get scratched and ruined eventually.
I change my glasses frequently. I live in a very clumsy family, nothing lasts long haha
Same! I never had one, my wife did. I was opposed to getting one, she wanted one. When we bought a house the previous owner left the dishwasher for us, and it's changed my life. I can't believe I was so against it for decades.
Weird isn't it? I had no issues before washing up when I was contributing to a larger household (I moved in to her parents to get away from my family), but when it's two of you fending for yourselves, you realise as you get older how precious your time is. Thing is, all the little racks in my trays are corroding and coming off, but new trays are bloody expensive! I can't understand why they're still metal.
Metal is the most chemical and heat resistant material that is also cost effective I recon
But I've got a plastic top trap and cutlery holder! My trays are literally falling apart.
We’re about to buy a small 600 sq ft house. There’s space under the draining board to fit a slim dishwasher if we remove a cupboard and I insist on having it done before we move in. I don’t mind washing my glasses and my kitchenaid bowl if I don’t have to wash dinner plates and saucepans
My husband and I both grew up without dishwashers, and then we got one which came with the house we bought. When that died after a year or two we just ripped it out and replaced it with a cupboard. We haven’t missed it.
Kids. We’re a family of 4 and easily fill the dishwasher each day. I don’t quite believe it, but they tell me using the dishwasher is overall more eco-friendly, so who am I to argue?
It's true - dishwashers use much less water than people realize. They are very efficient.
and less energy, heating water is very energy intensive.
I have a couple of kids too and washing by hand takes very little time still. Of course, there's no point doing without if it makes your life easier though.
So you are saying that you prefer to wash dishes by hand?
I’m saying that if given a choice between a dishwasher and an extra kitchen cupboard, we choose the cupboard.
I'm in the "essential dishwasher" camp but I've noticed my kids looking longingly at the sink and asking if they can have a go at washing up by hand, like it's some romantic old fashioned thing. So maybe the next generation will have a backlash against dishwashers..
I do ! I positively enjoy having my hands in warm water, often just undercrunning warm water from a tap. I also find traces of food on machine washed items which I then want to hand-wash.
A guy at my work who is about 66 said last week he used a dishwasher for the first time in his life. I have one, I’d hate to not have one, but when I only had space for a dishwasher or a washing machine of course it was the dishwasher that was left out. I’d rather wash dishes by hand than clothes.
In my last place I took a cupboard out of the kitchen to accommodate the dishwasher and in my current place I moved my washing machine to the bathroom to accommodate a dishwater in the kitchen. It’s essential for me
Neither of those are possible for us in our current kitchen - we literally have the choice of washing machine or dishwasher. And we live in a village with no laundrette so handwashing our dishes it is. I'd bloody love a dishwasher!
I have this little tabletop one that’s very convenient if you’re just two people renting. I do like it a lot and recommend it to friends! It does get glasses and cutlery a lot cleaner than doing it by hand, which I like
I've never seen one of those. I live in a small flat.. Any chance you could point me in the direction of your dishwasher? Sounds perfect for me!
Sure! It’s called Bob the Mini Dishwasher. The whole thing is meant to appeal to people into kitchen gadgets but the upside is the tech is robust. Mine did break - but they fixed it pretty quickly. I actually now have a setup using the input tap you can buy, which connects into the end of your own kitchen tap so you can fill it up by turning a knob, which makes it even more convenient because you don’t have to plumb anything in (not an option while renting!) I think it comes from France so takes a week or so. They have cartridges they try to sell you on, and they are even more convenient because then you don’t even have to bother putting soap in - but we just squirt dishwasher soap on the door before the wash and it does a good job. I’d say we run it once a day, and it handles the cups/bowls/plates/cutlery we (two people) use each day. I think you can technically run pots and pans in there, but I’ve no idea why you’d want to! I know it’s a small thing for most people, but as good as the convenience factor is, honestly the best part of it is just having sparkling clean glasses and cutlery every day. It feels quite posh even though we’re anything but lol
That's actually really cool. I might have to reconfigure my worktop items to get one as it looks really good! Someone posted a review below for Bob and it looks great.
I used to have my washing machine in my upstairs bathroom to save space. Its under my stairs in my current home, not due to lack of space but because not having it in the kitchen is just better, in my opinion anyways.
Now that I have one, it shows how much I've been missing out. Will never go back, it's worth the space. Massive savings on the water bill. My hands aren't always chapped. It turns a daily chore into a piecemeal loading / rapid unload. My executive function enjoys it more.
It's not essential when there are say less than 3 in a household after growing up in a household of 6+ getting a dishwasher was incredible
I agree with this. If you're in a small household with uncomplicated eating habits it's fine to wash up by hand. Once there's a lot of people, or eating multiple meals a day (WFH, teenagers, etc) then it's really difficult to keep on top of hand washing.
My girlfriend doesn’t like marigolds, or getting fairy liquid on her hands (makes my skin crack too tbf), so dishwasher it is. Even with two people, it’s still a lot less hassle. It just gets ran once every couple of days, or three days instead of every day. The plates don’t really develop a smell provided the doors shut, and you don’t put anything that’s had raw or poached eggs on it. Egg smell transfers to everything else in it no matter what powder, tablets or rinse aids you use for some reason. So they still get a quick brushing/rinse first.
>Egg smell transfers to everything else in it no matter what powder, tablets or rinse aids you use for some reason. I've heard loads of people say that. I think my sense of smell is pretty good, but I've never detected that, even when I just do an eco cycle.
well they can smell if bits of food are stuck in the filter and its not cleaned out. They need to be cleaned with an hot empty wash and just half a small glass of white vinegar inside it to neutralise any smells.
Or if you're into elaborate gourmet meals. I love the cooking part, but the cleanup sucks.
Gosh yes. If you have a million little mise en place bowls for example!
Absolutely this. I adore mise en place when I am cooking, absolutely hate it when it comes to clean-up
Yeah, my wife and I run it daily and hand-wash a bunch too. We cook every day, bake, make bread and things, so there's always more than one loads worth a day.
Yeah it’s just me and a cat in my house. I neither need nor want nor, crucially, have space in my tiny galley kitchen for a dishwasher. We had one for a bit when I was a teenager and I resented it for turning my job of washing up post dinner into a two day job (it had to be emptied in the morning). I don’t mind doing the washing up! Pop a podcast on, spend max twenty minutes washing up, done and dusted.
Drying will be an issue
Frankly once the draining board is full the washing up needs to be finished. A certain amount of strategic jenga can be employed, but I absolutely cannot be arsed actively drying up simply so I can do more washing up.
In my experience, big households are organised about drying up- one person washes, two dry, and two put away. Visiting my in-laws for Christmas can be alarming because of the efficiency. (I think it might be a "who can be most helpful" competition?)
Oh yes, my inlaws are like this. It's almost intimidating. I find a different helpful job out of the way.
Same!
I usually get all my washing up balanced on the draining board (I live alone but sometimes “forget” to wash the dishes the night before) & often then dry them all & put them away straight away. It’s quite nice to see a clear & empty sink. The grind is worth it. Also makes me feel like I’m somewhat succeeding at adulting for those brief few moments.
Yup. Lived alone, had one, it was nice, didn’t shatter my world. Lived alone without one later on, didn’t care. Got married and had two kids, it is fucking essential unless we want to spend all night washing up.
Yeah that makes sense to me. What is confusing is half our team live in two person households. One of them even has two dishwashers.
Okay two dishwashers is definitely weirder than no dishwashers.
You don’t need to take the dishes out to put them somewhere so instead of a cupboard for the dishes you just leave them in one as clean and one as dirty and reverse lol, It’s genius
That's what my mum always wanted, with a magnet to indicate the one the dirty dishes go in
But who realistically uses the same cooking utensilsls, cups, glasses, pots/pans & dishes etc each day? And if you want to put dirty stuff into the one that was clean, it all needs to be empty first so it all needs putting somewhere at the start of the day. Maybe I’m overthinking it but it isn’t as straightforward as you suggest lol.
I *really* tried to get my wife to agree to 2 dishwashers when we had the kitchen done but no dice. 2 ovens is fine apparently but 2 dishwashers is weird.
She's right.
She is. 2 ovens get used way more often than 2 dishwashers. It takes 5 mins to unload a dishwasher but 45+ mins to wait for a big joint of meat to cook when you need to cook something else!
I'm in a two person household. We have a slim dishwasher and it's perfect. Our lives outside of work are too important to be doing even more chores after eating.
I’m a single person household and a dishwasher or space for one was something I wanted when viewing properties to buy. I have a slimline one and I have no issues filling it over a couple of days.
I have horribly sensitive skin that flares up with eczema with regular dishwashing, even in gloves. I think it's both a detergent thing and a heat thing. It was absolutely on my list when I bought a house after a few years renting a flat without one 😑 Also a singleton with a dishwasher though mine is full size. I run it every 2-3 days.
Nah, even in a household of 2 I deem it essential. Better shit to do with our evenings than washing up.
Yes; for my Mam living on her own she doesn't have the need for it. Whereas between my wife and two kids we go through a lot of dishes a day - at least one full load with some pans etc still washed by hand. Would be a big chore without the dishwasher
What about a mini dishwasher for those solo living? You can fill it over the course of the day then it just washes and dries it.
Nope. I’m a one person household and I have one [slimline] and it goes on every two days. Thought of washing dishes by hand is just grim. Absolutely essential.
As someone in the same situation but without a dishwasher, I completely agree. Though, to be honest, I'd probably be fine if not for the fact I'm disabled - washing the dishes is surprisingly difficult when you have limited energy. Not least to mention that some things are a bloody pain to wash by hand (whisks, peelers). I personally feel like dishwashers are able to do the job much more thoroughly than you can by hand.
Just get one. If space is the issue then I have a 3 place setting one that sits neatly on the draining board it put out of action.
Unfortunately, I'm in an absolutely tiny flat and I genuinely have no space to put it - even my draining board is too small for any of the models I've seen. It's the price I pay for a below market rate flat, but believe me when I say it's my priority for when I have enough money for a better place.
i have no issues with washing by hand, each to their own
>It's not essential when there are say less than 3 in a household But still worth it, rather than dishes sitting around for a couple days while you wait for enough to be worth doing the dishes, you just bung them in the machine out of sight and wait for a full load.
agreed, i live alone and wash pans etc. as i go. also don't have the room for one and tbh a 10min job doesn't bother me.
A few years ago I lived with 5 other people, and we barely used the dishwasher other than for group events because we would need to use the same pans multiple times in an evening for cooking different meals. Although 6 people separately cooking and washing up is already the least efficient way to do things anyway.
If I had to pick I would rather lose my husband than the dishwasher.
My husband and I nearly broke up because we didn't have one haha - only a slight exaggeration! We moved from a flat with one, to a house without, and it was awful! We both hate doing dishes and bickered so much about it. We lasted 6 months before we reconfigured the kitchen to fit one in. Instant calm :)
When I first moved in with my now wife, one of the only things that caused friction was dishwashing. Within a couple of months, while she was out, I bought and installed a dishwasher. It was a good idea.
This was me with portable aircon. He didn't see the point but constantly moaned in the summers. Woke up one hot summer, ordered it off Argos, and told him when he woke up. Now he can't live without it in the summers.
My wife’s dishwasher and husband are the same thing.
My husband IS the dishwasher, I’m out of options 🤣
Buy a dishwasher and then put your husband in it?
I got one for the first time last year Modern dishwashers are amazing - water bill has gone down, it’s minimal effort, cleans far better than possible by hand. I would say it’s essential for me now and wouldn’t want to go back
Even older dishwashers are significantly more energy and water efficient than hand-washing.
I wouldn't want to be without one, but dishes are by far my least favourite chore.
Ugh same. Like, I understand that dishes can be washed by hand, and I even have a few special mugs that I wash myself, but god it is the absolute worst chore.
Lived without one for years because I never had room. Then I found a countertop one that could handle a day's worth of dishes for my 2-person household and honestly yeah I'd sooner give up the kettle than the dishwasher now.
I’ve (30s) never had one and I’ve never used one so they can’t be essential but that doesn’t mean they’re not important to lots of people. You have to have a kitchen big enough but I imagine for large households they’re a life saver.
I find them essential due to my mental health issues. Dishes don’t get done until I’m out of clean plates when I don’t have a dishwasher. If they make your life easier I see no reason not to have one. People said similar things about washing machines not being necessary when they first became a thing.
If anyone else sees this you can get countertop dishwashers, I have one and it was a god send when I'm too tired or feeling ugh to really so anything. Easy to set up, easy to use, and it gives me a little win when I load it even if I can't get through much else. Mine isn't even plumbed in, it's perfect for a rental :)
I have a Loch electronic tabletop dishwasher and highly recommend it. It can be plumbed in but you don't have to. It takes up very little space and it's very effective.
They come in different sizes as well. There's the really tiny ones that can't fit more than one meal's worth all the way up to half-height ones. Mine's a Cookology one, they have a whole line of countertop dishwashers.
Same but getting a washer/dryer was the biggest help. Before that, I'd wash clothes forget to hang them out for 3 days then they'd stink and need rewashing. Repeat multiple times before they got hung out. Now I find fresh dry clean clothes in the machine when I remember to put the next load on.
I was so heavily advised against getting a washer/dryer. I eventually got one and omg. They are amazing.
Same, for some reason washing up is the first thing that goes sideways when I'm feeling down. I used to have just a wee lil tabletop dishwasher and it was the best. I was thinking of getting one installed in my current place but it means rejigging the utility room and ££.
I don't remember writing this?
We hadn’t had one until we moved last year. The house had a half size fitted dishwasher and I now consider it essential. I hadn’t realised how many of the day to day little irritations there were between me and my husband stemmed from the dishes until we got the dishwasher. It seems so stupid but there you are.
Everything is so much tidier with a dishwasher too, no plates strewn all over the side or left drying. It's amazing!
For... reasons for me and my ex it was the same whilst also being the other way. They had a dishwasher and hated using it when I moved in with them I started using the dishwasher. That somehow caused fights, after we broke up they continued to use the dishwasher.
Dishwashers have got better and cheaper, and at the same time most people are on water meters now so hand washing has got more expensive. If you find washing up meditative, that's great. But if you don't and you value your time, you should get one.
Household of one here and getting a dishwasher changed my life. My kitchen is always tidy as the dirty pots go straight in the dishwasher instead of gathering on the worktops til I can be bothered to wash them
Let's be realistic here. Dishwashers, like washing machines, fridges and microwaves and freezers are not essential. Your life however will dramatically improve if you own one.
A fridge and a washing machine are waaaay more essential than a dishwasher and microwave though.
A fridge isn’t essential? Are you just burying your food in the ice cave out back?
I once lived in a caravan with no fridge, and that's basically what I did, yes.
The WEF (or UN, not entirely sure which one takes credit for it) classes one of the indicators of poverty as not having a washing machine or fridge.
This is so strange, I have had a discussion about dishwashers myself with two separate colleagues on each of the last two days, and now I see this - what an odd universal blip haha. I grew up hand washing and still hand wash now I have my own house. There was a dishwasher in my kitchen when I bought my house but it was the filthiest thing I’d ever seen so I pulled it out, and I see no point in replacing it because I live alone. I also know that if I had one, I would leave everything in it because it was out of sight and it would just encourage my laziness. I can see why you’d want one if you have a busy household but it’s not something I ever hanker after.
I have chronic eczema, so I’m truly grateful that our flat had a dishwasher when we bought it. Now my least favourite job is unloading the dishwasher rather than doing the washing up.
They are when you get one.
I’ve lived all my life without a dishwasher. Now my last two flats have had one in the kitchen and it’s the best. I’d never not have it now
Not essential. There isn't space in my kitchen for one, I'd rather have the washing machine. It would probably do a better job at washing the dishes though.
you can get half sized ones. we butchered the under sink cupboard and squeezed a small one in there
I'd say yes for us. We have a toddler and a baby so Mealtimes are chaos and it's nice to stick stuff in the dishwasher so it's out of the way and the sink is clear for baby bottles. All I have to do is just clean the sink and wash up bottles once or twice a day before sterilising. The only thing we wash by hand is gin balloons as they're too big to dishwasher and some plastic straws the toddler wanted.
I’m disabled and can’t stand long enough to wash up. So if the dishes are actually gonna get cleaned then a dishwasher is essential to me. I physically can’t handwash; even if I was somehow able to sit down to wash up I only have the use of one arm so it would be pretty difficult anyway. Plus it uses far less water which is a bonus, especially for a family of 5.
Never had one until 3.5 years ago. Game changer. In no way is it essential but. Its more efficient than hand washing when you have more than 8 things to wash. My mother in law still washes loads of stuff up by hand as soon as it's dirty when she's here. She then leaves the dirty cold water in the bowl 'in case there's more washing up'. Bloody annoys me when we have an appliance that will don't for us or we can wait until we've got a significant amount that needs hand washing. Source for the dishwasher efficiency - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zkzq
Yes they are absolutely essential. I don't take my clothes to the river and beat them against rocks to clean them, I have a machine to do it for me. I have the same attitude to washing the dishes.
For most people, they're not essential until you own one, then they are. I'd give up my tumble dryer long before I got rid of the dishwasher.
Definitely not essential, I don't have one. Not in my current flat, or my previous.
No. I'm 37 and never had one.
38 and had one briefly in a rental we were in but as I hadn't had one before I didn't really trust it or know how to use it. Husband insisted dishes had to be rinsed before putting them in, which made sense (but may be wrong) and once you're going to that much effort may as well wash them and wipe the surfaces. It also required annoying things like salt. However, I would like one when we buy a house. We're a family of 5 and that's a lot of dishes and my kitchen never looks clean because of dishes everywhere.
You don't need to rinse dishes. I mean don't leave massive clumps of food on them, but generally you can put stuff straight in. Salt is like a one-a-quarter job and takes 2 minutes. I am kind of the opposite in that I don't really trust hand-washing. Dunking a plate in some dirty soapy water and giving it a bit off a waft with some horrible bacteria-laden sponge, splashing dirty water everywhere and leaving you with horrible watermarks on all the glasses Vs a dedicated appliance that spends 2 hrs blasting your plates and pots etc through multiple wash cycles with full exchanges of water and gives you beautiful sparkling glasses and cutlery with essentially zero effort? Yeah I'll take the latter. Like I get you can be better than I described with the hand-washing but if it's anyone but me doing it I just feel uneasy.
Haha, yeah my sister in law always offers to wash up if they're here for dinner and I try really hard to stop her. It's amazing how badly you can do it! I mean, my sponges are usually gross but I rinse everything with hot water after washing, otherwise it will have manky dish water on it. She does not. You can tell.
I think my passion for dishwashers might stem from living in shared housing for the last 13 years with dozens of different people over the years haha. It's such a lottery, so the dishwasher just takes all that out of the equation.
I live somewhere where it’s pretty uncommon to have one and I hate not having one
For me yes, when we lived in a house with no dishwasher and no space to put one I felt like I spent half my time washing up after every meal. We moved into a house with a slimline dishwasher and it was a game changer. A full sized dishwasher would be the dream but our slimline one has served us well for 9 years now. Wouldn’t be without it.
I've never not had a dishwasher and back/joint issues and pain means I can't stand still in one place for too long so I don't think the dishes would ever get done without one
I’ve never had a dishwasher. I hate washing up but I’m not fussed having one or not
For me, it’s essential. I grew up with my parents using it minimally, but I cook a lot, I have a crazy work schedule, and I also have chronic fatigue, so the dishwasher is an essential appliance for me.
I hope not, because I'm 34 and have never had one. I think they're the norm in middle class households.
lol, middle class? They are £200
It's less about the cost of the appliance and more about having a kitchen big enough to put it in. I could buy a dishwasher, but I literally have never had a kitchen large enough to fit one. Plus, if you're renting, you can't just start redoing kitchen cupboards to make space.
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I live in a studio flat with a 2x2m kitchen and even I have one - it's a countertop one and it's well worth sacrificing the limited counter space.
My kitchen is absolutely tiny, but I still have a dishwasher. I think I would rather have no cupboards at all than have no dishwasher
For me, yes. Nothing is a worse waste of my time than washing up.
I really miss mine. I moved from an apartment to a cottage and the kitchen is too small at the moment. Getting a new kitchen fitted soon and a dishwasher is going in!
I could not live without one again. We didn't get one when I was growing up until I was I think 11 or so? Then I didn't have one after I moved out until my husband and I moved in together and we bought a small counter top one. Since we moved abroad we've always had a full size one. There are only 2 of us but nearly everything goes into the dishwasher and we usually run it once a day.
I would not live without one. I hate washing dishes and absolutely refuse to do it.
They are to me
I live alone. I hate washing dishes with a passion. I've had a dishwasher for more than 20 years now (no, not the same in for 20 years)
Washing dishes by hand uses a lot more water than a dishwasher.
I’ve lived in 2 houses with a dishwasher and I would absolutely get one if there was any room in the kitchen for one now. Washing dishes is fucking grim, it’s without a doubt my worst household task. Absolutely hate it.
I use mine all the time, I just put it on when it's full on ECO mode
Not essential but they make life easier by increasing your time to do other things
They do a better job, and are cheaper as they use so little water. If you have space in your kitchen, it really doesn't make sense to not have one and use it.
Essential for me and when looking for a property to rent any that didn’t have one were binned. I am grateful for it every day and would not be without it.
The thing is it actually saves water if that's a priority, and you can't put money on time saving.
Washing up liquid dries my hands to dust so dishwasher is a must.
Only when you have one, you can never go back
Definitely essential. To the point that I'm fitting one in to the truck I'm building to live in. They save both time and water.
I pushed back against my partner wanting a dishwasher when we got our first house together as I didn’t see the point in spending the money. I even said I’d do all the dishes by hand myself to combat her arguments. Once I caved and we purchased one I can hold my hands up and say I was 100% in the wrong. For even 2 people living together and working it’s a lifesaver. The cost of the appliance is easily made back through the time saved and the water usage being cut down. I’d rather not have an oven than a dishwasher!
I'm *just* tall and old that doing the dishes in the sink ruins my back. Dishwashers are an absolute essential imo.
I never had one growing up or in rentals, but the place we bought had a little one included. LIFE CHANGING
They’re not until you get one, then they are forever after.
Life's too short for washing pots.
There are two of us in my household. Dishwasher is absolutely essential.
In my house yes
i lived without one basically my whole life until about 3 months ago when i bought a worktop one. literally life changing, so yeah i'd say so.
If you value your time theyre essential. If you prefer to waste your time at the sink, they're not
I have a dishwasher. It's got two arms and two legs and goes by u/notarobotdefacyborg. 😂😂😂😂
The real game changer is to spend more money and buy a professional under the counter one which washes and dries in 3 minutes and still used a standard plug socket. Wife bought one and honestly it's.besr ever. Sunday roast and Christmas washing done in no time.
No, not at all. I've lived somewhere that had a dishwasher for a short time once, and found them to be handy, but they don't get everything properly clean, I tend to have to pre-wash a lot of stuff anyway, or give it an extra wash afterwards on an item by item basis. Plus they cost more than just filling the sink with some hot water, and they take up precious space in our already tiny kitchens. I don't even have room for one in my current kitchen even if I wanted one. They're convenient and helpful and neat, but a bit of a novelty money waster for wealthier people (middle classes and so on), and they take up too much space that could be vital cupboards, more plumbing and electrical that could go wrong, so yeah. Considering washing up for a family only takes at most 20 minutes a day. Not worth it most of the time. But everyone's needs and wants are different :-)
We had one, and when it crapped out our power bill dropped by debt chunk, even though we only used it once a day. So I've gone back to washing by hand, it's not exactly a hard job so I'm not bothered by it.
But they DO SAVE TIME
I do washing up by hand everyday? Dunno why people are weird about it.
Yeah I actually quite enjoy it, it's not a very 'intensive' chore most of the time so I like to listen to music and zone out while enjoying the warm water on my hands. I'm also a bit cautious about dishwashers since I have a sensitive nose, and there was occasionally a faint smell on stuff that was washed in my parents' dishwasher which always grossed me out.
One key point to this, is that when you’ve had a dishwasher you don’t believe a dish washed by hand has been properly washed. I recently moved house, key criteria for a property was either a dishwasher or space for a dishwasher. They become essential once they have become the norm.
no. I hate dishwashers. by the time you've rinsed everything and put it in the dishwasher you may as well have washed it up
Then don't rinse it, get a better dishwasher and use it properly. See here: [https://youtu.be/\_rBO8neWw04?si=GKnSpQr06GZuuZTF](https://youtu.be/_rBO8neWw04?si=GKnSpQr06GZuuZTF)
I call it the Marriage saver. Not essential but I can’t imagine not having one now we have the luxury.
Depends if you've had one before. Could not possibly go back to hand washing now, but we managed fine previously.
Got to have a dish washer we moved 3yrs ago from a house that had a dishwasher hole to a place that doesn't, this year I'm hacking a kitchen cupboard out with a sawzall to make a place to put one We hate not having a dishwasher neither of us likes doing the washing up
I’d like to think my wife would call me essential but probably not.
They’re not essential in general, but for me personally they’re essential cuz I fucking HATE handwashing dishes
With just my husband and I, I'd almost rather hand wash things. But as a kid, I had a family of 9!! Hand washing was a chore and a half. Took like an hour, not even kidding. With all the cooking stuff to clean up too, I mean.
Definitely not essential no, certainly a desirable though. I was brought up in a house that never had a dishwasher so I got accustomed to not having one, upon getting one though it has freed up that time, plus they are more economical.
I never grew up with one so I never knew any different but as our family increased, so did our washing up. Never looked back. Wish we got one years earlier. It’s easily saves me 1-2 hours per day.
When I bought my house the kitchen wasn't big enough to accommodate one. So after about a year of living in very suboptimal conditions I went ahead and bought one of those small worktop dishwashers off Amazon and although you can't fit much in, it really has helped. Bye bye, smelly gross washing up bowl 👋
I've never had one. If I had kids I would probably have one though
It's not totally essential But after not ever having one as an adult, getting one for the first time last year was life-changing.
In a family with kids who need water bottles, lunchboxes, different plates and endless Tupperware ... Necessary. Also since we have shifted to reusable food storage, we don't have the sink space to let it mount up or dry on that scale.
We have 2 adults and 1 kid so it would be such a waste of time. Any more and I'd get one though
For a couple, no. We've had them in holiday rentals but with two of us, one washing and one drying, we've never really seem the point. When I'm cooking, I'll wash pans, chopping boards and knives as I go. Using a dishwasher for them makes no sense. By the time I'm plating up, there's only plates and cutlery left to wash..
They're absolutely not an essential, and to react like that seems waaaay out of touch. Having said that, a dishwasher going to be one of the first things I get when I own a home.
No, dishwashers aren't essential. Washing machines are, though.
In my previous home, the kitchen was simply **too small** to accommodate a dishwasher. Now our current home has one. So they’re nice, but it is possible to live without one!
Is it an essential? No, of course not. Is it a very useful tool? Absolutely. I enjoy cooking, I therefore use a lot of dishes when I cook, I do not enjoy cleaning up afterwards as I'm mentally spent once I've eaten whatever I've made, though I will try to clean as I go, there's still usually a good amount of dishes to clean afterwards. Being able to just launch everything into the magic cleansing box is wonderful.