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?
Technology Connections and his stranglehold on dishwasher conversations lol
Little of both. If the sink is full of dishes, they’re going in the dishwasher. If there’s a handful, probably by hand.
Dishwasher. It saves a fuck ton of time. I’ve heard it saves water, but I haven’t seen studies. I have a hard time believing it could use more if it’s full. Regardless, it’s faster. I hate chores. Make machines do them.
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.
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.
Hello fellow Technology Connections watcher.
Dishwasher. I’ve done hand washing and dishwashing depending on where I’m living each year. Dishwasher does a better job than me, uses less water than me, and saves me time. I run it at night and put away the dishes in the morning.
I never had a dishwasher growing up. When I moved into my current home and It had a dishwasher, I thought it was dumb, till I started using it… But I do a little bit of both, on the days where I am super lazy and let the dishes pile up, I would put them in the dishwasher just to get them clean, but on the days where I am truly responble adult, I would just take the 5-10 minutes to wash the little bit of dishes by hand. So in short, both.
Dishwasher for dishes, pots and pans get scrubbed by hand, simply because I can fit 6 or 7 plates in the same space pots take while it only takes a few seconds to scrub a pot.
I use a dishwasher. It’s easier and uses less water.
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.
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
By hand. Haven’t had a dishwasher or air conditioning for at least 10 years
Dishwasher for us, though the powder detergent suggestion absolutely did not work, big degradation in the results for us, went back to the orange pod things. Too many people and almost never eat out, so much cooking.
When it broke I had to fill a sink with hot soapy water (luckily ours is double) and everyone parked their dishes in there, scrubbed but left the water dirty, poured boiling water in occasionally to keep it warm and at the end of the day drain the water, rinse and dry. It worked and the easiest way I could manage but wasteful compared to dishwasher.
I never had one before living with my husband, and always hated washing dishes. Used to buy paper plates and bowls because with a big family and a job it was just too much, nobody wanted to do so many dishes.
Some things a dishwasher does not clean off the dishes. Avocado, eggs. And it doesn’t work if you let them sit too long. But in general it does a good job and saves time and effort.
dishwasher.
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.
By hand. I don’t have a dishwasher. The place I rent didn’t come with one, and I don’t have the space for my own (plus no money). I think I’ve only ever met one person with a dishwasher, although I suppose I wouldn’t know if someone has one unless I either go to their house or they bring it up. I don’t see the issue with doing dishes by hand, and I pay a flat rate for water so water usage is not a concern to me.
Same, and even if I wanted to install a dishwasher for my rented place, there’s no water supply to connect it to so it would take some very serious work to be done
Here as well. We’re obviously not among those who put travelling down as a hobby.
Edit: though my water supply is no issue






