The dreaded time change Featured

It is just me now and I run it once or twice a week. I've had one for over 50 years, not giving it up.

I'll challenge the implication / stereotype of people who eschew dishwashers as people who eat frozen dinners.

Many of us grew up in conditions where dishwashers were a rich person's appliance and we had well-water systems and septic syatems that couldn't support such things. We carried those ideas into adulthood and found it difficult to justify the wastage - water and energy - associated with such luxury appliances. It has nothing to do with a lazy meal lifestyle.

When we were a family of 5 we'd use the dishwasher ~ 6 times per year - busy times when we had company. As empty nesters - ~ once or twice per year. We never cook in the microwave - just warming-up leftovers or occasionally thawing something. I'm pretty sure our 3 kids' families use their dishwashers daily - despite their history - with modern busy 2 career parents with umpteen kids' activities ... John T.

For as little as we use ours, we could easily give it up. Another thing we could give up is the garbage disposal. I've never used a garbage disposal in my life but my wife says she uses it every 1-3 years.

I use is frequently, but not with a lot of bulk. Handy when rinsing a dish after a meal, the lemon peel from my tea. I don't use it for egg shells and potential drain clogs.

My parents had one and when I bought my first house in 1966, I put one in there,

would not work for me because the only time I take it off is if I am doing something dangerous where it could get caught or short out electricity, oe when I'm in the shower.

My wife's dishwasher just celebrated it's 73rd birthday and it has only broken down twice. The only problem is she complains it tends to be "kick start" - - - She exagerates, of course - she has never had to 'Kick" it put she sometimes resorts to prodding - - - -

I've read that the best things to put down a garbage disposal to keep it clean are egg shells and ice cubes. One of the worst things are potato peels.

The implication does not run both ways.

People who don't cook don't need dishwashers does not imply People who don't use dishwashers don't cook.

My parents bought a dishwasher. My father insisted, my mother was not convinced. Somewhere before 1980, early models here.

It used a lot of electricity, maybe 2500W. A lot for here and the time. It was very noisy, it roared. It took days to fill it up, so we had to buy more dishes. After some years we stopped using it.

So I'm biased into considering it a useless appliance. And the house has two wash basins, something very rare nowdays, but makes washing up easier and faster.

Besides, if I eat frozen food, the kind I buy has to be heated on a pan, preferably. And poured on a dish and eaten with fork or spoon, maybe knife. I don't see how that means I don't need to wash up.

Most frozen meals here come in plastic trays that can (and do) go in the microwave. I'm quite confident that millions of people lick the fork or spoon clean and call it good.

There are some like that, but at least where I buy most are not frozen, just cold. I usually remove the food from the plastic and heat on a safer glass container of similar size. I don't trust food on hot plastic, not healthy.

Does it have any trade in value towards a newer model?

I generally don't microwave in plastic. A few months ago I had some dental surgery and ended up buying an assortment of frozen meals because they were soft food and didn't require a lot of effort. I nuked them in the plastic tray, figuring a half dozen instances of plastic poisoning wouldn't materially alter my health or lifespan.

When we were remodeling the kitchen, I got some pressed-paper bowls for my morning oatmeal.

True. but don't you have to open the main door to empty the dishwasher? That's when I glance at the window to see if the rinse aid dispenser needs refilling. If it does, I do it then. And, at least with every dishwasher I've ever used, the main door also needs to be opened to fill the dish washing detergent compartment before running a wash cycle.

For quite a few years, and certainly now, dishwashers, if used when full, require much less water that when washing and rinsing the equivalent number of dishes by hand.

See:

But when it takes a week to fill the dishwasher, and it needs to be run twice to get things clean .. energy savings disappear - and my fav sleepy-guy coffee mug has been unavailable that whole time ! We're planning a kitchen reno - we'll leave the plumbing for the dishwasher available for future homeowners but replace the space with some storage drawers. John T.

Twice? Mine often sits a week too and everything comes out spotless. I use Cascade Platinum pods and they work every time.

The house came with a GE and it works well, but my preference if buying new would be Kitchen Aid. They always did a great job too.

Don't you cook? We fill and run the dishwasher once a day for the two of us.

We had a late-model Kitchenaid and shitcanned it after four months. On the bottom, in the front, it had a very shallow drip tray with a float and a pump. The damned thing was designed to leak.