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Original poster

Are washing up bowls the bog brush of the kitchen - discuss!

40 replies

BCBG · 07/07/2021 10:54

Just that really. Used various bowls for years but now that my latest one has died (fancy rubber bottom pierced by knife) I'm wondering if I can actually be bothered to replace, especially as I'm trying to reduce plastic. (I do wash up by hand as well as have a dishwasher, for context.). And then I started to wonder if this was one of those unspoken marmite questions...

OP posts:
EllaBlaire · 07/07/2021 10:58

I don’t use one… it’s like giving your dishes a bath instead of a shower, they’re just sitting in dirty water.
I wash them with a sponge and rinse under the tap.

BarbaraofSeville · 07/07/2021 11:05

Use the dishwasher for everything then you don't need a washing up bowl.

Added bonus that you'll save water as well as not buy another plastic thing.

Delatron · 07/07/2021 11:07

My mum kept buying me one! I had no idea why, she’s given up now. She basically leaves loads of manky bowls etc to soak in there before the dishwasher or something. I don’t see the point!

Interested in this thread?

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Home improvement
cleckheatonwanderer · 07/07/2021 11:27

Only have one as my DS literally throws glasses/plates into the belfast sink and was constantly breaking things.

ineedaholidayandwine · 07/07/2021 11:30

Just moved house and got rid of mine, following another thread on here it made me realise i only had one as my mum had one, i didn't need one and it's another thing to clean

Tidypidy · 07/07/2021 11:33

No dishwasher so wash up a lot! We do use a bowl and wipe it over every time we empty it. You'd use a lot more water if you filled the sink every time you wash up!

GloomySunday · 07/07/2021 11:41

They're disgusting imo. I've never had one. I wash the dishes under running water so I can rinse the soap off.

Pil's had a washing up bowl and it was always half full of dirty dishes, cold, greasy water and bits of floating food.

You spend more time actually cleaning the bowl than washing up because they get greasy underneath.

Bluntness100 · 07/07/2021 11:42

I genuinely have no idea of the point of them. Just wash up on the sink.

WaltzingToWalsingham · 07/07/2021 11:47

I have one. I have lots of things that aren't suitable for the dishwasher (the good china, wooden spoons, children's lunchboxes and water bottles etc). I prefer to wash these items in a washing up bowl because I use the sink for "dirty" things like hand washing before/during food prep, washing up pet bowls, etc.

I find that washing up under running water is rather wasteful, and also some things need to be soaked to get really clean. I do quickly rinse things under running water though.

WaltzingToWalsingham · 07/07/2021 11:48

I always wipe the washing up bowl down after use and put it away- no greasy bowls here!

user1497787065 · 07/07/2021 11:49

I've never quite understood the need for them. They are just like a sink liner and you then have to clean the inside and outside of the bowl and the sink.

My mother always had one and didn't know how I managed without one!

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 07/07/2021 11:51

If you’re washing dishes under hot running water, you’re wasting water and energy.

DerisorySnort · 07/07/2021 11:52

I use one because my stupid Belfast sink was getting scratched and it broke glasses and sometimes plates. And it's huge.
I wash things in hot soapy water, but rinse in a cold trickle. I clean it afterwards.

I do have a dishwasher, but not everything can go in there.

Bluntness100 · 07/07/2021 13:31

@Foxyloxy1plus1

If you’re washing dishes under hot running water, you’re wasting water and energy.
True but sinks have plugs. You just use the sink like a bowl.
Original poster
BCBG · 07/07/2021 13:40

@WaltzingToWalsingham

I have one. I have lots of things that aren't suitable for the dishwasher (the good china, wooden spoons, children's lunchboxes and water bottles etc). I prefer to wash these items in a washing up bowl because I use the sink for "dirty" things like hand washing before/during food prep, washing up pet bowls, etc.

I find that washing up under running water is rather wasteful, and also some things need to be soaked to get really clean. I do quickly rinse things under running water though.

This is why I still have one. I can't chuck wooden handled or bone handled cutlery etc into a dishwasher - and I would worry about wasting water if I washed up under a running tap 😱 - I could always buy one of those silicone heat mats instead and use it as a safety measure if I am rinsing glasses..
OP posts:
Cookies2523 · 07/07/2021 13:42

I agree with GloomySunday.

PussGirl · 07/07/2021 14:07

I have one for washing up the few bits that can't be done in the machine - I like a separate bowl so I can pour things / run the tap without spoiling my washing up water - I only have a single sink

My washing up bowl is not manky - it regularly gets put through the dishwasher itself

FourTeaFallOut · 07/07/2021 14:10

I have a bowl and my DH haaates it. I just don't think half the glasses and plates would survive sans bowl with the slap dash approach to washing up for pocket money in this house.

RestingPandaFace · 07/07/2021 14:13

If you wash up in the sink you have to fill the whole sink, you don’t need to do that for a few small bits, so it’s more water and energy efficient to have a bowl, a bowl on a sink also retains heat better than just the sink.

It also means that you can leave things to soak.

It’s not hard to keep it clean, rinse it with hot water when you’re done and give it a good scrub every few days.

Pascha · 07/07/2021 14:20

I like my washing up bowl. And my toilet brush for that matter. It's not at all manky or unclean and I wash up quite a bit in between dishwasher loads.

ahoyshipmates · 07/07/2021 14:37

@Foxyloxy1plus1

If you’re washing dishes under hot running water, you’re wasting water and energy.
^ This.

And once you've finished washing up in a bowl, you still have a full bowl of fairly clean, fairly hot bubbly water that you can use to get mud off shoes, or clean the doorstep, or wash old plant pots, or even leave till it goes cold and use it to water the grass in a drought.

Nothing wrong with a washing up bowl.

In any case, what else would you use to soak aching feet; or to carry water to another room so you can clean the skirting boards; or even to throw up in?

BiscuitsNoMore · 07/07/2021 14:43

No dishwasher here teeny kitchen
Yes I use a bowl as don't want to scratch the sink as its all new. But every night it's ' fabulosa'd out.
Dishcloths I use once and wash so nothing is festering. I can't stand leaving things to soak in there tho.

WaltzingToWalsingham · 07/07/2021 14:50

@ahoyshipmates I presume that last paragraph was tongue in cheek?Wink

My washing up bowl is purely for washing up. I have a seperate, stainless steel bowl (known as the vomitorium) that can be used for throwing up.

ahoyshipmates · 07/07/2021 15:25

@WaltzingToWalsingham - only the last 6 words of the paragraph! To be honest though, if you are in extremis, you don't have time to faff about looking for random bowls, you just grab the first thing that comes to hand...

Billandben444 · 07/07/2021 15:42

I wouldn't be without mine. No dishwasher so fill bowl with hot soapy water to scrub dishes and then rinse under cold running water. Comes in useful for soaking whites in Milton and carrying them through to washing machine in cupboard. Also use it for hand washing kitchen floor when it needs a good scrub. No space to store one for this by the way. The bowl is wiped over every night and is as white as when I bought it - no greasy bowls here.