to ask you to help me convince DH we should get a dishwasher?

[Chulita]

We don't have one, 2 DC and one on the way, I cook/bake a lot and I'm so sick of washing up piles of dishes.
He says it makes you lazy and it doesn't take long to wash up, fine but I don't want to do it if some genius has invented a machine that can do it while we sleep (and I'm already lazy)

Never had one, no room for it, brought up now-adult DS and managed without. We wash and dry up together; any two of the three of us, and natter while doing it. Not sure it really saves time.

It's a no-brainer if you have the room for one, get one!

Unlike many modern gadgets, a dishwasher is eco-friendly, using much much less water and less electricity than washing by hand (heating all the water needed for hand washing takes a lot more energy than running the dishwasher through its cycle).

It's much more hygienic than hand washing. Dishes are virtually sterilized.

You end up doing less laundry too - no dish drying cloths to wash.

A dishwasher will wash everything - pots, pans, if you buy the right ones. When buying replacements, turn things upside down and imagine water running over it - don't buy anything with the kind of rim/bottom which will trap water. Only but things with the dishwasher symbol on them.

About 18 years ago, I bought my first dishwasher while preg with first baby. I remember going to a Dept store, looking for a new dinner service, but none dishwasher proof - I was sneered out of the shop with a "nobody puts fine china in a dishwasher". Now of course there's a huge range of the "good stuff" which is dishwasher proof. It proves that there's a lot of people like me out there - people who absolutely detest washing up, and regard a dishwasher as an ESSENTIAL item.

My MILs dishwasher broke recently, and since we are staying with her and FIL while we save up for our own place, the job of washing dishes fell to me.

I nearly killed myself after the first day - I absolutely wept! It was awkward, difficult, I got soaking wet, DS woke up three times from his nap and had to be fed and played with so it took hours, My hands started cracking because the water kept going freezing cold........ the list was endless!

In the end I told them that if we didn't get the dishwasher fixed pronto I'd be going on strike! Thankfully they came home the next day with a new one. I almost kissed it!

I don't understand how people can think that a dishwasher doesn't save you time. You don't have to wash up - of course it saves time!

I have a smeg dishwasher and everything from frying pans to crystal glasses goes in there and comes out sparkling :)

Not only does it save time but it makes the place tidier too as all the dishes waiting to be washed are tucked away in it. Agree it is also more hygeinic and energy efficient.

Would not be without mine.

My Current one is SMEG too as the Stainless steel goes with the rest of the kitchen - It has a deeper bottom shelf than my previous ones - great for pots, and little things on the top shelf to hang the wine glasses off.

That's another advantage of dishwashers - glasses stay whole! Def fewer broken dishes than hand washing.

I don't think dishwashers are all that. Ours broke in the summer (maybe July) and we haven't bothered to fix it yet. When the shower broke on the other hand, we fixed it the same week.

The 49l claim for hand washing is ludicrous, you'd have to be filling your sink completely full more than twice for that, when in reality especially if you're concious of water cost you'll only be filling it half full once and then a little bit of rinsing.

Also if your dishwasher is making the water hot enough to sterilize (the hygeine argument) then the electricity costs of it will be significantly more - you would not be able to wash, and your efficient hot water boiler will not be able to deliver water at over 75C required to sterilize, so it will be heating it expensively through electricity, however I suspect it likely that most people leave their dishwashers on a lower temperature to save money.

The 7l example is also much lower than the average.

Of course as I said before, if you want one, and you do the dishwashing, get one it's not extravagant and the person who doesn't do the job has no right to an opinion.

Mine washes at 60 degrees (much hotter than I can wash by hand) and uses 20 litres of water for a full load. There is no way I could wash and rinse in that little water. It uses 1.4KWh to do that which is less than 1/2 what it costs to run my fridge for a day.

ChristinedePizanne You must have either have a really massive fridge or leave the door open all day! Or a really old one, even an A rated fridge at a normaal size shouldn't be using anything like that amount, let alone A+ and above.

I have JUST bought a dishwasher after never having one before, and OMG, I love it!!! Am totally converted. Is so easy to keep the kitchen tidy and clean. It does a 15 min rise and a 30 min quick wash as well asn longer washes. Everything comes out clean and sparkling. And it has a sexy blue light inside! I love it!!!!!!!!!!! You Do really need one - well, not need, but it will improve your life :)

I got that info on how much the fridge uses from an electricity comparison website :o My point was (as you're presumably aware) that dishwashers are cheaper to use and more efficient than washing by hand. However much you might hate to admit ot

How can a dishwasher NOT save time?

Use something, put it in dishwasher. When its full (usually after dinner for us), turn it on. In morning before brekkie put everything away.

No rinsing or washing or drying involved.

It might only be 20 minutes a day but it is 20 minutes I can be doing something else. I like the kitchen clear and tidy as well, to maintain this without a dishwasher I spent a lot more than 20 mins.

Everyone here is trained to put things straight into the dishwasher when they are finished with it and it is DS1's job to put away the things he can reach.

I got the new Bosch a couple of weeks ago it has the cutlery drawer at the top which means the bottom shelf can take an astonishing amount of stuff including my BIG pots and pans, it can also be rearranged to wash platters etc.

I love it.

I have absolutely nothing against dishwashers, and patently the OP should get one.

However, I have to say with FredFredGeorge that it is utter bollocks the stuff about them being more efficient. The comparisons that are quoted assume that you do the washing up by literally leaving the hot tap running the whole time, which is apparantly how they do it in Germany. Whereas of course typically in the UK you have a washing up bowl in the sink which holds about 6 litres of water tops. Allowing 2 full bowls of hot water for washing up, that's only 12 litres in total. And of course you then use the 2nd bowl at the end for cleaning the counters, cooker etc - whereas if you have a dishwasher, even if you don't wash anything at all by hand (which most people do), you still need water for cleaning the sides etc.

And I can't believe you use 2.8 kwH per day for your fridge!!! We use 1.9 kwH per day in total . . . I think you need a new fridge

You can do a trial run with a cheap(ish) dishwasher off the eBay. It will speak for itself.

I don't give a toss if using a dishwasher uses less water and lecy than handwashing or not. All I know is the machine is doing the washing not me.

I don't quite understand how someone can be so "anti" something that doesn't affect them. Does he seriously think you will have a major personality switch because you get a dishwasher?

And you need to just tell him in a polite yet film way that with all respect for him, you are getting a dishwasher. His making people lazy argument is silly. How can you be lazy with 2 children and a third on the way? Washing dishes by hand does not do anything for your character. Having a dishwasher does nothing for your character. No more than using an electric iron instead of filling an iron with hot coals does.

TakVer I think if you do have a low water use one, use a low temperature wash (and 75degrees at least is required for sterilizing everything else won't do anything to the bugs) then a dishwasher can well be more efficient than washing by hand. Either way a dishwasher is not necessarily an expensive item to run, with similar costs to not having one, so other than the initial outlay and plumbing needs it does not need to be a big decision to buy one.

Sorry, forgot the other thing that never gets mentioned about the 'dishwashers are more environmentally friendly' thing - which is the embodied energy in the washer itself! Assuming they last say 10 years - that's quite a hunk of metal to be making, moving around etc and then disposing of and replacing.

Like I say, I certainly don't think people shouldn't have them - its no different from a washing machine, hoover or car - they're all ways to substitute the use of fossil fuels for human energy expenditure.

But it pisses me off when companies put out these press releases 'our dishwasher is more efficient than washing by hand' (or indeed 'our disposable nappies are more environmentally friendly than washables') which are based on (a) ignoring embodied energy, and (b) taking the most unfavourable comparison for the 'by hand' approach, which then get picked up, recycled by the press, and turn into gospel.

I 'managed' 30 years without a dishwasher but a new extension/kitchen allowed us to have one. I'm never going back unless forced to. I do wash a couple of smaller items occasionally and it's a good reminder of why we have a dishwasher. Anyone been to a launderette lately when their washer isn't working or disconnected? A few washes and you've paid for a cheap washing machine.

I just cannot get excited about dishwashers. In 1998 we moved to a house where the owner left behind his dishwasher. We rarely used it and gave it away on Freecycle when we moved in 2008. Since then we have lived in rented houses with dishwashers already in place. In our new house, we have used the dishwasher only once, only because a friend has his children over for dinner and decided it was time to teach us how to use the dishwasher so he filled it up for us. We haven't used it since and wouldn't be surprised if the next time we use it is when that friend comes around again!!!

We're a family of 6, plenty of dishes, do them pretty much straight away, all the children do their bit, aged 6 to 15, so it really doesn't seem too much of a chore. I reckon we use around 10L of warm water for the equivalent of a dishwasher amount of washing. I really don't agree that our method of hand washing uses more energy. The amount of water is roughly the same, I agree that in that respect, the way some people wash their dishes can use more water, but the way we do them uses the bare minimum, we are quite an energy conscious family. Water consumption is only one factor. With hand washing however, there is no extra electricity used, as there would be if we used the dishwasher. Unfortunately the dishwasher we have was already in the house, installed by the landlord and also brand new, if I had had the choice, I would have told the landlord to save his money, that would have saved energy used in the machine's production.

takver - yes a washing up bowl holds about 6 litres, and then there's a little bit more hot water for rinsing after. But my dishwasher only uses around 7 litres for a whole load, which is way more dishes than could go through one sink!

Yes, there's the energy cost of making the dishwasher, but mine's still going strong after 10 years.

And it's invaluable for keeping the kitchen tidier, as dirty dishes are almost all inside it.

OP - just get one. If you're about to have 3 kids and cook a lot, you will love it and still have some leftover pots and pans to wash by hand just to make sure your DP doesn't get lazy!
But do learn to fill it up properly - I know lots of people who complain that a dishwasher isn't much easier than handwashing, and it turns out they're hardly filling it - as long as jets can hit the inside of a dish, you can put pans on top of plates etc.

Well, DH has started looking at dishwasher review sites so I think you've convinced him - thank you one and all (except bluddy and natation ).