To think dishwashers are a waste of money and don;t save you that much time/work?

[MinkSlink]

We've just moved into a new house with a dishwasher which I used for the first time today.

The cycle took about an hour and the dishes were no cleaner than if I had washed them myself. It took a while to load/unload, meant we had dirty dishes hanging around in it until it was full, and some of the cups had silt in them after the wash, also ou can't wash pots and pans in there.

It takes me on average about 5 minutes to do the dishes by hand,

AIBU to think dishwashers are an expensive waste of time?

I hate stacking stuff in dishwashers, it's minging. I also don't like the squeaky feel on the dishes and glasses as they come out of the machine YANBU OP, I don't want a dishwasher personally, though it's true the washing up is a bit never-ending in our house at present.

I bought out house basically because the kitchen had space for a dishwasher

A £250k dishwasher space

I surprise even myself sometimes

What's wrong with only booking holiday cottages that have a dishwasher ? I do that, why on earth would I want to do more work on holiday than at home?

OP YABU. I bought a dishwasher before a washing machine and never regretted that decision. They apparently use less water than washing up and just make life much easier.

ShirleyKnot made some wonderful Cherry vodka in her dishwasher LonelyCloud. Tasted like pop.

Lonelycloud.

Chocolate vodka - get a 1 ltr bottle of Vodka and dispose of 1/4 of it (via your mouth!). Break up a large slab of Galaxy and put into bottle. Seal bottle and wrap cling film around the top. Lie in top of dishwasher (with the dishes) and run the dishwasher at its hottest setting. At the end of the cycle remove bottle, give it a good shake and stand upright in the draining board to cool. Open and enjoy.

Sweetie vodka. As above but use boiled sweets - rhubarb and custard are fab. Be careful using anything with gelatine in (like Skittles/Haribo) as you will need to filter afterwards. Break the boiled sweets up a bit - the more you use the stronger the taste, I use about 1/2 pound.

Fruit vodka, same as above but more fiddly. I like strawberry vodka but you need to use a lot of strawberries and it works out quite expensive. Strawberry flavoured boiled sweets taste the same for half the price!

I quite enjoy washing up by hand. But maybe not so much when I've done batchcooking/baking etc.

And i hate the smell of glasses from the dishwasher.

But I think I would use one provided I really could put everything in it...my opinion is swayed by my parents who have one but still wash up glasses, pans, sharp knives, the dining room cutlery (yes they have two sets!) chopping boards, roasting tins etc. After a roast they literally only put the plates in there and it seems pointless as plates are the easiest bit to wash by hand.

It depends on your lifestyle - Those who cook from scratch regularly need dishwashers.

Those who live on ready meals, takeaways or eat out a lot might not see the advantage.

Despite there only being me and DP at home, ours is on at least 5 times per week and I wouldn't be without it. It does not only take 5 mins per day to do a full days washing up and they also do a better job than hand washing and can use less water and energy to do so as well.

Dishwashers are fabulous. No two ways about it.

There's always martyrs. My nanna says dishwasher martyrs are the same as the automatic washing machine martyrs of her day.

Half her friends coveted her wonderful new hotpoint, the rest sneered and proclaimed how lazy she was as twin tubs really weren't hard work at all

I dream of having a proper MN Olympics. I'd bloody love to watch people do some of the things they proclaim take 5 minutes.

Things that take 5 minutes in MN land:
Washing up
Changing a shitty nappy
Showering
Chopping enough veg for a slow-cooker-family-stew
Stripping and re-making a bed
Putting on full make-up
Straightening/babyliss big hair - ing shoulder length hair.

I always imagine it would look like a benny hill sketch [hgrin]

YANBU
I've never owned a dishwasher either, it doesn't take long to wash up. I never dry anything, I just leave it to dry by itself.
Also that squeaking that a glass makes when you get it out of a dishwasher goes through me!

Yabu

We would not be without ours.

As others have said.... Make sure all filters are clean, pots stacked correctly and that the correct level of salt and rinse aid are used.

I've never had one and never used one.

However watching my friend load his makes me feel a bit ick...you still have to touch all the dirty plates, and then when it's finished you kind of get bits stuck to things. Well you would if you were me, because I forget where I have left plates and they turn up a few weeks later.

I prefer to bung everything in a sink full of water for a few days hours, then wash it all by hand and rinse it as well. I feel more in control that way.

Washing clothes is entirely different, it's really heavy work, very physical, very drippy and awkward as you need a massive container like a bath, which you then have to bend over or kneel next to, and then you have to dry things without making the floor/everything else soaking wet -

having a washing machine is far more important I think.

Have you learnt the correct way to load and operate it op?

It's an amazing time saver in our lives.

Mine saves my loads of time and energy. I'm watching DH unload it, lwhilst I MN do serious Internet research

I know I'm in the minority here but I think YANBU.

We have a dishwasher but we don't use it, it takes less time and money to wash up by hand. And we're a family of 5.

it takes less time and money to wash up by hand

You might kid yourself it does, but it doesn't. Unless you wash up using half a bowl of water.

I don't have either, and never have wanted one!

And I cook everything from scratch as well! Just wash up as you go along it isn't hard.

YANBU. When I built my new kitchen extension I put in a dishwasher, knowing that it would be something buyers look for if I sell.

I have used it for no more than 5 times in about 8 years, because:

• I wash up as I go along, so it only takes minutes
• My dishwasher is noisy, must use lots of power as it takes 80 mins to wash and dry
• There is always something which is dirty (I know it's prob my fault for not stacking perfectly)

However my dishwasher is not without its uses - I use it to store dishes and cups!

A bad dishwasher is an abomination. Cooking crumbs onto plates. Grrr

We've been without kitchen for a month, renovations, cooking on a camping stove. and I can live with that, but i really really miss the dishwasher. So YABU.
Crap dishwashers are of course a waste of space. But mine is totally quiet, you don't actually hear if it's working or not; and has several programs including short washes. You just can't get dishes as clean by hand, not to mention all the time wasted.

Yabvu. A properly working dishwasher is a joy.

It keeps the kitchen clean and tidy - stack as you go.

Gets everything sparkly and clean, there should be no bits baked on, if so it's not working properly, needs salt/rinse aid/cleaning filter out.

You can put any old thing in there. I wash all my hob bits, fridge shelves/drawers, lunchboxes, oven shelves, bedroom bins, bath toys etc etc etc. Everything clean and hygienic.

It's environmentally friendly, uses far less water. We use the eco setting which cleans just as well, takes longer so we put it on over night. Come down in the morning to clean dry stuff, dd's morning job to unstack it. Sorted.

People against dishwashers always bring out the whole 'but you have to scrape plates/wash pots anway' line. Not true. We don't do any scraping or rinsing and put all our pots in. The only things that don't go in are our best crystal glasses and our wooden salad servers, also our brass cooking scales

Love our Bosch one and would not be without it. It saves me a heck of a lot of work - being chronically ill washing up was one of the things I found v v difficult with the amount of standing and work that went into scrubbing pots etc - the dishwasher has been our lifesaver literally.

YANBU

I've never had a dishwasher.

OK if you ave a large family/household, but I'm always about a house with just 2 people in it using a dishwasher - how lazy is that??