AIBU to think that most people who have a dishwasher run it once a day?

[SomethingNastyInTheBallPool]

We bought a new dishwasher recently. It was heavily promoted as coming with six months' supply of Fairy dishwasher tablets. The tablets arrived yesterday and there are 120 of them. That's not six months' supply in this household, as we run the dishwasher every day. AIBU to think that wouldn't be half a year's worth in most other households?

I rang the manufacturer to query it and was told that it was six months' worth based on "data and surveys". Hmmmm. I'm not going to take this to the highest court in the land, obviously, but it does seem a bit crap. AIBU?

Also. May I just point out that: "why do you wash something by hand if you have a dishwasher" is as odd thing as if people were saying "why are you walking to the corner shop at the end of the street when you have a car".

Sometimes it's just simpler😁

1-2 times a day.

Every day here, during lockdown twice or three times a day.

Cook a lot from scratch and put it in serving dishes rather than plating up.

When we re-do the kitchen and utility I'm determined to fit in a second dishwasher.

I use mine almost every day. It's a slimline one, so it was used twice a day during lockdown.

My parents have owned dishwashers since the early '80s. I'll never know why they bothered buying them as they only use them at Christmas and on other very rare occasions! We were banned from ever using it when we were teens and our job was to wash up, which I really resented. They had one break down as it hadn't been used in months once, that's what the repair man said anyway.

I live alone and it goes on, on average every 4 or 5 days.

I use one cup for coffee all day and one glass for water.

But, I know at least 3 people, living alone, who only use it when they have visitors. They live alone and find it easier to just hand wash their pots daily.

@museumum

wow, i'm amazed how many people can go for 2-3 days without running it. We're only three of us but in a day we'll have: 3 plates or bowls for breakfast plus two cups and a juice glass 2 plates or bowls for lunch plus a couple of glasses 3 plates for dinner, maybe a dessert bowl, 2 more cups by evening (fruit tea or similar) or wine glasses all the related cutlery chipping board, knives, cheese grater ds packed lunch tupperware, water bottles. plus baking tray and steel pots (unless casserole type dish)

Sorry to 'pick' on you musuem but that list is really similar to us. Based on a slimline machine, and our useage that would mean:

You've got 7/8 plates for the lower tray, that's less than half of the space

6 cups/glasses for the upper tray, all will fit along one side. We rinse the cups and use them twice before they go into the dishwasher

Tupperware the other half of the upper tray

Cutlery that will fill about 1/3 of the carrier thingy

That leaves you with at least half of the bottom tray available, so any casserole dish or properly greasy pan can go in.

Hand wash the pans anyway. I put frying pans and wok through every month or so. I also fling cleaning clothes and sponges in at the weekend.

And hand washing the tupperware every other day means that if, like us, you buy a couple more plates/bowls, you can run the dishwasher every other day and still not have run out of things to eat off.

But it's not really something I'd thought about having an average ise, not after we worked out we could be lazy gobshites if we bought a few more plates

I don't use mine very often really. There's only myself, dh and dd so we don't get through many pots, and most things I tend to wash by hand. It's only really the days where I use multiple pots, pans and dishes such as if we've had a roast or something that I bother with the dishwasher.

Ours goes on once a day unless we've been out somewhere.

If I use a pan at lunchtime I'll often just wash it by hand as I'll probably need it again to cook dinner.

Once or twice a day depending on what I'm cooking, and how many glasses, mugs, plates etc we have gone through.

Every other day here, would be more but I can't put my saucepans in...

3 adults in the house and dishwasher on at least once/day. And it's chokka! I probably overfill it.

You have been robbed!

I'm putting in a new kitchen.

I'm torn whether to put one in or not.

I live alone. I'm a lot bit precious about my mugs/glasses/knives/some bowls etc and I'm not sure how much new style dishwashers 'ruin' them these days?! But on the other hand I am utterly fed up of having dishes permanently on the side or washing up every 5 bloody minutes

I need to replace my pans anyway as I'll be getting ones suitable for induction cooking, so I can look for ones that are 'dishwasher safe'.

If I get one it'll be going on daily as I cannot stand playing dishwasher Tetris and it will still use less water than I use washing up by hand.

I should qualify, that although the dishwasher boasts that it takes 12 place settings, we can only really use 6, because if we put the plates in each space they don't get clean! There obviously isn't enough room for the water to get between them properly, so we have to leave a space between each. It would have been better had they made those spaces a bit wider, and maybe 10 place settings. Or even 8.

We with a household of 3 adults (home all day as shielding) use the machine once a day and I have to arrange the items carefully to fit them all in. Delicates and saucepans by hand but oven dishes etc in machine. There are special dietary requirements so this increases number of the latter.
I’d be talking to ?Which? To see what they think about this. They might approach the manufacturer on your behalf
Good luck

@SomethingNastyInTheBallPool

Oppps. To answer your question I wouldn't have been surprised, but it's bloody tight of them!

I used to run my dishwasher once a day until it broke down. My husband researched the best one for a clean, economical wash (BOSH) and ordered it.

I now have immaculate dishes but it's only big enough for a single sitting for 6 people. So it's now on 2-3 times a day.

It's reduced capacity drives me nuts. Before I could load as I went and switch it into silent mode overnight. Now it takes up to 3 hours 3 times a day! It's on almost all day and I'm forever unloading and reloading.

Mine's a small one, I never wash up by hand, just use the dishwasher. It goes on once every 5 days.

There's only me and I only use it if I've a lot of dishes, or if I've saved up to wash all the Tupperware from taking stuff to work. So I use mine maybe once a week at most. So 120 tablets would last me two years!

There must surely be a lot of people like me - I run mine only every now and then, and only when the sun is shining (solar). There's not enough of us to generate enough.
Probably 30-40 x a year. Not every week.

Well I've only read some of the thread which is enough to confirm that I would need to buy a lot more plates if we had a dishwasher - and then find cupboard space to store them in!

Usually twice a day here. Family of 5 and I stick the saucepans in too.

No way is 120 a 6 month supply.

@GreyishDays we have breakfast, lunch and dinner all at home. DPs are retired so they are home a lot now, depending on my shifts I might have dinner at work 3-4 times a week but even then that's only one less plate/bowl to go in.

2-3 times per day here.

@SchadenfreudePersonified

I should qualify, that although the dishwasher boasts that it takes 12 place settings, we can only really use 6, because if we put the plates in each space they don't get clean! There obviously isn't enough room for the water to get between them properly, so we have to leave a space between each. It would have been better had they made those spaces a bit wider, and maybe 10 place settings. Or even 8.

Yes, that's pretty normal I think. And moreso if like us you use pasta bowls a lot - my current machine and crockery needs them to be spaced 3 apart in the half with the wider gaps, they don't fit at all in the narrower gaps on the back half.

Rounded bowls which won't go in the slots and so have to go in flat take up more space too. I'm sure if I always used thin flat plates and flatter profile bowls I could fit a lot more crockery in.

But I put absolutely everything in. Pans, baking trays, graters etc