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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU not to want a dishwasher?

450 replies

ChloeCC · 19/03/2021 21:22

My DP and I are currently planning our kitchen. We don't have dishwasher in our current kitchen and I'm not too bothered. He thinks it's an essential, and it'll become more essential as our kids grow - they're tiny atm. The new kitchen doesn't have a huge amount of cupboard space so I think we should save the space and go without. What do people with slightly older kids think? Is it something that would put you off buying a place if there wasn't a dishwasher? We might sell the house in a few years. I'm a bit torn - I don't mind washing up - sometimes it feels like a break!

OP posts:
Hallyup5 · 20/03/2021 09:07

I grew up without a dishwasher and we didn't have one in the first couple of places I rented with my husband. When we finally bought our own home, we put one in and omg. Amazing.

We're now a family of seven and it's my lifesaver.

WhoAreYah · 20/03/2021 09:12

As your kids get older and they create more and more washing up (teens using a different glass every drink, snacking, leaving bowls in their rooms to go mouldy) you will wish you had one.

Get a slimline. It takes up on cupboard, hardly an issue?

CeeceeBloomingdale · 20/03/2021 09:12

I don't have one and never have. When I remodelled my kitchen I chose an extra cupboard over a dishwasher. Kids are 10 and 14. I still have no interest in owning one. Friends seem to spend ages stacking and emptying theirs, washing up certainly doesn't take any longer. The recent holiday cottage thread showed how many people think it's essential though.

WhoAreYah · 20/03/2021 09:12

One *

WhoAreYah · 20/03/2021 09:14

Washing up doesn’t take any longer necessarily @CeeceeBloomingdale but I can’t stand washing up sitting on the side / sink being full so I like it to hide the dirty in! Plus I only wash up once a day and dirty dishes left out can smell.

LakieLady · 20/03/2021 09:15

@TheKeatingFive

Dishwashers are considered so much of a necessity in our house that we put in two when we designed the kitchen.
I totally get that. I think if you have a family, two could well be a good idea - one running and one for the dirty stuff.
Inertia · 20/03/2021 09:17

We’ve just had our kitchen fitted and had 2 dishwashers put in. We seem to do a lot of cooking which uses lots of big pans/ roasting tins/ slow cookers etc, and I got fed up with filling the dishwasher and still having stuff left over to hand wash.

No dishwasher would definitely put me off buying- wouldn’t want to pay for a new kitchen someone else put in if it’d need ripping out to plumb in a dishwasher.

Gobbycop · 20/03/2021 09:17

Essential for me.

Strange that people would be put off a house without one?

It's quite easy to buy one and install it 😂

Brunt0n · 20/03/2021 09:18

Another one who wouldn’t buy a house without one / easy space for one

ElephantsNest · 20/03/2021 09:22

Can you not ensure that the plumbing is there to fit one, and slot a dishwasher sized cupboard in the space that someone could pull out and replace should you decide to sell?

CeeceeBloomingdale · 20/03/2021 09:24

@WhoAreYah

Washing up doesn’t take any longer necessarily *@CeeceeBloomingdale* but I can’t stand washing up sitting on the side / sink being full so I like it to hide the dirty in! Plus I only wash up once a day and dirty dishes left out can smell.
I don't leave them sitting out all day, they are washed regularly throughout the day which takes a minute or two so smell or mess isn't an issue.

I've stayed in holiday cottages with them and after using them once or twice I go back to handwashing as I want my favourite mug or we run out of knives or plates before the next load.

LakieLady · 20/03/2021 09:26

@Gobbycop

Essential for me.

Strange that people would be put off a house without one?

It's quite easy to buy one and install it 😂

Yes, my friend thought that - just take out a cupboard and put a dishwasher in.

When they moved in, they found that all the cupboards were 500mm wide. Dishwashers are 600mm wide (or 450mm if a slimline is big enough).

They ended up having to do a massive amount of faffing about, take out a 1000mm cupboard and source a narrow door from the same range as the existing cupboards to go on the new (and decidedly odd looking) cupboard.

And the colour on the new door isn't an exact match, and sticks out like a sore thumb. They're now talking about replacing all the doors in what was a very expensive kitchen.

montysma1 · 20/03/2021 09:26

I am not a martyr type. Washing dishes takes me 5 mins.

RitaFires · 20/03/2021 09:28

@Gobbycop

Essential for me.

Strange that people would be put off a house without one?

It's quite easy to buy one and install it 😂

I installed my own dishwasher but that's because there was space, a water supply and a socket already there. I'm a reasonably competent diy-er but I wouldn't be adding sockets or doing plumbing on my own. A kitchen could be configured in such a way that it would be difficult to fit one in. I would be put off if there wasn't a simple way to install one in a property I was viewing.
dementedpixie · 20/03/2021 09:29

It cannot possibly only take 5 minutes to wash dishes. The majority of dishes in our house go in the dishwasher but there are still items I wash in the sink and they take more than 5 minutes

TheKeatingFive · 20/03/2021 09:29

I totally get that. I think if you have a family, two could well be a good idea - one running and one for the dirty stuff.

We have one dirty, one clean. It means you can slowly unpack the clean one as you need stuff, so it’s not something that needs ‘done’.

TheKeatingFive · 20/03/2021 09:30

When we briefly lived without one, I was spending 20-30 mins a day washing up. CBA with that.

BruceAndNosh · 20/03/2021 09:32

Those "but you have to rinse the plates first" people (you don't)....
How do you wash up by hand?
Do you put plates covered with gravy straight into the hot soapy washing up water?
No, you rinse off the gravy first.
If you wash under a hot running tap, the first thing you do is rinse the plate. Then use loads of water for each plate

Newkitchen123 · 20/03/2021 09:35

@TheKeatingFive

I totally get that. I think if you have a family, two could well be a good idea - one running and one for the dirty stuff.

We have one dirty, one clean. It means you can slowly unpack the clean one as you need stuff, so it’s not something that needs ‘done’.

That's a lot of plates etc!
SchrodingersImmigrant · 20/03/2021 09:41

I so wonder how many dishes do people who find loading and unloading bigger hassle than had washing have🙈

Re rinse. You should have dishes dirty for the dishwasher, but have you ever had egg shelles stuck in that rotating hands thingy? Or rice. Bloody annoying to get out! So it's good to rinse of bits which can do that and stuck the holes, but obviously you don't rinse off everything so the plates don't go clean. Basically 3 seconds under tap for some things which have "dangerous" bits on.
I still have couple of things I handwash anyway, but it's just SO SO much faster. Plus no waiting dishes and no drying dishes after (that 1 or 2 I dry straight away).
Loving the absolutely empty kitchen when I am done. Which takes few minutes compared to with hand washing up.

But everyone is different. Some don't see few minutes as a bad chore, some don't se 20 as a bad chore. What fun would it be if we were all the same. 😁

LST · 20/03/2021 09:42

We've just got rid of the dishwasher the house came with and replaced it with a little freezer for extra freezer space. Never even switched the thing on. It baffles me how people are so reliant on them! It takes minutes to wash dishes and I never see them as that much of a chore. Each to their own though

pinkearedcow · 20/03/2021 09:44

@sashh - do tabletop dishwashers need to be plumbed in in the same way as full size?

tapdancingmum · 20/03/2021 09:46

I get that they are more eco friendly than washing up but having looked them up they take between 1.5 and 4 hours to clean your dishes. Why have another machine in the kitchen, if there really isn't a huge amount of space, taking all that time to wash up when you can do it in 10 minutes and put it all away.We are a family of four with two adult daughter's now and have never had to wash up for hours because they have used everything. If they empty their room and being down a week's worth of glasses and plates they wash them themselves and have done since quite young.

I also have the added problem that DH is a fireman and won't allow the washing machine on overnight or if there is nobody in the house so wouldn't allow a dishwasher be out on. I feel the dishes would just fester when they could just be washed up.

Each to their own and my kitchen just isn't big enough for one.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 20/03/2021 09:51

I simply don't believe that people take only 10 min a day to wash up all the dishes, dey them and put them away. Unless of course we talk just few cups, glasses, occasional plate.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 20/03/2021 09:52

I spent years washing up dishes and either I am the only slow washer ever or people underestimate the times here greatly. Or it's all takeaway trays. I don't know.