Washing up bowl

[HerculesMorseShrank]

Ladies and gentlemen, can I ask what may be a controversial question - do you use a washing up bowl or do you wash your dishes in the sink itself?

I personally think washing up bowls are pointless and inexplicable, but am interested in the Mumsnet consensus and willing to be educated on what the reason for using one is.

YABU - Washing up bowls serve some useful purpose
YANBU - Just use the sink that was designed for washing dishes

Can someone explain how exactly a washing up bowl is used?

Seriously?

Me too! Also I know I would break glasses and crockery on the hard metal surface as I’m very clumsy and drop things a lot! At least in a bowl, things bang against a soft surface.

And I do bleach my bowl most nights!

I use a bowl. It has the advantages listed above plus means I can remove the bowl to wash muddy potatoes / football boots / hands in the sink.

@FiveShelties yes, seriously. The concept of a washing up bowl is so foreign to me- do dirty dishes go in there to be soaked? Then rinsed off later? Or is a fill the bowl with soapy water, dunk dish and it come out clean? And the whole 'my knives stay sharp' in a washing up bowl?
I think there's so much debate about this because most people don't know how it's supposed to be used. Most of it sounds like leftovers from 'the war' generation and sounds pretty gross.

@Dalooah well I am not a left over from the war generation but I will tell how I use one!

Put hot water and dish washing liquid in bowl, put glass in and wash, place on draining board. Repeat until no more glasses left. Pour water away. Not sure what is gross about that. My sink is huge and would need a hell of a lot of water to be able to wash glasses in it - a real waste, especially as fuel costs rising.

You simply use it as you would use the sink, the only difference being it does not need lots of water to fill it and is safer for glasses. To be honest I cannot imagine that there are many people around who do not know how to use a washing up bowl.

Also well known in Europe, as is fascism.

Handy if you only have a single kitchen sink. You can lift out the bowl to use the sink for something else and rinse glasses etc or drain pans down the side.

Kinder on glassware.

I've got one like this
www.johnlewis.com/joseph-joseph-wash-drain-washing-up-bowl/p391057

Bowl. Why do people rinse all their dishes? You do know washing up liquid is food safe. The only thing I rinse is the potato pan.

I can fill mine up with dirty dishes, and lift the whole lot out of the sink so I can use the tap/sink for something else.
I never store dirty dishes in the sink so it's always available.

Why do people rinse all their dishes? You do know washing up liquid is food safe.
It might be food safe but I don't especially want to taste it or smell it when I'm eating and drinking.

Washing up bowl here, makes washing up easier, you can rinse off dirty items before they go in the bowl, stops the sink from getting scratched. I have a dishwasher too, but some items I wash by hand.

cant imagine not having one.
tipping out coffee for example round the side,
washing up, can change the water so its not greasy.

Bowl. Washing up bowls use far less water than a sink. I have a dishwasher too, but still wash some bits by hand in the bowl.

I use one because my sink is very large and it would waste hot water if I didn't

People that don't use them, have you got tiny sinks?

Washing-up bowls are a grim British abomination. Hideous things for rainy fascism island.

That's the dimmest post I've read on here for a while, and that's saying something.

I don't use one, because I have a double sink, but I certainly would if I had. Why on earth would they be any more 'grim' than your sink?

For the hard of understanding: A washing up bowl allows you to pre-rinse under the tap the dirtier items you're washing up before they go into the washing-up water, thereby keeping your washing-up water less 'grim'. If you have a double sink you can do this pre-rinsing over the other sink. If you have only a single sink, you use a washing-up bowl, so that the water from the tap can run down the sink to the side of your bowl, rather than sluicing the dirt from your very dirty dish/pan straight into the washing-up water. Hth.

I have always used a washing up bowl. I fill it up with warm/hot water put some fairy in and wash up ALL of my washing and I don't bleach it that often too. We're all very healthy in this house too (hardly ever ill) so it's never done us any harm!

I really think I'm living in a different world to people on Mumsnet sometimes!?

I have a large sink but I don't fill it to wash dishes by hand. I rinse, use a dishmatic to clean, then rinse again.

Hilarious that some people have made using a bowl into something ‘grim’ 😂How is it more grim than filling a different receptacle (eg sink)?

I use a bowl even though I have a little extra sink too; I don’t want my glasses clanking round on the metal sink. Also sink would use a lot more water. My sink can be used for hand washing, washing muddy veg etc, whereas the bowl is just for dishes. Easier to keep it cleaner for longer. I don’t tip tea/coffee remnants down the side of the bowl though as it makes the outside of the bowl mucky! That’s what the little sink is for!

Good grief - I know that MN isn’t the online version of University Challenge but seriously?

I use one for washing delicate glass or china - items that are not ‘dishwasher friendly’. A bowl is a soft surface than my Belfast sink.

It also gets used when I stand houseplants in some water in it but can them lift it out, allowing me free access to the actual sink and water - it’s a marvel!

Mine gets bleached weekly - not because ‘the germs!’ but as a by-product of when I whack my cleaning cloths in a little bit of bleach in my very useful washing up bowl.

I’ve always had a washing up bowl, so did my parent and grandparents before me.

I dislike washing up bowls as they always get a bit grimy. My parents however who are much more frugal than me say they use one to save water. They also empty the dirty water down the toilet to save water from flushing.

In the olden days before plastic washing up bowls it was often the case that delicate items were chipped against the side of the sink, which was usually a Belfast type sink. When plastic became more common people bought one so that their glasses, bone china etc didn't get damaged. That's it really. Oh, and they often came in bright colours with other items like a sink tidy.

They don't if you clean them. Sinks also get grimy, presumably you clean that?

I only have one sink in my kitchen and without a washing up bowl it's a pain.