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

@Wheretheskyisblue Sorry I was replying to you!
I never really thought about the environment side but that's good too.

It must waste a lot of water not using one

YANBU

Yes it protects the sink, protects glasses and fragile items from the sink, uses less water, can rinse things down the side of the sink and run the water to temperature first, can save the water in the summer for plants.

Yup. Washing up bowl in a ceramic sink otherwise crockery easily chipped and to protect the sink.
washing up bowl is washed afterwards and occasionally bleached.
I always rinse everything, not being keen to ingest washing up liquid residue.
dishwasher rarely used nowadays

I want a washing up bowl that sits in the sink for all the reasons others have said, plus my sink is large and ceramic so feels more wasteful with water and more likely for delicate things to break.

But my husband has vetoed it so I am bowl-less 😔

Your reply was much better than mine, I even tried to explain. I must be mad

Why on earth would you use something that's plastic and therefore harbours bacteria over stainless steel to clean things? Makes no sense to me.

You see I don't get this 🤷🏼‍♀️. This seems like a TikTok fad 🤣. It uses more water, you get too much soap on everything and therefore need to rinse for ages. A bowl means you can use less water, your glasses don't crack in the sink.

I think those sticks are just something made by the washing up industry to get people to spend more money on something that's unnecessary and ends up in the bin. We use a cloth that can be re washed time and time again rather than wasteful plastic tat.

I was just thinking the exact same thing!!! I'm sure I live in a parallel universe to MN 😂

You see those new stick things that everyone uses much have so much bacteria compared to my bowl that's cleaned and my cloth that's washed 🤷🏼‍♀️

How does plastic harbour bacteria?? I think washing up in the sink is grim, who knows what has been tipped down it, and hands washed in it (bits of raw chicken/mince coming off etc and things lurking in the plughole). Washing up bowls protect your dishes and glasses from getting chipped, they protect your sink from getting scratched, they keep the water warm because they are plastic so better insulated, and they are cleaner than washing in a sink. They only have water and detergent in them, in fact exactly the same water and detergent that is washing your glass that you will very soon after put in your mouth! I don't understand how that is dirty or unhygienic.

I wash up in the sink without a washing up bowl. For me washing up bowls are just one more thing that needs cleaning.

YABU
Until about 25 years ago it was common for kitchens to have a single bowl sink so a washing up bowl both saved water and let you rinse/empty things down the sink at the same time. Yes you had to clean under the bowl.
If you don't have a half sink or a dishwasher (like many small homes) they are still useful. And use about half the water of a sink for washing up small things.

Is this a Marie Antoinette "why don't people use their dishwasher?" question?

I use a bowl. It's smaller than the sink so uses less water. Also less chance of clanging mugs or glasses against the bottom and chipping/ cracking them.
Also super handy when someone is feeling ill. They always take the washing up bowl up to bed with them.

I have a washing up bowl. It lives in the sink. It’s really useful -for all the reasons already mentioned - and I would not be without it. I have only one sink that is quite large and deep - useful for some things, but not washing up. I do sometimes scout around for a more stylish washing up bowl, but I haven’t found one.

In other news: detergent works by attracting food particles from surfaces into the water where they stay. That's why dishes come clean out of the washing up , the detergent sticks itself to the water, unless you use far too much. No need to rinse every plate.

Yes to a washing up bowl. We have a ceramic sink that stains and cracks if you so much as look at it the wrong way, it uses a lot less water, and it means far less breakages of delicate glassware.

I throw mine in the dishwasher every now and again to get it clean.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1056364.stm
Food hygiene experts from around the world will gather at the Home Hygiene conference taking place in London this week to discuss latest developments.

Professor Hugh Pennington, from the University of Aberdeen, one of Britain's leading infection experts, said: "I would like to get rid of washing-up bowls altogether. They are an absolute menace."

No bowl. We used to have one but found they never felt properly clean, dp was a fan of 'soaking' but the water would go cold and the grease hang around the edges. No option of that with a normal sink. I also got rid of the one in our work kitchen which was frankly disgusting, for exactly the same reason. Someone would 'soak' the dishes and forget about them.

I clean the sink and rinse anything while I'm waiting for the water to heat up, as ours seems to take a while.

• use less water
• stops glasses from getting chipped
• allows dregs of tea/coffee to be poured away if you only have a single sink
• during the long hot summer I used the left over water to throw over the garden
• used for handwashing delicate clothes or soaking clothes

TBH I'm baffled that you don't get it.

I use a bowl. It feels a bit icky washing things directly in the sink.

I could never use any cutlery or glasses etc if I hadn't individually washed and rinsed a few times.
I like seeing the shinyness.
I also very very rarely dry up.
The hot water out the tap does my drying for me.
No fibres or fluffs from Any tea towels.

I'm guilty of all these things and in 50 years have never had an issue! But might give it a go without and see how it works. It would definitely look nicer without a bowl!