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

Washing up bowl. As I just mentioned on the "things you have never replaced" thread, my kitchen plug broke about 12 years ago and I am yet to fix it! 😁

No it doesn't. Scrape your plates first obviously. It's just a waste of water.

I would actually prefer to use the sink (i find it easier to keep it clean than a bowl) but clearly not enough that I have done the fairly minor job of fixing the plug 🤣🤣

If you have a single sink and no dishwasher then a bowl helps you approximate the convenience of a half sink.

If you're washing your dishes in warm greasy water then you're not washing up in the correct order, being lazy at pouring out dregs and rinsing off heavily soiled items first, and most importantly not changing the water when you need to.

The bowl also helps with rinsing down the side as you go.

Never used a washing up bowl in my life, don't really understand the purpose of them at all.

I've never really understood them, but then I don't fill the sink with water either. I just run the tap and wash things underneath it.

Filling the sink/bowl just means you end up washing things in slightly dirty water. So you either rinse things under the tap afterwards (in which case you might as well wash them under the tap to start with), or you don't rinse them because you think the sink water is clean enough (but mine never is).

Or am I missing something?

I just don't understand how washing things up in a clean plastic bowl filled with hot water and washing up liquid is seen as "more grim" and dirtier than filling the sink directly with hot water and washing up liquid 🤷‍♀️

That BBC article from 2000 that someone linked to above is ridiculous. Of course there's a risk of cross contamination if you put a chopping board with raw chicken on it in the same bowl as mugs and drinking glasses. But the same would happen if you did that directly in the sink.

You wash up the "clean" items first - glasses and mugs (having tipped any dregs into the sink, not into the washing up bowl), then cutlery, then plates, then saucepans (give them a swish round with hot water which is tipped down the sink, not into the washing up bowl), then the greasier stuff such as Frying pans and roasting trays.

I do have a dishwasher but it's not big enough to fit everything in and some things can't be put in the dishwasher.

I just don't understand how washing things up in a clean plastic bowl filled with hot water and washing up liquid is seen as "more grim"
It’s aesthetically displeasing! (I’m aware I’m a knobber.) Also, it’s a sink: it’s raison d’être is to be used for washing up: adding a random plastic bowl to it just feels weird and cluttery to me – another item to own, clean, maintain; less room in the sink itself; faffy – all this “I tip it out for glasses than refill for this then tip it out and refill for that”. Just do the washing up and get on with it, tbh.

This is what I do. I don’t want a bowl or sink of dirty water with bits floating around.

My Mum kept buying me one! I refused to use it. She has hers half full with loads of cups plates in it at all times. She has a dishwasher- I’m so confused.

I scrape, put things in dishwasher.

I wash up pans but I wouldn’t fill up the whole sink to wash a few pans. I wash under running water. Sink never gets full. Do have a half sink but never have the coffee tipping problem. Probably because the sink is never full of water..

Do people with dishwashers use bowls? The only things that tend to be washed in our sink as non-dishwasher proof glasses and baking trays which need soaking. The former need to be washed under running water to stop them being smeary and the latter are much too big for a bowl.

I'm the same. Don't fill sink hardly ever.
Oven trays get some washing liquid and hot water sat on the side first then washed or other dishes that need 10 mins before they are easier to wash up.

Washing up bowls intrigue me for some reason being that I have always just used a kitchen sink.

We have a washing up bowl. Most stuff is washed in the dishwasher but a few bits need hand wash so let you wash and then rinse with cold water down the side.

It was mainly bought for saving water though. In the summer it is in the sink to catch any water that would otherwise be wasted. If you wash your hands in sink the water is caught. Running the tap before filling a glass or waiting for hot it all goes in the bowl rather than down the sink. We then use this water to water the garden. Any dish water goes on the garden rather than down the plug too. Grey water is fine for any plants you won't be eating so helped keep my flowers alive in the summer.

No, I don't. I only used it while redoing our kitchen, and we were washing the dishes in the bathtub.

As others have said, I don't have a half sink, so there's nowhere else to tip the dregs. My choice is to use a bowl and tip dregs down the sink or to fill the actual sink and then what... tip a half drunk cup of water/tea/juice into my washing up water...?

I don't keep tipping the washing up water away and refilling. See my process of washing cleaner items first. I might top up with hot water, but that's it.

For everyone who washes up at the sink under a constantly running tap, do you also keep the tap running when you brush your teeth? It's so wasteful to have a running tap to wash up under. I'd only do that if there was literally one or two things such as a glass that basically just needs a rinse or side plate that has had a sandwich on and it'll be used again for a cake.

Commercial dishwashers are very differnet to domestic ones. They have much shorter cleaning cycles and are not designed to wash in the same way or with the same chemicals as domestic machines, hence the very thorough pre wash.

Sink. I hate bowls. No idea why!

I have a dishwasher and use a bowl, my glasses all go in the dishwasher, I bought La Rochere glasswear for this reason as they are sturdy and dishwasher proof. I have a large single bowl sink and a large bowl that my baking trays fit in to wash up

My choice is to use a bowl and tip dregs down the sink or to fill the actual sink and then what... tip a half drunk cup of water/tea/juice into my washing up water...?
If only there were a way to tip half-drunk cups of things into the sink before filling it up

MN rudeness on display there. Well done.

I've never had a 1 and half sink. Do have a dishwasher. Am aware of water waste so know a full dishwasher uses less water as does a bowl. Water isn't infinite. Rinsing things under a running tap, brushing teeth under a running tap etc is so wasteful. So a quick shower instead of a full bath, a bowl instead of running water . To me is helping everyone out. It's neighbourly.

Oh yes, hand washing clothes. It's rare I do that so had forgotten but that's another use if the washing bowl.

Whats the difference between using the half sink or the main sink?
I never use the half sink to pour things down? am I supposed to?

You all may as well wash your dishes outside in the garden!

I don't know. I use it for rinsing, but the main sink is the waiting area of sorts!