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

I had never come across a washing up bowl until I lived in the UK.

I suppose if you only have one sink and maybe no dishwasher, they might be useful. But who doesn’t have a dishwasher these days?

But - more than anything - it would be storage of the unsightly thing that would put me off using one.

I use one to soak my feet.
perfect size for it.

Loads of modern small houses/flats arent built with them in the kitchen.

I don’t have a dishwasher. Only about half of people I know have one. And I’ve only got one sink, so I have a washing-up bowl. The washing up bowl lives in the sink. It’s colour coordinated and looks fine, though I do wish there were nicer and more specialised styles designed to fit with a particular sink. I would definitely get one.

So as I say, if you only have one sink and no dishwasher, they might be useful.

It can’t live in the sink, because every time you need to use the sink, e.g. to rinse, the bowl would have to clutter up the bench.

#TeamBowl
Helps with rinsing for one thing

It lives in the sink. That’s the whole point of it. The washing-up bowl doesn’t fill the whole sink space, so you can use the actual sink for something else at the same time. There’s no need to take it out to put it on the bench.

Only if you don’t have two sinks.

Downside: large, ugly plastic bowl constantly on display.

I don’t have two sinks. The washing-up bowl isn’t on display - it’s in the sink, as if part of it.

So then it’s too small to wash anything that doesn’t fit in the dishwasher.

I’m not interested in persuading people not to use them - crack on if it suits you.

But as someone with two sinks and a dishwasher (and who thinks they’re very unsightly), there hasn’t been one selling point for them on this thread.

I use mine to wash the bum of the fluffy dog when he's covered in shit 😀

That’s what I mean. It only helps with rinsing if you don’t have two sinks.

They might not be aesthetically pleasing, I suppose, but I find mine useful. I have a dishwasher and two sinks and mine lives in the utility next to the washing machine, home to dishcloths awaiting washing, as I said way back in the thread.

Only if you don’t have two sinks.

We only have one kitchen sink. Kitchen isn't big enough to swing a cat but that's another thread

Our kitchen is too small for a dishwasher. The kitchen sink is the only sink downstairs & gets used for buckets of dirty water and hand washing after gardening, as well as washing up. So its just easier to use a bowl.

Yes I do use a washing up bowl. Most items go in the dishwasher but I only run that once a day so not everything fits. My washing up bowl is smaller than the sink so uses much less water. If the water is dirty I can change it quickly and easily or things can have a quick rinse under the hot tap. My bowl matches the colour of my sink so doesn't look unsightly. It gets cleaned/rinsed regularly so doesn't harbour germs. When it's not in use it is left on it's side for easy access to the plug.
The amount of water it saves is the biggest plus point for me. Washing dishes under a running tap is hugely wasteful.

Not RTFT but oh god I hate them with an irrational passion. They're just horrible and gross and look awful. MIL uses one and it's always got some bits of food at the bottom and it's grimey. It looks minging. My old boss tried to introduce a washing up bowl in my workplace but I kept stashing it away because I hated it. 😜

This is probably a me problem. I bet these awful bowls are a bit like Marmite. I can see how they might be useful if you only have one sink (like us, but we still don't use one), but they don't really make much sense as you could just use the sink.

You can’t “just use the sink”, though. Well, we wouldn’t. It takes too much water just to even cover the bottom of the sink, let alone start filling it enough to wash any dishes or wash whatever you wanted to wash. A washing-up bowl uses a fraction of the water, and has the advantage of acting as a second sink. It’s much more efficient. Also, the bowl is useful in general, as it has handles. I’m a recent convert to washing-up bowls and wish I had got one years ago.

Washing up bowl. I hate just washing stuff in the sink. We have a stainless steel one from Elephant box - ie expensive but it will last for ever.

I have a bowl so I don't have to put my hand in dirty water to pull the plug.

I thought this!

I prefer to wash up under running water, as I don’t have a double sink for rinsing so it seems unhygienic to just wash things in dirty water. Or rinse under the tap, which is the same as just washing them there in the first place.

Try gloves!

Downside: large, ugly plastic bowl constantly on display.
But - more than anything - it would be storage of the unsightly thing that would put me off using one.

I don't find them unsightly. They are functional piece of equipment, no more unsightly than a toaster or a kettle.

My washing up bowl lives under the sink when not in use. It only gets used for washing up dishes that have been scraped and rinsed of debris (and that can't go in the dishwasher) or handwashing delicate items. Then when those jobs have been completed it gets cleaned and wiped and put back under the sink. Doesn't everyone do that?

I don't understand the angst that so many people have about them. I clean my washing up bowl after every use so it is never dirty and germ ridden or dirtier than the sink.

MN is a weird place sometimes.

Then when those jobs have been completed it gets cleaned and wiped and put back under the sink. Doesn't everyone do that?

No, lots of washing up bowl users on this thread say theirs live in the sink. The people who don’t have space for a second sink / dishwasher are obviously going to be unlikely to have space for a bowl under their sink.

All the washing up bowls I’ve encountered (it’s been a while since it’s a decade + since I lived in the UK, and they’re not a thing here, are ugly and look grimy (maybe they’re not, but they look it).

I really don't like washing up bowls and find them a pain but if I only had one sink I would have to use one I think.

My ideal is two sinks and no bowl. And would rather wash up than have to unload a dishwasher.