To think a dishwasher will change our lives?

[Question285]

Never had a dishwasher before and never thought I needed one. But now, with two small DC, I think it would make a world of difference. DH, who does most of the washing up, disagrees.

So, does anyone have any input? Does having a dishwasher make life better? Is it worth the investment? Will it be so life changing that even my reluctant DH will be persuaded? 😄

Also, any brand suggestions? Is it better to spend more for a top brand? I’ve narrowed it down to two models, a Hisense and an AEG. It’s about £250 difference between them.

Go for it, & DH will have the time to do another household chore.

If I only had space for a dishwasher OR a washing machine I would have the dishwasher...

Washing up in the devils work.

My Stay at home DH was the sane.

I over ruled him and we got a dishwasher.

After the first week He said, sheepishly, "I'm going to say this once only. You were right. It's changed my life."

It also makes eco sense as it uses far less water and power.

Get the dishwasher.

Uses less water than washing up by hand.
Keeps kitchen tidier (it is a magic cupboard).
Reduces spread of germs as can wash hotter than by hand and removes the need for drying up cloths.
Saves time as stacking and unpacking should not take any longer than 5 minutes each per load.
Enables you to start encouraging small children to "help" as it is at their level.
Depending on the number of plates, saucepans, glasses etc. used, needs only to be run once a day, rather than having a washing up session after every meal.

Oh we don't empty it in the evening - I wouldn't want to be faffing around with it then either! Turn it on and forget about it. In the morning it gets emptied while coffee is being made.

Of course we could live without it, but I'd rather not.

I was years without one but now I have one and I love it. It's a Hotpoint and it's fine. Ten years old and still going strong(🤞). You do have to clean out the filter occasionally (say, weekly). Read the instructions about that.
I stayed at a friend's house while they were away and the dishes were coming out dirty. When I took out the filter it was full of black gunge. Had obviously never been cleaned. Dishes were clean after that!

Yes, it's life changing op. If you genuinely think you won't fill it then you could get a slimline one, but imo that would be an error and you'd regret it in years to come!

We have a Bosch now which seems great. It replaced a Hisense which I was never impressed with somehow and the door broke when it was less than 3 years old. We'd already repaired something else on it so decided to ditch it and try again. Previous houses have had Bekos and other cheaper brands which have been absolutely fine. Our current one has a cutlery tray, but I slightly regret that. You lose a few cms on the the rest and it makes some baking trays/boards etc trickier to fit in compared to the basket set up.

My dishwasher is from IKEA, but I have a Hisense oven, hob and washing machine -
They were competitively priced and I've got no complaints about any of them.

You'll get a warranty and there's Consumer Rights Act for peace of mind anyway. I think if you get 3-5 years out of a well-used appliance, you're doing well, anything beyond that is a bonus.

Why wouldn't he want to free up his time?

Its like the difference between using a washing machine and a bowl of soapy water and a scrubbing brush!

Yes, life changing. Also cheaper than doing dishes by hand.

if I redesigned my kitchen, I’d put two in.

My DH tried to veto the following:

• dishwasher (We can do it by hand, have done for years)
• airfryer (We have an oven)
• boiling water tap (that's what the kettle is for...)
• Spray mop (I like the rag mop...)
• Robot vacuum (we have a cordless one already...)
• large sieve that can be placed over sink without having to hold it in wone hand (we already have a sieve...)

He fricking loves all of them - now he happily agrees to any suggestions LOL

The cynic in me is thinking washing up is easier than 2 small children...

It will,just because it clears up the sink for the general mess that small children generate! On a serious note, it is much easier, apart from the obvious 'how do you load a dishwasher correctly' but that's a seperate thread.
Just even at weekends, or a play date, everything in, pop on a quick wash and it's done.
Add to that you can make your own flavoured vodka and lovely fish dishes in the dishwasher and it's a win win from me.
Even just from an aesthetic point of view, the dishes are out of sight straight away as well, so less to be caught up when a game of catch goes randomly into the kitchen!
Finally checking out the amazon bargains and get 200 decent dishwasher tabs for not much, makes a huge amount of sense.

Well quite.

@Question285 if you get a dishwasher you could alternate doing dishwasher duty and each take a turn looking after the children.

My one broke recently and I waited a few weeks before replacing it to see if I really needed it. I concluded I did. It saves so much time. I feel the stuff is cleaners. I am not waiting for hot water tank to heat up. Unloading takes very little time as I can pretty much stand on either side of it and can put dishes and glasses away.

Really? Surely washing clothes by hand would take longer than washing pots and pans.

Right...
I need to know more about making fish-flavoured vodka in the dishwasher?

That could be the real game changer arising from this thread!

Yes but you can take clothes to a launderette.

I have a savings account with £500 in that's never touched.

It ensures that if my precious dishwasher breaks, I can have a new one the next day. The best gift I've ever bought myself.

Life changing for me too, especially once have children

Yes, get a dishwasher. Train your children to put things in and to help unload it.

We've just got rid of a Hisense and replaced with a Bosch. It sort of broke, but I loathed it and we didn't try to fix it, just jumped on the excuse to replace it. It didn't seem to get things nearly as clean as the new one, or the predecessor of another brand. So I vote "not Hisense".

It depends how you define 'properly clean'.
I don't have a dishwasher. I wash glasses in soapy water, rinse well and drain to dry. The fancy glasses get dried with a clean t.towel straight away to avoid any lime scale, but all glasses are washed and clean.

I've had dishwashers for 40+ years. My previous one broke down last year, and I had to wait a few weeks for the replacement. I'd forgotten how annoying washing up by hand was!

Oh it's perfectly possible to get things properly clean by hand.

I would love a dishwasher, but can't fit one in unless I do a whole kitchen redesign.......and there are other priorities.