Dishwasher owners - tell me about your usage

[LouiseHeather]

Am trying to decide whether to get a dishwasher but not sure about eco crdentials vs time saved etc. Have read a few studies on dishwahsers claiming that they use less power/ water than hand washing but not 100% convinced.

So dishwasher owners, can you tell me for family of 4 having breakfast, kids tea and adults tea plus 3 meals a day at weekends (usually with a roast dinner):

a) how many dishwasher loads
b) how many handwash loads you also need to do e.g. for large pots, fragile non dishwahser items etc.

Ball park figures are fine. Just trying to get a handle on the general picture.

Family of four. DH and I home based, DS2 still at school only part time, so nearly all our meals are at home. DH and I do tend to reuse our coffee and tea cups.

Dishwasher goes on once a day, at the end of the day. I handwash some items. I never put decent knives in, for instance. I use kitchen scissors for lots of jobs so they have to get washed up too. My pans are dw-proof but sometimes I need them sooner so they get washed then.

We had to wash up about five times a day before we got it.

I bought extra cutlery when we had a dw before. Makes life easier.

Cat bowls go in ours - their hair and slobber is on everything else they touch anyway. Everything gets a good clean and rinse. If you're happy mixing chopping boards contaminated with raw chicken etc with everything else, don't see what the difference is with animal bowls. I don't think anyone can dispute that the dishwasher is much more hygienic than hand washed stuff.

I dont put the wok in as it has been seasoned and the coating would get washed off (should only be cleaned with water - NO soap). I wash the grill pan by hand too. We have a 14 place setting machine so can fit 2 or 3 pots in depending on amount of other items. We also have a cutlery tray at the top of the machine rather than a basket that takes up room at the bottom.

family of 4 dh, me ds1 is 6 and ds2 is 4.
dishwasher goes on every day after dinner. empty it the next morning. very limited hand washing.
can't live without mine!

We have a family of five, and I am SAHM with twins age 2 at home 6 days a week, and DS1 age 4 at home 4 days a week at present. DH only home in daytime at weekends.

I run dishwasher at least once a day. So probably nine times a week I think.

I do handwash some things if I know i will need them again later same day, but nearly everything goes in.

LouiseHeather, why are you cooking two separate meals for the DCs and your DH and yourself? It cuts down on the pots if you all eat the same meal.

Care and use instructions for LeCreuset here.

I've never put the cat's dishes in the dishwasher and I think I wouldn't be inclined to.

We're a family of 4 plus one. Almost all meals are eaten at home (dh and ds1 out for weekday lunches). I do quite a bit of baking and dh likes to do lots of cooking at the weekends (using every pan and implement if he can).

We use ours at least twice on a weekday, and at least 3 times per day at weekends. Usage drops off a bit if dh is working away as I make less effort cooking an evening meal!

Family of 5 - 2 parents, 1x 18yr old, 1x 16.5yr old, 1x 8yr old

We generally run the dishwasher once a day on the quick wash cycle (35 degrees, 15 mins). If we've had a pot heavy day (Sunday lunch etc) it is run twice in a day on ine of the hot cycles (50 degrees, around an hour).

The only things we handwash are the enormous pans that take up loads of space and aren't problem to clean, they just need a wipe out really and sharp kitchen/carving knives which go blunt in the dishwasher.

that's plus one dog.

4 of us. Dishwasher goes on once a day on average. About 5-6 of these a week is normal dishes, and then one load will probably be baking stuff, compost caddy, food processor bits, cooker hob top, cat bowls, DDs high chair, etc.

I hardly ever do any handwashing loads. Our dishwasher takes 9 litres of water for a quick wash, and 12 litres of water for an eco wash (tis a bosch, bottom of their range one), and to get hot water to our kitchen tap I have to run between 15 and 18 litres of water, so I almost always use the dishwasher rather than handwashing.

You'd be surprised what can be washed in a dishwasher too. Ikea high chair, small bins etc. You're probably not meant to put them in the dishwasher, but it works, and for the sake of £2.99 for a new compost caddy, I'll give it a go!

BTW - value dishwasher tabs are about £1.80 for 30, and are just as good as Finish. I use the fairy platinum now and again as they clean the dishwasher itself slightly (or if it's a really greasy wash), and about once every two months use a proper dishwasher cleaner.

Oh, once DD isn't on formula, the dishwasher will probably only go on every other day.

And we have 4 cats :o

Another thing, I do m ore home baking, and other extras (eg jam making) safe in the knowledge that there isn't any extra washing up to do by hand, which is better than buying shop bought stuff, my heart doesn't sink when the DCs want to do baking!

Family of 4 - goes on about 4 times a week - perhaps 5 if we have a big family sunday dinner - more often than not its still 4 as i will hand wash big pans on that 1 day. They are ace - i love mine with a passionand if it had a willy i would have sex with it.

Family of 4 - d/w gets put on over night, every night. Its emptied in the morning in readiness for the days dishes and I load it as they are used so they aren't laying around.

Most days I cook from scratch and have become ingenious at loading d/w to make sure everything fits. In fact I've gone totally OTT and have my own system for loading the cutlery that makes it easier when it comes to unloading it .

I buy the expensive tablets in bulk but only when they are on offer although I use Tesco branded salt and rinse aid.

I handwash once a day, which is the kids and hubby's sandwich boxes, everything else goes through the d/w. Maybe if I had expensive wine glasses I'd handwash them but I find the Sainsburys bog standard ones bounce quite well so shan't be going out and buying expensive ones just yet.

The dogs dishes go in d/w as well, he's got ceramic drinking bowls and a metal non slip bowl although I've learnt to take the rubber off before d/w'ing cos it perishes. Dog eats homecooked food so no nasty dogmeat smells lingering. His bowls go in last thing at night before I put d/w on.

It's essential kit not a luxury item.

Three proper meals a day for four of us. Dishwasher on daily.

In terms of energy usage we measured it one day and found it took three times the water to do it by hand and twice the energy costs because our water is heated by oil and the dishwasher uses electricity which is cheaper.

I have a d/w but recently have got out of the habit of using it as I run out of stuff during the day (4dcs one not at school yet) and have to take things out and handwash them anyway.
I'd really like to know which is cheaper and greener as some days I would just like a magic wand to load the thing up and then put everything away afterwards.

Just got a dishwasher a month ago. OMG I love it. Always used to wash all dishs and clean surfaces last thing before I can relax. Now it only takes 10mins, I don´t know what to do with myself! Have to be strict about unloading first thing in the morning though else it all goes wrong! I do it while the kettle boils ..

If you want to work out how much it costs btw. First work out the fuel required to heat enough water to fill your sink twice (wash, then rinse). It's generally about 10 litres. Most people will do this several times a day.

My dishwasher uses 13 litres on it's hardcore seek and destroy programme (which has been known to remove the paint from china etc.) the general sensor programme uses only 8 litres.

Then there is the water heating, water heating for the sink goes from the (very efficient on demand) oil heater. To raise enough water for a sinkful of hot water costs 33p (when we measured last week, it's probably more now). So it's probably 70p or so each wash up. Add 5p for liquid = 75p.

Electricity for the dishwasher - probably 50p plus a dishwasher tablet (and yes I do buy expensive ones so 40p each). Say £1 a run to be fair.

Which sounds a lot, but then I was washing up four or five times a day so probably for us, v cheap.

Usually once a day, sometimes twice or 3 times (if people for dinner). No hand washing at all!

I never wanted a dishwasher before I spent a weekend with a friend who had one.....

And then factor in all the hand lotion and the rubber gloves and the rashes from latex and the broken plates and glasses...

Everything gets so squeaky clean too, just not the same when hand washed. I like to put it on tiimer so that when you unload it in the morning everything is lovely and warm, esp. nice in winter.

Once a day unless we've run out of glasses. Everything goes in except wooden chopping boards, and my Le Creuset saucepans, as I got the last ones with wooden handles, and the wooden handles do not like the dishwasher (having buggered wedding present set that way).

I don't put the Dartington champagne flutes in, but all the cheaper glass goes through on a 'fragile' wash and is fine.

Mine broke and l/l took ages to replace it, so we lived on one pot meals as it was less washing up. Dishwasher more economical for that by far.

We're a family of 3, I use it once a day...sometimes twice if I've cooked something that involves lots of pans (ie Tapas etc) but I use it to sterilise various bowls/spoons. and tippee cups, so sometimes twice is necessary!

who wouldn't have a dishwasher? it's 2010