Do you use your dishwasher?

[Isolde]

I only hand-wash. To be honest, I haven''t ever even operated/used a dishwasher once! I guess it''s just a habit I picked up from my mom; she refused to purchase a dishwasher, even though we had a family of 7 (a lot of dishes, as you can imagine).

 

[laine]

I use the regular cycle (not pots and pans) and air dry (not heat). Never used sanitize, also don''t have any kids. Not sure about the time, I''ve never timed mine. I rarely pre-rinse, but try to scrape things off well. Spaghetti dishes often sit for 3-4 days and usually still come clean. I use Cascade powder--I''ve heard powder is better than liquid, and it seems to work a bit better for me.

Also, I have hard water which tends to cause build-up. I occasionally get a film on my glasses and notice the dishwasher isn''t working as well. When that happens, I dump vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher, load up all my clean glasses and run it through a wash cycle. That clears things right up.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 2/5/2008 10:49:53 PM
Author: somethingshiny

The worst was the 3 week stand-off of 2004. It was his turn. period. I ate cereal out of a big cup so I didn''t have to wash any dish. I quit cooking because I had nothing to cook in. Finally, DH did the d*mn dishes. Then, he tried getting his ''turn'' to mean any time he picked up a wash cloth. Two dishes from breakfast that are both his...''I did my turn!'' However, now with the DW, we''re both happy.

OMG, This is the funniest thing I have ever read. I have had stand offs with my husband, but not for three weeks and I could not remember the specific years either. LOL.

 

[butterfly 17]

Okay, I notice people have mentioned jet dry. Is that something you add onto the detergent or is that a specific brand of detergent. Off to look it up right now.

 

[Elmorton]

We've been using ours a lot since we also cook from scratch and virtually stopped eating out. But, we're both very, very conscious to only run it when it is FULL - dishwashers use a lot of water and it's not at all environmentally kind to run the dishwasher when it's half full. Unloading it is a giant pain, but I figure that's a small price to pay compared to the alternative.

Interestingly enough, the first load of dishes I ran was in my first apartment in college - I had a dishwasher growing up, but we put dirty dishes in the sink and then my dad would load the dishwasher - I had NO IDEA how to load one! Others have mentioned, but we don't run it with our pans, good knives, etc. Everything else goes in. In college, I melted a whole bunch of stuff, I always remember to put plastics on the top shelf AND make sure it's all secure - you'd be surprised how easy it is for stuff to fly around in there. In college, I didn't pre-wash anything, but now we live in an old house and have an older dishwasher, so we pre-rinse everything. OH! And I just read somewhere (Real Simple, maybe?) that you shouldn't separate forks, knives, spoons in the utencil divider thingie because they're actually more likely to scratch. Mix them up, and you'll save your silverware.

DH loooooves those little powder/gel tablets, but they're expensive and so I've switched him over to liquid dishwasher soap. I've used the really cheap stuff and the really expensive stuff and don't see a difference. But - I do swear by using JetDry - you don't get the water spots on glasses and silverware. One little bottle lasts something like 40-50 loads and you just have to fill it once in the little compartment and then forget about it for awhile.

Seriously...we lived in a house w/o a dishwasher and went crazy - by the time we moved, we were eating out literally 4-5 days a week because we didn't want to deal with the dishes. Fire it up! You'll have a new best friend.

ETA: I think it was unclear from my post, but Jet Dry is an extra thing - kindof like how a fabric softener works in a washing machine, that goes in a compartment that is already built into your dish washer. You use almost a whole bottle (small) and pour it into the compartment (usually has a round knob that you unscrew and then fill), screw the knob back on tight, and then don't think about it for a month or two (depending on how often you use your dishwasher. It's about $3 for a bottle.

 

[appletini]

Butterfly, There is a serpate dispenser for jet dry in your dishwasher...jet dry is a rinsing agent that helps to prevent spotting on glassware.

 

[Independent Gal]

Like Elmorton, I also hate unlaoding the dishwasher. For one thing, I can''t reach half my cupboards since the man I bought my place from was a giant and I''m tiny. Luckily, when FI moved in, that''s one of the jobs he claimed, so I never have to unload again! Hurray!

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 2/6/2008 2:33:44 PM
Author: Independent Gal
Like Elmorton, I also hate unlaoding the dishwasher. For one thing, I can''t reach half my cupboards since the man I bought my place from was a giant and I''m tiny. Luckily, when FI moved in, that''s one of the jobs he claimed, so I never have to unload again! Hurray!

Yes, I am realizing now that I don''t like it either. Before when we used it as a dishrack, we just never really emptied it out because everything was clean. Basically, we would wash by hand and put it in the DW to dry out. If we need a clean spoon, we would open up the DW and get one.

Now, since everything is clean in there, I have to actually empty it out to put dirty stuff. And it''s not like I can mix dirty with clean, because let''s be honest, that''s just not cool.

Okay, rethinking the whole DW thing now.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 2/6/2008 1:24:03 PM
Author: appletini
Butterfly, There is a serpate dispenser for jet dry in your dishwasher...jet dry is a rinsing agent that helps to prevent spotting on glassware.

Thanks, I pulled out the "manual" and read about it. Ha,ha!

Actually, it was kind of gross because when I opened mine up, there was actually some Jet Dry left in there from the previous owners, I guess.

Now I am having nasty thoughts about finding their old food crud stuck in the DW as well.

 

[icekid]

butterfly- I can''t believe you don''t use your dishwasher!! The apartment where we are living now (and have been for 3.5 years) does not have a dishwasher

One of the things hubby and I are looking forward to most when we move/ buy a house is not having to wash dishes and have a big mess in the sink everyday!

 

[somethingshiny]

Date: 2/6/2008 2:28:48 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Heres a kiss back at you fleur-de lis, butterfly and Matilda...

are you all button pushers too?


And I agree...somethingshiny...you are a stubborn one! Was there any conversation between the two of you during the great standoff? Just curious what was your plan...how much longer were you willing to support your point? (yeah that bottom dish has been there since 2004...well grandkids...you must know that this year 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the great dish washing standoff...insert music from the good the bad and the ugly ~ da da da da na...wa wa wa.

)



I like your strategy...he knows you mean business! I will file that one for future reference.

Ha ha. you sound like my girlfriend. She''d ask everyday how the battle was going. She laughed heartily when she saw I brought spaghetti for lunch...in a baggie.

We had normal conversation during that time, in fact, as I recall, I fulfilled all of my *wifely* duties, if ya know what I mean. (there was no reason for me to suffer!) But, I wasn''t going to do those dishes! Usually, I backed down and just did them after a couple days, and then he figured it out. That''s why he began leaving them! So, I simply said that I would throw every dish away and buy all new dishes, flatware, cutlery, pots and pans and all my baking items (I do a lot of cooking and baking). So, finally he did them. As I recall, it took him the better part of a weekend and a container of Dawn. There was a terrible smell emanating from the sink! So he had to scour it when he was done.

Yes, I am fairly stubborn. But, like you said, it was to honor those that came before us. How would they have felt if men finally did the dishes, and we didn''t make them?

 

[phoenixgirl]

Wow . . . I can see having an old apartment without a dishwasher, but just never using one because you''re never thought to?

I hate washing dishes. I try to put more stuff in there than my husband. He likes to handwash the nice knives, and some pots are too big. But other than that, I load it up and press wash! (with some rinsing first) I''d say we run it three times a week. We seem to fill it up mostly with bowls (cereal, soup, pasta, etc.) I even bought four more bowls from our set last year when I realized we use them way more than plates.

 

[zoebartlett]

We use our dishwasher all the time! My FI won''t consider buying things that can''t be put in a dishwasher. That''s slightly annoying to me because how much effort, really, does it take to hand wash a couple pots and pans, etc.? We use either those new gel packs or liquid soap. Every time we use the powder, residue always stays on some of our things. Ick.

I knew a family who used theirs for storage -- I''m not quite sure why.

 

[Fancy605]

I am SO dependent on the dishwasher that I usually refuse to purchase any sort of cookware, appliances, whatever that will NOT go in the dishwasher. My main requirement for pots and pans was that they could go in the dishwasher. Even my fine china is dishwasher safe (although it doesn''t much matter because it basically just sits in my cabinet and never get used, but if I DID use it, it could totally go right in the dishwasher). I guess my stemware must be hand washed, but liquids are pretty easy to deal with, so I don''t mind them as much.

If we didn''t have a dishwasher, we would probably have to just eat off of paper plates all the time.

 

[matildawong]

My sister and her husband are stationed in Hawaii right now (I know, right..) and the house they are renting does not have a dishwasher. She is seriously considering buying one of those not-installed dishwasher machines. I don''t know what they are called -- I call them "the ones on wheels." But I guess they are a sort of temporary deal.

They''re only stationed there for another 6 or so months!! She says she doesn''t care. They have a toddler and between sippy cups and all the other stuff, it takes her 45 minutes to do the dishes. THEN she has to start making dinner. Blah. I''m like, "Go get one!"

 

[kellyfish]

I run our at least 1x per day. When it is broken or I am out of dishwasher detergent--I stand there as if I no longer know how to wash by hand. I rationalize that the dw sterilizes much better than by hand (I have 2 babies) due to the high temp, which is unattainable by hand.....

 

[marcy]

I use my dishwasher all the time. In face I won''t hardly buy a thing for my kitchen I can''t put in to the dishwasher.

 

[Cind11]

I run my dishwasher every other day like clockwork. I don''t put pots or pans in it though because they would take up too much room. I do rinse the dishes first because I don''t think the dishwasher would get all the gunk off. MY DH grew up with his mom having a dishwasher and NEVER using it. I still catch him washing glasses or silverware sometimes. I always say "DON"T wash that glass, I''m going to be running the dishwasher." I like the dishwasher because I run it at night and then by the next morning all the dishes are dry and I don''t even need to use the heat cycle. I always hated drying dishes. It''s like double the work. Needless, to say, I love my dishwasher!

 

[rainydaze]

hi butterfly! i use mine about twice a day (if i''m being a good homemaker!). for one cycle i set it on delay to run around 1-2am for energy efficiency (costs less because less people are consuming energy at that time). growing up my mom had one, but never used it, and i always thought she was nuts. now she uses it, not sure what changed her ways.

we recently had to replace ours and i''m a researcher. every resource said to use the powdered detergent as it cleans much better (i used to use gel). i also use jetdry now because that helps protect your dishes from etching (that i think is more prevalent with powder soap). i also learned that the sanitatization feature is more marketing than anything - it works but the moment you touch a dish it loses it''s sanitation. makes sense. so if you''re buying new, it may not be necessary to spend the extra for it, and if you have it, it does cost a little more to run it.

cycle times vary by dishwasher. looking at all the consumer reports and such, they compared this. some use less water so they take longer to wash, some use more water but they run shorter cycles. mine typically runs around 120 minutes for a full load (it is energy star rated for 2007).

i don''t rinse my dishes before putting them in unless it is a really caked pan, then i soak a bit and shove it in. eerything always comes out clean. that''s another thing i learned from all my research, they said putting the dishes in dirty gets them more clean because the detergent has something to stick to.

my bottle nipples, no matter what setting or machine, have always come out a little wet. so i shake em off, sometimes rinse ''em off a little in case there is still some soapy water, and place them in a baby drying rack (separate from anything else).

i don''t have the cookware setting.

use that puppy, it''s worth it!!!!

 

[blushingbride]

I could never go without a dishwasher - we use ours constantly. When I first moved to Manhattan, I moved in with friends on the Upper East Side. We lived in a decent building, but our apt. didn''t have a dish washer - I hated it! I feel that things just aren''t as clean if you hand wash them...esp. with glasses or cups...I feel like when I''m drinking somethign, I can smell the sponge or whatever was used to clean them when theyr''re handwashed...and that REALLY bothers me.

Luckily, my condo has a dishwasher and we throw everything in there except our good china and our pots and pans because they''re not dishwasher safe and take up room. Now all I need is a garabage disposal (something else I''m having trouble living without). My DH works for a developer who just built a building that has the city''s first garbage disposals - for some reason, NYC does not allow them.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Our dishwasher has a name: Greg. My husband.

We don''t have an automatic dishwasher for the first time since we''ve lived together and it is bad. I despise doing dishes so that''s his chore. I will do laundry, sweep, mop, dust, pick up dog poo, anything but dishes. I had to do them all the time growing up and I think it''s just soooo gross to rinse half eaten gunk off of plates and smell milk after a day - ewww puke!

We''ve had standoffs about the dishes so many times. I will not do them. I even went out and bought paper plates, plastic silverware and plastic bowls once because he didn''t do the dishes and we didn''t have any clean ones. Our kitchen was so gross but I didn''t care. I wasn''t going to do the dishes.

He could be better about doing the dishes but I really should not complain because my housekeeping skills have gone to he!! since I''m preggo so he''s really picked up the slack. I still don''t see what the big deal is about just doing them every night so there''s not a big mess to deal with.

 

[butterfly 17]

Well I went out this morning and bought the Electrasol 2 in1 gelpacs. They come with the Jet dry already in them.

I found that I have a speed cycle on mine that runs about 35 minutes and other than 2 dishes that still had a few particles of food on them, the rest of the stuff came out really clean and no residue or spots.


I still have to get my family into the whole dishwashing thing. I worked last night and when I came home this morning, there were a bunch of dishes in the sink and I have already told my husband that he needs to put them in the dishwasher.

He doesn't understand my new found love on the DW. He thinks it will eat up more electricity and water. He is not understanding the point of putting them in the DW if he has to rinse them out first, he wants to know why not just go ahead and wash them by hand, since he is rinsing it out anyway.

My 7 yr. old keeps opening the dishwasher and looking for a clean spoon. She doesn't understand that they are all dirty now.

I am trying to teach them the way girls, but it seems like it will be a long road.

But, I am confident in the end, I will suceed.

We will be button pushers!!!

 

[Kay]

I hand wash our crystal wine glasses, my grandmother''s china (on the rare occasions we use it), good knives, and pots and pans. Everything else goes in the dishwasher. With just 2 of us, it usually takes 3-4 days to fill it. I''ve read that running a full dishwasher usually uses less water than washing the same number of dishes by hand. I scrape everything off into the trash before loading the dishwasher, but do not pre-rinse because it wastes water and is not necessary with most modern dishwashers. I use the normal wash cycle, which takes about 90 minutes, and air dry. I have been using the Electrasol 2-in-1 tabs (they have a Jet-Dry powerball in the middle) for 3 years since seeing a great review for them, and I never have trouble with anything sticking to the dishes and not coming clean, even if they sit for a few days w/o being rinsed.

 

[lumpkin]

Date: 2/5/2008 7:45:14 PM
Author: door knob solitaire
Yes I do. I do it for all the pioneer women who came before me and washed theirs in the stream. Or for the women who had to carry water to the cabin. Or for those who had to hand pump the water.

I do it for them! It is the only honorable respectful thing to do. You disrespect them every time you pass the opportunity to push that button. So I say, here''s a toast to the new you! A dish washing woman you are no longer. Automated and pampered! Cheers! To the new you!

HEEEE you are such a crackup!!!

Yes, I use my dishwasher every day. I was even watching "Living With Ed" last fall, I think, and he had to admit after doing research that it actually is more efficient to do them in the dishwasher than by hand. Now whaddaya think of them apples???

 

[snlee]

We hand wash but we do have a dishwasher. We''ve lived here for almost 3 years and we have never used our dishwasher. Maybe I would if we had a family but right now it''s just the two of us.

I''ve heard that if you don''t use your dishwasher, it''ll break and you can''t use it. Is there any truth to that?

 

[fisherofmengirly]

My mom always used the dishwasher as a "drying rack" of sorts. When I grew up and moved out, I just automatically used mine as the same. Then I met Paul. His mom uses hers every time she has anything to wash, full load or not.

Paul does the dishes here. We load it after each meal; but don''t run it until it''s a full load. We don''t put pans and pots in it though. His mom does, but all of her pots are white now, and I like ours to be the color they were made. Otherwise, they look dirty.

I still find myself washing by hand when I''m home alone and I''ve had a cup of tea or something like that. Paul likes to pile dishes, but we''re to the point now where it''s rare that the sink gets full and I have to go into "nag mode," as he calls it.

So, all in all, I don''t have to do dishes anymore and I love dishwashers (and the boy who loads it for me!).