I can go either way, washing dishes by hand doesn't bother me and I have ceramic pots/pans/sheets that require hand washing. I'm not some lazy, weak delicate flower that's incapable of manual labor nor do I have disabilities with limited factors in that area. I do believe having a machine washing at a bare minimum of 140F produces better results, especially when grease and oil are involved. A sani rinse is icing on the cake.
Dishwashers losing popularity in US Homes???
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magic_clean
Well-known member
I think Louise Jefferson and the interfering "Mother" Jefferson had this debate 50 years ago on a episode, where Louise says, I think the dishwasher washes them better!
My mom now 98, is a devoted dishwasher user of 60+ years. Just like a Self-cleaning oven, she says I can't imagine getting on my hands and knees with a can of Easy Off. As mentioned upstream, physical limitations come into play, where these conveniences and one-time luxuries are part of everyday life and are often viewed as a necessity.
-LP
My mom now 98, is a devoted dishwasher user of 60+ years. Just like a Self-cleaning oven, she says I can't imagine getting on my hands and knees with a can of Easy Off. As mentioned upstream, physical limitations come into play, where these conveniences and one-time luxuries are part of everyday life and are often viewed as a necessity.
-LP
Mom's first hands-on dishwasher experience was a KDI-17a installed in the 1964 house in circa 1975. The same model was already in the next house. The KDI-17, of course, performed nicely w/o prerinsing so that's not a factor. It was replaced by a GE PDW7800 sometime in 2002 or 2003. The household by that point was comprised of only the parents (other than family gatherings when the machine(s) were run) and usage was curtailed due to mom's reluctance to have dirty dishes accumulating over a few days to justify running a load (not because of lack of dishware, or cookware, supply). The sister and SIL, I don't know what's their objection. The other (youngest) sister does use her dishwasher, household of one ... so there's that.
My Mom only had a DW that worked for about 2 months in 1962, a 1956 Westinghouse DW that was in the home we moved into a just 6 weeks before my Dad died in an auto accident. Shortly after his death the DW stopped working and we had far more pressing financial issues than repairing/replacing a DW. She never had another DW.
I didn’t have a DW until I was 36 when we bought our first condo, a BOL ‘87 GE that was the best DW that we ever owned. It finished a cycle in 60 mins and everything was spotless.
After moving to our present home in ‘94 there was a BOL ‘92 Whirlpool DW that was loud as hell, but again finished a load in 60 mins and the dishes were spotless. We replaced it with a new MOL Maytag in 2000 and it was pretty good, but the racks started to rust after 2 years. We replaced it with a new GE MOL in 2012 and it was a POS, took over 2 hrs to complete a load and I often had to rewash at least 1 or 2 items. After 7 years it began to leak so we replaced it with our current Whirlpool DW, a no frills model that has a 60 min cycle but that cycle isn’t as thorough as the longer cycle.
When it stopped working 1 mo before the warranty was up I had it repaired, but it took over 30 days to get the part (new pump) from Whirlpool and by that time I’d found that I actually prefer doing the dishes by hand anyway. It is calming for me, the dishes are done in less than 10 mins and put away and I don’t have to schlep back into the kitchen to unload and put the dishes away later on or in the morning when I just want to read the newspaper and have my breakfast. Plus, I never have to stop and wash a pot, pan, or bowl that I need and it’s in the DW So now the DW makes a great storage area.
Different strokes for different folks. Plus, doing the dishes is also a togetherness chore, I wash and David dries, a chore we both enjoy doing together.
Eddie
I didn’t have a DW until I was 36 when we bought our first condo, a BOL ‘87 GE that was the best DW that we ever owned. It finished a cycle in 60 mins and everything was spotless.
After moving to our present home in ‘94 there was a BOL ‘92 Whirlpool DW that was loud as hell, but again finished a load in 60 mins and the dishes were spotless. We replaced it with a new MOL Maytag in 2000 and it was pretty good, but the racks started to rust after 2 years. We replaced it with a new GE MOL in 2012 and it was a POS, took over 2 hrs to complete a load and I often had to rewash at least 1 or 2 items. After 7 years it began to leak so we replaced it with our current Whirlpool DW, a no frills model that has a 60 min cycle but that cycle isn’t as thorough as the longer cycle.
When it stopped working 1 mo before the warranty was up I had it repaired, but it took over 30 days to get the part (new pump) from Whirlpool and by that time I’d found that I actually prefer doing the dishes by hand anyway. It is calming for me, the dishes are done in less than 10 mins and put away and I don’t have to schlep back into the kitchen to unload and put the dishes away later on or in the morning when I just want to read the newspaper and have my breakfast. Plus, I never have to stop and wash a pot, pan, or bowl that I need and it’s in the DW So now the DW makes a great storage area.
Different strokes for different folks. Plus, doing the dishes is also a togetherness chore, I wash and David dries, a chore we both enjoy doing together.
Eddie
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phillymatt53
Well-known member
Hiya Barry!
Hope you made it through the holiday intact.
As for your opening comment, indeed, people are all different, with different DNA, preferences and opinions.
It's human nature of course.
As for dishwashers:
I don't get all ape-crapped over such things, sure I'll use it, on occasion, when needed, if I'm doing a lot of cooking or entertaining.
That's what it's there for, to add some convenience and make a big job easier.
However, being alone at home, I don't generate a lot of dishes, etc.
So hand washing one or two plates, a cup or glass, a few untensils, etc., doesn't warrant my needing to chuck them in the DW, to sit in there, waiting.
Those things take me maybe less than 5 minutes to clean and put in the countertop sink dish rack. - no big deal.
But to hear someone spilling heavy whine, sounding like a damsel-in-distress over not being able to use their non-functional dishwasher, cracks me up.
Besides, it's only a temporary inconvenience, not a death penalty.
I can understand getting upset about a refrigerator/freezer going out as those are major inconveniences and cause a loss of food. Washer and dryer to lesser degree but still inconvenient. But a dishwasher? Nope.
phillymatt53
Well-known member
Yes, I'm sure you don't cry like a spoiled little girl over a temporary inconvenience like that.
Being an appliance collector, I rarely ever had to go without a dishwasher for over a day, because I just swap out for a working unit. It's just a convenience we get used to.
It shows how blessed/spoiled we are when we get upset about having to do dishes by hand. My mom grew up in southern Ohio, on a farm, before the rural electrification project was complete. No electricity, no ele yric lights, no refrigerator, no indoor plumbing. When they did dishes, my mom or one of her sisters (my aunts) would have to go out in the yard, hand pump water into a dish pan, carry it to the kitchen and then heat it up on their wood stove before they could wash a dish.
When I get upset about the dishwasher , washer, dryer refrigerator, vacuum or even a stopped up toilet, I think back to a time when my mom and family had absolutely none of those things. I feel pretty small and petty then. It's all about perspective. If someone gets upset about their dishwasher being broke, I can understand and I don't get upset if they whine and complain because we live in a world in which humans are spoiled rotten, and anything that deviates from out entitled lifestyle causes stress. I try to thing back when my mom and aunts washed clothes with a scrub board and tub, by hand. They cleaned soot from the kerosene lantern everday, pounded rugs on a clothesline to clean them, had to run to the root cellar to get cooled foods, and a night trip to use the bathroom meant a run out to the outhouse..rain, snow or Ice didn't deter. I remember my mom telling of the blisters anf fellons on her hand when she was very young from all if the scrubbing, sweeping and cutting the grass in the yard with a hand scythe. She couldn't sleep at night because of the pain.
If someone wants to rant because their dishwasher is not working, that's fine, that's their business. . As for me, I think back to the tine when life was not so easy for my mom, and so many others and I start being very, very grateful for what I do have.
phillymatt53
Well-known member
Barry, that was a very moving story, thank you.
I'm sure others can relate to that as well.
I know I can.
Life was so simple back then, and yes, today's "younger generation" cannot possibly understand how things were.
My mom also lived in the "old fasioned" era, except we had some of "the modern" technology of the day - heater, plumbing, electric. - The Philadelphia "Big City" life.
I don't remember if she ever told me about her early years as a child though.
She was too busy tending to the house, and teaching us kids how to be decent.
I used to help her with some chores though.
I remember that old Easy spin dryer washer in our basement that she let me help with the laundry.
We never had a dishwasher, but mom never complained, it was a part of life back then.
Ahh, the memories of years gone by!
I love having a dishwasher, and can't imagine wanting a kitchen that doesn't. That said, I don't care to fill it with pots, pans, bowls that I can do in a short time, and often do a better job on. Then there are a few pieces of glassware I don't want etched, so I wash them by hand. I won't put my Riedel wine glasses or Waterford in there ever!
I have not heard a customer complain about etching from their dishwasher in many years, the new pod type detergent are not as caustic and unless you have unusually soft water or some other situation, etching is about zero
We have about 30 water glasses and at least 6 to 12 of them go through the dishwasher every time it’s run, which is everyday, the glasses are over 25 years old and they all look like new, and even the lead crystal stem wear Champagne glasses, etc. always go in the dishwasher you’re not gonna wash them enough times to ever have any damage in your lifetime anyway.
Anything that doesn’t go in the dishwasher was donated to thrift stores years ago, if it doesn’t go in the dishwasher, it goes goodbye.
John L
We have about 30 water glasses and at least 6 to 12 of them go through the dishwasher every time it’s run, which is everyday, the glasses are over 25 years old and they all look like new, and even the lead crystal stem wear Champagne glasses, etc. always go in the dishwasher you’re not gonna wash them enough times to ever have any damage in your lifetime anyway.
Anything that doesn’t go in the dishwasher was donated to thrift stores years ago, if it doesn’t go in the dishwasher, it goes goodbye.
John L
Dishwasher were quite slow catching on over here, only 18% of UK homes had one in 1994 according to this article:- The dishwasher dream
I think we got our first sometime in the 80s, it was Hotpoint branded, but designed and manufactured by Bosch, so was a bit of a bargain. Hotpoint were apparently just getting into the dishwasher business and hadn't yet set up their own production line.
If we were building our kitchen today, I'd have two dishwashers. One being filled up as I used stuff from the other, to save putting the stuff we use daily away in a cupboard.
I think we got our first sometime in the 80s, it was Hotpoint branded, but designed and manufactured by Bosch, so was a bit of a bargain. Hotpoint were apparently just getting into the dishwasher business and hadn't yet set up their own production line.
If we were building our kitchen today, I'd have two dishwashers. One being filled up as I used stuff from the other, to save putting the stuff we use daily away in a cupboard.
vacerator
Well-known member
Most in the UK didn't have either funds or space for a dishwasher. WW2 recovery may be partly why. My sister was there in the 80's, and told me few had a microwave oven yet.
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