I would go with a washer. I can't imagine trying to do laundry by hand or having to rely on a laundromat. My mother grew up in the 40's in a family of 12 kids. She and her next older sister were tasked with doing the entire family laundry on a washboard in the bathtub, which included boiling, bleaching and bluing. So her one non negotiable was she wanted a washer even in a Brooklyn apartment. When we moved to Connecticut in 1966 the house didn't have a dryer or dishwasher - we didn't get either one until I was a senior in high school (around 1975). The dryer didn't get that much use since she was used to a clothes line and then it was saved for towels, underwear and socks. Everything else went outside.
She loved the idea that the dishwasher left glassware streak free and sparkling but hated leaving dirty dishes even for one day and wasn't a big fan of unloading the thing as she liked everything tidied up and put away at the end of every meal and those dishes meant "unfinished business".
Fast forward to today. If necessary I could manage without a dishwasher since I live alone, and like my mother, use the clothesline more than the dryer. But for those occasions when I have a large dinner with lots of glasses, nothing beats the dishwasher for results. Over the years, I made sure to only have glassware that is dishwasher safe so the Villeroy and Boch can go in but the Kosta Boda is so fragile it breaks if you look at it the wrong way. Haven't used that in over 30 years. Last time was Christmas 1990, one of the coldest days of the year. After washing the wine glasses, placed them in the rack across from the window to air dry and someone then opened the kitchen window. The water we used must have been too hot and within less than a minute of the icy air rushing in, heard 5 popping noises and that was the end of 5 wine glasses. Lesson learned.
The kicker about hand dishwashing is that you just have to wash more carefully. One of my friends, an engineer who knows everything and lives like it's the 1940's literally refuses to use his dishwasher as anything more than a drying rack, even when he has his family dinners. He claims to have his dishwashing down to a "process" (a term engineers love) to minimize water usage, using dishwashing liquid very economically and get it done very quickly. Only one wrinkle. On more occasions than I care to count, dinner at his house usually includes re wiping flatware and glasses before I eat since both are usually streaked and spotted. Odd, he is remarkably fastidious everywhere else and accuses me of "drama washing" with the dishes.
Can't help it - I have an overly sensitive nose and the other unacceptable item for me on dishes and glasses is the "egg" or "poultry" smell that lingers after working with raw versions of either. I get a whiff of that at either someone's house or the diner or other restaurant and the meal is over before it starts. So drama queen or not, whenever working with either, before going into the dishwasher, everything gets rinsed in cold water and bleach first - bowls, utensils, cutting boards, sink, etc...
Works for me.
