Washing dishes by hand

[ryner1988]

You all might remember my post of a few weeks ago, where my dishwasher started running without latching properly. Well, it continued to work in this state for several weeks, not even leaving any water on the floor in its wake, so I kept using it, after notifying maintenance of the issue. Well, maintenance is slow here, so nothing has been done yet. Now the DW is leaking from the bottom (there is a small puddle in front of it on the floor every time a cycle completes), and my Cascade pods aren't opening during the cycle. I keep finding them in random places, usually close to the dispenser, and almost completely intact, so no detergent is getting to the dishes.

So, I've started hand-washing our dishes every evening while I continue to wait on maintenance to move their butts. And you know, I've found that I don't mind this very much, as long as I keep up on it. It's certainly nice to have every dish clean at the end of each day, and not have to wash a random spatula because it's in the dishwasher waiting to be cleaned with a full load. I could probably get used to this and not really care about having a DW in working order very much, but I do miss it sometimes.

My question, though, is how to make the process of hand-washing dishes more efficient. I haven't done it for nearly 10 years, with the exception of washing a random item here or there that I need for cooking, and my God I forgot how much water it uses to hand-wash. Having to keep the water constantly running to rinse the dishes off just seems so incredibly wasteful to me. I hope my gas bill doesn't go up by much having to heat all that water every evening. Everyone who says that dishwashers use less water than washing dishes by hand are certainly correct, the difference is honestly kind of astounding.

Anyone have any suggestions to increase efficiency, and maybe speed, of this chore while I wait for my dishwasher to be repaired?

Thanks all,

Ryne

 

[rp2813]

A Dishmaster may be something to consider.  I really liked using the one we had, as there was rarely ever a dirty dish, bowl, glass or utensil in the sink since the Dishmaster made such short work of washing and rinsing.  Prices have gone through the roof, however.  We paid less than $50 for ours in the mid '80s.  These days they cost more than seven times that for the lowest priced model M76.  They are definitely old school and right at home in a retro kitchen, and are easy to install in either a wall mount or deck mount configuration.   I have an M76 that has seen very minimal use and is in its original box.  I got it fairly cheap on eBay a couple of years ago but can't use it with my current sink.   If anyone is interested, shoot me a washermail.

 

Here's a link to a brief demonstration.  It doesn't go into detailed instructions, but there's probably more information on line.

 

[ea56]

Ryne,
I knew it would only be a matter of time before your DW started to leak when you last relayed your report about how the door wasn’t latching but the DW would still run.

I rediscovered my preference for washing the dishes by hand when our DW stopped working in April 2018 and I had to wait over 3 weeks for it to be repaired. I’d forgotten how nice it was to always have every pot, pan, bowl and utensil available whenever I needed them because they weren’t sitting in the DW waiting for the next cycle to be run. No more stopping to wash something I needed by hand because they had already been washed by hand.

I don’t use a lot of water doing the dishes. I stack them and while the water is running to get hot I quickly rinse them under the warning stream of water. Then I run about 2” of hot water in the sink with the dish soap with the silverware and utensils in the bottom of the sink. I wash these items and rinse them over the side of the sink with the dishwater in it using a very low running stream of hot water, allowing the rinse water to collect in the sink, then this order I wash the glasses, cups, plates, bowls and lastly the pots and pans using the same technique for rinsing. All the washed dishes get stacked in an old fashioned Rubbermaid dish drainer. The heat from the hot rinse water allows the dishes to almost be completely air dry by the time the last pan is rinsed.

By the time I’m finished with a typical nights dinner dishes for the two of us there is usually only 4” to 5” of soapy dishwater in the sink. Now wasted water here. This whole process takes me 10 mins or less from beginning to end. I don’t leave the water running, I turn it off and on as needed.

Then I use the dishcloth and hot dishwater to wipe down the counters, stovetop and the drainboard. BTW, I like to use an old fashioned waffle weave dishcloth to wash the dishes and Palmolive dish soap. For the pots and pans I use Barkeepers Friend and a Scothbrite sponge with nylon scrubbing side.

By the time our DW was finally repaired I’d decided that I would probably never use it again and so far I haven’t and I don’t miss using it a bit!

I know most folks here on AW.org probably think I’m crazy as a crap house rat for liking to wash dishes by hand, but to me it is efficient and strangely calming. Plus I don’t have to come back to the kitchen later on in the evening, or worse yet in the morning when I get up to unload the DW and possibly have to stop and hand wash something that didn’t get completely clean.

To each his own. You may find that you too don’t find the task of dishwashing so onerous if your DW is outta commission for a few weeks too.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 10/20/2024-01:43]

 

[mattl]

Put me in the opposite camp...

As a rule, with a few exemptions,  is if it can't go in the DW I don't want it in my kitchen.

 

For stuff  I have to hand wash I fill the left sink bowl with hot water and lots of Dawn ultra. As stuff is washed it goes in the right bowl, when full it get rinsed first with  the sprayer then finished off under running water if needed.

 

I run everything I can through the DW including all the shelves and bins from my SxS fridge. Not a fan of hand washing anything I can avoid.

 

[askolover]

Ditto that with the exception of my grandmother's cast iron cookware...and it never gets "washed" anyway. And nothing sticks in it.

 

[angus]

Since I live alone, washing dishes by hand isn't a huge chore. I have found over the years that given the number of dishes I use in a day, I can get by with hand washing. If however, I am doing a lot of cooking or hosting a holiday, then it's dishwasher all the way. My only real pet peeve is glassware. Since I use the same coffee cup and drinking glass every day, again, I can deal with that by hand. However, no amount of hand washing can compete with the dishwasher for spotless and sparkling glassware and flatware (unless I am using my grandmother's silver flatware - have to do that by hand). Pots and pans never go into the DW since they take up valuable real estate, and of course cast iron frying pans only get a rinse and dry and a quick trip into a low oven to ensure they are dry. Only thing I will ever use to clean anything stuck on a cast iron pan is some kosher salt and a cloth to scrub.

 

[combo52]

Washing dishes by hand,

Boy, I agree with Matt and Greg if it doesn’t go in the dishwasher it’s seldom gets used only a few very large items do I ever wash by hand I might wash two items by hand a month. We do a lot of cooking here and we have a lot of guests lately I can completely get the kitchen cleaned up and literally two minutes unload the entire dishwasher in less than five and put everything away,

Hi Ryne there is something wrong with your dishwasher. It’s obviously not circulating water. If the detergent isn’t dissolving, what is wrong with maintenance? Have you considered a rent strike? Around here You have one week once a tenant reports a problem This significant up to have it resolved if they can’t fix it quickly, you have to replace the appliance.

John

 

[ryner1988]

Reply #2: Hi Eddie, thanks for your response. The problem is I have to keep the rinse water going, so that I can rinse the dishes under the stream -- we only have one drain plug so can only fill one side of the sink. So, sounds like I'll just have to buy another drain plug, no biggie.

Reply #6: Hi John, maintenance here is baaaad. They took a whole year to fix our toilet that had such weak flushing pressure that it couldn't handle number two's properly. We had to fill a bucket with water and pour it down the toilet to get number two's to go down, which was inexcusable and you best believe I was in that apartment office every single week. They had one excuse after another, from staffing shortages to they just didn't have the parts. In the end they just ended up replacing the toilet, which is what I suggested to them all along, ugh.

So, with the dishwasher I doubt they'll take it very seriously, since it took a whole damn year to replace our malfunctioning toilet.

It took us a long while to get into this place which is wheelchair accessible for Stacye. It's one of the only complexes in the city with a roll-in shower, for instance, so we really try not to make waves. If it was just me, I'd probably be more willing to take drastic actions like refusing to pay rent until repairs were made, because I can live anywhere if they wanted to kick me out. However, Stacye can't just live anywhere, it takes forever to get accessible housing, so they kind of have us by the balls unfortunately. She has a pretty strong fear of being evicted and having no where to go that can meet her accessibility needs, so she gets forced into institutional care having no other choice. I know that sounds like an extreme reaction, but I understand and respect her fear so I try really hard to keep the peace with the office staff. I do think they know that a lot of people here need the features of the complex, so they can get away with whatever which is BS.

 

[ea56]

Ryne,
Even though we have a twin sink I only use the left hand sink for washing and rinsing. By adding a minimal amount of hottest water to begin and allowing the hot rinse water to go into the wash water by rinsing OVER the wash water I don’t waste water. I use a very fine stream of water to rinse, turning it off after each item is rinsed. This way the wash water level slowly increases so there is more water to wash the larger items at the end of the process like the pots and pans. No need to use both sides of the sink just because you have two sinks, the whole process can be easily be done in one sink only.

Eddie

 

[ea56]

Ryne,
Here is a You Tube video that is similar to how I wash and rinse my dishes by hand. I don’t use a dishpan like the lady in the video does, it otherwise her method is pretty much like mine. If you have a large kitchen sink like hers in the video and have a plastic dish pan you could wash your dishes just like she does. The most important take away from this video is to start out with a small amount of water and rinse the dishes over the wash water to use less water and TURN OFF the water between rinsing each item, don’t leave the water running, it isn’t necessary.

HTH,
Eddie

 

[appnut]

My mom was the same, if it cannot go in the DW, it doesn't get used. And there were just a few special pieces that fell into that category. I live by myself, but all still get accumulated in the dishwaher. monitoring my water consumption during 3 winter months impacts my sewar bill and I work hard to keep it that way. Thus all stuff washed in washer and dishwasher. No exceptions. No matter how long it takes to fill a load.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

dishwasher

I hate washing dishes by hand, so I mostly wash everyday dishes in my dishwasher which could clean anything I throw at it. It frees me time to do other things.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well our dishwasher washes everything thoroughly and flawlessly so well and so much that I gave all,our liquid dishwashing soap to my dad who washes all his stuff by hand...

Our dishwasher even has a small thin rack in the top of of its cabinet for washing such small items so they don't fall what's through to the middle and bottom racks..

-- Dave

 

[dermacie]

When I have people over or cooking a lot I usually wash items by hand. I use a dishpan prefilled with hot soapy water, and so I don’t have to run the sink the whole time, I often use a second one to to rinse too. I use collapsible ones now, but they sell regular ones at the dollar store. I am partial to Dawn and Dawn spray.

 

[bpetersxx]

sorry about the quality

also may be the broken one that i bollixed up

 

[qsd-dan]

I hand wash all of my non-stick ceramic coated pots and pans. Fire up the dishwasher(s) after since the hot water line(s) are purged by then.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

To me, owning a dishwasher is just as important as owning a refrigerator, a range, a washer and dryer or any other appliance...

And so I'm grateful many homes and people in them as times become ever newer more commonly have and kitchens that may not have had the space to are finally to me gaining...

-- Dave

 

[tolivac]

Since my new house has a dishwasher-use it at least once per day.Its a Frigidaire.

 

[appnut]

Congratulations Rex!!!!