Tag Archives: dishwasher

Do I Really Need a Dishwasher?

Dishwasher open for loading

In my previous post, I said that sometimes we buy things that are really unnecessary. I can see that a dishwasher can add a lot of convenience to one’s life and save some time, but I’ve never had one or used one. I know it’s pretty shocking, but, no, I’ve never used this appliance which was invented decades ago. You see, growing up, our house did not have a dishwasher. When my sister and I were old enough, we would help with the dishes. One would scrub and soap the dishes, and the other one would rinse them. After I got married and moved into an apartment, there was a dishwasher in the kitchen, but we never used it. The kitchen was tiny and could probably only fit four people standing side by side, and of course storage was at a premium so we just stored dishes and pans in the dishwasher. Another reason we didn’t use it was because it was just me and my wife, and we really didn’t accumulate that many dishes where we thought we would save time by using the dishwasher.

Now that we purchased a co-op, we still don’t use a dishwasher. The previous owner was a single elderly lady who had lived in the co-op for 20 years and never installed a dishwasher. When we were getting some work done in the apartment, I thought to myself, should we have a dishwasher installed? I set out to take an informal poll and asked people if they thought it was something they used often and whether I would benefit from getting one.

First, I asked an older co-worker and she said that when her kitchen was remodeled, a dishwasher was added but she rarely used it. She’s more of an old school person and the same person who rolled her eyes when her daughter didn’t know how to warm a baby bottle without a bottle warmer. I asked another person who had a family which includes two teenaged kids and she also said that she didn’t use the dishwasher all that often. She admitted to being a bit of a neat freak who couldn’t stand to let dirty dishes accumulate in the dishwasher, so she just washes them. Another couple jumped in during the conversation and said that new dishwashers could do small loads so there was no need to let dishes accumulate in the dishwasher. I also asked them what the point of a dishwasher is if I need to wash them before loading them into the dishwasher, but was told that, once again, these new dishwashers don’t require pre-washing of the dishes. So I asked this couple who raved about the cool new features in modern dishwashers how often they used theirs. They said they didn’t use it all that often because it was just the two of them and it was often easier and faster just to wash them by hand! Although they did say that dishwashers are great when you have people over. The other person who was a part of the conversation agreed that they were great when you had parties.

Okay, so there is a consensus that dishwashers are great to have when you have a lot of people over and there are a lot of dishes to wash. I can definitely see that being the case, but we don’t have weekly dinner parties with a lot of people. And sometimes when we do have a good amount of people over, we don’t mind using plastic cups and plates. We don’t have any fine china to bring out for “special occasions.” Don’t worry, sometimes we might use premium plastic plates and utensils. Yea, we keep it classy in the Living Rich Cheaply household!

Based on my conversations with those who have dishwashers, it hasn’t persuaded me to take the leap and buy one. I’ll save on the costs of buying it and installing it, and while our kitchen is now bigger, a dishwasher would take up a lot of needed space. Another thing is that a weird part of me doesn’t really mind doing the dishes (Shh! Don’t tell my wife). It is oddly therapeutic to do something that doesn’t require thinking. Maybe I’ll change my mind as our family grows and there are more dishes to do. But then again, maybe I can hand the task of washing dishes to my kids like what my sister and I used to do.

So do you have a dishwasher and how often do you use it?