- Home
- Home and Garden
- Pros And Cons Of Washing Dishes By Hand Rather Than Relying On A Dishwasher
Pros And Cons Of Washing Dishes By Hand Rather Than Relying On A Dishwasher
- By Liz Cooper
- Published 13 Sep 2007
- Home and Garden
- Unrated
While advertisers work hard to convince you that every kitchen needs a built in dishwasher, the truth of the matter showcases that these appliances – while offering a certain amount of convenience – are by far not a must have for each and every household. Pros and cons of washing dishes by hand rather than relying on a dishwasher are plentiful.
For example, have you ever opened the door of your dishwasher only to be greeted with a forbidding stench that reminds you of the smells that may greet you from the dumpsters behind any number of restaurants? If so, then the odds are good that you do not generate enough dirty dishes to warrant the use of a full sized dishwasher. Perhaps you are living by yourself or you and your family members eat out a lot, and thus you rarely use dishes at home. If you wish to continue the use of a dishwasher, a smaller model will most certainly do the trick. On the other hand, if your sink emits the smells of rotting food and you have flies buzzing around in your kitchen since nobody will – voluntarily – lift a finger to hand-wash the dishes until you are down to the last plate, fork and cup, then perhaps a dishwasher will be a useful investment indeed.
Another reason to wash dishes by hand is the fact that commercial dishwashers with their high temperature washes will use up a lot of energy and also water. When washing by hand, and assuming that you have a double sink installed in your kitchen, you will be able to have one side of the sink filled with warm, sudsy water, while th
e other side may be filled with cool, clear water for rinsing. Without needing to have the water run in order to clean, you will be environmentally friendly while saving money on energy and water consumption. Of course, there are those who claim that they need dishwashers to sanitize the dishes placed in the dish racks, and for them a safe dish – washer sanitized – is the only one they would eat from. While this might be a con for hand washing the dishes and a pro for the dishwashers, the fact that a tiny amount of liquid bleach added to the water will have the same effect will quickly dispel that myth.
Last but not least, consider that sterling silver silverware, kitchen knives, and of course the finer long stemmed glasses should not be washed in a machine, not even in the top racks or silverware racks that are usually attached to the bottom shelves. Additionally, your high quality cookware will benefit greatly from your personal attention, since many of the dishwasher detergents are so harsh that they will actually scratch the surface of the more susceptible materials.
In all reality, unless you have a battery of dish rack dollies, fill up racks with used up dishes every night, and if you use more silverware than an average bed and breakfast, you could probably benefit from a dishwasher and by and large the idea of washing dishes by hand may appear impractical. On the other hand, if you are using that many dishes, then the odds are pretty good that you also have a lot of eaters there who could lend a helping hand – and if some of them are kids, then you know that it is never too early to teach them the proper way of doing dishes by hand!
For example, have you ever opened the door of your dishwasher only to be greeted with a forbidding stench that reminds you of the smells that may greet you from the dumpsters behind any number of restaurants? If so, then the odds are good that you do not generate enough dirty dishes to warrant the use of a full sized dishwasher. Perhaps you are living by yourself or you and your family members eat out a lot, and thus you rarely use dishes at home. If you wish to continue the use of a dishwasher, a smaller model will most certainly do the trick. On the other hand, if your sink emits the smells of rotting food and you have flies buzzing around in your kitchen since nobody will – voluntarily – lift a finger to hand-wash the dishes until you are down to the last plate, fork and cup, then perhaps a dishwasher will be a useful investment indeed.
Another reason to wash dishes by hand is the fact that commercial dishwashers with their high temperature washes will use up a lot of energy and also water. When washing by hand, and assuming that you have a double sink installed in your kitchen, you will be able to have one side of the sink filled with warm, sudsy water, while th
Last but not least, consider that sterling silver silverware, kitchen knives, and of course the finer long stemmed glasses should not be washed in a machine, not even in the top racks or silverware racks that are usually attached to the bottom shelves. Additionally, your high quality cookware will benefit greatly from your personal attention, since many of the dishwasher detergents are so harsh that they will actually scratch the surface of the more susceptible materials.
In all reality, unless you have a battery of dish rack dollies, fill up racks with used up dishes every night, and if you use more silverware than an average bed and breakfast, you could probably benefit from a dishwasher and by and large the idea of washing dishes by hand may appear impractical. On the other hand, if you are using that many dishes, then the odds are pretty good that you also have a lot of eaters there who could lend a helping hand – and if some of them are kids, then you know that it is never too early to teach them the proper way of doing dishes by hand!