Family size plays a part in this. My family had a load of dishes every night in the dishwasher. Two teen girls go through them.
They are grown and its just my wife and I. We experimented with letting the dishes go a few days and running a load. Decided it too messy and was easier to just wash them by hand as they get dirty. We start with fresh soapy water after breakfast. Takes just a few minutes to wash the plate/bowl and silverware we used. Add hot water after lunch and wash the same plates. If we eat dinner at home we add more hot water to the sink to wash the plates again. We eat dinner out at least 2 or 3 nights a week.
Works for us. Do you wait for a dishwasher load or wash as you dirty them?
Washing a couple rinsed out bowls, two spoons and 2 coffee cups doesn’t get the water dirty.
lunch, might be a few sandwich crumbs and a dab of mayo on the plate. We rinse off the crumbs before putting in the dish water.
One sink of soapy water lasts fine for us for a full day. Unless we fry something or cook hamburgers. The skillet fouls the soap water and it makes us replace the water. We often wait and wash the skillet last at night to avoid that problem.
Prophet Alien from Deep Space Nine: "Dishwasher? What is this?"
We don’t have a dishwasher in our trailer. We let them pile up in the sink until we can’t stand it anymore and then we (well, usually Mom) clean them by hand.
It balances out somewhat, since I’m the one who usually does the cooking.
There are only two of us but we run a load every day. Sometimes we run the dishwasher twice a day depending on day of the week. It all depends on what we cook. We hand wash bigger pots/lids that don’t fit in the machine.
Dish washing is my least favorite chore. Tackling a full sink of dishes isn’t something I’d willingly do. Unless the wife gave me one of her sideways looks. Thank goodness they invented dishwashers.
I’m fine with washing up the few things two people dirty at a meal. Thankfully neither of us is picky. I use the same glass throughout the day. We serve dessert on our dinner plate (that we just used) and not a clean dish. We alternate dish washing duties by week. Life is simpler with the kids gone.
On Sundays the kids and partners come over for Dinner and each washes their own dishes when they finish eating, I do mine and the pans etc after they leave.
Both. Some things I just wash by hand because it’s easier. My husband likes to put things in the dishwasher, so if I’m tired they go in the dishwasher to help fill it up.
We don’t have a dishwasher – there’s no room in our kitchen, unless we take out the one cupboard. So I handwash them everyday. I usually wash and dry the breakfast dishes, my mother washes the dinner ones, and I’ll dry them.
I loathe washing dishes, but, like I said, no room for a dishwasher. I never let dishes sit, unless it’s something that was used to cook a heavy meal, and it needs to soak. (A roasting pot, a casserole dish, etc)
I empty the dishwasher after I’ve run a load. I put dirty dishes in the dishwasher until it’s full enough to run a load. Then I take the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and repeat.
I erred in my poll. Shouldn’t have assumed most everybody had a DW. Much like they have washers and dryers. Although apartments often don’t have connections for a Washer. I had to use a laundromat for a couple years and hated it.
My first DW was a roll up type that connect to the faucet on the kitchen sink. Then we had a built in installed after purchasing our home.
learned something tonight. These appliances aren’t found everywhere.
Anytime I watch a very old tv show and they wash dishes it makes me think how tough life was back then. Big, big families with maybe four or five kids and a full sink of dishes to deal with every night. No wonder they showed the kids teaming up, one washing and one drying.
Thank goodness they invented dishwashers.