When I lived alone, I practically never used the dishwasher. One cereal bowl in the morning, a plate in the evening, maybe a pot or two - I’d have taken 3-4 days to even remotely fill the thing. Well, actually, I did use it - as a dish drying rack
With 2 or more people in the household, we have enough dishes that it’s really worth it. I think it does save water, especially the newer ones where you aren’t supposed to do so much pre-rinsing (I scrape the dishes off before loading it). We recently replaced ours because the old one was dying, and we got a more space-efficient model (less wasted space inside so handles larger dishes). We still fill it up completely once a day. I love it and would never be without one.
If you’re planning on a remodel, definitely keep space for one. Even if you don’t use it that often, somewhere down the line you (or your heirs) will sell the place and it would really harm the resale value of the place. Even if you don’t use it that often as a dishwasher, you can use it as a dish drainer! Or you could use it for storage of clean dishes and free up cabinet space that way.
Although I am single, I cook a lot. I usually run my dishwasher every other day or so. I definitely would not want to do without one. I think the last time I lived without one was sophomore year in college, but that doesn’t count because I usually ate at the dining hall.
I hate washing dishes by hand. I know that if I didn’t have a dishwasher dishes would pile up all too easily. Heck, they do now for the pans that I have to do by hand - I’d hate to think how bad it would be without one!
I have read that, but my experience (I live alone) is that my water usage dropped drastically when I started washing my dishes in the sink. My toilet on the back downstairs porch also cracked (froze) last winter. Between these two my water usage went from 1200 to 800 cubic feet over 3 months. so, I decided to make the trip upstairs and discontinue use of that toilet. Such a waste of water. And I had absolutely no idea old dishwashers used so much water. Maybe the new ones use less.
I never had to do without a dishwasher until college. I hate dishes. Just cannot stand it. I love love love my dishwasher (except that it sucks donkey balls, but I will definately love love love the one I eventually get to replace it.) I live alone, but I like to cook. All I handwash is good knives (of which I have three) and nonstick pans (one). And cast iron, but that I don’t even put water in unless it needs it. The only problem is that this one takes forever - it came with the house. Even the “water saver” cycle takes ages.
Oh, and another benefit of the dishwasher not previously mentioned:
Sure saves time when you have 2 cases of empty beer bottles to sanitize before filling with another batch of home brew. Doing it by hand is the pits, and even people in one bedroom apartments like to make their own beer!
I am assuming that you meant the small opening in the bottle not really seeming like it would let enough water in to scour the inside of the bottle? This hasn’t been a problem with a decent dishwasher. If the bottles are really scrungy (mold and cigarette butts) I use ordinary detergent for one cycle. After that, or if they just have beer and yeast in them to start with, just a normal cycle with plain water. I’d use the Sanitize feature if your dishwasher has it (heats the water up to 170 F or so), but mine never have and the results were still good.
But while the dishwasher makes it easier, I’m still asking Santa for a CO2 Cornelius keg to avoid this whole issue.
Cunctator, some people run the water the whole time they’re washing dishes in the sink, and that may be a factor the 20-gallon figure is considering, though I wouldn’t swear to it. I would think, though, that the one or two dishwasher loads a week my parents run would save water versus the seven to fourteen sinkfuls of hand-washing they would do otherwise. (They use a lot of dishes, but they also have a roomy dishwasher.) I like washing dishes, but no one else in my family does. If my mother cooks, my father washes dishes, and vice versa, but Mom often re-washes what Dad has washed because he doesn’t get them properly clean. (In which case, I would just wash them myself to start with, rather than relishing another opportunity to tell my father how useless and stupid he is, but I am not my mother, and that’s a completely different thread anyway.) So their dishwasher, which I bought for them as an early Christmas present, is a very valued appliance. Me, I don’t care one way or the other.
I’m a bit confused. How does getting rid of a toilet save you water? You use the bathroom the same amount of times, so how does only using one toilet, vs. whichever is convenient, save water?
Echoing what some others have already said – I have almost no counter space and a small sink, so unless I wash dishes right after we eat, the kitchen looks a mess. I run the dishwasher maybe two or three times a week.
I had a dishwasher in another house, but the kitchen was huge, with tons of counter space. I swear, I could fix a holiday dinner and you wouldn’t notice any mess. I never used the dishwasher there. Not once. Big double sink, greenhouse window, looking onto a huge backyard. Washing dishes was a pleasure.
I don’t understand how anyone manages to live without a dishwasher, unless they have even lower standards of housekeeping than I do (and that’s saying a lot).
Mr. Neville didn’t have one in the apartment he lived in before we were married. I swear, there were dishes that sat in his sink for six months before he’d wash them. I’m not much better, so we definitely need our dishwasher.
