dishwasher-is it needed???

Question

ok so i still wash dishes with hand(no comments plz),but have been having second thoughts as to whether i shud buy a dishwasher??my queries are :
is it real cost effective leaving aside the power and water bills.
does it really save time what with pre rinse and all???
do i need to load the dishwasher full to use it or small amounts of crockery can be cleaned?
thanks for ur responses

Answer 1

I find that I rinse before putting them in, too... Call me kooky! ; )

What I am particular about with the dishwasher is the sanitizing through the heat. It really does a better job of cleaning. I even run new dishes through before placing in the cabinet. (And when we moved when unpacking them...)

The nice thing is that if you empty the dishwasher when it completes the cycle, as dishes are used, you can just lightly rinse and place IN the dishwasher. When the day is through, add the soap and run it through. Unload in the morning. It keeps the clutter off your counter and out of the sink.

Hope that helped a little...
Best Wishes! ; )

Answer 2

It depends on your usage. If you can manage to fill the washer before needing the things in it, then usually "yes" it saves money. The heat, as well as the chemicals in the soap (which are very strong compared to your soap that you use for hand washing), sanitize well. It's an easy way to keep your counters cleaned off without using bits of hot water and soap a dozen times a day.
I had rooming houses, used mine often 3 times a day! but now once every 3 days. I do NOT go to extremes to rinse things off , either. Mine actually has a rinse cycle, so If I'm not going to wash for a couple of days, I run the rinse cycle once a day or so, and then do the complete wash with hot water when the washer is full

HINT: if you have a hot water tank, instead of instant hot water, run your hot water until it is very warm, before you turn on the dishwasher. That cleans better, and saves having to electrically heat the water within the dishwasher if you are using that option.

Most people LOVE them.

Answer 3

Dishwashers are not what they use to be a long time ago, they are more efficient now and will save you electric as they have energy settings and drying settings such as air dry which uses no heat to dry and there is also a real plus here, it is sanitary because you don't need a towel to dry; towels are unsanitary because they tend to have bacteria on them, also they use less water, I don't even notice a difference in my water bill when using my dishwasher, you will also save time which I am sure you would love to have more of and not to mention your hands, you probably have dry hands because of all the washing which causes you to buy lots of lotion well having a dishwasher you could save this money by having a dishwasher and spending it on more luxury items for yourself rather than on your hands. And of course you save more water than you do washing by hand, because water in the dishwasher is recirculated so actually it uses less water than you are when you have to rinse off your dishes by hand, so you see a dishwasher is not the expensive appliance you once thought it was. Good Luck ! And Oh, I have a Whirlpool dishwasher which is known to be the best dishwasher and has the fewest breakdowns of any dishwasher brand. And now there is no pre rinsing of dishes like there use to be in days gone by.

Answer 4

I have a dishwasher I don't use, but my wife does occasionally.
My experience with them is they are not efficient at all. You have to pre-rinse, load, unload, and then wash everything that didn't get washed.
It's a lovely idea, but dishwashing appliances are inferior to just plain ole' rolling up the sleeves with a rag,sponge, brillo, and a bottle of Dawn.
You also feel a sense of accomplishment after cleaning up the supper dishes you can't get from unloading the dish washer.
If you think I'm wrong, just try it.
Give your wife, girlfriend, a pardon.
Tell them, I'm going to do it by myself, I'm sure they won't complain, at least right then.
Wash some by hand while the dishwasher is running, make your decision later.
If you don't mind pulling dishes out of the dishwasher with residual food still on your plates and silverware and serving that way, then it doesn't matter. Otherwise, just do the dishes normally.

Answer 5

A new energy efficient dishwasher is a lot more cost effective. Most new models don't require a 'pre-rinse' like the older ones. All you have to do now is scrape all of the food bits off., My mom went a month without using hers and noticed a spike in her electricity bill and water bill. If you have the money, get one it will save time and money and they also have ones with low load and high load settings.

Answer 6

I can see where it might be, for a household with a lot of people or for people who suffer from arthritis for instance.

But for only one or two people, if you wash your dishes immediately after meals, I really don't see how the machine would be beneficial. It's noisy, uses electricity and water, and really puts a major pull on the water pressure so a person who wants to take a shower can't.

Answer 7

My husband and I think the dishwasher is wonderful. There have been tremendous improvements over the years since they first came out. Some say you no longer have to rinse but I don't want unnecessary food scraps clogging the washer and old habits die hard. But it is no longer the scrubbing I gave with the old washers, it is just a quick run under the tap. We have never actually bought a new one, we always wait till someone is moving and wants to get rid of the portable type on wheels that you just attach the hose to your sink when you want to use it. We ensure that it is a fairly recent model that is in good working order and we don't end up paying much for it, so you save money this way also besides that the newer ones seem fairly efficient in the use of water. Since we don't have a truck we were lucky that the last owners of it actually delivered it for us and all we had to buy was the appropriate sink adaptor for our faucet, under $10.00. A lot of people want to give away built in models but we checked and they often cut wires etc. to remove them and you have to pay alot for someone who knows wiring, plumbing and carpentery. Companies will charge a lot for the machine either second hand or new to cover this and then claim that they don't charge much for installation if you buy from them. The one we got is fairly new with no problems and we didn't pay much for it. We did see some fairly new ones for free in the papers also but you have to be fast and have your own truck or trailer to go right away and pick them up usually. But people will tend to hold ones for you that you agree to pay something for so you can get some local guy with a truck to get it for you. Of course you usually have to pay him something to.

You never saw glasses and crystal come so clean and shining from handwashing, and in todays machines you can wash your good parragon bone china dishes safely as long as you get one that has a range of settings from heavy pots to fine china. We had some parragon packed away for years in storage etc. and hand washing just didn't want to get all the heavy dust stain off. Maybe alot of soaking would of worked but we just right away decided to pop the whole set in the dishwasher and they came out smooth and sparkling clean in one go, shining like new. You couldn't put these in the original dishwashers, they would have gotten broken. I am so happy and my husband is so thrilled that he is popping every dish and glass mug crystal in the house in and thrilled with it and he doesn't feel that he is washing dishes. I am even thinking about putting ornaments in and even royal dolten figurines, because it is so gentle on them and everything is shining like new.

It saves time because you just pop them in and can go about doing something else while the machine is running. Some cycles are long, some short depending what you set it for. You can also wait to run it until it is full and you don't have dishes and bowls all over you counters and in your sinks.
Small amounts can be cleaned at a time but why waste the water. The instructions said no plastic but on the fine dish cycle we put our microwave plastic in that we use to cook with in the microwave and they also came out like new, I didn't recognize them. I thought they might melt from the heat but they didn't. I was also surprised that it doesn't use up all your hot water. When my husband was handwashing
dishes and there were clothes in the washing machine in the past, if I tried to take a shower and he was turning the taps on and off for the dishes, I would have sudden cold and hot water changes in the shower that were dangerous in the past. The dishwasher was on instead recently while the clothes washer was on and although I noticed some changes in the water in the shower it wasn't so dramatic or dangerous. Of course I guess always best not to be running any other water when showering, but in real life in hectic households this is not always the case. Hope this helps.

Also, since we move fairly often we can leave the dishwashers behind and keep getting even newer models for us at our new locations and not feel like we lost money on the deal and thus also allows for paying for a smaller moving van. Sometimes, we've taken one with us for a couple of years and being portable this is easily done too. The portable ones with the wood tops, also serve to give you extra counter space in the kitchen. Whereas built ins lose you counter space.

Answer 8

Regardless of what they say, you still have to rinse the dishes before putting them in the diswasher. My neighbor has one that is supposed to have a garbage disposal built in and her dishes are always dirty.