Ask HN: What is your system for dirty dishes?
We have a lot of systematic thinkers here and I’d love to know what you all have come up with. What is your system for the kitchen sink, dishwasher, etc? Did you institute the process or did someone else in your household? Are you happy with it? And of course, any innovative ideas to improve? Happy new year everyone :) I handwash all dishes and can go through maybe 50+ in about 5 minutes. My approach is very efficient. * First, get every dish wet (so that the food will rinse off easier), just a quick splash of water the surface of every dish. * Then, soap your sponge and begin cleaning. Stack all dishes off to the side sensibly (plates on bottom, bowls on top, silverware atop that). Don't put your sponge down to rinse off anything. * After you soap and stack eveything, begin rinsing. * Put the entire stack (or half of it) under the faucet. The running water from the top will flow down to the bottom, making it easier and faster to wash each subsequent dish. * Run your hands through each dish as you rinse with water to detect and remove any remaining food. Finally you are done! This method is great because it reduces redundant action (putting down, picking up sponge) and because it "compounds" others (lets the same water rinse multiple dishes). Also, always remember to wash dishes when you have downtime while cooking - you will have no "prep dishes" to clean by the time you eat, and instead only eating dishes. I know that hand washing is water-inefficient, compared to modern machines, but I find it a very satisfying activity. When I was working from home I found it a great activity to use as a break from work. there are other considerations as well. a dishwasher has a breakeven point of about 2 people eating ~2 meals a day (e.g., 4 place settings a day), because that's the least amount of dishes you need to run it once a day. anything less, and it becomes an additional cognitive load rather than being a mindless convenience. moreover, stuck-on food becomes extra dry overnight and that generally leads to less clean dishes. if you're a single person looking for an apartment (or even a couple who eat out all the time), you should consider a built-in dishwasher negative value because it's priced in to the cost but you likely won't use it (a washing machine is always nice to have though). Yes, I also use very little water! Only the rinsing part at the end, which maybe takes 2 to 3 minutes on low (much of the water is reused). +1 for cleaning as you go while cooking. When my wife cooks, the kitchen looks like a crime scene when she's done. It's cleaner than when I started when I cook. i do this same method and i don't know how you could get through 50(!) dishes in anything less than 15 minutes, unless they're not thoroughly cleaned. 5 minutes is the time it usually takes to do ~1 set of dishes (7-10 items), though that's partially because it lacks the compounding effects you mention. My method is almost the same. Dishwashers are a scam. Some dishwasher tips from one month ago: Gut epithelial barrier damage caused by dishwasher detergents and rinse aids I really do not understand dish washers: you have to clean the dish 80% before going into the washer, so why not spend the 10 seconds to actually wash the thing? I've timing both and hand washing beats dishwashers by an significant amount every time. This is an understanding based on a very incorrect usage of dish washers. Dishes are supposed to go into the dishwasher dirty, without rinsing. Any food garbage is supposed to be scraped off roughly (ie scrape off actual pieces of food but dont worry if a few rice stick to the plate). Dishwashers save on water and energy. They are convenient for bulk washing of dishes. Dishwashers need to be used correctly to be optimal, just like any other technology. For a family of 4 with 2 preschoolers it is absolutely necessary to have a dishwasher. Anyone who is sceptical of dishwashers and their merits needs to watch the Technology Connections video on dishwashers. > Any food garbage is supposed to be scraped off roughly (ie scrape off actual pieces of food but dont worry if a few rice stick to the plate). This is the part that takes 80% of the time, because you have to bring every dish to the garbage can that might not necessarily be next to a dishwasher. > Dishwashers save on water and energy. Both of which are negligible compared to the amount of water used for, say, heating and showering (not to mention the water that goes into agriculture for food you eat). > Anyone who is sceptical of dishwashers and their merits needs to watch the Technology Connections video on dishwashers. Or they just use very few dishes and figured out a method that works for them. > For a family of 4 with 2 preschoolers it is absolutely necessary to have a dishwasher. We did fine with two preschoolers and no dishwasher. I maintain that a 'touch once' is always faster than 'pick up, drop, pick up again, drop'. Furthermore: the second I see friends puzzle about 'where do I put this in this almost full dishwasher', I know they would have been faster doing it by hand. > Dishwashers save on water and energy. No, this is not true. I've measured and it depends. The dutch advisory site 'milieucentraal.nl' comes to the same conclusion: it depends. I suspect it likely could be if you're spraying everything to rinse it; use a few basins with a good sized rinse with sanitizer or bleach (measured -- ideally use a ph strip to avoid going too far here) and you can use quite a small amount of water for a good number of dishes. Of course, bothering to fill the basins for only a few dishes could be a waste, but when you're doing a whole family worth, you shouldn't need to run the sink while you're cleaning. Incorrect usage? Put dishes in with food on them: food gets heat baked onto the dish. So, a brief rinse fixes that, while a 5 second wipe with a soapy sponge eliminates the need for the dishwasher entirely. I run the dishwasher once every 2 days and I almost never have any issues with food sticking. I don't rinse anything, it all goes into the dishwasher and comes out clean 95% of the time. Do you cook? I've never seen a dishwsher that can clean a pot, or pan or baking dish that was used to cook food. I feel like every responding does not cook. It would require significantly high pressure water jets, with computer vision scanning and robotic hands rotating an item with cooked in food to be cleaned. I think none of you are cooking. You're just rinsing fast food dirtied plates. Yes, I do. Pans are usually not a problem, pots are not a problem unless there's something really stuck/burnt to the bottom but even then, washing it twice usually does the trick. Baking trays are the only thing that I clean by hand because they're too big to fit in the dishwasher. Well then, what brand and model washer? I literally just had a 2 year old washer Lg removed and replaced with ordinary shelves & drawers because the thing was absolutely worthless, not cleaning worth a damn. It's made by a company called Candy (EU) but unfortunately I don't have the exact model number. I can't say how it's going to hold up over time since I've only had it for around 2 years since I moved in. The only advice I have in this regard is making sure you're loading it correctly and not overloading it to the point where water spray can't reach your dishes. You've probably come across these videos already but just in case you haven't, Technology Connections released 2 videos on the topic of dishwashers that could be helpful: Thank you! modern dishwashers literally tell you _not_ to rinse and place dished in directly. i love seeing this 'hack' and knowing that it was a _total_ waste of time and energy. i can fill my dishwasher in 1 to 2 minutes, do _no_ washing at all, and 1 hour later all my dishes are spotless and sanitized. the damn thing runs at 35 decibels so i can't even hear it. > you have to clean the dish 80% before going into the washer No you don’t. You just empty the dishes and put them in the washer. That’s it. > I've timing both and hand washing beats dishwashers by an significant amount every time If you count the time the dishwasher is running, yeah sure. Otherwise it’s just pushing a button. This guy plays Factorio My strategy is to wash them or get them into the loading dishwasher as soon as possible, even if getting the pots and pans sorted out delays dinner by a minute or two. I get the best result by treating it as a part of the mise en place of cooking. I'm not especially tidy, and I live with someone who is also not especially tidy, so I learned quickly that if I ignore the dishes, they don't go away. > even if getting the pots and pans sorted out delays dinner by a minute or two Ha I do this too whereas my partner will happily come in and start cooking despite the kitchen being messy already, much to my chagrin. Yeah, I've been in games-of-chicken of each person tolerating the mess a little more so that the other will deal with it. It's not pretty. Everything gets washed by hand immediately after being used - during cooking if the recipe allows time for it, or right after the meal at the latest. Very happy with this system, I don't get the habit of piling dirty dishes on top of each other and having a separate time slot for a big wash. Same here. The longer it sits, the harder it gets, especially by hand. > during cooking if the recipe allows time for it A lot of meats, not just beef, can do with a little resting time. Veggies may need to cool just a little. Perfect for at least getting the cooking utensils, pots and pans washed. My experience with a wok is that you have to do this before the crud dries, or you can't keep the seasoning on it. Deglazing a wok at the end goes a long way -- through in half a cup to a cup of water while it's still hot after you've taken the food out, and scrape the bottom gently. Don't put in enough water that it'll cool the pan off entirely, just an amount you might be using when making a sauce. Even if you put off fully cleaning it until after your meal, you'll have saved yourself a bunch of work, on both cleaning and reseasoning (though I always throw a little oil on at the end for good measure). This is not what my actual system is but its the best one i've heard of, its very much a super lazy, throw money at the problem kind of solution. Have 2 dishwashers. Make sure all the dishes and cutlery you own fits in them. Fill one dishwasher with the dirty dishes, turn it on and onces its done, just leave the clean dishes in there, thats where they live now, thats the storage solution for them. As you use the clean dishes, load them into the other dishwasher until done, repeat the cycle. This does scream like a solution from a single guy with too much money, but honestly, i'd do it if my kitchen wasn't tiny. That doesn’t make a lot of sense, you don’t use the same set of cookware every time. Say you use a pot, put it in dishwasher A, wash it, now it lives clean here. Next meal you use a pan, put it in dishwasher B, wash it. Third meal you use a wok, where does it go? You still need to empty a dishwasher at some point. Do you have a room in your palace devoted only to dishwashers? Now I'm wondering how many washing machines you have. I don't really have a system so much as a cultivated intolerance for kitchen mess, such that I feel discomfort whenever I see it, producing a strong urge to deal with the problem immediately. I suppose you could call it a system if you described it as an interrupt-driven state machine: An outside observer might think I had regular, schedule-driven habits around kitchen cleaning, but it doesn't feel that way; I don't intentionally empty the clean dishes from the dishwasher every morning, that just happens as a consequence of making coffee. Load the dirty dishes and pans into the dishwasher as soon as finished using them. Turn the dishwasher on before going to bed. Take out the clean dishes first thing in the morning. This is a pretty standard algorithm, I suppose. What is somewhat unusual, I guess, is that, occasionally, I use the dishwasher to wash small appliances like a rice cooker, an electric kettle, or a water filter pitcher. It probably shortens their lifespan but I think it's worth the saved time. I attempt something similar. I always end up with extra dishes in the sink, so I finish loading them in the evening and run it before bed. I also wash rice cookers and stuff like that. It definitely shortens the lifespan, but I also agree that it's worth the time saved. Let things pile up until I don't have any countertop space to cook, then clean everything in a rush and convince myself that this time™ I'm going to keep it clean. This, without the last part. I regularly use all the available dishes, cookware, cutlery, cups, etc until it's ALL used then wash it all at once. Just a few rules, always rinse right after eating/cooking. Stack _rinsed_ things by type. Never leave anything in the sink so that it's always usable (there's 1 or 2 sinks but plenty of countertop space, it's mindblowing how people argue that the sink should be filled first but I digress). The actual washing part: I don't have that much stuff so it takes around one hour maybe. Almost always I do it before cooking. I don't mind washing dishes and pots (rinsed already, remember?) but cutlery is the worst part. I actively looked at countertop dishwashers to use exclusively for forks, spoons, knives and maybe cups but I'm not sold yet. Edit: Maybe I'll add a couple details. I have plastic trays where the dirty stuff lives so that it can be moved around in "modules". Having a flat induction stove helps, stuff gets on there too. Washing is done in stages by object type somewhat in this order (for each category -> first wash all, then rinse all, obviously): - glasses (first the nice one if any, then the everyday stuff) - cups - stack of rinsed dishes - food containers and bowls - cutlery - cookware - pot lids - the plastic trays (wet pots and pans will go on there to dry) - pots - pans There're too many people washing their dishes right after using them in this thread. What to do if you're not one of them? I created my personal ritual: all the dishes land in the sink during the day, and right before going to sleep I turn on an audio book and spend the next ~20 mins calmly doing my home stuff. Loading the dishwasher (and unloading yesterday's portion), preparing food containers for pets, etc. Everything that's quiet enough not to wake up everyone in the house. Washing the dishes right after using them is an ideal, not a reality. Most of the time, my kitchen looks like Picasso's Guernica. Why hasn't scrubbing been solved? Put hands in box. Box blasts whatever you hold into it. Doubles for hand wash. A similar approach: I tend to wash them while preparing the next meal, except for dinner when I wash both the lunch dishes and the dinner dishes as I go. (Everything is done by hand.) I have one small pot that cooks one full meal which I eat from the pot with my one spoon. Then I lick the spoon clean and rinse the pot with cold water, using plain soap and brush when necessary. We use a high-end Miele dishwasher, model 6875. It's amazing (though expensive) and it's the only dishwasher I've had that I didn't kind of hate, and it has lasted perfectly for several years now. Miele Model 6875 (now discontinued): https://www.designerappliances.com/miele-g6875scvisf.html We don't use it for knives, pots, or non-dishwasher-safe items. For those items, I wash them by hand. For years I have used this scrubbing cloth: Crown Choice All-Purpose Cleaning Scrubber https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YP16LK9?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_... That scrubbing cloth is great because it dries out quickly, never gets smelly, does not scratch anything even if you scrub hard, and lasts a very long time (at least 6 months of daily use, but probably a year or more). For gummy stuff, I usually use a dish brush before the cloth to knock the gunk off of the dish so that I don't have to later clean it off of the cloth. I've never found one that I like well enough, so I won't post a link. For stuck-on stuff, I use a Progressive scraper: https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-GT-3300-Gadget-Scrapers-D... Those are sold out, but these look similar: https://www.amazon.com/Multicolor-Silicone-Dishwashing-Multi... Ditto likewise. We had a Miele dishwasher that lasted at least 15 years and still going strong. (We sold it as a built-in when we sold that last house. It had followed us to that last house from the house before.) Very quiet. I hadn't realised that there was a fan-assisted drying mode until I wondered where the warm air was coming from when I walked past it one day. I venture to say that old Miele dishwasher is good for at least five more years, making it a very affordable investment over the 20 years or so of its working life. Our current house has a more-recent Bosch dishwasher. If anything, it is even quieter than the older Miele was. It's a good unit.Though I think overall, I prefer the Miele dish-stacking layout. High end Miele is absolutely fantastic. I bought a professional grade machine (PG 8081) second hand and I love it. I have it hooked up to the warm water faucet so that it uses water heated by our solar panels. It cleans way better than I could ever do by hand and it takes no more than 36 minutes. The thing is built like a tank and they can go for as little as €300 second hand. My machine cost the first owner 2879 when it was new and it shows. Build quality and usability is excellent. I actually enjoy doing the dishes now. You're going to get hundreds of tips on how to do dishes. I'm going to pull back one philosophical layer and tell you one thing you didn't ask. Always wake up with a clean and empty sink and counter. You will start your day with minimal clutter in your view, you don't have to put anything away, things are ready for your use or you can immediately leave the house, it'll still be pristine when you get back. Doesn't matter how you do it, that's your very simple goal. Your question is like "what is your optimal vim setup", it's different for everyone and there isn't an optimal way. Parenthetically, I rinse and load the dirty dishes as soon as they are used. You'll read a lot stuff about no rinsing. Some people have taken it to religious zeal. You will ignore that nonsense and do at least one rinse. You'll use less detergent, extend the life of your dishwasher and your drain pipes. Use the powdered detergent and use less than the recommended amount. Don't use the heat-dry cycle, crack your dish washer door with a wooden spoon after the wash is done, the residual heat will dry the dishes without using additional energy. Make your bed every morning also. We have 3 kids, 3 and under, and I maintain this rule in our household, as well. Once the kids are asleep, I clear the counter, clean it, and make sure the sink is clean and any dishes that need to be washed by hand are cleaned, dried, and put away. It's made a big difference in my personal quality of life to come downstairs first thing in the morning and have a clean kitchen. I have the opinion that if I didn't stay on top of this that it would quickly cascade into messes elsewhere in our lives/home. The countertop around our sink/island is the default dumping ground, I believe, because it's convenient and the space is clear, so it acts as a containment zone. I also quickly rinse and load dishes as soon as they are able to go in. When I cook, I go through the cookware in parallel to the cooking process. I also skip the heat-dry. We run the dishwasher after dinner every night and things are almost always fully dry by morning when I come down and unload it. No kids so YMMV - we put everything in the dishwasher and set it going in the evening. I open it before going to bed and set a fan blowing over the dishes to air dry them and put them away when I wake up in the morning. I'm also kind of anal about everything being very dry before going into the cupboards. Debated getting a small radiant heater to install under a cupboard over a drying rack but figured it was going too far. That's really not that crazy, and I'm surprised this whole system hasn't been developed. We're kinda stuck in the 'big flappy door' form factor right now. I wish something like the drawer style were more common and with integrated air-drying.
https://www.fisherpaykel.com/ie/dishwashing/contemporary-dis... You can also buy dishes that intentionally don’t stack airtight if you get my meaning - so that two plates on top of each other still dry perfectly fine - and then drill some holes in the cabinets. At this point I would love a dishwasher that had racks specifically for the dishes that I have. I'm surprised IKEA hasn't jumped on that -- perfectly marrying a set of dishes with a dishwasher rack. My pro tip - whatever your system, use sodium tripolyphosphate. Years ago phosphates were in laundry and dish detergents, and were outlawed to deal with algae blooms from runoff. Individuals can use them now but companies can’t include them. Iirc the main source of phosphate runoff is farming and consumer usage was comparatively small, but telling farmers to stop fertilizing wasn’t tenable. So about ten years ago then industry quietly removed phosphates and the appliance manufacturers had a golden era of appliance purchases as everyone thought their machines weren't working right anymore. I was one of the buyers who contributed. In frustration that my new dishwasher didn’t work either I did some reading and learned the above. I now add a tablespoon or two to my dishes and laundry. I don’t pre-wash my dishes, no matter how hard and dry. You don’t need to. It works great, everything comes out super clean. You can buy it online. I've been inspired by Lean to pull JIT. If there is a clean dish in the dishwasher, I will use that, then one from the drying rack, before going to the put away dishes. Similarly, put away all dishes from the drying rack before unloading the dishwasher, or you may rewet already dried dishes. If a dish is coming out of the dishwasher dry, put it away rather than on drying rack. Remove trash and recycling from the dirty dishes spot before starting on dirty dishes. Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher right away if possible, and only put a dish in the sink if it needs to soak. I find just rinsing off stuff immediately after use makes the process of actually cleaning much easier, and is fairly quick and painless. The proper cleaning process usually takes place in the morning for all the stuff that accumulated from the day before, but it's all already mostly clean, so is again fairly quick and painless. Dirty dishes go straight in the dishwasher immediately after a meal, or any dish is used. The kitchen bench is then wiped down and left bare of any clutter. Four or five decades ago, I was very 'agin' dishwashers because of the pretty poor ones used at my boarding school. We often had egg stains on plates for a day or two after an egg meal. I was at a friend's place and I claimed that the plates and utensils we'd used for our morning eggs would leave traces after a wash cycle. I had to eat my words, those dishes and forks were spotless. We've had a dishwasher ever since. They do a much better and less labor-intensive job than hand-washing. There's no need to rinse your dishes before using the dishwasher, that's why there is a pre-wash rinse as part of the overall wash cycle. Doing that rinse yourself is redundant and a waste of your time. Dishes are easy if you have a machine. I want to know HN's prostrats on laundry. Especially sweaty gym laundry for the runners. Washing machines are relatively cheap when considered over the time used - I’m seriously considering getting an additional pair for convenience. Some of the newer ones have a tiny wash machine stuck to the larger one but I’m not quite convinced yet. Oh I use a washing machine for laundry. But my clothes are forever in baskets because of all the folding and putting away. Takes me an hour. Also my sweaty gym clothes just hang in/stink up the bathroom lately. Used to let them dry then throw in with otther dirty laundry, but now half my clothes have an irreversible light-but-nasty odor. Only solution seems to be washing my gym clothes right after I've used them, which is a non-starter whether it's manually or machine. A rinse may be good enough - but if your gym clothes are used at a gym that’s gonna be a problem either way (unless you find a gym with washing machines) A slightly weird substitute might be showering in the gym clothes and then putting them in a non airtight bag for the ride home I workout at home lately and tried the immediately-after rinse once. Just made 'em stink worse. Apparently I just straight-up sweat ammonia. Slightly OT but dish washing proved to me the existence of a purely physical boredom in which the body itself expresses a purely mechanical revulsion for some repetitive task and finally refuses to accede to further commands no matter how earnestly the mind wishes to carry out its appointed task. The most efficient process is, first let the dishes soak, then hand wash the dishes while the tap is running (ie not in a wash basin), finally let dry in the drying rack (ie not with a drying towel). Bachelors the world over confirm that this is the most efficient system. Back when I had a full size dishwasher (just moved to nyc) - we’d just scrape off any big pieces of food and then immediately load the plates into the dishwasher along with any pots/pans/etc used to make food along the way. Set the dishwasher to clean (even if not full - we don’t care). Unload before we eat the next day. It’s pretty simple and took maybe a minute. Nowadays, I sometimes have to do two loads cause dishwasher is tiny and can barely fit one pan. So, I’ll do the plates first and the pan in another load. Still much faster than me cleaning by hand. Cleaning those pots and pans is annoying. Same for cleaning woks. Dishwasher does an amazing job. And yes - we’ve been very happy with the dishwasher. Literally is a blessing. We had a Bosch 800 series. Not mine but getting two dishwashers. Alternating their use for storage and cleaning. This works surprisingly well if you have one or two people who regularly use the same dishes. It works horribly badly if you have a family that greatly varies what they use - but the trick then is nobody will arrest you if you wash a clean dish. I live by myself. I have one plate, one casserole, and two bowls. I usually use the plate or the casserole. After eating from the casserole I fill it mostly with water and leave it on top of the microwave (there seems to be a biofilm issue if I leave it in the sink). I have one or two spoons and forks and one good stainless steel knife. I basically wash one or two things on demand by hand for each meal. The advantage of this system is that there is never a large build up of dishes to do (since I hardly own any). My strategy (when I did not have a dishwasher) is to only have the bare minimum of the dishes required outside. eg: 2 plates, two bowls, two spoons, forks etc for a family of two. This will mean that you will re-use your dishes over and over again, and washing becomes just a thing to do before you eat etc. Also sink will never get filled with dishes again. Now, I have a dishwasher, and I just put dishes in the dishwasher as soon as I use it. Spending a lot of time in coworking offices just getting people to put dishes in the dishwasher instead of the sink is a big advance only the better outfits master. We had constant battles with my girlfriend over the dishes. We bought a used, small dishwasher. All problematics instantly went away. I like loading and unloading the dishwasher. I like washing dishes by hand (as many comments point out here, it's something which can be enjoyed), but I just don't like spending too much time doing it. So, my answer is: The Dishwasher. The rest are details. Miele dishwashers have auto dosing of detergent and auto open after they are finished. They are very quiet too. Remote start via app makes zero sense without auto dosing. Does this mean they’re like a commercial washer and you kid it up with a gallon of detergent once a year or something? Because that would be nice. When I do have something that requires soaking I’ve found that sprinkling in a little powdered dishwasher detergent, as opposed to liquid soap, makes a tremendous difference. The enzymes in the dishwasher detergent, if left for even just an hour, make it much easier to hand wash stubborn items. I keep some detergent in a shaker by the sink just for this purpose. Two dishwashers. One for clean and one for dirty. I happened to see this post this week https://fields.medium.com/some-thoughts-about-dirty-dishes-2... YC, asking _the real_ questions. I'm interested in STEM, but these are the type of inquiries that keep me around this site. Into the rabbit hole ye shall go. Technology Connections YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04 and a follow up. Wash them. Surprisingly, this. It's a boring, mindless thing to do for the first few hundred times, so you postpone it as far as possible. Of course, the big pile of dirty, possibly disgusting dishes makes it even harder to find the motivation to do it. After a while, it becomes a routine, and you just do it soon enough that the entire ordeal takes less than 10 minutes. And after even more time, you start enjoying it somewhat, exactly because it's boring and mindless, so it becomes almost meditative. The pleasant sense of achievement afterwards remains, though. Precisely. Yes, this topic is peak HN. Happy Holidays! What I've been annoyed with for years: Drying Racks. What do people do instead of using these? I'm guess just hand drying them. I do have a lot of air-tight container lids that are super annoying to hand dry. I like the convenience of the drying rack, but hate the countertop clutter and space it takes. In Finland the drying cupboard is a standard thing in most homes. Its placed over the sink so the water drops into the sink or the metal counter top around the sink. Drying and storage at the same time. Quite handy.
See https://www.thekitchn.com/finnish-dish-drying-cabinet-for-ea... I fill the washer during the day. Turn it on in the evening. Let it run (I use a 30 min program). Then, before going to bed, I open the machine wide open, pull out the "drawers" and let the dishes dry through the night before emptying the machine in the morning. Of course this won't work, if you wash dishes by hand. If that's the case, a drying cabinet may be the solution for you. I got a dish rack that goes over my sink so I can reclaim the counter space that was used by the drying rack. The water drips down into the sink. The main draw back is I am afraid to put anything too heavy in it, like a Dutch oven, so those get hand dried. As a single in a studio apartment it keeps my minimal counter space clear. I am quite happy with my Dual-Soaper system. Tools: 1 spray bottle - half dish soap, half water. 1 cup 1 scrubber The spray bottle is for incidental dishes. By spraying a tiny bit of liquid onto whatever dish you just used, you wash faster while also using less water and soap. Often, you don't even need to get your hands wet. There's no fumbling with slippery dish soap bottles and caps, and no glugs of soap wasted. Try not to inhale the mist though. The cup is for larger loads. Put a squirt of dish soap in it, then fill with hot / boiled water. Dunk your scrubber into the cup to reload it with hot soapy water whenever necessary. Some advantages of this: Your sink is kept free - no stoppers needed, or sinks of greasy water with gross food bits in. Also, only a cup or so of water needs to be boiled. The whole process is faster, with less effort. As others have mentioned, doing dishes immediately is the all around best way to go. The cup and spray bottle really minimize the friction involved in keeping that up throughout the day. I've trained myself to only wash dishes when the microwave is running, and you'd be shocked how little time it takes to do them - often far less than the 90 seconds I'd planned. I end up with a hot meal and a clean kitchen. I put everything into the dishwasher, press the button, and it washes. My system is to inspect the dining table and kitchen 30 minutes after dinner, and if it's not all clean, the kids lose computer time. LOL. The main thing I havent seen answered is, how do dishes get put away? That was a source of tension in most multi-person households I've lived in. Use recyclable plates instead of actual dishes unless it's required. This cuts down on how often you need to use the dishwasher. Make the kids do the dishes every night. We do them during the day. We invested in a brand dishwasher a while ago and compared to the cheapo appliance we had before, we are very happy. We just load it up with dirty dishes as they come, sometimes opting to do big pots by hand instead, so that the same space can be allocated to multiple other dishes (mostly plates) instead. We sometimes run it over night on the eco setting (or if we otherwise have four hours to spare), but mostly we use the quick power wash setting, which cleans the dishes in roughly one hour. When we're home (on the weekends), we run the dishwasher multiple times a day. First-in-first out queue for dishes. Use as few dishes as possible. Wash them same day. No need to "disrupt" the 1000-year old process, because it just works. Buying a larger bin…
Only after the signal queue has been cleared can I relax and proceed with whatever task it was that originally brought me into the kitchen, whether that was cooking the family dinner, or simply pouring myself a cup of water. - Stuff on the counter? Yuck! Dishes to the sink, bottles to their homes.
- Dirty dishes in the sink? Yuck! Load them into the dishwasher.
- Clean dishes in the dishwasher? Oh no! Put them all away.
- Dishwasher getting full? Yuck! Start it running.
- Crumbs or grunge on the counter? Yuck! Wipe it down.
- Crumbs on the floor? Yuck! Sweep it all up.
- Trash can nearly full? Gross! Empty it.