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Fantasizing About Dishwashers
Apr. 18th, 2008 09:47 pmI do not have a dishwasher.
Although (according to wikipedia) the dishwasher was invented in 1850, and a dishwasher suitable for home use was invented in 1924, dishwashers weren't common until the 1970s, and my house was built in 1955.
The sort of cheapo dishwashers used in apartments in the 1970s, with which I am most familiar, did little more than spit hot water at your dishes. But it has been made clear to me that modern dishwashers actually work. You might want to scrape off some of the food first, just because having a lot of food flying around in the dishwasher can wear down your dishes a bit, but basically you put dirty dishes in and then they turn into clean dishes. Even modern cheapo dishwashers used in apartments work fairly well although they are a bit noisier than better dishwashers.
Lately I have been fantasizing about having one of these newfangled devices. And most articles insist they even use less water than doing dishes by hand, in that special Readers Digest what-you-want-is-actually-good-for-you sort of way.
I'm thinking how nice it would be to store dirty dishes out of sight in the dishwasher until it's time to clean them. I'm imagining a new reality where we suddenly do lots more cooking because the dishwashing afterwards will be no problem. In fact, you're supposed to wait until the dishwasher's full to run it, and that will take a long time with just plates and glasses slowly adding up, so you have to cook also, to help save the planet, see.
I know right where it should go, too. I should carve away the fifteen-inch-side cabinet next to the sink, scootch the refrigerator away a bit, over to the edge of the dining room window, and slide the dishwasher in there, perhaps with a cutting board top so we don't have to re-do all the counters. All we'd have to do is hire a plumber and an electrician to re-do all the plumbing and wiring (which are technically already in that wall on the way to the washer) and voila! A new dishwasher for only thousands of dollars!
I'm going to do it anyway. Not any time soon, but sometime. So there's plenty of time to research the best washers and watch how the prices fluctuate so I can recognize a good or extraordinary deal when I see one.
My first priority is that I want it to work, though like I said, apparently all modern dishwashers work. Woo hoo!
Second, I want our new dishes to fit in it. I'll want to test out the racks with our weird plates and bowls and make sure, because it would be a darn shame if the tines were just a tiny bit too close to each other. Nowadays you can find racks that can be moved up and down, that allow some tines to be folded down and that are adjustable in a number of other unfathomable ways. I don't think I care about any of that, so long as the regular set-up has room for plates and bowls. (I assume I won't have to worry about glasses, and I've never had too much trouble with cookie sheets, big spatulas, etc. before, so I doubt I will need this new adjustability.)
Third, I want it to be durable and/or easy to work on. That means that fewer electronics would be good.
Fourth, I'd like it to be quiet. They have quiet ones now! They achieve this with insulation. I wonder if you can buy a louder one and stick big sheets of styrofoam around it yourself for the same effect. I suppose it depends if you can get inside the door to add some there, because adding it to the outside would be an eyesore and adding it to the inside wouldn't last very well!
Fifth, I want it to be the standard size (easy to find parts for, easy to replace later, and has plenty of space inside for multi-pan cooking extravaganzas).
Any advice or observations on your experiences with dishwashers?
[Perhaps I should have paid more attention when I was at the house of people with three (matching) dishwashers. They definitely had the controls on the front, not hidden controls. But they also had the silverware holders located in the door, which gives you a bit more room in the racks for other things. Those were plenty easy to use, almost as easy as the kind I'm used to, so that's nice.]
Although (according to wikipedia) the dishwasher was invented in 1850, and a dishwasher suitable for home use was invented in 1924, dishwashers weren't common until the 1970s, and my house was built in 1955.
The sort of cheapo dishwashers used in apartments in the 1970s, with which I am most familiar, did little more than spit hot water at your dishes. But it has been made clear to me that modern dishwashers actually work. You might want to scrape off some of the food first, just because having a lot of food flying around in the dishwasher can wear down your dishes a bit, but basically you put dirty dishes in and then they turn into clean dishes. Even modern cheapo dishwashers used in apartments work fairly well although they are a bit noisier than better dishwashers.
Lately I have been fantasizing about having one of these newfangled devices. And most articles insist they even use less water than doing dishes by hand, in that special Readers Digest what-you-want-is-actually-good-for-you sort of way.
I'm thinking how nice it would be to store dirty dishes out of sight in the dishwasher until it's time to clean them. I'm imagining a new reality where we suddenly do lots more cooking because the dishwashing afterwards will be no problem. In fact, you're supposed to wait until the dishwasher's full to run it, and that will take a long time with just plates and glasses slowly adding up, so you have to cook also, to help save the planet, see.
I know right where it should go, too. I should carve away the fifteen-inch-side cabinet next to the sink, scootch the refrigerator away a bit, over to the edge of the dining room window, and slide the dishwasher in there, perhaps with a cutting board top so we don't have to re-do all the counters. All we'd have to do is hire a plumber and an electrician to re-do all the plumbing and wiring (which are technically already in that wall on the way to the washer) and voila! A new dishwasher for only thousands of dollars!
I'm going to do it anyway. Not any time soon, but sometime. So there's plenty of time to research the best washers and watch how the prices fluctuate so I can recognize a good or extraordinary deal when I see one.
My first priority is that I want it to work, though like I said, apparently all modern dishwashers work. Woo hoo!
Second, I want our new dishes to fit in it. I'll want to test out the racks with our weird plates and bowls and make sure, because it would be a darn shame if the tines were just a tiny bit too close to each other. Nowadays you can find racks that can be moved up and down, that allow some tines to be folded down and that are adjustable in a number of other unfathomable ways. I don't think I care about any of that, so long as the regular set-up has room for plates and bowls. (I assume I won't have to worry about glasses, and I've never had too much trouble with cookie sheets, big spatulas, etc. before, so I doubt I will need this new adjustability.)
Third, I want it to be durable and/or easy to work on. That means that fewer electronics would be good.
Fourth, I'd like it to be quiet. They have quiet ones now! They achieve this with insulation. I wonder if you can buy a louder one and stick big sheets of styrofoam around it yourself for the same effect. I suppose it depends if you can get inside the door to add some there, because adding it to the outside would be an eyesore and adding it to the inside wouldn't last very well!
Fifth, I want it to be the standard size (easy to find parts for, easy to replace later, and has plenty of space inside for multi-pan cooking extravaganzas).
Any advice or observations on your experiences with dishwashers?
[Perhaps I should have paid more attention when I was at the house of people with three (matching) dishwashers. They definitely had the controls on the front, not hidden controls. But they also had the silverware holders located in the door, which gives you a bit more room in the racks for other things. Those were plenty easy to use, almost as easy as the kind I'm used to, so that's nice.]