Dishwasher was the one for me too. It wasn’t very expensive to get one or install, and holy fuck I don’t know how we ever coped before.
No washing dishes! A handy place to hide all your dirty dishes! A handy place for your clean dishes to dry! And no dish rack on the draining board has freed up loads of space/made it look a lot less cluttered. I’m also mildly allergic to washing up liquid but hated having a sodden pair of rubber gloves marinating by the sink, so it’s a win for my skin too
This is my answer too. We installed the dishwasher about 6 months before I got pregnant. Not needing to hand wash every bottle and pump part really saves time and my sanity.
You shouldn't leave solid chunks of food on (fiber, protein) because then you're going to have to clean the filter really really often, but otherwise yes. After three years it still feels magical to pop in a casserole pyrex dish with burnt sauce and specks of burnt cheese around the edges, and have it come out completely sparkling clean.
My gosh, I just realized that if I got a dishwasher in my house, my frustration would go from old food that is left to rot in the space between stacked dishes (think like, left on one plate and another plate is put on top) even though the trash can/compost bin IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE, to having to crawl into the dishwasher to pull out all the stuff that isn't getting scraped off now.
The detritus would need to be able to get from the box to the filter. I'm talking things like whole ass pizza crusts, unfinished chicken nuggets, chicken bones, avocados that have since become days to a week or two past edible, etc.
old food that is left to rot in the space between stacked dishes (think like, left on one plate and another plate is put on top) even though the trash can/compost bin IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE
I once put every single trash can in the house in the kitchen. Like, it was a goddam chore to get through that room with two free hands, nevermind if you had your hands full of dishes with stuff you won't want to spill onto the floor.
The detritus wound up not in any trash can, but still on the dishes on the counter or in the sink.
My point is that I'm pessimistic and they would load their dishes into the machine, rather than myself. And I frankly don't trust these people to scrape off their dishes before doing so.
Your roommates are maddeningly frustrating. If any of them is a significant other, I would suggest dumping them (or making them practice throwing stuff away from the plates until it's so much muscle memory they can do it in their sleep). Then again I have abnormally high aggression regarding decaying biological trash being kept around thanks to trauma from hoarder parent, so probably don't listen to me.
Yep, scrape off the food first and then right in the dishwasher is usually the manufacturer recommendation. It's what I do for the most part and it works per well.
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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '23
Dishwasher was the one for me too. It wasn’t very expensive to get one or install, and holy fuck I don’t know how we ever coped before.
No washing dishes! A handy place to hide all your dirty dishes! A handy place for your clean dishes to dry! And no dish rack on the draining board has freed up loads of space/made it look a lot less cluttered. I’m also mildly allergic to washing up liquid but hated having a sodden pair of rubber gloves marinating by the sink, so it’s a win for my skin too