this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2025
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Is there a real difference in water and electricity consumption? Personally, I don't use a lot of water to wash my dishes (by hand), but maybe I should install a flow meter to make sure.

What is your opinion on the subject? Do you have any evidence or studies available that could confirm your intuition? Or do you have other alternatives in mind?

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[–] jerebear39@slrpnk.net 3 points 5 months ago

I never had a dishwasher growing up. When I moved into my current home and It had a dishwasher, I thought it was dumb, till I started using it... But I do a little bit of both, on the days where I am super lazy and let the dishes pile up, I would put them in the dishwasher just to get them clean, but on the days where I am truly responble adult, I would just take the 5-10 minutes to wash the little bit of dishes by hand. So in short, both.

[–] whelk@retrolemmy.com 3 points 5 months ago

By hand. I find it relaxing and a good time to get lost in my thoughts or listen to audiobooks. It's also nice to just have some things that you do manually. I don't like the idea of a world where machines take care of everything.

The dishwasher never does a good enough job anyway

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I usually do both because I have never had a dishwasher that actually cleans anything off the dishes, no matter what I do or what cleaner I use. I am at the point I think they're a myth propagated by Big Dishwasher. JK... or am I! Yeah, they probably do exist, but just for everyone else but me.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My dishwasher used to be for sanitizing only - id have to hand wash first, but now I use the Kirkland pods and I don't even rinse things. I used to also think dishwashers were a scam.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 months ago

I've been using them for a while and maybe I'm just getting unlucky, but I still have to rinse and pre-clean.

[–] southernbrewer@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I was the same, dishwashers seem mostly pretty crap at eashing dishes. I've had about 6 different ones over the years and they never seem to save much time because you basically have to clean the dishes before you put them in anyway.

But we finally got a good one. It wasn't cheap but I can at least recommend this one: https://www.bosch-home.co.nz/en/mkt-product/dishwashers/built-in-dishwashers/underbench-dishwasher-60-cm/SMP6HCB01A

Now I just scrape food off but dont bother with a heavy pre-rinse or scrub (except for things like dried eggyolk which still never comes off without a decent scrub)

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[–] racketlauncher831@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago

An in-depth research from MiniuteFood.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SDfeLICMfNc

[–] BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 5 months ago (4 children)

The house we bought a few years ago had a dishwasher. It doesn’t work.

We’d like to replace it but we asked the shop guys if they can help with that they told us they don’t have any local contacts who do dishwasher installs.

We’ve never used one before, but with two little kids it feels like hand washing is getting a bit much sometimes.

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Dishwasher for us, though the powder detergent suggestion absolutely did not work, big degradation in the results for us, went back to the orange pod things. Too many people and almost never eat out, so much cooking.

When it broke I had to fill a sink with hot soapy water (luckily ours is double) and everyone parked their dishes in there, scrubbed but left the water dirty, poured boiling water in occasionally to keep it warm and at the end of the day drain the water, rinse and dry. It worked and the easiest way I could manage but wasteful compared to dishwasher.

I never had one before living with my husband, and always hated washing dishes. Used to buy paper plates and bowls because with a big family and a job it was just too much, nobody wanted to do so many dishes.

Some things a dishwasher does not clean off the dishes. Avocado, eggs. And it doesn't work if you let them sit too long. But in general it does a good job and saves time and effort.

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I hate dishwashers, I wash dishes by hand.

[–] winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] AnnaFrankfurter@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

They hurt her feelings. But truth is she just used shit soap pods instead of good quality powder.

[–] Flickerby@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 months ago

My sink is made for someone a good 3-4 inches shorter than I am and it absolutely kills my back to hunch over like that for any period of time so gimme that machine convenience over my slipped disk

[–] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I have a dishwasher (came with the place). I don't like it. I don't think it does a very good job.

I use it as a dish drainer. That is to say, when I hand wash, I open the dishwasher, and I use its racks to air dry my washed dishes. I don't even skip straight to the dry cycle, that's a waste of electricity.

I would not own a dishwasher. I would throw it out if it were up to me and use the space for shelves to store more gear, like my slow cooker, toaster oven, air fryer, stand mixer, etc. when they are not in use.

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[–] codemankey@programming.dev 2 points 5 months ago
[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 months ago

Handwash. I've only lived someone with a dishwasher once in my life.

[–] RamenDame@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

By hand but only because I took the kitchen of the previous tenants and it had none and there is no space to easily install one. If I ever buy a new kitchen I would by one.

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

By hand. I cannot manage to load a dishwasher without being worried about everything in the top rack breaking.

And I hate having to dry them because there is no reasonable way to load cups and bowls without it pooling on the bottom.

Drives me insane

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I use paper plates and bowls and throw that shit away. Depending on what I ate, I can get a couple uses out of them.

[–] turdburglar@piefed.social 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

wow that’s super wasteful there, friend.

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

That's life when you live in a vehicle.

Edit to add: Depending where I am, I use my burnable trash for campfires. Factoring that and the fact I'm not using water or power to clean dishes, I'd argue that's a net positive.

[–] turdburglar@piefed.social 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

well those are some extenuating circumstances if i’ve ever heard any.

it still does seem like money you don’t have to spend tho.

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah my situation is a bit unusual. My power and water supplies are limited so it's less about money and more about finite resources.

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