dishwasher

Doing the Dishes

Aside from holidays, when I do both a lot of food prep and cook large amounts of food, I have always felt guilty about running the dishwasher more than once in a single day. That’s not to say it’s never happened, but I try not to do it too often. In general, once the dishwasher was at full capacity, I’d just finish the dishes by hand, or occasionally leave a few (usually something that needed a soak, anyway), for the next day. In a weird way, I guess I was punishing myself for using more what I thought was a “normal” amount of dishes in a day.

But this year has me looking for ways, if not to make my life easier (because what is easy this year?!?), at least to make a little less work for myself. And one way I discovered I could do that is by running the dishwasher twice in a day if I need to. After all, I don’t limit myself to how many loads of laundry are permitted to run through the washer and dryer in a day or week, and then wash everything else by hand once I hit that limit. Why should dishes be any different? As a large family, we use not only more clothes than “average,” but also more dishes (just think about how many dishes seven people can go through in 24 hours!), so why shouldn’t I run the dishwasher twice in one day like the washing machine if I need to?

This hasn’t become a daily occurrence (at least not yet), but I’ve given myself permission not to feel guilty about it when it does. And if a little guilt does creep in, I find consolation by reminding myself that I could be using disposable dishes instead of running the dishwasher more frequently, and doing that would make me feel much worse!

Out with the Old…In with the New

After over 11 years, our faithful old Whirlpool dishwasher finally died. It started showing signs of its demise on Christmas Eve, and last Friday (Ryan’s Birthday Eve), it gave up the ghost. Fortunately, I was in the kitchen when it happened, or we would have had a major flood on our hands! I can’t even imagine how much work it saved me over the years…around holidays, it wasn’t unheard of for me to run it twice, and occasionally even three times a day! I always enjoy playing “dishwasher Tetris” trying to get as many dishes in as possible before starting a load, but when you’re talking Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for as many as nine people, those dishes pile up fast!

It was, of course, very exciting to see our new Bosch dishwasher delivered today, and figure out what all it can do! It has three racks! And it’s SO QUIET!!! I can’t even believe it’s running, because I have to put my ear right up to it to hear it!

We’ve now replaced all of our kitchen appliances, plus our washer and dryer. I guess that’s to be expected, after 11 years in this house, and I’ve enjoyed seeing what new things each new appliance can do!

Washing Dishes

The other day, when I went to make the children’s breakfast, I realized that I had forgotten to run the dishwasher the previous night. As I stood at the sink, hastily washing the dishes I’d need to prepare the meal, I started thinking about dishwashing. Aside from the fact that I don’t particularly enjoy washing dishes, I always feel like they haven’t gotten clean enough in the sink. As I was washing that morning, I kept thinking that I’d feel much better about the cleanliness of the dishes after they had a trip through the dishwasher.

Then I started remembering my grandmother’s opinions on the dishwasher. They weren’t good. She didn’t trust the dishwasher to get things clean enough, and would rewash dishes after the cycle was complete. Her own dishwasher was used to store bakery items, certainly not for washing dishes, not even on a dish heavy holiday like Thanksgiving. She wouldn’t want to take any risks with her good china, after all.

It’s funny how things change from generation to generation–she didn’t trust her dishwasher, and I’m just the opposite–I don’t trust myself. At least we’re consistent, albeit in different ways!