Leaving aside the loss of those companionable conversations between washer-up and drier-up that took place pre dishwashers, I'm annoyed by the claims that dishwashing machines are labour saving in any true sense. After all, they leave you with the worst part of the process - they never empty themselves and put all the contents away (I hesitate to say 'put all the clean things away', since so often the things that emerge from our dishwasher look worse than when they went in).
I suppose one solution would be to just fill the kitchen with a couple of dozen dishwashers, putting them everywhere, instead of cupboards, Then you could keep things inside them permanently, without ever having to unload.
I have never used our dishwasher. My son uses it to store his hairdressing equipment
ReplyDeleteI'll swap you for a cupboard?
ReplyDeleteThat's a brilliant solution, Z.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you here - we don't have one and I've never thought of them as particularly labour-saving, nor of washing the dishes as a particularly onerous labour (especially if you have a radio in the kitchen).
I am willing to grant that the washing machine and tumble-dryer are significant improvements on the washboard and mangle, however...
A long time ago I stayed with some friends of my parents in their swanky apartment on Central Park West. They didn't cook - ever. But they did have two dishwashers in the kitchen so that all the cutlery and crockery they used when eating their delicious bought-in food never needed to be washed by hand or put away. I was impressed with their cunning arrangement and told them so. They were astonished that I'd never come across it before. I like to think that when they stayed with my parents in darkest Shropshire they participated in the medieval rituals of food preparation and washing up in the same way visitors at a 'living' Anglo-Saxon village might participate in corn-grinding and basket-weaving.
ReplyDeleteThe flaw in the plan would be the plumbing arrangements, I suspect, Brit.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could find our copy of Cold Comfort Farm, Sophie - the scene where Flora gives one of the characters a scrubbing brush for washing up with and he hangs it on a special little hook, as if it were some kind of talisman, sprang to mind as I read about your parents in darkest Shropshire and the visit of their US friends.
Secretly, I rather regretted the arrival of a dishwasher in our house, as I'd always found that piling into the washing-up was a great way of getting out of some far more odious chore (usually involving pets or children).
ReplyDeleteHowever, these things may have their use. I've never tried it, but I'm told there's no better way of poaching fish than to seal it up in a sandwich bag and put it through the dishwasher.
Hello Jonathan. When doing that thing with the fish, should you leave the dishwashing powder out or is it the vital ingredient?
ReplyDeleteOh this did make me laugh. My husband hates holiday places that don't have dishwashers but, I rather agree with you, the worst part is putting it all away. Like washing clothes. Throwing them into the machine and hanging them out is pretty easy but the rest - how I hate the sorting, folding and putting away. BORING.
ReplyDeleteWe should join the ranks of the great unwashed. Online no-one can tell that you smell.
ReplyDeleteHa, there are advantages to this online communication aren't there!
ReplyDelete