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Cutlery scratches the sink metal
999 what's your emergency?
For those bowl users, what colour is your bathroom suite – avocado or peach?
Until I replaced it, it was a sort of bronchitis yellow.
(Chips well and truly widdled on) 😄
I didn't realise he was into that sort of thing.
You know there’s a reason for that?
Of course there is, but also mixer taps are rejected in Britain because they're foreign, One minute its mixer taps and the next thing you know, you're "dancing with the fishmongers hose".
Be alert, reject foreignness and fishmongery
OMG FML!
So much agreement but for some different reasons, mostly hygiene related.
Firstly, why do people insist on washing their crockery in a pool of dirty soapy water then immediately deposit them onto the drying rack for the dirty soapy piss water to just dry on...? Who's ever washer their car and just left the soapy crap all over their car and declared it clean. Nobody! And you don't even eat off your car paintwork!
Rinse people! Learn to rinse.
Given the first point and the hygienic need to rinse dirty washing water off your eating crockery and utensils why on earth would you ever need a a plastic pool of shit water in your sink?!
Why wouldn't you have a bowl in the sink. Always a bowl in the sink, to allow for rinsing to be done around the edges of it.
Isn't the washing up liquid supposed to 'hold' all the nasty stuff and keep it off the next dirty item?
As for a dishwasher, I would need to wait for an eternity to have enough to do a load. Far quicker to stick them in the bowl, in the sink and just get on with it!
I just don't know how I have survived to this age.
I just don’t know how I have survived to this age.
Life is too short to spend time washing up.
Life is too short to spend time washing up.
and loading, unloading dishwashers 🙂
As for a dishwasher, I would need to wait for an eternity to have enough to do a load.
You can get small ones.
Firstly, why do people insist on washing their crockery in a pool of dirty soapy water then immediately deposit them onto the drying rack for the dirty soapy piss water to just dry on…?
Because it's quick and easy and there are literally no downsides to doing so. Why would I want to rinse when it makes no difference to my life? Are you thinking that I get the shits twice a week or something?
the hygienic need to rinse dirty washing water off your eating crockery and utensils
See above. You'll have to convince me of this need.
You’ll have to convince me of this need.
Why? I'm not your mum. If you want to wash the stuff you eat off in dirty water, go right ahead.
piss water/shit water
Remind me not to ask you for recipes.
Amazing amount of people who don't know how soap works. See all those suds? That means the water isn't actually dirty as the soap catches the solids. See 'micelles' and 'colloidal suspension'.
And people who just fling stuff in sinks when they're done with it have their own circle of hell.
Who the heck washes in dirty water?
Don’t use a bowl here, just means you lose space. Loving the ‘if you don’t have a second sink’ middleclasstrackworld at its finest. Unless you mean the one in the bathroom? No ****ing way am I carrying things upstairs to rinse them.
Draining board Jenga is fun too if no one is drying up!
I’ve broken or chipped so many things doing this. I’m not allowed to wash up Mrs F’s nice wineglasses!
Loving those worried about hygiene of washing stuff in the same water. I once got bitten by a person (long story) and turns out we have filthy, dirty mouths so I wouldn’t be too concerned.
I’m not your mum. If you want to wash the stuff you eat off in dirty water, go right ahead.
I do. And guess what, I'm fine.
You're squeamish, or worrying too much.
Because I wash my dishes in running water? The point of doing that is so that I don't have worry about it.
I think you may have misunderstood what's going on here. .
If any of you who change the water multiple times per washing up session or leave the tap running have dared to post condescending comments on any of the climate change/sustainability threads you need to be slapped by Greta or deserve to have your next car journey ruined by one of those folk glueing themselves to roads.
Who’s ever washer their car and just left the soapy crap all over their car and declared it clean. Nobody!
Me! Though to be fair the car getting washed usually relies on it raining rather than me🤣 I'd like to say it's maybe an annual occurrence, but probably not, other than the odd wipe down of lights and wing mirrors if it needs it 😁
Perhaps you are dead, and perhaps this is actually purgatory.
In that case, it's not too bad. I've got bikes to ride.
Life is too short to spend time washing up.
Paper plates are the answer. They burn quite nicely in the log burner too...(poor attempt at humour alert 😂)
Loving this thread as it's made me realise my recent mortification at my mother's washing up practices aren't unusual. It's obviously a chalk and cheese issue this! At home we have a large, single ceramic sink with double height precarious chrome dish drainer from IKEA and my preferred washing up method is inherited from my American step mother. I wash up with a spot of liquid on the sponge under a gently running tap, plug in and unless we've had guests round for a roast or something then the dishes will be scrubbed and rinsed by the time the sink is full. I've been living at my Mum's the last 5 months though and they have a plastic bowl in their metal sink. It's usually filthy and tea stained with discarded food left in plug hole under the bowl and when i look through their washing up i invariably end up rewashing half of it. Nothing is rinsed so everything has a layer of bubbles or grease left on it. I've given the bowl method a go whilst here and it takes a couple of bowls to get things clean plus rinsing the dishes off to the side and so I recon uses similar amount of water but actually end up wasting more water and detergent to clean the bowl and sink afterwards.
I should probably add to the multi generation thread to say 'don't do it! Unless you have separate kitchens'
Bowl keeps water dirtier for longer…
So a sink with a plug in, full of soapy water and the same number of items is somehow, magically, going to stay cleaner? Really? My sadly missed g/f tried to get me to do the washing up in the sink, because it’s a bit bigger than the bowl, but it’s also a lot harder, I have a lot of mugs, glasses, and ceramic plates and dishes, some of which I’ve had for many years, and having them banging around in the metal sink made washing up last so much longer, because I was being extra careful to avoid anything slipping and breaking.
And hasn’t it occurred to anyone that chucking all the dirty stuff down the sink plug hole leaves detritus building up around it, which can’t happen in a bowl, cos most of the water has been carried out with the washing up, where it’ll drain on the draining board, hence the name, the rest goes down the drain, bowl gets a rinse and is left standing on its edge at an angle to drain and dry itself.
There’s a circular metal thing with little feet that sits in the sink that the bowl actually sits on top of, so it doesn’t get all manky on the bottom anyway.
I’ve never been able to afford a dishwasher, which would require my entire kitchen being stripped out and redone, so until I can afford several thousand pounds to get it done, washing up is done in a bowl in the sink.
Anyway, I’m doing washing up for one, so it’s no big deal.
Something tells me this won’t win the thread of the week award.
102 replies and on to page 3 says it’s in with a good chance 🤣
I have read this thread all the way through...
Been a slow night.
I use the same method as @kayak23 although the majority is done by the dishwasher. Plastic bowl with a small amount of hot soapy water and rinse under the tap. I also use rubber gloves. The gloves mean you can use only the hot tap for washing and rinsing.
We have a small sink and the plastic bowl helps extend capacity if needed. E.g. wash a large pan in the sink, while something soaks in the bowl on the side prior to rinsing. Water in the bowl is changed regularly.
We were away last week and the place didn't have a bowl. The only real difference was the water didn't stay hot for as long in the metal sink.
My parents don't rinse and I actively deter them from washing up in our house.
Edit: actually they are just bad at washing up in general.
Ok. Final word goes to Nanette Newman.
Something tells me this won’t win the thread of the week award.
it certainly is t a question of ethics. or isn’t it? a washing up bowl is smaller than the sink so it means that less heated water can be used. this is a good thing.
I have never understood this grim British habit either. The bowl gets filthy underneath. Why? Why?
why? because no one ever turns it over to clean it
rather than worrying about the dirty washing up bowl or the unrinsed dishes (though this is odd), the real question should be, why is the toilet, or lavatory if you prefer, in the same room as the bath? that is simply disgusting. pooing, washington and brushing your teeth in the same room! it’s a wonder anyone survives.
interestingly, and inline with scotland’s claim to be a european country, the only house/flat/dwelling in the uk that i’ve been in that had a separate bathroom and toilet was my granny’s tenament in springburn. most places i’ve been in europe separated the functions. germany is the only exception that springs to mind.
my next question, why is the washing machine in the kitchen and not in the bathroom? obvious answer is because the loo is taking up the space, but washing clothes in the same room that you cook? madness.
perhaps these should be separate threads.
Something tells me this won’t win the thread of the week award.
initially i agreed with this, but having read the whole tread, it’s pretty good stuff.
Loving the ‘if you don’t have a second sink’ middleclasstrackworld at its finest. Unless you mean the one in the bathroom?
interestingly, we have 2 sinks in our bathroom. until now i’d not thought about washing my face in one and rinsing in the other. possibly because i’m too busy worrying about the loo being in the same room.
Something tells me this will win the thread of the week award.
Loving the ‘if you don’t have a second sink’ middleclasstrackworld at its finest. Unless you mean the one in the bathroom?
I have some friends with an unnecessarily large house and acres of land. They like to renovate all the time and they do a lot of the work themselves... fairly slowly. They also like to entertain a lot. But they stopped inviting us around for a while, blaming it on their kitchen renovation. Eventually we went there and saw that they had no kitchen sink and the downstairs shower was where they were doing all their washing up.
... and yes, you do need a washing up bowl when using a shower tray as a sink.
I think this is probably a good place to address the perpetually irritating and confounding issue of people who put their dirty plates, mugs, bowls, cutlery etc into the empty bowl/sink when they're finished eating, instead of on the side next to the sink.
Wtaf is that about?
In order to physically be able to do the washing up, I now have to remove all of that pile of manky crockery Jenga from the bowl and stack it by the side so that I have enough working room in the bowl to submerge and manipulate my subjects and indeed the room to use my washing up tools, adding an extra and completely unnecessary step to the already tedious task.
Why on earth they can't simply put them on the side in the first place is beyond me.
Utter madness.
A special place in hell must also be reserved for those who come along after I've finished washing up, but have yet to empty the bowl of water, and just plonk their mug or whatever into the water and walk off.
Just give it a swoosh ffs. The water is just there! It takes seconds!
Honestly, this thread is helping to purge so many long suppressed emotions. Thank you OP. 🙏 😂
^^^^^^^^^
My parents have an island sink which is just a sink and a draining board so there's nowhere but the sink to put the dirty dishes. It's the worst piece of practical design ever. To be fair, it wasn't them that designed it that way but still.
There's lot of worktop space along the wall but my parents are fillers in the sense that any uncluttered space is seen as an area to be filled with items.
I am supposed to be going for Christmas. I feel I may have to leave washing up/dishwasher filling duties to someone else this year. Although I won't because no one else but my mother will do it.
But between the impractical design, lazy relatives and my mother's penchant for leaving whites cloth in bleachy water in the sink to get them white again, it's enough to drive you insane.
Never found the need for a dish washer. Every one I've ever used has been crap, left dirty dishes. then who's job is it to empty the dishwasher? It just becomes and expensive cupboard. Apparently you're meant to rinse them first? That's half the job. Why spend $1000 on a machine that is crap and you have to do 50% of the work anyway?
"Where's all the plates???"
anon dishwasher owner
Oh and I love the arguments over washing up bowls or not..... Sooooo STW!!!!
Normally a good dunk and lift after scrubbing is good enough to 'rinse' plates before the water gets too dirty, only glass gets a rinse normally. You can tell if someone isn't doing 'the dunk' as the plates feel rough if they have particles dried on them 🙂
PS This gently running tap...anyone else got a combi boiler that only keeps heating the water when you have a healthy flow rate. Turn it down low and it quickly goes cold, does my head in!
Now you mention it, it is odd that the washing machine is in the kitchen, but the bathroom would seem odd too, and not everyone is STW-enough to have a utility room (or a dishwasher 😜).
And yes don't pile the fekking plates etc in the sink and leave me to lift all the gunky sloppy kacky stiff out on to the side so that I can actually wash up. Stack it in a nice organised manner along side the sink, and don't leave glasses on the edge of the work top where they'll get knocked off!
I feel that people are getting rid of a lot of emotional baggage on this thread.
Let it all out folks...
Washing machine in kitchen is just cheap British housing stock, cutting corners by using existing plumbing. The washing machine goes in the utility or laundry room, especially if you have an open plan living area, so you don't have to listen to it when you are relaxing.
I think this is probably a good place to address the perpetually irritating and confounding issue of people who put their dirty plates, mugs, bowls, cutlery etc into the empty bowl/sink when they’re finished eating, instead of on the side next to the sink.
Wtaf is that about?
They must be the same people I see filling up their trolley's in the supermarket then emptying them all out at the trolley shop to scan everything then putting it all back in the trolley! if you don't want to go through a conventional checkout so you can have a chat with Doris while the hell don't you scan everything as you go round and pack everything just once.
For those who use plastic bowls - they hold far more bacteria than a metal sink.
I find the bowl in sink thing completely unfathomable and none of the reasons on this thread add up at all
For those who use plastic bowls – they hold far more harmless and yet perpetually scaremongered bacteria than a metal sink.
Ftfy 😉
Never found the need for a dish washer. Every one I’ve ever used has been crap, left dirty dishes. then who’s job is it to empty the dishwasher? It just becomes and expensive cupboard. Apparently you’re meant to rinse them first? That’s half the job. Why spend $1000 on a machine that is crap and you have to do 50% of the work anyway?
I bet you're still using 8-speed drivetrain with a triple, or want a new frame with canti mounts.
The timing of the thread is fitting because I bought ours for ducky apples at Halloween.
Washing dishes was a secondary consideration.
Worth remembering that many of us do not have space for a dishwasher. I would rather hand wash my crockery than my clothes
As for a utility room…. We once had one of those for hand washing, shared between 8 households. It’s a shed now. Seriously, there is a lot of cramped housing stock out there.
or those who use plastic bowls – they hold far more bacteria than a metal sink.
Is there actual evidence of that? On the inside of the bowl? Under identical use conditions? What about if like my granny when you finish the dishes you then rinse the bowl and leave it upside down?
You do know that water doesn’t come out the tap sterile and there’s bacteria pretty much everywhere? If your aim was to wash in sufficiently hot water to really kill bacteria it’s probably easier to do that in a plastic bowl with lower volume and lower thermal mass and a kettle.
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TrailriderJim
Full MemberSomething tells me this won’t win the thread of the week award.
Something tells me different. Classic STW bollocks this one.
Is there actual evidence of that?
There have been endless studies about how flithy houses and kitchens in particular actually are. I think the worst things by far are dishcloths and sponges which are more or less the E.coli equivalent of council housing estates. If you're not drying it out completely or nuking it the microwave once a week its probably more germy than your toilet. While most of them (as folks have said) are harmless, lots of kitchens probs. have salmonella, listeria and campylobacter in them, and if you're vulnerable...
Joking aside, its good practice to at least have a separate cutting board for meat, and clean it well after each use.
The washing machine goes in the utility or laundry room
Of course! How naive of me. Is this where the third sink lives?
Apparently you’re meant to rinse them first? That’s half the job.
You don't do that when using a bowl / the sink? I realise now why half of this thread is whining about dirty water, y'all never learned how to wash up.
I find the bowl in sink thing completely unfathomable and none of the reasons on this thread add up at all
I'm guessing you've never had a Belfast sink.
They're ****ing awful and will chip crockery for no reason. That's why you have a bowl. There is a thermal performance question as well, the plastic bowl will keep the water warmer than a cold lump of porcelein with a much higher thermal mass.
You don’t do that when using a bowl / the sink? I realise now why half of this thread is whining about dirty water, y’all never learned how to wash up.
x2
<span class="bbp-author-name">kayak23</span>
I think this is probably a good place to address the perpetually irritating and confounding issue of people who put their dirty plates, mugs, bowls, cutlery etc into the empty bowl/sink when they’re finished eating, instead of on the side next to the sink.Wtaf is that about?
In order to physically be able to do the washing up, I now have to remove all of that pile of manky crockery Jenga from the bowl and stack it by the side so that I have enough working room in the bowl to submerge and manipulate my subjects and indeed the room to use my washing up tools, adding an extra and completely unnecessary step to the already tedious task.
Why on earth they can’t simply put them on the side in the first place is beyond me.
Utter madness.A special place in hell must also be reserved for those who come along after I’ve finished washing up, but have yet to empty the bowl of water, and just plonk their mug or whatever into the water and walk off.
Just give it a swoosh ffs. The water is just there! It takes seconds!Honestly, this thread is helping to purge so many long suppressed emotions. Thank you OP. 🙏 😂
So well expressed. Do we share in-laws by any chance?
I’m guessing you’ve never had a Belfast sink.
They’re **** awful and will chip crockery for no reason.
Because they're designed for larger items like trays, shoes, overcoats etc that the butler takes care of. The washing of cutlery and crockery is the responsibility of the housemaids, and they use the shallower London sink in the scullery
Standards these days
The washing machine goes in the utility or laundry room
Of course! How naive of me. Is this where the third sink lives?
We have both a utility room and a laundry room, doesn't everyone?
The snootiness is indeed strong in this thread.
I think the lack of a sense of humour is even stronger from others.
We have both a utility room and a laundry room, doesn’t everyone?
Not yet, completion is due in late 2025.
I think this is probably a good place to address the perpetually irritating and confounding issue of people who put their dirty plates, mugs, bowls, cutlery etc into the empty bowl/sink when they’re finished eating, instead of on the side next to the sink.
Mrs Sandwich sometimes removes the bowl from the sink to stack pots and crockery in it! At some point a new patio is going to be required!
I could also lift out the bowl temporarily if I needed the sink for something else.
That was the real advantage for me in my old place. Dishwasher now.
The other advantage was that it stopped a lot of crap going down the plug hole and blocking up the drain (because it collected in the bottom of the bowl, and you could fish it out after pouring most of the water out).
If your aim was to wash in sufficiently hot water to really kill bacteria it’s probably easier to do that in a plastic bowl with lower volume and lower thermal mass and a kettle.
Or a dishwasher.. just saying...
I think the lack of a sense of humour is even stronger from others.
Sick burn dude.
There have been endless studies about how flithy houses and kitchens in particular actually are. I think the worst things by far are dishcloths and sponges which are more or less the E.coli equivalent of council housing estates. If you’re not drying it out completely or nuking it the microwave once a week its probably more germy than your toilet. While most of them (as folks have said) are harmless, lots of kitchens probs. have salmonella, listeria and campylobacter in them, and if you’re vulnerable…
That was kind of my point. Why do we assume that the basin / sink should be "sterile"? Nothing else in the kitchen will be close to that - but is the relevant bit of the basin substantially worse than the relevant bit of the sink would be in the same manky person's house? I doubt it.
Ironically of course the OP answered one of the main reasons in his opening post - not everyone had two sinks, so draining liquids whilst mid washing is a benefit (it can be avoided with good planning - but e.g. whilst cooking I may have a basin of water where stuff not going in the D/W is placed to soak, and it can be handy to still be able to rinse something whilst the soaking is going on, run cold water over my burnt fingers etc!
Now a more alarming thing - I witnessed my SIL preparing a salad last weekend. Before chopping them, she washed the tomatoes and baby cucumber by placing in a bowl of soapy water then rinsing under cold tap. Am I odd in thinking this was somewhat excessive?
^^^
I can see something up there about washing tomatoes and I have seen enough.
People - you will only ever have one life. We wink in an out of existence like sparks from a bonfire - the odds against us being here at all in an unimaginably vast and mainly empty universe are huge beyond comprehension. But here we are with our lives, our loves... Together in this moment, what I think Larkin meant by "this frail travelling coincidence" in the final lines of the Whitsun Weddings. So I ask, sincerely please. Let's not talk about washing up bowls.
but is the relevant bit of the basin substantially worse than the relevant bit of the sink would be in the same manky person’s house? I doubt it.
Whether the sink or bowl is less manky is irrelevant. Nearly everyone else in the world washes up by having a sponge with dish soap on it and holding an item under a running tap of water. It doesn't touch anything other than your hands, and is cleaned and rinsed. Only in the UK do folk fill a bowl or sink and squirt soap into it and then wash stuff in it. (and then have to invent reasons why it's better to wash up like that)
So I ask, sincerely please. Let’s not talk about washing up bowls.
But what if that's our purpose??
This is your life now
I think the worst things by far are dishcloths and sponges which are more or less the E.coli equivalent of council housing estates
My OH has a habit of standing the drain plug on top of the sponge when she's finished washing up. I'm fairly sure that's not particularly hygienic.
Mind you, it's one of those filter-affair plugs where you pull it half-out to allow the sink to drain and she always rips it out completely. I asked her the other day whether there was a reason she kept removing the filter, she said "yeah, it keeps getting filled up with crap." Like, WTF do you think a filter is for? Gnn. About that patio...
If I use the dishwasher then I run out of both crockery and cutlery before it's full.
Then I run it half empty, which is wasteful.
Probably OK for a family though.
Apparently in our house it's a "man" job to pull the hair trap from the shower and clean it. Yet, I'm the one with a grade 2...🙄
Together in this moment, what I think Larkin meant by “this frail travelling coincidence” in the final lines of the Whitsun Weddings. So I ask, sincerely please. Let’s not talk about washing up bowls.
Yeah, but even in the same poem, Larkin appears endlessly fascinated by them.
They watched the landscape, sitting side by side
—An Odeon went past, a cooling tower,
And someone running up to bowl
🙂
Apparently in our house it’s a “man” job to pull the hair trap from the shower and clean it. Yet, I’m the one with a grade 2…🙄
Do you get more hair caught in listed buildings?
About that patio…
I reckon we could be on for a bulk materials discount.
To be on the safe side I’m going to start removing and setting fire to the sink after every washing up session then replacing the sink with a new one. So glad I only have the one kitchen sink or it could get silly expensive very quickly
but is the relevant bit of the basin substantially worse than the relevant bit of the sink would be in the same manky person’s house? I doubt it.
Almost certainly will be . Bugs find it hard to live on steel, easy on plastic. Your dishcloth and your hands are probably worse tho!
I’m guessing you’ve never had a Belfast sink.
They’re **** awful and will chip crockery for no reason.
therein lies your problem - solution - get a proper sink
My one bed rental flat has a utility room with the washing machine in it and I was going to put the washing machine in my flat into the utility room but decided not to as its next to the other flats bedroom and there is a bad sound bridge between the two
Mind you, it’s one of those filter-affair plugs where you pull it half-out to allow the sink to drain and she always rips it out completely. I asked her the other day whether there was a reason she kept removing the filter, she said “yeah, it keeps getting filled up with crap.” Like, WTF do you think a filter is for? Gnn. About that patio…
I didn't realise that my wife had another husband?
Apparently in our house it’s a “man” job to pull the hair trap from the shower and clean it. Yet, I’m the one with a grade 2…🙄
How many of you are living in my house?
We wink in an out of existence like sparks from a bonfire
Edit..... you said "wink"... not ....
Oh and I love the arguments over washing up bowls or not….. Sooooo STW!!!!
And that’s what I meant when I said snooty. I can’t believe people are actually bothered whether others use a bowl or not. This thread has amazed me!
To be on the safe side I’m going to start removing and setting fire to the sink after every washing up session then replacing the sink with a new one. So glad I only have the one kitchen sink or it could get silly expensive very quickly
And this wins!! On this basis alone, this should be post of the week never mind thread of the week. Thank you @funkmasterp my caravan sofa now needs red wine removal.
therein lies your problem – solution – get a proper sink
Have you not considered how many bike parts (or bike trips) you can get for the price of a new sink and inevitably, the worktop, tap and waste trap. And if you pay someone... That's probably a half decent bike. I'll stick with my nice red bowl and the crappy ceramic sink!
Actually. I'd forgotten that my plastic bowl also doubles as bicycle component parts washer. Surely No-nonsense degreaser hasn't poisoned anyone yet?
When we moved into our house it had - and indeed still has a white ceramic sink. It’s shit. It scratches, would easily break crockery and is just poor. I prefer a metal sink by miles.