The Dishwashing War

Did you know that there's more than one way to wash dishes?

Betcha didn't. Many people do not. At least, that's what I've discovered. I grew up in a home where the kitchen had one kitchen sink and no hot water from the faucet. For that reason, it never seemed practical to fill up a sink with cold water and dish soap, place dishes in the sink full of water, wash them, stack them wet and soapy on the counter, empty out the sink, and rinse the dishes. Instead, I got into the the habit of keeping the water running slowly while I scrubbed dishes with a soapy washcloth, washing and rinsing at once, and stacking the clean dishes in the dish rack when I was done.

Since moving back to America, I've discovered that the preferred method of washing dishes--here in the land of double kitchen sinks and faucets spouting hot water, is to fill one sink with steaming, soapy water and wash the dishes in that sink, afterwards stacking them in the other sink, and running the water again to rinse the dishes.

That is okay with me. I do not mind the fact that many people use a different strategy of dish washing than I do. Where the dishwashing war begins is when I wash dishes at someone else's house. Because, guess what? People who wash dishes differently than I do highly disapprove of the way that I wash dishes. I find that odd. I mean, if someone ate dinner at my house, and washed the dishes afterwards, I think I'd say, "Thanks for washing dishes!" not "Apparently, you don't know how to wash dishes."

It's funny, the reactions I get. Some people tell me that the dishes don't get as clean the way I wash them--and I wonder how allowing dishes to sit in a sinkful of grimy water that gets progressively dirtier gets dishes cleaner than my method does. I've also been told that it's a wasteful way to wash dishes--that it wastes too much water, a valuable resource. Again, I beg to differ. If you've ever had to wash up after dinner for nine on a daily basis for years of your life, you'd be a speedy dish washer too. I've timed it by plugging the sink while allowing the faucet to run continuously while I wash the dishes, and I regularly finish all the dishes, both the washing and rinsing, before I get a full sink of water. Therefore, the method which first fills the sink with water and then runs the water again to rinse dishes actually uses more water than mine does.

But you know what? I have two sinks. If I have you over for dinner, and you want to help clean up afterwards, feel perfectly free to use the two-sink method if that's what you're used to. I don't mind. I'm happy and grateful that it's not me washing dishes!

In my view, there's two ways to end the dishwashing war. Either, the people who I wash dishes for could decide that they don't care how their dishes are cleaned, or I could adapt to their dishwashing culture while in their homes and use the two-sink method in order to not upset my hosts. Since I can only control my own actions and not those of others, it appears that I will accept this difference and I will be using the second strategy in future dishwashing ventures outside of my own kitchen.

This appears to be one of those random cultural differences that many people have decided are worth fighting for. To me, it appears to be on the level of which way is the toilet paper roll installed.

How do you wash dishes? One sink or two sinks or--what in the world?--do you have one of those newfangled dishwasher contraptions?