Fair Dinkum! How “Mr Old School” Was Converted to Dishwashers

“We should get a dishwasher”

The old lady (don’t worry we’ve been married for 38 years and it’s an affectionate term) said:

“Look Old Man, we need to get a dishwasher.

“Why?”,I said, “We’ve got you”. Following the hurling of several cushions in my direction one of which knocked the TV remote on the floor I regained my composure to argue why we didn’t need one.

I trotted out the reasons as best I could. Have you seen the price of dishwashers, what about the repairs when they go wrong, it’ll take up too much space and need expert fitting, what about skyrocketing electric bills, it’ll clog the pipes, you’ll still be handwashing things that are not dishwasher safe…..

I was quite proud of myself for rebuffing the initial wifely wave but it did get me thinking that we might be in need of a kitchen upgrade. I’m not a complete plonker though my mates do call me Mr Old School.

Was a dishwasher actually a good idea? Most reviews suggested it was actually faster than doing things by hand allowing time to focus on other things. Alright. We’re both keen golfers so I suppose the dishes could be done while we’re teeing off on the first.

Higher temperatures than bare hands can handle in the sink mean that more bacteria are dispatched, not a bad thing especially considering the dicky stomach I had last week when I did the dishes (badly).

You can get more consistent results, said the website, minimising those sports and streaks you get from leaving the stuff on the draining board. Mmmmm

Then the real wake up call – modern dishwashers are actually MORE energy efficient than cleaning under a running tap or letting them soak in hot water and then rinsing under a hot tap again……

Apart from being labour-saving, and less messy, they were actually better from a storage standpoint.

This stood to reason, rather than having a large sink and draining area the dishes could be stored in the dishwasher until they were needed, killing two birds with one stone as it were.

I was starting to get convinced. The kitchen did need a makeover, especially in terms of organisation. And those drying racks did look a bit unsightly detracting from the look of the kitchen we had tried to create.

And never mind running it when golfing. It could run at night and we’d have spotless breakfast cutlery and dishes to wake up to. And our expensive dishes and glassware would suffer less abrasions and last longer.

The Realisation

The clincher was this for me, however. You didn’t need to “do the dishes” after every meal, you could let a load build up before pressing the button. Then the news about easy installation, after-sales service, guarantees…..I got on the phone. 

In conclusion, and with a beautiful new machine humming in the background I’m now a convert. 

And the Old Lady loves me even more.