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frugality

time frugality: dishwashing

gani et se

Posts: 215

Location: Douglas County OR

posted 4 years ago

I hear dish drying cabinets are common in Finland. Here's a lifehacker post about them. Wash the dishes, the cabinet IS the drainer. Brilliant!
The only complaint I have about the ones I have seen is that they must be made for folks who are much taller than my 5'4" (1.62 meters). I'm thinking that the height over the splash board could be just high enough for my tall pans. Hmm, maybe skip the one over the sink, or just keep it for jars or plastics.

Intermountain (Cascades and Coast range) oak savannah, 550 - 600 ft elevation. USDA zone 7a. Arid summers, soggy winters

Kathleen Sanderson

Posts: 985

Location: Near Klamath Falls, Oregon

posted 4 years ago

I've seen pictures of something like that in magazines and home design books -- I like the idea, but like you, am too short for the ones over the kitchen sink (and don't want my view out the window blocked, either -- I hate houses that have sinks facing an inside wall, or even just into a room without a window right in front of the sink). Our dishwasher doesn't work very well (probably clogged up with calcium deposit) so I use it for storing the milking equipment and jars, and when I rinse them, I just put them into the dishwasher to dry, so it's like a drying cabinet for those items.

Kathleen

Dale Hodgins

gardener

Posts: 6139

Location: Victoria British Columbia-Canada

186

posted 4 years ago

Kathleen Sanderson wrote:
(and don't want my view out the window blocked, either -- I hate houses that have sinks facing an inside wall, or even just into a room without a window right in front of the sink).

Kathleen

Dale's picks - These are some of my favorite threads. Greed - http://www.permies.com/t/10736/md/unbridled-greed-ambition-compatible-permaculture My garden - http://www.permies.com/t/27910/projects/Dale-Day-Garden ethics - http://www.permies.com/t/11534/permaculture/frustration-ethics Good wood bad wood http://www.permies.com/t/12206/hugelkultur/Hugelkultur-Good-wood-Bad-wood Alder - http://www.permies.com/t/10609/plants/Alder-nitrogen-fixation-native-tree Bees - http://www.permies.com/t/10917/bees/time-replace-European-honey-bee Pulling nails - http://www.permies.com/t/10249/natural-building/Removing-nails-recycled-wood-techniques

Dale Hodgins

gardener

Posts: 6139

Location: Victoria British Columbia-Canada

186

posted 4 years ago

My grandmother who didn't believe that women's liberation had anything to do with farm women said that the kitchen sink should face the driveway so you can see the men coming back with loads of hay and such, then you know when it's time to take supper out of the oven. It's also nice if it faces the yard where kids play and you also want a view of the barn. So the person standing at that sink is effectively the watchdog or Sentry and it's their job to keep an eye on all of the activity in their field of view. We know that wives and mothers like to micromanage things while watching what everybody is up to. Unfortunately electric dishwashers have stolen their thunder

Erik Lee

Posts: 104

Location: Zone 6 - Missouri

posted 4 years ago

This may seem totally obvious and/or pointless, but I've been known to use my dishwasher as a drying rack. If you have a dishwasher but don't use it because of its water use or because you don't like the detergents, it can still help a lot with the dishes.

Maybe you could make a drying cabinet like the one you linked, but as part of the lower cabinet instead. I seem to just pull clean dishes out of the dishwasher to go straight to the table most of the time anyway....

Permaculture will save civilization: http://www.human20project.com

Danielle Favor

Posts: 17

posted 4 years ago

permacaper wrote:
This may seem totally obvious and/or pointless, but I've been known to use my dishwasher as a drying rack. If you have a dishwasher but don't use it because of its water use or because you don't like the detergents, it can still help a lot with the dishes.

I've thought of doing that but I was afraid that mildew would build up in the dishwasher. Do you have problems?

Kathleen Sanderson

Posts: 985

Location: Near Klamath Falls, Oregon

posted 4 years ago

I haven't had any problems with mildew in my dishwasher (and I do put the jars in there to dry, straight from the rinse water). But, we live in a dry climate.

Kathleen

Erik Lee

Posts: 104

Location: Zone 6 - Missouri

posted 4 years ago

No problems with mildew yet, and I live in Missouri (the world capital of humidity, or so it seems sometimes). I guess if it started to show up you could run a cycle on the dishwasher to take care of it.

Permaculture will save civilization: http://www.human20project.com

Travis Halverson

Posts: 120

Location: Minneapolis, MN

posted 4 years ago

I've been using my dishwasher as a drying rack for a couple of months and I did start to get some mildew in there. I put some vinegar in the spot for detergent and ran the nine minute "Rinse Only" cycle. That worked.

I agree. Here's the link: https://richsoil.com/wood-heat.jsp

time frugality: dishwashing

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