Life With Dishwasher

posted July 7, 2008
  by Christine Gable, Kiddie Chow

Our life has entered the modern era. Yep, our kitchen now has a dishwasher. What, you say? A food writer and columnist whose kitchen was missing that all-important appliance? Yep, ‘tis true. After years and years of washing, rinsing and drying, our kitchen remodeling is done and we’ve joined the ranks of modern America.

The days of standing at the sink and swishing my hands in the suds are shorter now. But I certainly was not the only one doing the duty—the kids split dinnertime and hubby did his fair share also. In fact, he’s one that really does like hand-washing dishes, so my quest to have a dishwasher in our new kitchen plans was met with bittersweet acceptance (But I think he’s secretly been enjoying more free time and less dish mess already too).

Of course, I didn’t go with the status quo. Forget any ol' dishwasher in stock at Lowe’s or Home Depot. After I had laid eyes on the workings of my neighbor’s Fisher & Paykel Dish Drawer, there was no turning back. Super energy efficient and easy to use (just pull it open and load, slide shut and go), and I knew that was the one for me. So when our plans to re-do the kitchen came to fruition this year, it was time to bring this dishwasher home.

So how’s it been going? Wonderful, actually. Better than wonderful: if a dishwasher can make a woman happy, I’m ecstatic. And would you believe that the kids have actually been upping each other to be the first to claim the job of loading the dishwasher after dinner? Yeah, that’s right.

Doing the dishes is now a non-chore. Yeah, that’s a new term we’ve coined and been chuckling about lately. Especially after my dad was telling us about some shows on TV where he saw that the families doled out loading and unloading the dishwasher as punishment. Say what?

Doing the dishes in our house may have felt like punishment some days, but we always shared the load … depending upon who cooked, cleaned up (or if one person felt more like one thing than another), we all divvied up the jobs and got the work done together. It’s one of the things I’ve liked best about doing kitchen work with the kids—the togetherness. Because even if we’re just packing up food, rinsing plates or toweling the glasses dry (or sweeping the floor and neatening up), it was time spent together. I guess it was what some may call “quality time.” Chatting about what happened in school, what so-and-so did, the plans for tomorrow … all the little (and sometimes big) things that crop up day in and day out. Working together in the kitchen has been the magic glue that helps hold it all together.

Of course, after a month of living through kitchen remodeling and washing the day’s dishes in the bathtub, it’s even sweeter. We made it through to the other side and there’s no turning back.

Come to think of it now, I’ve got more counter space (no dish rack filled all day), and more time (no 15 minutes at the sink after each meal), so what’s a mom and writer to do? Well, cook more, of course—and write up all those recipes to share with y’all, right?

You got it. Stay tuned.

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