Our new place does not have a dishwasher. I suppose that for many people, and historically most humans, this is not a problem, but I have never lived in a house without a dishwasher. I mean, I probably did growing up at some point, but ever since I can remember, I have done the dishes by placing them into a magic box that cleans them for me. In fact, I don’t even think I remember how to do dishes the old way. Do I fill the sink with water? Both sinks? Or do I rinse dishes from the faucet? Do I need a drying rack? And my sink is already filled with dirty dishes. Where should I put them? How can I fill the sink with water? Wait, am I supposed to fill the sink with water? No, this is not going to work. I need a dishwasher.
Sadly, we do not have enough cabinet space to give up a bunch of it for a dishwasher. Happily, we do have a big space at the end of the counter that would nicely fit a portable dishwasher. I have only recently become aware of portable dishwashers, but back before every house and apartment came with an installed dishwasher I guess these were fairly popular. You plug them in and hook them to the faucet on your sink and presto! Instant dishwasher!
My first stop on the portable dishwasher world tour was Sears. They did have a couple of models available, but this was when I first discovered the horrifying fact that portable dishwashers are twice as expensive as the built in kind. Seriously?! I could get a regular dishwasher for $300 (or more if I wanted a crazy one that also made dinner, cleaned the house, and drove the kids to school), but the least expensive portable one was $600. This made me sad, because I could not somehow justify spending $600 that I do not have, just to avoid touching yucky dishes.
I had no choice but to turn to that bastion of all things cheap and/or sketchy: Craigslist. I found one for only $75, and when I wrote to the guy, he said I could come pick it right up! So I did. And it was super heavy. And my wife did not seem to think the 400-year-old dishwasher that I was dragging out of the car was my best idea ever, although she did finally help me lug it up the stairs.
Once inside I rolled it into the kitchen, loaded it up with dishes, plugged it into the wall, and then hooked it up to the sink. Or I tried. As it turns out, the sink-hose-faucet device did not fit onto my particular sink. Fail on me. But I was not to be stopped! This morning I headed over to the Home Depot after dropping Ruby off at school and I got an adapter that will connect my sink to the dishwasher, according to the store. And when I got home I attached the adapter to my faucet. Or I tried. It did not fit.
Luckily, using deductive reasoning (read: the internet), I managed to figure out that by removing a large washer from the device I could, in fact, get it to attach. And so I attached it. For realsies this time. And I hooked the portable dishwasher to the device. And I turned the water on. And it did not spray everywhere! In fact, it seemed to work very well. And now I have clean dishes. Win.
Now can anyone sell me a portable dish-putter-awayer?
The wash setting you choose should depend upon the type of dishes you’re washing and how dirty the dishes are. Dirtier dishes require a more powerful setting.
The problem often occurs, in addition to the new dishwasher you buy can run properly be sure to read the manual guide first. It is necessary to avoid spending extra costs for repairs.