Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Kitchen design Dishwashers

[Douglas G. Larson (ddhle]

Here at Songaia Cohousing we have 3 residential style dishwashers in our
common house. 
We generally use all 3 for every meal where we serve 36 people. 

As Robin noted, the running time for residential dishwashers is much
longer. Ours is about 90 minutes. While we have never had a commercial
washer I am aware that they are lightning fast, 2 or 3 minutes at the
most. I don't know how the water usage compares but we do pre-rinse our
dishes for our residential machines. We have found that helps. Our
dishwashers are KitchenAid brand.

In my own unit I have a Miele brand and I love it. It was very expensive
and its running time is nearly 2 hours but I love it for the following
reasons:
1) It is extremely quiet. Standing next to it you can barely hear it
2) It is very efficient on water use and there is a setting for washing
only the top half of the dishwasher (if I have just a few dishes) which
uses half the usual amount of water.
3) It is very efficient on detergent, using 2 to 3 teaspoons. Compare
this to the 3 to 4 tablespoons most dishwashers require. 
4)  In the past 3 years I had a problem with it maybe 3 times. In each
case I called the service department where I bought it and they talked
me through over the phone how to reset it to solve the problem. I
haven't spent a dime on repair yet.
5)  Knives, forks etc. are in a horizontal tray at the very top as
opposed to a basket most dishwasher have. I admit it took getting used
to this approach but I like it now. 


The only drawback was the cost, $1400 for one residential dishwasher and
that was for a space saving 18" model. I suspect the full-size 24"
models are considerably more. 

Douglas G. Larson

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar - Helen
Keller