Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Dishwashers & Santitizers

[Muriel Kranowski (murielk]

We have both a large stand-alone commercial dishwasher-sanitizer and a 
residential dishwasher in the CH kitchen, and each has its benefits and 
supporters and the opposite.

The sanitizer is used whenever there were too many diners to reasonably fit 
their dishes into the residential dishwasher.  I love the sanitizer because 
when the dishes come out, they're dried if needed and are immediately put 
away. Only the big basket of flatware is left to be sorted out and put away 
another day (no-one wants to dry that much flatware so we let it air dry). 
So when the cleaners are done, the dishes, drinking glasses, and pots have 
all been put away except for the flatware.  But although every cycle is 
very quick, you have to keep loading it and unloading it over and over for 
a meal that's big enough to need it, and also not everyone knows how to use 
it (or use it correctly).

Other people love the residential dishwasher because you load it once, 
start it going, and walk away, and it's easy and intuitive to use, as 
everyone has used a standard dishwasher at some time. But since the 
official cleaners for that meal get to walk away after starting it, it will 
be someone else's job to unload it the next day, which I see as a disadvantage.

The people who clean can really help or really hurt the dishwashing 
outcome. The residential d.w. does a much better job if the cleaners 
remember to run the hot water in the sink next to it until the water is 
really hot, so the dishwasher's water will start hot and can get 
hotter.  Some cleaners know and remember this, and some don't. Also some 
cleaners are determined to cram in every last dish even if they have to 
overload it, and others cannot be dissuaded from thoroughly prewashing 
every dish. The d.w. is a Kenmore, about 2 years old, replacing a previous 
one that died.  We're using a very concentrated "green" detergent and the 
results are quite acceptable.

The residential d.w. is also handy for accumulating a few cups, drinking 
glasses and wine glasses and so on for a couple of days between meals, 
though this feature is not so handy if you're a cleaner after a not-too-big 
meal and could get by with just the residential, but it has too many items 
already in it needing to be washed.

Until I moved into cohousing, I had no idea I would develop strong feelings 
about things like dishwashing and putting things away in the kitchen!  My 
personal 12-step program is aimed at Letting.It.Go.  I am not there yet.

   Muriel
   Shadowlake Village Cohousing
   Blacksburg, VA


At 02:33 PM 11/11/2010, you wrote:

> What is the current state of practice in terms of residential-type 
> dishwashers? Sanitizers?
>
> Do people do pans in them?
>
> How many loads do you do?
>
> Are you sorry you switched to them?
>
> Of did anyone switch?
>
> What kind do you have?
>
> We are facing $1600 motor replacement in our commercial freestanding style 
> sanitizer and not all of us want to replace it.
>
> Some people love it.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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