Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Dishwashers etc

[Kay Argyle (Kay.Argyle]

Wasatch Commons has a Hobart commercial dishwasher, installed in 1999. 

UPSIDES

The cycle is 90 seconds. One person on the cleanup crew is kept busy just
loading and unloading racks. Everything goes in the dishwasher -- stemware,
pans, cutting boards, kitchen sponges.

The water is reused for multiple cycles. Unfortunately, given how heavily
the cost of water is subsidized here, thrifty water use is motivated
primarily by personal environmental leanings. 

At the end of each cycle the temperature spikes to 190F. By the time dishes
are cool enough to handle, they are dry enough to put away. Although, before
expecting similar results, keep in mind the implications that Utah being the
second-driest state has for our humidity. ;)  

Glasses don't get water rings and spots like in our residential dishwashers
at home. On the other hand, eventually they develop an all-over film. A
rinse in vinegar every few months deals with that.

We had one cook who liked to put on elaborate multicourse meals, lasting for
hours. He typically got a big turnout, and invited outside guests as well;
often every dish and eating utensil we own was in use. Everything had to be
washed and dried between every course -- with the commercial dishwasher,
only a minor delay.

DOWNSIDES

It has needed repair, I think twice. 

The dishwasher takes ten or so minutes to heat the water initially; we turn
it on at the beginning of the meal, so it's ready as soon as the first
diners finish.

SLC's water contains 50 ppm of calcium. Lime buildup was a problem until it
became a standard part of shutdown to mist the interior using a spray bottle
of vinegar. 

It's under-counter, meaning racks need to be lifted. Corelle dishes keep the
weight down, but it isn't a job for someone with a bad back.

The dishwasher doesn't deal well with dried-on food, large chunks, or
overcrowded racks, occasionally a problem with a new resident who is
thinking in terms of lengthy residential dishwasher cycles. It works well to
have diners scrape dishes into a compost bin, then drop them in bustubs of
soapy hot water, readied before the meal, to wait until a rack is being
loaded. 

Multiple loads coated with oily residue may necessitate a shutdown and
restart during cleanup, to drain and refill fresh wash water. (Spaghetti
sauce seems to be the worst offender.)

Some people insist on rinsing dishes under running water before loading (eye
roll). I suspect the distrust arose because crews weren't emptying the
strainer at the end of each cleanup, resulting in a recirculating
accumulation of particles.

The worst downsides are the architect's fault, not the dishwasher's (and
would be just as much a problem with a residential dishwasher) (and are
particularly irritating because they are so unnecessary). 

The dishwasher is smack opposite the pass-thru to the dining room. It isn't
particularly noisy, but given poor acoustics and residents with aging
hearing you still can't hold a post-meal meeting during cleanup. The fridge,
just as noisy, is on the dining room wall, and you don't hear it from the
dining room.

The drain board topping the dishwasher has room for a single rack being
loaded. In the few minutes it takes dishes to cool and dry, the dishwasher
completes two more cycles -- meaning we need space as well for two racks to
be cooling/drying.

The nearest counter is filled by the bustubs, and anyway there is a very
large sink for pots etc. between. The next-nearest counter is on the far
side of the kitchen, past the pantry, cookbook & vase shelves, wall ovens,
and microwave, a long way to carry a rack full of dishes. The stove, on the
other hand, is temptingly close; that's not a good match for either the
burner grates (which are rusting) nor the racks (several have holes melted
in the bottom).

Someone working at the stove stands right where the dishwasher door opens.
You can't start washing food prep equipment, pans, etc. while finishing
cooking, nor clean the stove while dishes are being done. From the food prep
area you have to walk totally around the stove, or risk burns by handing
food to the cook across its top. There is no place to set anything at the
stove, for instance a container of pancake batter. Once the food is cooked
you walk around the stove again, carrying large pans of scalding-hot food.
The counter below the pass-thru is so wide you are off-balance trying to
hand anything across, not safe when the thing is heavy and/or hot.

Our construction is slab-on-grade. We've never gotten flooring in the
kitchen, just some anti-fatigue mats. Corelle is sturdy, but it doesn't
survive being dropped on concrete (putting pergo in the dining room nearly
eliminated the breakage there). 

The kitchen is in the center of the building, with no windows, and
inadequate lighting.

If I were ripping out our kitchen (don't I wish), I'd put the dishwasher on
a side wall or the dining room wall, forcing sound to bounce at an acute
angle to get to the dining room. I'd put counter space on the other side of
the dishwasher. In the wall to the dining room, I'd put cupboards accessible
from either room. I'd enlarge the island, with the food prep sink and lots
of counter space, so people could work facing each other instead of with
their backs to each other, and could pass prepped food to the cook. I'd get
rid of the counter below the pass-thru, add closable shutters, and do more
two-sided cupboards underneath it. I'd put in linoleum and
industrial-strength lighting and glass doors on cupboards for
special-occasion stuff and those skylight tubes that reflect natural light
down from the roof.

Or I'd just ask my sister to design a kitchen for us. Out of experience with
a lot of houses (at one point she counted up 14 moves in 14 years) she knew
_exactly_ what she wanted when her husband got close to retiring (USAF) and
they built a place. Efficient work flow, very social, great storage, bright
and airy and gorgeous. It would make an utterly fabulous common house
kitchen.

Kay
Wasatch Commons
Salt Lake City 
 

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