This appliance is slowly becoming standard equipment in Polish homes, as dishwashers have long been widely used in the West. Can you imagine washing clothes nowadays using a bathtub and soap? No one has done that for many years, because we can find a washing machine in every home. Is a similarly bright future awaiting dishwashers? Definitely yes.
Is a dishwasher worth it?
This is a very important, if not the most important, question. We can consider it from a financial perspective (does a dishwasher use less water?) or a personal one (will using a dishwasher save us time?).
The question of saving time is fairly obvious. Let us assume that we have to wash an entire sink (both basins) full of dirty dishes. How long might it take? Probably around twenty or thirty minutes, depending on the technique used (we are not counting the time needed to put the dishes away, because we also have to do this when using a dishwasher). How long will washing take with the appliance? About four minutes. This is the time needed to transfer the dirty dishes from the sink to the dishwasher. Definitely shorter! There is, however, room for further optimization. Let us ask the household members to put dishes in the dishwasher immediately after using them. In such a situation, the final washing time is reduced to the few seconds needed to start the program. Over the course of days, weeks and months, we can gain a huge amount of time to use as we wish.
The financial aspect is not so obvious. We need to take into account electricity and water consumption measurements. However, many studies indicate that the average cost of washing a set of dishes by hand ranges from PLN 1.48 to PLN 3.39, while using a dishwasher costs PLN 0.72 to PLN 1.61. It is therefore clear that under the same price conditions (the price of water, electricity and detergents), using the appliance will bring tangible financial benefits.
Which dishwasher should you choose?
Now that we know owning a dishwasher should be more cost-effective than washing by hand, let us consider which dishwasher to choose. Do manufacturers offer additional functions and programs? Will the appliance match the kitchen decor?
The primary criterion worth considering is the size of the dishwasher. Large families should choose a larger appliance, while couples and single people should choose a smaller one. This way, we will avoid excessive water consumption and ensure an efficient process of replacing dirty dishes with clean ones. If preserving our dream home design is important to us, we should choose a built-in dishwasher. It will not be a separate appliance but will fit perfectly into the kitchen cabinets, becoming part of them.
What functions and additional programs can we expect from modern dishwashers? Let us see what we can expect from manufacturers using an example. The Indesit brand offers the eXtra dishwasher. The appliance is equipped with various programs that make it possible to adapt washing to individual needs. These include eco, intensive, shortened-time (40-minute), and half-load options. If we want to clean delicate wine glasses, we can choose the eXtra Light program, which protects this type of dish. The manufacturer has also thought of families with small children and designed a special element for sterilizing pacifiers and bottles. In addition, we can select the Baby Care cycle, which removes more than 99% of bacteria.
When choosing a dishwasher, it is also worth checking whether it can wash tall pots. The solution used in the Indesit eXtra (the lift-up system) allows the upper basket to be raised. This provides an additional 3.5 centimeters of space. Apart from space, electricity and water consumption are important. This appliance uses 9 liters of water to wash 14 place settings. This is a very good result compared with the dishwasher segment as a whole.