Is a Dish Washer really that useful?

BRUTALITY FACTOR: Low

I had seen these in a lot of people's homes before and always wanted one. Cleaning up dishes is the last thing anyone wants to do. I would rather watch TV or, surf or, be on the phone or, just sit around and do nothing. So once I moved into a rented apartment, I was happy to see one included in the kitchen.

It was all down hill after that. The kitchen had a sink, fridge, microwave, stove with an oven and the dishwasher. With all of these in a spacious 6' x 10' kitchen, I was left with two cabinets and one draw for storage. One cabinet had to have the trash, and the draw had to spoons, knives etc. Since the washer could wash a gazillion plates in one load, it took up the space I could have used to store gazillion plates. So I had to cram the rest of the kitchen stuff into the one cabinet left. I was successful doing that after throwing away more than 3/4th of the stuff I had got.

At this point I would like to talk about the cabinets which are provided above the microwave and the fridge. I think they are provided just to maintain the flow of cabinets around the kitchen and serve no purpose. The size is smaller than my fist and you can't reach it unless you are 8 feet tall. Ultimately if you do end up storing anything up there, it means you don't need them. Which again means, you can trash them and save yourself the trouble. Those cabinets open up only twice. First, to put the stuff you don't need and second to take them out when you have decided to move out of the house.

Getting back to the stupid dish washer. I decided to use it and loaded it with one glass, one spoon and one plate I used that day. Then I realized I needed a special cleaning stuff for it and can't pour my liquid cleaner all over them like I do for the washing machine. After buying the nice, candy-like-looking soap. I snapped the door shut and I was confused in what I was looking at. There were too many options on it. I just wanted a button which said "Start Cleaning". 

I fumbled around for a bit and made it start. The noises coming out of it made it seem like I was in a laundromat. I had to crank the TV volume to the max to hear them talk. It was done cleaning after 1.5 hrs which seems like an awful lot considering that, there were only three items in it. As soon as I opened it, it steamed my face. The 3 items were still wet. So I waited another 1/2 hour for it to dry and put them back in the cabinet.

After the not so pleasant experience, I thought I would get used to it. I never did. Every time I needed a plate or a spoon it was in the dish washer, which obviously was not cleaned. Every time I wanted to start the washer, there would be only one dirty spoon. If I do end up running it, I am too lazy to unload it. 

The time spent on loading and unloading it. The two years it takes to clean. Listening to the racket it makes, just doesn't seem worth it. Unless the washer is loaded to the max. It takes me to 10 seconds to wash a plate in the sink. And, its done. I don't have to worry about loading or unloading. The number of times you bend down to unload the dishwasher gives a serious back pain. For a single person it doesn't make sense. It does save water as compared to washing manually. 

I still think, my scrubber and washing liquid would do a better job of cleaning than my dishwasher. Or probably, I should give it another shot. Why else would they be included in every kitchen? I guess now for me, its less of a dish washer and more of a dish rack.