Our dishwasher stopped working a couple of weeks ago so I started looking for a new one. I had no idea that there were so many variations available. We managed doing it all by hand for a week or so but that just had to stop.
However did we manage before the dishwasher was invented. There was a lot of dishes to be washed by hand I know that. It was not as bad when just two people had a meal together but I do not think that I could have faced cleaning all the crockery and cutlery that is made dirty when we have a dinner party for eight.
When I looked it up on the internet I found out that the dishwasher was invented sometime between the mid nineteenth century and the 1920s. I say that because the first patent for a dish washing device was in 1850 but the dishwasher as we know it today was not possible until permanent plumbing was available in houses.
So, how did I go about finding my replacement. There were two main things that I had to decide.
The first thing I had to do was measure the hole that I took it out of and the new one would have to fit in to. In fact most dishwashers are built with a standard width of 24 inches and will happily fit into a 34 inch hole. By checking that I discovered that I did indeed need to get a 24 in built in dishwasher.
The second was to work out what material the new washer should be made of. One thing that surprised me was that a tub that is made of plastic is better than one made of stainless steel. The reasons seem to be that they are better in areas with hard water, they keep the heat better to help the drying cycle and they make the machine quieter to use. The downside, of course, is that they are a bit more expensive.
Those two things were all I needed to kinow to get the basic dishwasher that I wanted but, if I had wanted to spend some more money I could have bought one with an attachment which basically works as a waste disposal unit to clear away the bigger bits of leftovers.
So I went out and bought one which was delivered and fitted the next day. All we have to do now is make sure that we use the right amounts of dishwasher salt and rinse aid and we cannot go wrong.
Unfortunately there are some things that we cannot put in the dishwasher. Cast iron utensils might rust, anything that has been affected by cigarette ash or candle wax will contaminate the rest of the wash. It is not recommended to put cutlery with wooden handles or things like wood chopping boards in.
If you have any dounts it is best to wash it by hand. We managed everything for a few days so it is not the end of the world.
