apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Laure,

I'm with you. I like to use a well folded dishtowel next to the sink and put dishes away OFTEN. SKGR, however, likes to use the dishwasher (now that we have one). I find the dishwasher a black hole. You don't run it until it fills up and sometimes that takes two days. Meanwhile, I'm going into the dishwasher to get the dishes and wash them so I can use them again!

I actually use my dishwasher as a dish rack. I rarely run it since I hate having dirty dishes lying around, but I have been looking at dish racks lately because I think the dishwasher is becoming a little too cumbersome as a dish rack in my tiny kitchen.

I really like the idea of the foldable ones so I can slip it under the sink until I need it.

I grew up with the towel method and hated it. My parents didn't seem to know dish racks existed. We'd usually have a huge pile of wet dished on a soggy towel, and only if we were lucky none of the wet dishes or forks would slide onto the floor or back in the sink. Most of the time by the time the dishes were dry (took forever), a new bunch of dishes would be washed and dumped on the same wet towel.

I love my dish rack. But I really like the wooden one in the pic!

I installed a dish drawer 3 years ago and am ashamed to say that I have never used it. I continue to use a hang-over-the-sink rack from my studio living days. It often gets set aside on my counter so that I can access the sink. I place a dish rag underneath to catch drips. Sorry dishdrawer, but old habits die hard.

I have this "double-decker" dish rack in red enamel from Ikea which is now looking a little worse for wear but which I still *love* of its design. Ikea has since discontinued it - aargh. I place a white enamel butcher tray under it and drain it when putting dry dishes away. Though we cook a lot we have the same issues with the dishwasher - takes a couple of days to fully load up, hate have dirty dishes around for that long, etc.

Sure, I would like a more elegant solution but given its practicality I can live with it.

After the last time this topic went around, I went dish rack browsing crazy. After considering getting one that cost nearly $5o--I think it was a double decker chrome one, I came to my senses and gave my Sterilite white plastic one a good scrub down, and it feels good as new and the best buy for someone on a budget. Mostly because its so super sturdy, has a built-in utensil holder, and can hold and plates and pots and a lot more at the same time. It comes with the draining board too. I think I am gonna use it til it disintegrates, which may be never, so an even better reason to keep it in the house and out of a landfill!

dish racks are unattractive

I have a dishwasher but I wash some things by hand every evening...mixing bowls or wine glasses - and I use the towel method.

I use a chrome dishrack that fits snuggly into my 2nd sink. This way the counters are dry and clutter free and I still have my other sink to wash my dishes in.

i'm about to rock all y'all's worlds: We use a nice shiny metal dishrack ON A TOWEL. The towel extends about four inches past the end of the rack, and that's where I set wine glasses to dry.

The rack folds up and is put away before guests come over, obviously, and I don't know why you'd bother with a dishrack if you couldn't stow it out of sight when you need to.

I was using the dish towel method for awhile too until I was washing a huge load and had to spread the drying dishes out all over the counter. It's more difficult to safely stack dishes without a strainer. Fortunately, I have a double sink and the Simple Human Compact dish rack fits perfectly in one.

http://www.simplehuman.com/products/dishracks/compact.html

The bamboo is pretty, but I can't authorize $50 for a dishrack.

When I had a single sink, I used a chrome dishrack that I didn't mind the looks of. Now that I have a double sink (why does this sound like a song?), I just let the dishes dry in the left-hand sink.

Does everything have to be super attractive and expensive? Bed Bath & Beyond sells simple coated metal dish racks in white, black and silver for like $10 that sits on a tray that gathers the water and you can wash the tray when it gets too yuck. And when the whole thing gets yuck, guess what? It's only another $10 to get a brand new one.

when not using the dishwasher I actually dry my dishes and put them away. no dishrack, no towel (except for when in the act of drying)

This may be news to some of you, but hand washing dishes wastes a huge amount of water and energy compared to running a dishwasher that is mostly full. For anyone interested in green living at home or just saving money and time, this topic warrants further research.

I like to use the 4 hour delay and energy saver dry features to set the washer to run at night when demand for water and power are lower.

Why not just dry the dishes with that dishtowel and put them away?

I have a very basic-looking but handy counter top dish drying tray, available for 8.99 at Linens 'n Things. It's a flat, removable grid set in a tray, so no sopping mess. I originally bought it for occasional use to dry stemware, but now use it all the time, especially for cups and longer utensils like spatulas and knives which I lay flat.

http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2563769&cp=1331607.1903069.2196449&parentPage=family

Counter space is way too scarce to use a dishrack/towel, especially since I have a dishwasher. We have enough dishes that we only need to run it every 3-4 days. We just rinse dishes right after use and stick it in the washer, and forget about it. It is annoying when we need something that's dirty, but it's better than when my husband piles dirty dishes in the sink -- often unrinsed -- when he's too lazy to wash them by hand. Although when we didn't have a dishwasher (and an even smaller kitchen), we used a dish rack with a towel underneath. I think it dries faster, and it's easier to stack.

What makes handwashing wasteful? It takes a few gallons to fill a sink/tub. You wash all the dishes. Fill the sink/tub again with cold water (if you don't want to use the faucet), and rinse them off that way.

There's a place for a solid metal dishrack in any honest kitchen! Even with a dishwasher, which I love to use, there are times you just need to throw something into the rack.

marc newsons dish doctor is the only way to dry in style!

CJL, I'm with you. I just hand-dry with a towel and put them away immediately.

i used a fold up wood one for years, but honestly it was a pain to stack anything that wasn't a plate on it. things always fell off. i finally caved in to the typical metal/coated one and it does the job. some are "designed" nicer than others. i'm not really bothered by it being on the counter - it seems normal to me, like...you know...this is a kitchen....

i prefer to air dry than towel dry. why get another towel sopping wet?

I very much prefer the bamboo racks for aesthetic reasons, but once you use it, it's pretty much worthless. All the water pools under the rack and if there's a lot of dishes it becomes a little smelly and stagnant. And a dish towel underneath the rack defeats the point entirely as it too becomes sopping wet. I finally caved and got a regular ole dish rack with the plastic draining tray. I do make it a point to clean the tray a couple times a week so it always looks brand new and fresh.

i use a super-skinny dishrack that fits perfectly in my big kitchen sink. it only takes up about 1/3 of it, leaving room to utilize the sink w/out drying dishes getting in the way. the dishrack holds 6ish plates a few glasses and a lot of silverware and utensils. if i have bigger jobs, i'll use the dishtowel method, but i dont have much counter space, so i often just wash and dry in batches.

the skinny chrome dishrack is from Target and cost around $12. it's so perfect, i actually get kinda excited when i look at it.

I use this really basic white plastic dish rack from Target that fits into my 2nd sink. It blends with the white tile and is hardly noticeable when it's not in use. So I save precious counter space AND it was somewhere around 3 dollars.

My NEW dishwasher doesn't work very well and plus we have really hard water. So most of the time the dishwasher is used as a dish rack. Out of sight, out of mind. When too much water collects at the bottom of the dishwasher, then I load the scrubbed dishes in and do a "Rinse Only" cycle. That cleans up the stagnant water every 2 days or so. We are a family of 3 and my husband and son are always snacking and eating. And we only have a 4 dish set! So I'm always washing dishes.

I used to have a very clever solution when I was living in Italy (did not come up with it myself, though, it was already there)... the rack is integrated into one of the wall cabinets directly above the sink with the base of the cabinet removed. It's extremely handy as the water drips into the sink, no yucky trays and no soppy towels. Just close the door and your dishes are out of sight. I will definitely get myself one of these soon!

Put stuff on a thicker softer towel.

Hand dry silverware and other small things like glasses with a linen towel.

Use my dishwasher most of the time, but I do pots & pans by hand as well as good silver & glasses.

My dish rack is in the storage unit because I use my dishwasher to place wet dishes to dry.

Another vote for the chrome dish rack that's suspended in the sink. We used one even when we had a single sink (wash FAST in the part of the sink not blocked by the rack!). This was under $20 at Container Store.

I have been on the search for the perfect solution to the dishrack since moving into my tiny (274 sq ft) studio this past fall. My kitchen is 44" wide and my counter area is four inches on one side of the sink, and six inches on the other.

I have looked for wall hung solutions, but nothing I have found will hold my plates which have a thick rim (I don't want to buy new dishes). I also have not seen an over the sink rack that will work for me either.

My solution thus far has been to use a metal tray with what looks like a heavy duty cooling rack (for cookies) on the two back burners of my stove next to my sink. (no worries, there is no pilot light) This frees up the front two burners to actually use for cooking!

I use the dishwasher as a dish drying rack, as well. I'd use the dishwasher to actually wash the dishes but:

1) We've done the bill comparison tests, and it makes a significant different, not to mention the water usage (we fill our sink with about 2" of water, and rinse sparsely)

2) Our dishwasher sucks pretty bad, and when we WERE using it we ended up re-washing most of the dishes, anyway, even after having the dishwasher cleaned and looked at by a repair guy

3) We're a family of 4 and only keep 4 place settings worth of dishes in circulation. To run the dishwasher for 4 plates and 4 forks would be - unarguably - wasteful.

So...we use the dishwasher to let them drip dry on the top rack, set our plants underneath to give them a watering (we use a soap that seems to be safe, as the plants are still alive and kicking) and occasionally run the dishwasher on the rinse cycle to clean it out.

Eskimoki wrote:
"I used to have a very clever solution when I was living in Italy (did not come up with it myself, though, it was already there)... the rack is integrated into one of the wall cabinets directly above the sink with the base of the cabinet removed. It's extremely handy as the water drips into the sink, no yucky trays and no soppy towels. Just close the door and your dishes are out of sight. I will definitely get myself one of these soon!"

Yes, these are FABULOUS, don't take up counter space, energy efficient, look tidy . . . need I say more? Now that more North Americans are living in smaller spaces you would think all kinds of clever companies would offer these to the market, wouldn't you? Eskimoki, if you find one, please let us know where!

Washing by hand may not be green, but in New York, where your landlord pays for your water, most rentals do not have dishwashers. So dishracks are a must.

That said, as a city, New York is pretty green (population density, widespread use of public transport, small living, and so on), so I think we probably make up for it in other ways.

My mom and new stepfather have an ongoing argument with this- she uses the rack, he uses the towel. I use a folding wooden rack that goes back in a cabinet when the dishes are dry. A towel is placed under to catch the drips, though.

I am from Finland and the drying cabinet was a standard in a kitchen. The bottom of a wall cabinet is open to air the dishes, the water would drip into a metal tray that attaches to the rack. This drying cabinet would be above the sink so it is easy to put the dishes to dry. Close the doors and voila. One of those simple inventions like duvet cover that we Finns have used since 60's instead of the troublesome top sheet.

I too use the "dry it when it's washed" method, and put my dishes away.

And it uses 100% less energy than a dishwasher.

Another vote for the suspended sink one from the container store. I especially love it because it's big enough to hold dishes from dinner, but that's it. Thus I am motivated to do dishes more often as there simply isn't room for them to pile up.

My studio apartment's sink is tiny and has no adjacent counter space, so the solution I came up with is keeping a sink-sized dishrack -in- the sink full time. I'll pull it out on the rare occasions that I have to pour things into the disposal, but keep it in place otherwise. Nice thing is, once I do the wash, I can put it all out on the rack and give it a good rinse with the spray nozzle.

I imagine this only works b/c I live alone, and I try to wash/hand-dry my cookware as I go along.

PS- I find it necessary to soak the rack in bleach once a week to keep things clean.

my dish rack (from ikea) is hinged and sits about two feet above my sink. It's stupid to have a dish rack sitting on counter space.

In the past, while living in rentals I cut out the bottom of the cabinets above the sink and put in slots and just let my dishes drain back into the sink from their permanent spot. This is pretty common in Russia, I've heard.

And both options are cheap too. THROW AWAY THAT COUNTER KILLER!

I have had at least 4 dish racks in the past year. I am currently using none. I wash the dishes and put them INTO the dishwasher to let them dry. They are hidden from view; it's the perfect dish rack.

Now I want a double sink. I use the towel-on-the-counter method, which means there's often clean dishes sitting next to the sink. I should just put in a double sink so I can actually use the counter space I have!

We had a double sink w/a drainer as a kid, and aside from the nostalgia factor, it seems practical.

Plastic dish rack. Mine is black and when I'm done drying and putting the dishes away, the rack gets put away too. I hate the way it looks so I try to hide it when not in use.

I use grip liner rather than a towel - no sopping mess.

I think this is one of those things that people do whatever their parents did and find anything else just plain weird! Like how you place a toilet paper roll.

I grew up with an ugly plastic dishdrainer and now use a pretty metal one (and no dishwasher). At our country house, we have a dishwasher, but still use a metal dishdrainer (cute vintage-y wire one from Smith and Hawken (not currently on their website) for whatever doesn't go in the dishwasher.

Why not make a dish drying cabinet like they have it Italy? See a photo of one on my blog here -
http://theblogthatatemanhattan.blogspot.com/2007/07/tbtam-does-italy-part-2.html

i place my wet dishes into a wire storage basket which sits on top of a regular plastic dish drain 'tray'. the water runs into the sink.

after i've put the dishes away, i just hang the basket onto a screw in the wall above the kitchen doorway. saves a lot of space!

I absolutely love that Italian drying cabinet, and we are certainly going to build one of those in the next apartment (June 08- Hoboken, 800sf Me, Hubby, 2 P/T College Age Daughters and 2 rambunctious dogs....sheesh!) - but for now, what we are doing, and have been doing for the last few apartments, is we hang a wire basket over the sink - or in the case of this last apartment, since there is a window over the sink, attach it to the windowsill with screws, almost like an old style bicycle basket. The dishes drain into the sink. We help to funnel the water into the sink with a dish rack 'tray' that you buy in Target made by like Rubbermaid or something. It sort of sits at an angle like a slide under the basket, and leans up against the faucets. Voila. No wasted space. We are getting pretty good at this, but I sure love the ideas I get on this blog!!!

I feel that apartment dwelling in cities does provide a lot of inspiration to become more efficient. And shame on those of you who say "Hey, a dishrack is only $10- I can throw it away and get a new one" when that old one just adds to our landfills. Don't buy it if you're just planning on throwing it out in a year or two!! Buy it or build it to last!

Thanks for the photo of the Italian cabinet, I really love it!

i use all three methods. i keep a kosher kitchen and currently we have no room for two dishwashers (one for meat dishes and one for dairy), i only have a dw for meat dishes. so dairy dishes dry in a rack which i view as a necessary evil, and meat dishes get the dishwasher. i use a towel for meat stuff that can't wait for the dishwasher to fill up. most older homes here in israel where i live have the dish dryer cabinet, but unfortunately my kitchen didn't come with it. if/when we renovate, i hope to get a second dishwasher and be finished with the rack altogether.

A small place with two older people has little need for a dishwasher, living in a small 150-yr-old home there's not really any room for one.
I seem to wash a lot of dishes... we rarely get "take out" and seldom dine out, we cook from scratch... so I'm constantly washing things that we use often.
I wash in a small plastic basin in the sink, rinse in running water, then drip/air-dry in a rack.
Big items drain only briefly, then get toweled dry and stowed away (so they don't get in the way).

We have a sink in a small pantry next to the kitchen, with a dish rack on a drainboard emptying into the sink. Since I'm always washing as I go, the dish rack is always there... I could hang it on a hook, but 5 minutes later I'd have to take it down again.
The dish rack is well-designed, manufactured of good steel with a heavy rubber coating (to deter chipping and breakage)... about 33 years ago by the Rubbermaid® company. It's the color of green florist's clay.
It is accompanied by a matching rubber-coated "sink rack" that goes in the bottom of the sink to (again, to protect things from breakage).
The matching Rubbermaid basin disappeared years ago, and they no longer make them in that ('70s) shade of green, so I now use a white basin which matches the color of the enamel sink.)

I'd say our system is utilitarian, functional and hygienic... but it isn't particularly aesthetic... none of the process is hidden!

We also often use the dishwasher as a dish rack for the handful of things that can't be cleaned in the dishwasher itself. (We just designate a "clean" section while those things are drying.)

We have a flat-top (glass top?) range and sometimes do the "dish-towel method" there -- maybe with a paper towel, it depends on the day. This is more likely to be done for stuff like pans and measuring cups that are either inconveniently large or used too frequently to run them through the dishwasher. Or for things that we think are too fragile.

I'm really traumatized by what my fiance does at his apartment, which is... to... *shudder*... lay out his dish towel on the floor. He has a very small apartment, few dishes, no pets, and not much counter space. There's about 2 feet or so of lino in front of the counter/sink/stove/fridge (which are all in a row on one wall); the rest of the room is a small dining room, but he uses it as an office. He puts the towel in front of his microwave, behind where he stands at the sink, just where the carpeting starts.

(I. really. hate. that. apartment. The bathroom is infinitesimally small, but when some lino was pulled up to fix a leak, they didn't just recover the whole floor. Nope. They patched half the floor with a NON-MATCHING lino. PEACH. *sigh*)

I have a hard time believing that everyone is really good about putting their non-dish-rack dishes away when they're dry, esp. if it's their perpetual method of drying; there have got to be a lot of heaps of dishes decorating a lot of counters on a fairly regular basis. Also, the stacking for this kind of method tends to be haphazard and lead to chipping, if you use it for all your dishes. But not if you're like my fiance and only have a few dishes to begin with, I guess! :)

PS - if you do have a drying rack, it's helpful to have a little drip-pan under it that automatically drains into the sink. I used to have one that was on a slight slant, just enough to drain nicely.