We are obsessed with dishwashing soap solutions. Saw this at a friend's house and went right home to make one ourselves. On his kitchen sink, there was a vintage style Geyer Freres 1895 bottle with a cork pourer stuck in it. Inside was a mixture of dish soap and water. When you needed some soapy water, all you did was turn it over and pour.
As much as we try to keep our sink minimal, this was very practical and had a rough and ready, old-salt type of cool to it.
The bottles are the key. They are thick and a little imperfect.
We found Lorina at Citarella, but you can probably find them at little gourmet markets all over the city. As for the stoppers, we used to buy them at 
I love this idea. Williams-Sonoma sells the stopppers as well, I've bought them and use a cool italian wine bottle for my olive oil. It looks nice on the counter for my cooking, and it's dark enough to keep the oil preserved.
I do this with a wine bottle, but I don't dilute the dish soap. I love it.
we used the lorina bottle with pourer for a long time, but i finally grew tired of it's stopper flapping around. now we use a favorite old wine bottle from a special occasion. it's a nice way to make a memento into a practical feature of our everyday lives.
It will be All Your Fault when I devote myself to scouring eBay and the Alameda Antique Fair for an authentic antique bottle from the mid-1920s, labeled for a genuine San Francisco beverage (preferably one I drank before it was discontinued in the 1980s), in a color scheme compatible with the kitchen.
But it'll look a heck of a lot better than the bottle of Dawn that's there now.
I use a maple syrup dispenser - shorter and less likely to fall over than a taller bottle. the top is easy to clean, there is very little drip and you get just the right amount
It's not as pretty, but I dilute dishwashing liquid with water in a squirt bottle. Much easier for spraying onto a cereal bowl for a quick wash-up or for spraying into a pot that needs to soak.
I do, however, love the idea of decanting the regular, undiluted liquid into a pretty bottle with a pouring spot!
I seem to recall the project listed in an article about Madam Stewart's most popular projects from her tenth anniversary magazine...??
A squirt bottle!! I am stunned with the obvious practicality. I have been using a little plastic squeeze bottle, but now I think I need a squirt bottle.
pretty pretty! I love those lemonade bottles..though like Wende, I see the possibilties of making this yet another obsessive project of mine! :)
i do this all the time... i call it "soap soup".
i fill a plastic squeeze bottle about 3/4 full of very hot tap water. then i top it off with diswashing liquid, and set aside. a couple gentle turns of the bottle will distribute the soap throughout, without causing it to foam up.
the consistency will be nearly as syrupy as the real full-strength liquid, but it last longer, especially if you are using a scrubbing brush instead of filling a basin with water to do the dishes.
JenDC, you are correct -- Martha's been doing the the bottle-as-dish-soap holder for more than 10 years. Its still a great idea.
I have to voice a protest. I loved the bottle-as-for-dishsoap and used a really funky looking little olive oil dispenser, but...the husband hated it, and, it very quickly broke, leaving us with a sink full or glass (it broke on its own: the husband was cleared of all charges). I like the maple syrup idea--maybe that will be a little sturdier.
For now, we're using one of those bright red umbra dispensers, with a kangaroo pocket in the front to hold a scrubber. And it's a nightmare. The ceramic "pouch" doesn't drain and instantly fills up with nasty swampy dishwater that we have to dump out, which is one more nasty job. I'm sad that a product from umbra was so poorly designed.
call me a spoil sport, but while they undoubtedly look stylish, i would worry a kid or someone who didn;t know would pick up the bottle and take a drink from it (esp if it has the "lemondae" label on it. sorry! and i'm not usually a party pooper, i promise :-)
I love those bottles. I soak them in warm water when I am done to remove the labels and then use them for iced tea; I suppose a pitcher would also work, but that wouldn't be half as delightful.
I've been using a glass bottle (from Lechter's--a long time ago) with a pourer for 10 years or so. It's never broken, though it's been dropped a few times. The only drawback is that sometimes I'll get a dishwashing liquid that's so thick that it takes forever to pour out. Obviously diluting it, as people above have done, is the answer.
It is a gloomy, chilly day here, and I'm going with it and making a bitter comment. I am heartily sick and tired of the big M upstaging all the charming, original things people do. I myself have been cooking up storms and coming up with delightful domestic ideas since before Martha came on the scene. Then the compliment became, "Your a real Martha Stewart!" No. I am not. I am me, capable of making good food and charming home embellishments and furniture refurbishings in good taste myself--as are many of my friends, and many, many AT faithfuls.
There.
Au
I use a Dawn detergent dispenser for my olive oil. The plastic container gives the oil a funky feel that is both efficient and modern.
I love this idea for detergent. I actually have my handsoap in an old soy sauce bottle with the two-sided pour cap. If you dilute the liquid soap, or mix various remnants together it flows quite easily and makes a novel bathroom feature.
I actually use an old coke bottle - that contour shape is easy to grab (and hold onto) with wet hands while doing the dishes.
You can buy bags of pourers from any restaurant supply store for very little money.
I hadn't thought of diluting it to make it pour easier - great tip.
you want buy old bottles from morocco
I have looked all over the place for empty lorina bottles and can not find them. I live in michigan and do not reuire authentic Geyer Freres. I just want to use the bottles to bottle our wine we make in.
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coke bottle does have that nice easy to grip shape.
i use a little spritzer myself. it's very small so it fits in the sponge holder. easy to de-grease pots and bowls with a couple of spritzes
We just finished our first bottle of Lorina French Lemonade, which caused my husband to lament over placing the bottle into the recycle bin, saying it was far too beautiful to throw out. Thanks to AT, I guess now we can to the ultimate recycle thing: turn it into a dish soap dispenser.
i did this in my first apt. i think i should be pretty happy w/myself since i was only 21. I used a vintage champagne bottle though. it looked very nice.
HOWEVER ... the spout did clog up fairly often & the bottle did get soapy & slippery when i was trying to do the dishes. so, unless you have a dishwasher & rarely wash things by hand, i would find another way.
right now, the space above my sink has very liitle verticle room. so, i use a handmade soap pump. it's a blue/green pottery & has little brown swirls. i actually got it in the bathroom section of pier one. i kinda hate that store now, but the pump is really pretty.
I just recently bought a lorina bottle from Target. Not all Target's carry them though.
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