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People living in colder regions may want to skip this entry to avoid terminal jealousy. It was warm. It was sunny. It was glorious. I finally got in my first good half-day of yard work. (Stopped primarily because the green-waste trash bin was full.) I tidied up the raspberries -- snipping out last year's canes, tying up the new growth, and weeding the bed. Did a bunch of general cleaning up of the yard, including cutting up several ex-xmas trees to fit in the green-trash bin. Got myself a pruning tool -- long pole with a pulley-driven pruning shear at the top plus saw attachment -- and did some basic triage on the almond trees. Mostly I cut off branches that were likely to brush against my house or the neighbor's or were likely to droop down to head level when the fruit gets heavy. I once again missed the real pruning season and don't want to cut too heavily now that the trees are blooming.

And because several people have asked for it, we have an appliance review. I've been dithering for years about owning a dishwasher because -- much as I dislike the daily grind of washing up -- I couldn't see running a regular dishwasher every day for one person's dishes (and the whole point of having a machine was to not have them pile up for days), and besides which my kitchen layout didn't present an obvious place to install one. Then back around when I was putting my Christmas present wish list together, I came across the concept of a miniature countertop dishwasher. They're designed for mobile homes or small apartments or the like. And lo and behold, Santa Clause brought me one.

The model I got is by Danby -- here's a picture (this is not necessarily an endorsement of Target). It's about the size of a microwave and fits fairly precisely underneath my upper cabinets, tucked into the corner, which is mostly wasted space anyway. It hooks up to the kitchen tap for both water supply and drain (to the sink) -- a single quick-release connection which then disconnects and moves out of the way when you aren't running the machine. This is good.

It doesn't have the power-scrubbing function of some full-sized machines, so I take them seriously about the scraping and pre-rinsing thing, but otherwise I've had no complaints about its cleaning power. I don't use it for really nasty pots and pans, but for anything where a brief soak and once-over with a brush will prepare it sufficiently, there's no reason not to put the pots in with the rest of the load.

It's small enough that I pretty much fill it up for the daily run, even though the only meal I cook for is dinner (and other than dinner, it's just a couple plastic containers for my lunch). On weekends if I cook breakfast as well, I may end up doing three runs over the two days. So figure that since I got it, I've probably run it around 75 times -- still working as well as the first run. It's relatively quiet. I can hear it from the next room over, but it doesn't keep me awake if I start it up when I go to bed. One minor down side is that because the normal setting doesn't heat the water beyond what the tap supplies, they recommend not using hot water for anything else while it's running. Since it's just me, this isn't a problem to work around, but I imagine that if you were using it in a two-person household, it might take more communication (and a more rigid schedule).

I'd be skeptical about the advertising description about fitting 4 place settings. If you were talking about just four plates, four glasses, and four sets of silverware then, yeah, maybe. But if you want to wash a pot and a couple refrigerator containers and a mixing bowl -- or want to run it only once a day for multiple meals -- then I'm not sure it's suitable for more than 1-2 people's dishes on a regular basis.

Overall, I give it two thumbs up. It suits my needs perfectly and has fit into my routine seamlessly.

dishwasher

Date: 2007-03-18 11:44 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Thanks for the review. This sounds like what I need. When my father broke his hip and moved in with me, I tried using the dishwasher that I hadn't even opened in the previous seven years in this house, but it's just ridiculous to run a half empty dishwasher every day, and trying to fill it up means I run out of the right size or type of dish. (Your tales of shuffling furniture around continue to inspire me as I try to pack his house for our eventual move (two months late already) to the new house.)

Mary Anne in Kentucky

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