Dishwasher vs hand wash
Which is best?
When we say best, we mean which is more efficient!? In this post we look at water usage and costs of running a dishwasher compared to washing your dishes in the kitchen sink. We’ll also give you some dishwasher appliance inspiration from our favourite suppliers.
Four Seasons Kitchens
Water efficiency
According to the consumer choice champion Which? – Dishwashers are, on average, four times more water efficient than washing by hand.
Should you opt for the most water-efficient full-sized dishwasher, expect almost 10 times less water to wash the same amount of dishes as hand washing them.
What about energy usage?
When it comes to hand washing the energy used is mostly burning your own calories, apart from heating the washing-up water of course.
Interesting fact! 30 minutes of washing dishes by hand and cleaning up the kitchen with moderate intensity gets rid of 187 calories if you weigh 125 pounds (around 9 stone) and 300 calories if you weigh 200 pounds (around 14 stone).
Working out how much it costs to heat your water for hand washing isn’t a straightforward task as there are so many variables.
For example, are you using gas or electricity to heat the water? Using a washing up bowl or sink? Gas is typically cheaper than electricity but worse for the environment.
For simplicity, let’s assume you are using an electric immersion heater that’s 3kW to heat your washing up water and using a nine-litre washing up bowl – It will cost roughly 16p.
With a dishwasher, there are also many variables but on average use about 1.12kWh of energy per wash. This costs roughly 38p, based on 34p per kWh, although that will of course depend on your energy provider and how the energy crisis continues.
Useful notes about dishwashers
- Dishwashers don’t just wash one or two place settings at a time. Some can wash many more, up to 16 in one wash!
- If you have enough dishes, you can wait until the dishwasher is full before running a cycle, saving more water and energy.
- Even the least water efficient dishwashers can wash twice as many dishes using the same amount of water.
Our favourite dishwashers
Here are some of our favourite dishwashers from our favourite suppliers.
The Siemens IQ500 fully integrated dishwasher is super quiet and features modern door-opening convenience and optimal integration into handle-free kitchens with the new openAssist system.
In addition, the interior of the dishwasher features emotionLight, a blue light when you open the door and timeLight where all essential information is beamed onto the floor.
The Neff S875HKX20G – 45cm version great if you’re limited on planning space. This also features Home Connect which joins your dishwasher to your smart home network. Thanks to this interoperability, you can enjoy new flexibility with remote services, and if you like you can start your dishwasher via voice command.
The Fisher & Paykel is a smart choice for convenience with dish drawers. Wash one drawer while you load the other, with minimal bending. Or wash both at once, with room in each drawer for full size dinner plates.
Whatever your preference, dishwasher or hand washing, we’ve got the perfect solutions for your lifestyle.
