i think the answer is a small dishwasher. i've heard the same claim made by many about two people and dishwasher, but we have a half one and it's perfect for the two of us. it doesn't take up much space and it only takes a day or two (depending on how much and what is cooked) to fill. i love love love having a dishwasher and don't think i will ever live without one now...but each to their own!

I cannot imagine not to use a dishwasher...I only handwash big kitchenware such as large pans or other items that don't fit in the dishwasher easily. I red handwash is more water consuming...and I can easily fill dishwasher at least once a day even when I'm home alone!

I'm currently living alone and still use the dishwasher. I run it about once a week. luckily, I have enough dishes that its never been too much of an issue of running out of anything.

My husband and I have a really small kitchen, so we actually use our half-size dishwasher to store pots and pans! It works great and we don't miss it at all. We hand-wash everything and it really doesn't take long if you just stay on top of it ... and we cook almost all meals at home. Our friends think we're crazy, but it works for us.

I live alone and run my dishwasher about once a week. I use it only for mugs plates, bowls, silverware, and tupperware. Cooking utensils, measuring cups/spoons, pots, and pans all get handwashed. I mainly just use it because it's there-I don't think I'd miss it terribly if I didn't have one. The only time I really feel like it's a huge help is if I've had a group of people over for dinner.

When I lived alone, I hand-washed everything unless I let some dishes pile up for some reason (company, pot-luck, lazy...). I happened to marry a woman who never lived without a dishwasher and can't imagine living without one. I could live very happily without one. No issues with spots, crusted on leftovers, or buying extra detergent for a single use object. I could use the extra cabinet space. We did have a home trash compactor in our house as a child, and that was worth the space.

Maybe we use a lot of dishes, but my husband and I also fill a full sized dishwasher each day. I do a lot of scratch cooking so I make several dirty dishes, but I tend to just pop one of those power tab things in the cleaner each time I empty it, and I start it almost every morning before we leave for work- it runs during the day (I set the timer) and then I put them away while I'm starting dinner that evening. I'm a 'clean as you go' type, so I like to pick up as I'm cooking. And I dish wash almost everything I can as long as it says its safe to do so.

when i lived alone, i hand washed. now that i'm living with someone else i still hand wash all large items and let the dishwasher handle smaller stuff.

I live alone and I run my dishwasher once a week. If I just have a couple things, I might wash them by hand, but if you have service for 8, it will last a week. Running your dishwasher once a week uses less water than washing everything by hand daily and everything comes out clean and sanitized. I save energy by turning off the drying cycle and propping the door open a few inches overnight to dry the dishes.

When my microwave quit, I waited a month or two before replacing it; when my dishwasher quit, they brought a new one the same day! Nuff said.

I didn't have a hard time filling up the dishwasher when I lived alone; I usually ran it a couple of times a week. But I make almost everything from scratch and I like to cook.

I live alone and have never used the dishwasher in my current rental. I think it would take me at least a week to accumulate enough dirty dishes (and I'd probably run out of dishes before this happened). I'd rather just spend 10 minutes a day washing up by hand. Hand washing also means that I don't have to worry about whether the rather old dishwasher will actually get things clean.

I never used a dishwasher when I lived alone, even when I had one. I didn't think it would be a big deal when I moved in with my husband and we didn't have one. But he doesn't do dishes (or doesn't get them clean to my standards) and I found myself getting angry at him all the time as I washed and he...didn't. Now that we live in a place with a dishwasher - problem solved! Marital peace! We run 2 loads a week of plates/glassware/flatware. I wash all cooking dishes by hand. I would never go back!

I grew up without a dishwasher so when it came time to renovate my kitchen, I knew I really wanted one. Spending 20+ minutes on most days washing dishes (that sometimes were never really clean) was dreadful. I have an 18" one which is perfect for 1-2 people and I cook quite a bit, so I run it once-twice a week. It's one of the the best investments I've made. I'd rather spend time reading or doing other tasks.

I never use it. It just doesn't make sense to pile up all those dishes in one, especially since we don't have that many.

Had a house guest last year. They stayed a couple of days in December and then again in April. They left and I couldn't figure out where their breakfast dishes had gone. They weren't in the sink. So I peeked in the dishwasher and there were the cereal bowls and spoons, along with the knife and other things they had used that past December. omg.

Had to apologize to my husband, I thought he had thrown away the knife and forks because they were missing (and he'd done it in the past).

Why is that ten year old in her underwear

@Gwendolyn, that story made me laugh!
I don't have a dishwasher but I have plans to fit an 18" one into my life very soon! I can't stand washing dishes, and it seems like it's all I ever do.

The dishwasher serves as a giant, out-of-the-way dish rack for hand washed dishes in our 2-person household. It only washes dishes when we have people over.

I live alone and have most of my adult life. I love and use my dishwasher. I only run it about 2x a week and I wash the pots & pans by hand because a) they don't fit in the DW, and b) I don't have enough not to and c)I use cast iron which I would never put in a DW. But otherwise it all goes in the sainted, sacred DW. I genuinely loathe washing dishes.

I live alone, and I HATE washing dishes with a fiery, burning, unending passion, so I use my dishwasher. I have a fairly small eco-friendly model that runs a low-water/low-energy cycle, and also has the option of only running the top rack. Very convenient!

Psyche Winters, hilarious! I wondered the same thing. And blindfolded too, shudder.

We're in the homestretch of planning a kitchen renovation and will be getting a dishwasher. Neither my husband nor I have ever had one. Any tips? It's just the two of us here but we cook a lot and host dinner for friends at least twice a month. 18"? 24"? Features to look for? I'd love any feedback. Thanks.

After so many years of living without a dishwasher, I now dishwash everything I can possibly get away with! I love my dishwasher.

Am I the only one who is slightly disturbed by the scantily-clad 10-year-old?!

I don't think I own enough dishes to fill a dishwasher!

Regarding the comments about the dish washer using less water, my understanding is that a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing assuming you hand wash with the water running. If you dishes the right way, i.e.you only run the water to rinse, I think hand washing uses less water. That theory also assumes you only run the dish washer completely full, which I would never be able to do living alone.

Hand washing dishes is the worst. If I don't wear gloves, my nails get destroyed, but as soon as I put on the gloves and get messy, the phone rings or I want to change the channel. And then there's always a film of dish crud on my wine glass (post-dinner dish-doing obviously involves wine). I also don't buy nice knives or pots because then I would feel bad when I ultimately dumped them in the dishwasher :-P

Regarding the image: the pool in the background is clearly meant to show that she's in a bathing suit. I think the whole setup is supposed to look California-cool -- you can see here that it was published in 1966, which is the same year that the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds was released. The nation had a California obsession at the time, and even dishwasher manufacturers were trying to cash in on the idea of everything being cooler there.

I hate washing dishes by hand so I always use my dishwasher. It's just me and I'm apparently incapable of cooking with out using a lot of pots/dishes so it gets used fairly often. When I bought my house last year, it was the first appliance that I upgraded since the old one was ancient and didn't work very well.

When I lived in a little apartment alone, I had a tiny oven but a normal sized dishwasher - it was crazy! However, I did use the dishwasher, at least once, but probably twice a week. I use a lot of glasses, though (Love having water nearby, hate using a glass that's been used before [not counting refilling, more like glass from the previous day]). The only catch was I would start to run out of dishes sometimes and HAVE to run the dishwasher before it was 100% full sometimes. That always made me sad.

FamousAmos- I would go with the 24" if you have the space for it. And spend a little extra for a nice model that runs quietly. Otherwise, if your kitchen is near your living space, you will be competing with the tv (if you have one) with volume.

The reason I say go with the larger model is because if you like to cook at all, you'll be able to fill it no problem. We have a 24" and fill it almost every day and it is just my husband and I.

my partner and I can fill a full size dishwasher in one day. Granted i even throw skillets and small pots in there (all dishwasher safe) so those can take up quite a bit of space. I work from home so I eat 3 meals here a day and cook everything from scratch. My Partner usually packs a lunch and has a container to wash when he gets home.

I also dont pack it full tho, seems like things dont get clean if stuff is too close together

I have extremely hard water, and live alone, and when I used to use my dishwasher, I would always end up re-washing glassware and silverware. So I've cut out the middleman, and now my dishwasher is a really effective tupperware storage system :)

It's where we store stuff to get it out of the way and it's where we dry off the dishes we just washed. Haven't turned the thing on in over 7 years.

When I lived with a dishwasher, I never used it, and now that I don't have one, I don't miss it, even when I have fours sinkfuls of dishes (every sunday) By the time you pre -wash and load and unload and reclean what the dishwasher did a bad job on, it's much more time efficient to wash by hand. Plus, you save on energy costs by never using one.

Thanks LBILYEU. I wouldn't have thought about the noise level - I sort of assumed they'd all be similar. Our kitchen adjoins the dining room where we tend to linger late, finishing wine and conversations.

It's hard to gage the amount of room in an empty dishwasher in showroom. I've taken large baking sheets and skillets with me when shopping for a range. I think I'll just pack up some tall glasses and oddly shaped serving pieces and start hunting for a dishwasher.

I live alone and have had a dishwasher for about the past 10 years only and hope never to be without one again. That said, I wash most of the pots/cast iron and the 70-year old silverware by hand. I end up running it 2-3 times/week. The current machine is a Bosch model that I mostly love - 'not crazy about the arrangement of the tines on the upper shelf. Also, if you're running the machine infrequently, a quick ( 5 min) rinse option really helps, especially in the summer when food/liquid remnants on the dishes can start to ferment within a few days

Growing up, I made my little sister wash the dishes, while I dried. I run the dishwasher just for me once or twice week, adding a cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle to avoid spots and greying.

I've lived alone most of my life and couldn't imagine being without a dishwasher. My everyday dishes are not microwave or dishwasher safe so those I wash by hand. I'm talking 1 or 2 dishes a day. Everything else goes into the DW, including pots and pans. I also take breakfast and lunch into the office on most days of the week, so those containers add to the load. Cooking from scratch makes for a lot of pieces to be washed. I run a load 2 to 3 times a week. Living alone does not mean that real cooking is nil. I don't know what I'd do without this time saving gift.

Oh, and @AKAY my first thought when I saw the young girl was that she was in a bathing suit, given the pool in the background. The blindfold is a bit funny though because the DW stands alone. How can she find the cabinets to place the clean items in? Hahaha. I think today's advertising has come a long way. Or am I missing something? Okay...I got away from the subject, sorry.

I have a dishwasher but have never used it. I don't dirty up enough dishes in a week to make up a full load. Hand washing the dishes works well enough for me.

I live alone and don't have a dishwasher, and it doesn't bother me at all.

I would hate to leave dirty stuff sitting around for days until it got full. And I do cook from scratch a lot, but I still don't make enough dishes to fill a dishwasher (plus, I don't have multiples of things I use nearly every day, like the coffee machine attachments, blender, sharp knives, chopping boards...)

I'm not convinced by the argument that dishwashers are more environmentally friendly. I definitely don't run the water while I'm washing up! I have 2 sinks (washing and rinsing), and wine/drinking glasses get washed first and get an extra rinse. Dishwashers are not just about water usage, either - what about energy? Handwashing uses zero electricity.

DAY-um ! I must be an incredibly messy/inefficient/sloppy/slovenly cook ! I live alone, and always have. I got my first diswasher when I was 30-ish (a loooooooooong time ago) and never looked back. Till that point, my Mom lived with me, and cleaned up after I cooked (well, it was a joint effort, but she did the dishes). At first, it was as a break for her. Now, it's a break for me, and I wouldn't be without one. It's a small one (a "portable", since I don't have the cabinet space to give up for a built-in), but I still manage to fill it at least every other day. Usually every day. I too, hate to run it when it doesn't seem "efficient" to do so. Nonetheless, its at least every other day. For those of you that can't fill one in a week.....do you really cook? Or just reheat/nuke? Come on...a meal of protein/starch/veg takes at least 3 cooking vessels, a plate (or 2 if you have a salad or a side in a small dish), utensils, and a beverage glass (or two). If your main has a couple of steps, you'll need more cooking vessels or prep dishes. I also have 2 dogs, so there's doggie dishes in there too. Plus any glasses/cups/bowls/plates from breakfast, lunch and snacks. EASILY a full load in a small dishwasher.

Frankly, if I couldn't have a dishwasher, I wouldn't cook for myself. Much as I love cooking (and I *LOVE* cooking), that's how much I hate washing dishes.

Always thought a dishwasher was decadent .....

Never had a dishwasher, expensive to buy, expensive to run, takes up kitchen space, dishwasher cleaner/salt so expensive.
I Wash-up in the sink, one bowl ,fairy liquid,hot water. scrubbing brush ,Sorted!

Washing dishes is and always has been one of my least favorite things to do in the world. We didn't have a dishwasher when I was growing up and my poor mother would try to get me to do the dishes. I am somewhat ashamed to say that her requests were always met with tears, screaming, and then full out on the floor tantrums. I still feel exactly like that when I have dishes to hand wash.
Once I found out that (when done properly) a dishwasher is as water efficient as hand washing and I had no reason for guilt, I embraced my dishwasher wholeheartedly. Whenever I've been looking for a new apt, a dishwasher has been on my "dealbreaker" list. You could offer me a rent controlled brownstone in the heart of Manhattan with original moldings and antique detail (my idea of heaven) but if you told me I couldn't have a dishwasher, I'd say no thanks.

@MERILYNCH, oh it's still a totally goofy ad, I can just see what they were going for. The 60's were a weird time.

And you don't see these anymore, but this is a portable dishwasher. It rolls around on wheels so you can keep it anywhere. Then, when you go to run it, you wheel it next to the sink and attach it to the tap with a hose. So there are no cabinets around it because it's so convenient for easy pool-side use!!! ...or something.

I grew up with a dishwasher. I don't think my family could have survived without one. When I lived with three other girls in college, we didn't have a dishwasher and it wasn't so bad to just do the dishes I dirtied.

Then I moved out after college with my boyfriend and had a dishwasher. We would run it about once a day, maybe every other day if we didn't cook much. We recently moved to an apartment without a dishwasher. It was Hell. We moved a month later (for other reasons). Now I have a dishwasher again. Relief!

I live alone and have one of those portable dishwashers that was in the apartment when I moved in. It really serves no purpose for me other than a surface for me to put my microwave and toaster oven.

I don't think I'd know how to get it running or have enough dishes used during the course of a week to fill it. So for now, I just keep it wheeled into the corner of the kitchen. Also, it kind of smells funky inside. I'd like to store my pots and pans in there but... funky.

There are two of us and we stopped using our dishwasher several months ago during a minor kitchen remodel. We have found we are now using less electricity even though we hardly ever ran it more than once a week. I cook almost everything from scratch and we rarely eat out but have still found it is very easy to keep up with the hand dishwashing.

I just got a dishwasher this January as a gift from my inlaws...the first one I've ever had in my life (I'm 38). I didn't even know how to load it properly, or what to do with the various detergents until I read the manual. I'm married with a toddler and a baby on the way, so right now our family mainly produces lots of drinking glasses, plates, sippy cups, and silverware. There were bottles recently too, until the little guy gave them up completely for his sippy cups. We dirty enough dishes to need it several times a week, sometimes 6-7 if I'm cooking at home a lot. This week I threw my back out at 30w+ pregnant, so there's been a lot of paper plates and fast meals, and very little dishwasher activity. Still, we normally use it almost daily, and I'll never go back to hand washing! I'm the one who does the dishes 99% of the time, and it has saved me so much time and energy, especially when washing bottles, which took me forever and had to be done daily.

Oh, and ours is one of those portable ones. They are still very much around. It takes up precious space in our tiny kitchen, but it's worth it.

I live (mostly) alone and probably run the dishwasher once or twice per week, when full. I hate washing dishes by hand - just a personal preference with a few exceptions for All Clad and other high end pots and pans. It is on my "must" list for an apartment now - second only to cat friendly. And between the cat and I, we can usually make a decent number of dishes.

Oh, and I just showed my hubby how to use it last night for the first time...he's going to be doing a lot of dishes on his own while I'm recovering from having the baby, so he'd better start learning now :)

When I remodeled my kitchen 15 years ago, I didn't replace the dishwasher. It's just me and all the dishwasher was good for was storage of things I needed to get rid of. I have room for a normal sized one and when I sell the house (if I can find a buyer), I will install a new one. I will be moving into a small apartment and imagine there will be one furnished. Who knows, in my old age, I might like having one again.

I can't imagine not using a dishwasher. I throw everything in it except cookware (dishes, drinking glasses, coffee mugs, wine glasses, pet food bowls, plastic containers, sponges, scrub brushes) and I usually need to run it 2-3 times a week. It definitely uses less water than I would use to wash all those things as I use them (because I'm not letting them stack up until I can run a big sink of water to wash a bunch at a time). Is it "less expensive" when you factor in the electricity on top of the water? Well, my time is money, so...

I got a compact countertop dishwasher and it made my life much easier for years while I lived alone. Agree that it's tough to fill a full size one, but the tiny ones fit just 6-8 place settings or 2-3 and other prep stuff like small pots, pans and cooking utensils. Highly recommend for anyone who lives in an apartment without an installed dishwasher if they do a lot of cooking. They run about $300 last I checked. Mine was made by edgestar...it was easy to use and ran very quietly.

My only word of caution is to make sure your dishes fit the interior well...I had somewhat large dinner plates from crate and barrel that were a tight squeeze. Friends who bought one from the same company since say theirs is much more spacious and didn't have the same issue.

I live alone and I've owned a dishwasher for the last probably 20 years. It's an older Kitchenaid model that does not require pre-rinsing. So I simply load it gradually durning the week, then run it whenever it gets full. I run it on average about once a week, more If I get into serious cooking. I think it's indespensible.

I live alone, and I rinse the dirty dishes as I go; not really clean but nothing on them that would mold or attract bugs. And yes, it takes about a week to fill the dishwasher generally. But I am so grateful to have it when I have company; when Mom and Dad come to visit I end up running it once a day!

I haven't used a dishwasher since I was in college. My last apartment, where I lived for 2 years, had one and I used it as a drying rack. My house now doesn't have one and I could care less.

I live alone and don't have a dishwasher in my apartment but even if I did, I probably wouldn't use it much. I just don't dirty up that many dishes in the course of a day.

I'm usually only cooking for one or two, and way too neurotic to leave dirty dishes waiting until the dishwasher fills up. I tend to wash by hand, but like a couple of other posters use the dishwasher as a drying rack to save counter space.

It is really great to have as an option after dinner parties and such, though.

When I remodeled my one-bedroom condo I saved the old dishwasher and had it reinstalled to save money. It works quite well, but is really, really noisy! I was told by a repairman (in to look at the washing machine) not to replace it, because it has no electronic parts and will last for far longer than any newer, quieter one I could replace it with. I hand wash almost all of my dishes, and most of the time i enjoy it. I only use the dishwasher after a dinner party. And then - because of the noise - I run it the next day when I'm out of the house!

When I lived in a house with 5 other girls for 1 year in college we had a dishwasher, but aside from that I've never had one. Since I didn't grow up with a dishwasher I've never considered it standard and don't miss it.

Now that I live alone it's not a big deal at all to do the handful of dishes I generate. When I cook things get a little messier, but I just try to wash as I go along.

I don't have a dishwasher, my kitchen is tiny, and I despise washing dishes. This is one of the main reasons I rarely cook. I would like to cook more but just can't handle the thought of all the resultant dirty dishes.

I live alone and I actually generally run the dishwasher daily. The only things I handwash are my knives, everything else fits into the dishwasher (including my 8 qt stock pot).

I live alone and really miss having a dishwasher. I probably ran it once a week at my old place. In my next apartment this will be a requirement.

I feel like the answer to whether a person living alone uses their dishwasher or not really depends on whether you cook a lot and/or take your lunch to work. I make and take my lunch to work every day... which means I have a lot of dirty plastic tupperware. So I use my dishwasher maybe once a week but the top rack is fully loaded with plastic containers that I put my sandwiches, yogurt, grapes, etc. in.

Yes, of course I use my dishwasher. I run it about one a week, usually on Saturday mornings.

I mostly handwash, using my dishwasher as a dishrack. I use its top as a work surface, in that the counter was installed over it.

My kitchen is way too small for a dishwasher. I hate the idea of unwashed pots hanging around the place for more than an hour. There are two of us so every day we use roughly four plates, a few knives and forks, two mugs, two glasses plus cooking stuff. It would take us ages to fill a dishwasher. Even then, we'd be unlikely to do so as we have four of everything only.

Yes, the ad is pervy.
I keep a dishpan full of water in the left side of my double sink. I scrape off leftovers into the plastic tub I keep in the freezer until it's full enough to put in my balcony compost bin.
I rinse off the last food bits so the dishwasher doesn't get stinky as it slowly fills. I run it when it's full.
I use the food-bit fill dishwater to water plants. The microbes in the soil break down the green waste into stuff that's good for the plants.
As someone noted, running a dishwasher once a week or so consumes far less water than washing each dish individually, especially if your hand-washing method includes keeping the hot water running as you wash and rinse a pile of dishes.

*food-bit filled dishwater

I live alone and love my dishwasher. In fact, the lack of a dishwasher was probably the #1 reason I moved forward with a kitchen remodel. I cook nearly all of my dinners from scratch and love to entertain. In a typical week, I will run my dishwasher 1-2x. If I have a dinner party, that dishwasher gets completely filled and run immediately. Who wants to throw a party if it means you have to spend an hour cleaning up by hand? I find it much easier to make space for a dishwasher than to keep a large drying rack on my limited counter space. For the person that asked about dishwasher size, I would second the recommendation to go with a standard 24" if you have the room. The selection of available models is much smaller in the 18" size and they are much more expensive.

I can also kind of see the argument some folks have when it sounds like they have old dishwashers that don't work properly. If we are comparing handwashing to a modern, working dishwasher, I'll go with the dishwasher every time.

When I was living with two roomates a dishwasher was invaluable to me. I was the only one doing the dishes! But since it has just been just me and my boyfriend I have come to only handwash.

Currently I don't have running water- so we actually don't have a lot of dishes to do. We keep a large tub and carry spoons and mug to wash several times a week, but I still handwash when we get there!

I am moving into an apt.without a dishwasher..and I sickened by the thought of standing at the stupid sink washing dishes, bowls, cups,tupperware and utensils..and catfood bowls......................live alone and used my dishwasher every week, with rinsed off 'foodware'. I will have to figure a way...I already 'got yelled at' by mentioning that I will get tons of paper plates at least..arghhhhh..ugh...LAST thing I want to do after long day/drive after dinner...and my beautiful hands and manicure!!!!! (not)

The little girl in the ad is wearing a bathing suit, not underwear. Bathing suits in advertisements in those days were meant to evoke a feeling of leisurely luxury. As to the impact of dishwashers versus hand-washing dishes, I've done my homework -- dishwashers actually save energy and water if run only when full. Otherwise, hand-washing wins. I used to like hand-washing because it felt good to my arthritic hands, but muscle and joint problems have forced me to rely on the dishwasher. It was never a problem to fill up for my hubby and myself because I enjoy cooking and he enjoys eating!

I live with my partner in a tiny apartment with a small drawer dishwasher. We have used it once, found it didn't do a very good job of cleaning half the dishes, so cleaned it out, and now use it as our drying rack for when we hand wash the dishes!

P.S. I found washing dishes by hand is far less gross when I wear rubber gloves.

I will get rubber gloves...(for the maid ; ) ) THANKS MIAMI'S ELAINE..

I have never understood the value of a dishwasher. It takes 10 minutes to wash dishes. And it isn't exactly heavy labor...

Live alone, and yes, I use my dishwasher. I only run it once or twice a week, but I cook a great deal, so I have plenty of pans and bakeware that needs washing too. Washing dishes is the number one chore I hate, and it's great to know I need only rinse and go.

I live alone and use the dishwasher about once a week. Otherwise I end up washing everything by hand while the washer is just standing there. Besides, washing dishes in a washer saves water!

First dishwasher just one year ago, already used to it and it is a real relief ;) and having a lot more time for other activities. Really worth when you are two or more to share a kitchen.

The girl isn't "scantily clad", she's filling the dishwasher then going for a swim with all the free time she used to spend washing up.

I've never had a dishwasher, we have a routine of me washing up, my husband drying and putting away and my son bringing the plates to me and clearing the table and worktop. I'd probably want a dishwasher if I didn't have all that help.