apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

no way. unless your too drunk or other more interesting activities come up (wink wink), waking up to dirty dishes is the worst. as for precious time, nothing is more precious to me than those extra minutes in the morning when I can sleep more.

if you clean throughout the prep process, you shouldn't have that much to do anyway.

If you clean as you go during your preparation, it never takes all that long to finish up the leftover dishes after eating. I wash dishes by hand and it never takes more than 15 minutes and rarely takes as long as 10. I know how long it takes because the gas shuts off on my water heater after 10 minutes of continuous use.

I always clean up so that I wake up to an empty sink (well, almost empty... my husband sometimes has late night snacks of cereal). Mainly, I do this to reduce the chances of luring in cockroaches in summer. In Tokyo, this is a serious risk.

I go through spurts. There are many times I have the kitchen 90% cleaned by the time the food is done, and finish up after eating.

And... to be honest, there are other times the dirty dish might sit there 3-4 days because I'm too tired (aka- lazy). But if the dirty dish is sitting there, it's ALWAYS soaking, not getting crusty!

Sometimes if I leave the dishes overnight, my works-at-home fiance will even do them while I'm out the next day! That's the best...

I definitely have gotten better at making a concerted effort to clean as we go so that the serving dishes and the ones we eat off are all that's left. BUT, I agree, sometimes it just gets a bit too late and you leave them till the next day. If everything else is caught up (i.e. drying dishes have been put away, counters cleared, etc.) it's no big deal. For people who often eat late (boyfriend works till 7, sometimes still have to run to the store, don't wind up eating till 9 or later), but can't go to bed too late (I'm a 8:30-5'er) the dishes occasionally get left. And it's ok. And sometimes, like mgood, the boyfriend will have time to take care of 'em before he's gotta be at work at 11 ;)

If I have guests over, I definitely leave the dishes. I'd rather spend time with them than wash up. Friends are more important than tidiness.

Leaving the dishes are one of life's luxuries. I think it's important to make an effort to clean the kitchen, but I love those moments when I can say "ah, whateve..." and drag off to bed.

On a recent episode of "Mad Men", Betty Draper's housekeeper suggests that she ought to put the dirty dishes into the basement so Betty can go to bed after putting on a big dinner party. I thought: what a great idea! (Now if only I had a basement to put them in...)

You don't need a basement! That's what your oven is for, silly.

For the most part, I never leave dishes, with the exception of a challenging pot to soak. I'm scared of pests, and I hate waking up to the mess. However, we have done this a few times lately, since my husband has been working so late. We ate at midnight last night (which is obscene), so there was no way I was staying up to finish the dishes. After a night soaking in water, they were really easy to clean up this morning.

My partner and I always left the dishes, until we discovered that waking up to a neat kitchen in the morning is a better way to start the day, at least during the week. But during our long, cook-fests on the weekend, all bets can be off....

we are presently battling bugs in our house, so leaving the dishes isn't an option even when I'm exhausted on weeknights. As far as dinner parties go, clean up is part of dinner! As a guest I'm always happy to wash up in thanks for a great meal, and have had plenty of fun with another glass of wine and chatting in the kitchen while we wash and dry....

I don't understand how people "wash as they cook"... I'm usually feverishly chopping the next ingredient while the onion/garlic/whatever is softening or water is boiling, etc.

I'm 50/50 on doing dishes after eating. If I'm not too tired or running out the door, I'll do them. Othewise they wait. I don't mind the extra 10 minutes in the morning to clean - it's actually a nice soothing time to sort out what needs to be done that day.

I'd rather soak the stuff over night and have some free time with the BF than do them - and they usually wait till the next night (or a day or two later to be honest) to get done. Mornings are all about focusing on my coffee cup rather than doing dishes and since I live in a tiny NYC apartment, the BF wouldn't like it if I started rattling pots and pans as he's sleeping... as long as it's not mold-slime-bug inducing, the dishes can wait!

I often do dishes in the morning before leaving for work and I like it that way.

Working as a chef in a professional kitchen I've discovered that keeping a clean prep area makes cooking more enjoyable and less stressful. At home I tend to wash as I go so I don't have dirty dishes, pots and pan strewn about the kitchen, otherwise I will get super stressed and end up burning something or cutting myself. Luckily I have a wonderful husband that does the remainder of the dishes after dinner (that's what he gets for not knowing how to cook!). Occasionally he will leave a crusty pan to soak overnight and it takes every bit of willpower for me not to run to the sink and start scrubbing away!

I do some cleaning as I go, but once I sit down to dinner, no more dishes are done until the next morning. I find it rather easy to do dishes first thing in the morning, and that brief cleaning leaves the kitchen ready for more cooking.

I don't leave dishes until the next morning. Ever. Just not my style. I relax more after dinner when I know the kitchen's clean. When we have company over, I'll hang out with them and then just clean when they leave. Most of the time, our friends will volunteer to help and since great conversations happen in casual relaxed environments, who am I to deny a fun side to the evening?

I'm also firmly in the 'clean as you go' camp. It makes it easier when I prep before I cook... measure, chop, rinse, whathave you. Lining everything up on my counter ensures that I have all my ingredients at the ready and then things just get tossed in the sink and then tossed in the dishwasher. Easy peasy.

I love me some morning dishes-doing. It's a great way to feel my day has been productive before I've even gotten to work.

For most part, we clean up before bed. But growing up I remember distinctly the routine of my mother leaving the holiday dishes until the next morning (especially if it was going to take more than one dishwasher load). The following morning, we would lazily nibble on some leftovers while getting dishes and other tasks done.

As a person who has a hard time waking up, it is nice to do chores in the morning before going to work. I feel like I'm less groggy than when just wake up, get dressed, and go to work. I love walking my dog, eating breakfast, then doing little bits of cleaning while my coffee brews, and finally hopping in the shower. Of course, I have gotten much better at cleaning as I go, so I may only have a few cups or plates to put away in the morning.

This just reminded me that I had four male friends who lived together in college and one time went at least a month before doing the dishes. It was to the point where they were drinking out of random plastic bowls, or just not using containers to drink or eat.

I cook, my partner is supposed to do the dishes. But sometimes he doesn't and I don't nag him. So sometimes the dishes will sit and sit until they can't sit any more.

We never do dishes in the morning. So it's either after the meal or after work the next day.

At my parents house in their huge kitchen I can easily cook and clean up. But for some reason in my tiny kitchen I can't keep up. I think its probably because I don't cook the meals I do at my parents. I hate my kitchen . . .

The bf and I recently moved to an apt with a DW, which I turn on with the day's dishes after dinner... The sound of it is soothing for cuddle-time. But now it's the task of unloading it the next morning that I dread. So spoiled, I know!

I grew up in a house where we never left dirty dishes for the next day. My mum usually waits a few hours before bed to get to them but I prefer to wash 'em while I'm cooking (like cutting boards, utensils, measuring spoons ect)

and for the past year we got a cat and he likes to jump on counters and lick plates and get into trouble so we now really HAVE to do the dishes after we eat.

I haven't had my own sink in which to *leave* dirty dishes since I left home at 17, so I've gotten into the habit of washing things immediately. (I lived in a dorm for 5 years, where I had no sink of my own, and now I live in an apartment which is effectively a dorm room, where I have a room with a tiny sink and a toilet, but no shower/bath) People who leave dirty dishes in a public sink (unless they're soaking something briefly and will come back asap) suck.

depends how you feel but getting up to clean dishes while you could have one with your partner is a sin~

I clean as I go. Washing the final dishes with the guests in the kitchen and divvying up the left overs is my favorite part of the dinner party.

This is what I do most of the time. It isn't my ideal... but we don't have a dishwasher, and if we clean as we go somehow we *still* end up with a full sink of dirty dishes at the end of the meal.