The One Thing My Rental Kitchen Yearns for Even More than a Dishwasher
When people talk about rental (or very basic) kitchens, there’s one thing they love to complain about the most: the absence of the oh-so-covetable dishwasher. And while I do think it’d be nice to have a machine that’ll clean my dirty plates for me (especially when I’m washing the 12th water glass and only two people live in my apartment), there’s one thing I’d actually rather have, if I were to find myself in an either-or scenario.
The answer: the humble and way-underrated garbage disposal.
I do realize that having a garbage disposal doesn’t become a magical pass to start carelessly dumping an entire French press full of coffee grinds down the drain (see: 5 Things You Really Shouldn’t Be Putting Down Your Drain), but I also know how much easier it would make my life.
Because I don’t have a garbage disposal, I have to wipe off every single grain of rice before I can even think about putting a plate in the sink. I’m constantly straining sauces and soups to catch the chunkier bits. And I find myself dumping weird things into the toilet. Yet despite my best efforts, the strainer in the sink still manages to get super gross after just one night. I have to de-gunk it over the trash can and then clean it by hand (because, you know, I also don’t have a dishwasher).
If I had a garbage disposal, I’d still probably be pretty diligent about cleaning off scraps before I wash things (or so I think), but I wouldn’t have to be so obsessive about it all. If a chunk of avocado were to get washed away, well, NOTHING WOULD HAPPEN! I also wouldn’t have to deal with clogs and I’m pretty sure I would get some mild sense of satisfaction out of throwing ice cubes and lemon peels down there to freshen things up.
With the installation of this minor piece of equipment, I think dish duty would be a lot more enjoyable. And so I’m just gonna say it: A garbage disposal is way better than a dishwasher.
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What about you? If you could only have one, which would you prefer: a dishwasher or a garbage disposal?