How common are houses and apartments without dishwashers?

34 comments

1. I can’t imagine a home or an apartment (unless it’s extremely bare bones) not having a dishwasher.

   Generally when I was told to “do the dishes” it was going to be for the good dinner ware that I was told doesn’t go into the dishwasher because the dishwasher would be to harsh on the plates, glasses, and silverware. Either that or large and/or akwardly shaped items that wouldn’t fit easily, single or a few items, items that must be hand washed, or if there’s only a few/one of the dish and it needs to be used again soon.

   Then again my parents also made me wash out Ziploc plastic bags so we could reuse them too as part of “doing the dishes” so I’m not certain how standard my experience is.

2. Generally older homes that never had a dishwasher put in might not have one, but it’s less common

   Yes we’d say “doing the dishes” to mean loading/unloading the dishwasher

3. Personally, I own a dishwasher, but I still have to do the dishes by hand first because my dishwasher absolutely sucks. I have the scrub the dishes first to get most of the food off, then the dishwasher finishes the job and sanitizes. If I don’t wash them myself beforehand, they come out with food still on them and then I have to wash them again.

   Maybe I just need a better dishwasher

4. When we got married 45 years ago I was nominated cook and assistant bottle washer. She makes meatloaf, turkey lurkey, pies, cakes, and cookies. I’d rather wash by hand than load, wait a couple hours, then unload the machine. Even with 20+ people at Thanksgiving a few of us can get the work done in under 15 minutes. We had one in our first house, it was a pain in the ass

5. My dad has a relatively newer house with one, but my mom does not. My last three apartments have also not had one. They’re nice, but washing by hand is fine.

6. I’ve never used a dishwasher.

   Never lived anywhere that had one. This house wouldn’t have room to put one if we wanted one.

7. Personally I don’t know any, but I believe they can exist especially for rent control apartments, apartments that *do not* have a dishwasher. I’d be surprised if they don’t have a dishwasher because either the market reality requires you to have one in the unit or the local laws require it for sanitation reasons. Most homes have a dishwasher either by default or they installed it. Again local laws may come into play but local laws are more enforced in the rental property than they are in private homes.

8. Older homes and apartments may not have a dishwasher. Depends on whether its been updated/renovated. Most do but some don’t.

   I have a family member living in a house built in the 1950s. No dishwasher. The apartment I lived in during the late 90s didn’t have a dishwasher. It was built in the 60s. They’ve since been renovated and pretty sure they have dishwashers now.

9. They’d usually be older places, smaller places, or both. Not *super* common, and uncommon in any modern place.

   My apartment doesn’t have a dishwasher, but it’s the only apartment I’ve ever had without one. Actually oddly common(ish) in my neighborhood, which is a relatively older one for the area – my street is full of apartments without dishwashers lol. It doesn’t bother me because it’s just two of us living here.

10. I’ve lived in 7 houses and only two had a dishwasher, my current one and then one that we installed ourselves. They were all older/cheap houses. I think it’s probably more common to have one than not have one, at least I know more people who have one than don’t.

    We do call loading/running/unloading doing dishes.

    We also have portable and countertop dishwashers, although I don’t think they are as common. My current house had a broken dishwasher so I used a portable until we got a new one installed. My mom also uses a portable because she has no space for a built in.

11. >In many movies, series and also on different subreddits “doing the dishes” seems to be a common chore among kids and teenagers.

    A lot of movies and television shows use washing dishes as a plot device, either to get younger characters out of the room, or you might see adults washing dishes and then having a conversation. I wouldn’t use movies and tv shows as a basis for what’s normal here.

    I just googled it, and 68% of Americans have a dishwasher compared to 72% of Germans, so not that big of a difference.

12. Some cultures kind of refuse to use them. I grew up around kids who were first and second generation immigrants from places like China, Mexico, Phillipines, Iran and they specifically didn’t use their dishwashers per their parent’s instructions. Usually some excuse about how they weren’t as sanitary and were for lazy people. Definitely weird the first time you’re over at a friend’s house and go to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher only to find out your friend’s family uses the dishwasher for clean storage of pots/pans.

13. “Washing the dishes” doesn’t just mean cleaning the plates, cups and cutlery that can easily fit in the dishwasher. It also entails hand washing the larger items used to prepare the meal, like pots and pans.

    Of the seven rental properties I’ve lived in throughout my life (mostly when I was in the army), only one did not have a dishwasher.

14. I never lived in a house without a dishwasher until I moved in with my fiancée, but her mom bought us a portable unit so that’s solved.

15. Apartments without dishwashers are more common than houses. Usually (in my experience) these are much older apartment buildings, often called ‘pre-war’ buildings. Dishwashers didn’t exist way back in the day, or the kitchen is too small, or the plumbing is too old to handle the capacity, etc. I’ve lived in several apartments without a dishwasher, all of them built in the 1910 – 1920 – 1930s. Sometimes it’s the price you pay for the charm of older design/architecture.

16. I’ve lived in four houses without a dishwasher. All were built before the mid 1970s.

17. I grew up without one, but that made me kind of the odd one out. now that I’ve lived with one, I never want to live without one again

18. Most people I know do not have dishwashers unless they have “new construction.” And most homes in their area are 60-100 years old.

19. We didn’t have one when I was a kid in the late 90’s. It was my chore, and my parents immediately installed one when I moved out.

    I lived in one very basic tiny apartment a few years later with no dishwasher.

    Since then, every place I’ve lived has had one.

20. 68%

21. I’ve never had a dish washer.

22. Extremely rare. Even the cheapest places almost always have them. Even if older buildings weren’t built with one, they’re very easily retrofitted. All you need is a sink and electricity, which literally every kitchen has

23. In my life I think I had one apartment with no dishwasher.

    I would never elect to live somewhere without one. They’re also only like $500, so they’re not that expensive. Especially considering you’ll use it multiple times a week.

24. i guess it depends where you are. in new england, a lot of updated single families will have them. however, not as common in apartments, especially old buildings.

25. Most apartments I have lived in had one. Problem is they didn’t get anything clean so I ended up doing dishes by hand and using the dish washer as a drying rack.

26. I’m in the U.S. and am 43 years old. The house we bought 5 years ago is the only home that has had a dishwasher.

27. I don’t have one in my very small house built in the early 1950s. We’d have to gut and completely reinstall the kitchen and create kitchen storage space elsewhere in the house to be able to retrofit one.

28. When I lived in Chicago, only the newer places had dishwashers because the older places had smaller pipes and couldn’t handle it. I’d be hard pressed to put a percentage on it, but it’s not uncommon to not have a dishwasher in the city. In the suburbs almost everyone has a dishwasher.

29. I mean I live in a house built in1909 and it was originally built with no indoor kitchen or bathroom (like much of my neighborhood, my house got indoor plumbing in 1923), so this idea of everyone having a dishwasher is kind of hilarious to me. I haven’t had a dishwasher since I moved out of my parents house 15 years ago lol.

30. Doing the dishes typically means rinsing the dishes then loading and unloading the dishwasher. Most houses have dishwashers.

31. “Doing the dishes” doesn’t necessarily mean doing them by hand. We also use that phrase to mean loading/unloading the dishwasher.

32. Now a question for you. Is it true that in Germany if you’re renting an apartment you have to provide your own dishwasher, refrigerator, etc., and that you take them with you to your new apartment?

33. Hopefully this won’t sound uppity but I wouldn’t consider a house or apartment without one.

    I’ve always had one as an adult, not as a kid growing up.

34. My home doesn’t have one. Kitchen is too small.