Seeking better dish-drying solution

September 3, 2008 11:47 AM

We suddenly have a whole lot more dirty/clean/drying dishes by our sink. We have a small kitchen, and the pile is enduring and unsightly. Do you have a better method for drying a steady stream of dishes than leaving a big pile sitting out for most of the day?

Now that I have a toddler, I find that the number of dishes sitting in our drainboard at any given time has doubled. This is the case mainly because:
- She eats small snacks throughout the day, constantly dirtying an array of drink cups, plates, spoons, etc. Because most of her plastic stuff can’t go through the dishwasher, I find myself rinsing them and setting them to dry in the drainboard.
- I’m now cooking more complete and homemade meals (with salad, side dishes, etc), the number of preparation materials (such as a bowl to make a salad dressing, the salad bowl to toss the salad, dinnerware for side dishes, etc) has multiplied.
- I use a lot of those gladware/tupperware containers to store leftover tidbits for my toddler – usually emptying anywhere from 4-7 a day and washing or rinsing them. Because the tupperware has a lip to make the seal, it creates a little channel where water gets trapped (therefore, these take a long time to dry). Shaking the containers and lids hard before placing them in the drain board minimizes drying time, but it still takes several hours for them to be ready to stack and store in the cupboard without becoming musty.

I empty the drainboard once in the am, and usually again before dinner, but this still means that from 9am-4pm and from 7pm-7am (that’s something like 19 hours in any given day?), the dish rack is stacked high with dishes, large bowls, cups, serving spoons, silverware, and the like.

A few other relevant details:
- I don’t usually leave dirty dishes next to or in the sink. I put dishes, when appropriate, directly into in the dishwasher.
- Because we try to minimize use of paper towels, I have a couple of dish towels on hand, which I change daily but are still often damp because I’ve used them to dry my hands, a countertop, and fruit/veggies after washing.

My husband has requested that I dry the dishes after use and put them away, and then store the dish rack under the sink. Although I’m willing to give that a try, it feels like a lot to just wash the dishes when they’re generated, and I’m afraid that having the dish rack under the sink will cause dishes to pile up in or next to the sink.

Any suggestions welcome – I’d specifically like to hear methods that work for you, whether it be a routine or a hardware solution (i.e., sliding dish rack in drawer under sink?).

posted by dreamphone to home & garden (24 comments total)

Because most of her plastic stuff can’t go through the dishwasher

Are you washing dishes, drying them and then putting them in the dishwasher?

Knock the bigger chunky bits off the dishes, put them in the dishwasher and run once at the end of the day. Unless you have an old (20+ years) dishwasher, you don't need to wash the dishes before using the dishwasher, provided you are cleaning the filter regularly.

The only thing you'd use the drainboard for would be non-dishwasher safe items. And most modern kids stuff (and most modern stuff, period) will happily go through the dishwasher, if only on the top rack. The Gladware/Tupperware is dishwasher-safe, too.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:00 PM on September 3, 2008

CoolPapaBell: I'm not washing, drying, and then putting dishes in the dishwasher. I'm putting whatever I possibly can in the dishwasher, but still find that a lot of stuff can't go in the dishwasher, either because it doesn't fit (large bowls for tossing salad), are things I use several times a day (i.e., paring or chopping knives), or are my toddler's plastic things, which cannot be put in the dishwasher because of the plastic scare thing.
posted by dreamphone at 12:04 PM on September 3, 2008

the plastic scare thing

???
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:09 PM on September 3, 2008

That seems like a lot of dishes for a toddler. I could be wrong, of course, I don't know what exactly you use. Here are some tricks I've learned--

If she has juice multiple times a day, just rinse out the cup and reuse it. Or, if it's a sippy cup, just put it straight into the fridge and give the same cup back to her when she wants it again. Ditto with water cups. I would only wash them once a day unless something goes awry. I wash milk cups right away, though, they tend to get funkier faster.

If she has dry snacks or cereal a lot during the day, use the same bowl for all of them, of course dump the old stuff out first.

Feed her directly from Tupperware instead of bowls. You can put it in the dishwasher, and when she's done you don't have to out it in another bowl--just put the lid on and back to the fridge. I throw leftovers away at the end of the day, though, because they had grubby toddler fingers all over them.

Toddlers often have one bowl/spoon/cup that they LOVE, making it even easier to minimize dishes.
posted by sondrialiac at 12:10 PM on September 3, 2008

Plastic safety primer
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:14 PM on September 3, 2008

Wash your food-preparation dishes immediately by hand after they are used. Often my worst "omg disgusting dishes in the sink" moments have their foundation in some dirty pot or pan that takes up a lot of room and gets covered later by a bunch of small dishes.

I've found that my trigger for "time to do the dishes" is when I run out of fresh ones, not when I have a disgusting mess of old ones. If that's your trigger, then try limiting the number of fresh dishes you have -- throw out a lot of the miscellaneous tupperware, glasses and plates you have. Teach your daughter that she needs to wash out her old cup if she wants something new to drink, or do it for her if she is too young.
posted by skallagrim at 12:15 PM on September 3, 2008

Cool Papa Bell, some plastics leach chemicals, and that process is sped up by the heat and soap used in dishwashing.

Now, moving on from the derail...

I have a small countertop dishwasher, and it has a feature that uses heat to sanitize the dishes. Maybe yours has something similar? It could be called saniwash, or something like that--it sure does a great job of drying the dishes.
posted by sondrialiac at 12:15 PM on September 3, 2008

Sorry - plastic scare thing = because plastic leeches chemicals over time, all manufacturers now recommend handwashing all toddler plastic materials.
posted by dreamphone at 12:16 PM on September 3, 2008

The European solution is to mount a cupboard without a bottom above the sink with drying racks inside it. Drips fall into the sink and your dishes are out of sight.
posted by ssg at 12:17 PM on September 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I've tried various methods of keeping dishes caught up, and there's really nothing that replaces actually doing them, drying them and putting them away immediately. I've got to the point where I don't even use the drainer anymore, because it's an attractive nuisance. It's easy to think that you don't have the time, but really - if it's only a few little things it really only takes a minute.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 12:27 PM on September 3, 2008

My husband has requested that I dry the dishes after use and put them away, and then store the dish rack under the sink.

This is coming from a man, but your husband has two feet and a heart beat. It sounds like you already have the answer to your problem. If he has a problem with the stacks of clean dishes on the counter, hand him a dish towel. You've got a toddler to look after. It sounds like you're the one in the kitchen most of the time anyway, so why should he be concerned about available counter space? Sorry if that sounds snarky but I do most of the cooking and dishes (by choice), and if my wife had the nerve to raise this issue with me, she would soon have a new chore added to her to-do list.

One practical hint - the oven makes a great out-of-the-way drying space for large bowls, pots, pans, etc.
posted by Brodiggitty at 12:28 PM on September 3, 2008 [3 favorites]

If she has juice multiple times a day, just rinse out the cup and reuse it.

Ditto. If I understand you correctly, what you're doing is something like this:

8 am: first breakfast. You wash the Snoopy dish and put it in the rack.
9 am: second breakfast. You wash the Hello Kitty dish and put it in the rack.
11 am: elevenses. You wash the Bob the Builder dish and put it in the rack.
noon: lunch. You wash the Peter Rabbit dish and put it in the rack.
1 pm: tea. You wash the Santa dish and put it in the rack.
1:15: you by now have five plastic dishes drying in the dish rack.

What I'd do is simply this:

8 am: first breakfast, wash the Snoopy dish and put it in the rack.
9 am: second breakfast. Retrieve the Snoopy dish from the rack, re-use, re-wash, return to rack.
11 am: Re-use Snoopy dish for elevenses.

Etc.

If I'm misunderstanding that that's what you're doing, forgive me, but just reusing dishes already in the drain that aren't totally dry yet could save you space.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:32 PM on September 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

If you do start drying the dishes with a towel (which is the old-fashioned solution to the problem you are encountering), please use a clean towel for the job, rather than the towel which you used three minutes before to wipe the kid's nose and half an hour before that to wipe up some spilled milk. But by hand drying the dishes, your drying/storage issue will be reduced to maybe three or four additional wet towels per day, which can be dealt with wherever you are drying your bath towels, or draped over a utility sink, and so on.

Replacing (as they wear out, if you want to be ecological about it) your plastic food storage containers with tempered glass ones will also eliminate one of your main sink-fillers. With all the plastic concern lately, I am now seeing glass food storage containers in most stores. The glass containers can go fridge to microwave to dishwasher without leaching concerns, and they look nicer, too.
posted by Forktine at 12:36 PM on September 3, 2008

Active vs. Passive Drying:

Might sound odd, but why not run one of those little Honeywell fans pointed at the dishes on the rack? I've thought of doing this sort of thing myself, we use the dishwasher, but turned off the heat drying because of energy (no need to spend extra $ on heat for the dishes, and then more money on air conditioning too!).

Even if the fan were on low, it would probably have your dishes bone-dry in less than 20 min. I'll tell you what, I've been meaning to try this myself, I'll do it and let you know.
posted by No New Diamonds Please at 12:39 PM on September 3, 2008

When I was 3, I started doing dishes quite often for the family - including glassware. Knives I had permission to set to the side (until I was 5). Now, I wouldn't recommend going that far, but there's no reason your little one can't learn how to dry dishes.

However! I think it might be time for Dad to step up and put his hands where his preferences are.
posted by batmonkey at 12:40 PM on September 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I tend to go with EmpressCallipygos, use things in the dish drainer as often as possible. It helps if you can get the big stuff out of the way so you can get to the stuff you are going to reuse. So if you're about to use a bowl that's on the bottom, maybe you could dry off and put away a few things that were on top.
posted by advicepig at 12:54 PM on September 3, 2008

I don't have kids, but I've had a lot of really small kitchens and have not had a dishwasher since moving out of my parents' house seventeen years ago. In fact, when we remodeled our kitchen we didn't put in a dishwasher, so we do all of the dishes everyday.

What EmpressCallipygos said -- reuse plastic dishes throughout the day instead of using a new one each time.

What Brodiggity said. If the dishes aren't drying fast enough for your husband, he can pick up a towel and get drying. (Putting the dish rack away between uses is madness, by the way. But if it's a Jenga game waiting to tumble, consider getting a fancier dishrack that goes a bit more vertical to maximize your small space.)

As for cooking, wash as you go. Once I got into the habit of this, it increased how much I enjoyed cooking, because there was nothing to clean up afterward except for the actual dishes off of which we ate.
posted by desuetude at 12:55 PM on September 3, 2008

So, here what we do:

- dry the dishes right after you wash them, with a dishtowel
- have separate dishtowels and hand towels in the kitchen (we use totally different kinds for each so they're easy to tell apart)
- hang both towels near the sink so they dry out
- sometimes have a couple of dishtowels on the go if one gets too wet

This should basically solve your problem I think.
posted by GuyZero at 1:00 PM on September 3, 2008

Not marking any as "best answer" because most of these are exactly what I'm looking for. Wanted to know what works for people, whether I need to suck it up and start drying dishes (with a new dishtowel of course), if it makes sense to take the rack out and put it away, re-use toddler dishes to avoid the neverending stream, and hear about semi-tech solutions like a fan. Hadn't thought of having the babe dry them - she won't be 3 for a while, but it will definitely be something she'll be able to do in a year or so. Relief in sight.

So thanks to all for your input, and would love to hear any other thoughts too.

ps: Husband totally does help when he's home, sorry if I made it sound like he has no hands. I should have said that he's "suggested" that I dry dishes on the spot, rather than "requested" that I do so.
posted by dreamphone at 1:06 PM on September 3, 2008

I dry as soon as I hand wash because I've discovered that piles of stuff beget more piles of stuff. Get some waffleweave microfiber dishtowels, they work much better than cotton towels.
posted by jamaro at 1:50 PM on September 3, 2008

It helps to start the day with an empty dishwasher too, if you're not doing so. Then items can go in there all day long, it can run after the dinner dishes go in; and after stories/bedtime/surfing on Ask MetaFilter, they can all get put away while having a cup of tea before the parents' own bedtime.

The one cup/one plate rule throughout the day for snacks helps - though we don't use plastic, as my addiction for vintage diner china means I have some very durable tiny side bowls and dishes that can go in the dishwasher all day long. We also use vintage glass storage containers whenever possible, and we can eat leftovers from them.

As well, I found that changing my menus to have fewer dishes during clean up helped, as well as serving food by the plate, not "family style". So, salad gets made in the salad spinner and stays there until it goes on the plates - leftovers go in the container for lunch right away (then lunch is already partly made). Dressing gets made in the bottle, same thing. Spinner gets washed and put away immediately after, bottle goes in dishwasher. Grilling as much as possible helps, as does cooking two veg in the same pot (beans, broccoli, etc. steam in a mesh strainer suspended under the lid and over the corn that's boiling) One-pot meals help. I adore the crock pot.
posted by peagood at 2:41 PM on September 3, 2008

Seconding the suggestion to go the European route and put a bottomless cupboard with a rack inside above the sink or over some other area that welcomes drips.

I also recommend replacing the plastic containers with glass freezer jars for several reasons: the jars don't stain, smell, leach, or warp, and they fit nicely on widely-available racks meant for cans. And they go in the dishwasher. And they're often cheaper than plastic.

I have a plastic-coated wire rack on the wall for my jars and drinking glasses. That's where they go, dripping wet, straight from the sink, with the lids standing on edge in front of them.

Knives go directly to the magnetic knife rack, also wet, with no problems. I'll soon have a wall rack for my plates so I can put them away while they're still wet, too (I wash everything by hand).
posted by PatoPata at 3:26 PM on September 3, 2008

When things are dry, I just put 'em away. If they're almost dry and I'm sick of looking at them - I wipe up the drip or two, and I put 'em away. Do you have hot water and a window? Double space/ ventilate everything and it'll dry right away. This is not a sink full of dishes... Hot water and some airflow and two cat bowls are dry in like 10mins. Sunlight would cut that down to 2mins.
Stand cutlery up on it's handles. Have your drain rack raised so air can get under it too. Flip things after they've sat for a while. Tea towels spread germs (yes even clean ones) so the less you use them the better.
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 3:50 PM on September 3, 2008

I wash all my dishes by hand- here's my method:

First of all, minimize how many dishes you need to use in a day- re-use non-dirty dishes, and cups- one day won't kill you. If a plate or cup can be just rinsed instead of a full wash (it only had something dry or watery on it, like cracker crumbs, or watermelon juice, etc), i just rinse it & put it away immediately.

Otherwise, I stack dirty dishes in the sink, as space-efficiently as possible (that way I don't see them sitting dirty on the counter all day).
I keep the sink plugged and gradually allow it to fill with water as the day goes by (washing hands, washing fruit, dumping kettle, etc).
When it's time to wash, I fill the sink the rest of the way with hottish water and some soap.
Wash all dishes with a sponge, stack soapy wet dishes on counter.
Empty sink most of the way so it doesn't overflow while rinsing.
Rinse dishes in hot water and stack in dishrack.

Here's the special part- realize that dishes can dry in the cupboard as easily as they can in the dishrack, so, as soon as the dishrack's full, stop washing and put away dishes- they'll be mostly dry by then because of the hot water.
Store glasses right side up so the insides can dry.
If some dishes are still wet, just don't stack the wet ones tightly (it's only really a problem for tupperware, so find a way to keep tupperware standing on edge on the shelf- I use little plastic baskets from the dollar store, about the size & shape of shoeboxes.

Wear gloves when doing dishes so you can rinse with hotter water.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:24 PM on September 3, 2008