Dish draining closet

This is such a simple, yet useful idea that I had to share it. The Finnish invention combines a dish drainer and a cupboard. Picture your typical cupboard located above the kitchen sink. Instead of the shelves having bottom boards, they have wire racks.

Normally when we wash dishes by hand, we put them in a dish drainer to dry. Then we either dry them with a dish towel or leave them to air dry. If air dried, we have to put them away later. With the dish draining closet, you just wash dishes and put them away -no hand drying or waiting. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but the time savings add up. Dishes are washed every day.

I used to really hate washing dishes by hand. I once moved apartments because the new apartment came with a dish washing machine. Times have changed. Last winter my home dishwasher failed. It’s not going to be replaced.

There’s a common argument that dishwashers use less water than washing by hand. I’ve discovered that I use a lot less water and electricity hand washing. I follow my electric use carefully. My water is pumped up from my well with an electric pump. It runs a lot less now. One big energy savings is a simple on/off valve at the nozzle of the kitchen sink. It makes it very easy to turn the water off between dishes.

Electric dishwashers still have to be loaded and unloaded. Often, really dirty dishes need a good rinse before being put in the machine. Dishes that don’t come completely clean have to be either hand washed or run through again.

I think the Finnish dish draining closet is an excellent alternative to the electric dishwasher. It saves energy and it saves space. There’s one less machine to break down. It requires a lot less resources to install and maintain. It’s low tech, but good design.

I’m really tempted to retrofit my kitchen. I’d put in the draining closet before buying a new dishwasher, that’s for sure. The next kitchen I build will definitely have this clever invention installed from the get go.

-Sixbears