Dishwasher Blues.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Jesus, I feel bad for this Fischer guy! ..... he's only allowed to run the stupid thing once every couple of weeks! My wife allows me to load it and run it daily! Some guys get all the luck. Eat your heart out, Fischer!!!

Washing Their Hands Of the Last Frontier

In the Kitchens of Many Immigrants, Dishwasher Is a Permanent Turnoff

By Phuong Ly

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, October 8, 2005

A couple of months ago, in the privacy of his Reston townhouse, Alan Chien made a final break from cultural tradition, a guilt-filled decision he has yet to share with his parents.

He used his dishwasher. He knows his parents will not understand.

"They don't believe in it," said Chien, 35, an engineer who emigrated with his family from Taiwan when he was a toddler. "Just because they never used it, I never used it, so it was just a mysterious thing to me."

In many immigrant homes, the automatic dishwasher is the last frontier. Long after new arrivals pick up football, learn the intricacies of the multiplex and the DMV and develop a taste for pizza, they resist the dishwasher. Some joke that not using the appliance is one of the truest signs of immigrant heritage, whether they hail from Africa, Latin America, Asia or Eastern Europe.

If they have a dishwasher -- and many do, because it is standard equipment in most homes -- it becomes a glorified dish rack, a Tupperware storage cabinet or a snack-food bin. It's never turned on.

Officials at appliance companies have noticed: Sears doesn't even highlight the appliances in its ads in Spanish-language media.

It's a quirk in the assimilation process that baffles social scientists. "It's really striking," said Donna Gabaccia, who studies immigration and culinary history at the University of Minnesota. In the home, "technology is generally embraced by women. Certainly in terms of technology, their homes don't look that much different from Middle American homes."

Gabaccia said one explanation could be that immigrants can absorb only so much change. The dishwasher is a U.S. invention that is rare in most countries, even among the upper-middle class.

Chien, too, has a hard time explaining dishwasher guilt. Chien, whose younger sister goaded him into breaking his "mental block" on the matter, marvels over how the appliance scrubs off caked-on food. But he isn't sure whether he will keep using it.

"I still have the sense that it's kind of a waste of electricity," he said. "It's odd. We buy American clothes; we use the oven; we use the stove; but, somehow, that appliance. . . ."

Graciela Andres laments that her daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren have abandoned washing by hand. "They do it the American way -- they put everything in the wash machine, no matter if it's a little spoon," said Andres, who emigrated from Bolivia in 1981.

She does not disdain her family's washer and dryer, microwave, heavy-duty mixer, DVD player or computers. But the dishwasher?

"I think if I wash by my hands, I do a better job," said Andres, 65, of Germantown. "We have to fill up the dishwasher. If you do it by hand, it gets clean right away."

Her daughter, Grace Rivera-Oven, says she cannot afford not to use it. Her five-cycle, stainless-steel Kenmore allows her to spend more time shuttling her children to baseball and soccer, serving on community boards and freelance writing.

As a teenager, she got a friend to teach her how to operate the dishwasher -- "She was white; I figured she knew how." Before her mother got home from work, she would run a load.

These days, she can use the dishwasher anytime she wants. Even so, she feels as if she's missing something. That's why every Saturday morning, she does the breakfast dishes by hand with her 10-year-old daughter, Amalia.

"We just gossip, gossip," said Rivera-Oven, 35. "I just wash them, and she dries. It just reminds me of when I was her age. I did them with my mother. Oh, I loved the drying."

Her mother chimes in, stirred by the memory. "Oh, yes, I remember when she would dry and I would check," Andres said, pretending to rub a glass between her fingers. "Squeak, squeak, squeak."

Kitchen historians speculate that the dishwasher lies at the heart of what it means to be a family. Dishwashers began appearing in many middle-class American households in the late 1960s and 1970s, about the time that many women began entering the workforce. A decade later, the microwave came along. The family dinner hour disappeared. It's been downhill from there.

"When people ate dinner together, they also cleaned up together," said Vicki Matranga, a kitchen historian and designer for the Illinois-based International Housewares Association. "Americans now want convenience. The kitchen is a showplace where you heat up your food in the microwave."

Outside the United States, Canada and Western Europe, dishwashers are uncommon. In most countries, people cannot afford them; if they could, then they already have maids, who can do the dishes by hand.

A 2004 economics report from the government of India noted that a growing middle class had pushed up sales of clothes washers, refrigerators and small appliances by 20 percent a year. Dishwashers, however, were a "negligible market."

In tech-crazed South Korea, many families boast refrigerators with built-in TV screens and a cooler that regulates the temperature especially for jars of kimchi, the spicy pickled cabbage -- but no dishwasher.

At Sears, officials do not make much of an effort to market dishwashers to immigrants. The company's Kenmore Elite TurboZone was touted in mainstream media, but Spanish-language newspapers and magazines ran only general ads about appliances.

Anecdotal evidence from Sears associates and customers suggests that Latinos care far more about cooktops than dishwashers, said Tina Settecase, vice president of home appliances.

"We're very careful about not changing our Hispanic customers," she said. "We're just trying to identify what the Hispanic customer wants and supply it."

But Mike McDermott, general manager of merchandising at General Electric, wonders whether more information about dishwashers might make a difference.

Like other appliance-makers, GE extols the dishwashers' energy efficiency. The U.S. Department of Energy agrees, citing findings that dishwashers, with a full load, use half as much water as washing by hand. Statistics from the D.C.-based Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers show that using the dishwasher six times a week costs $49 a year, a little more than the refrigerator.

"Where there isn't a dishwasher in a home, we need to understand why it's not there," McDermott said, "and what are some of the tools we can use to educate the consumer."

He will not have any luck with Douglas Lee's family. His American roots stretch back to 1963, when his grandparents emigrated from China. In three generations, nobody has used as dishwasher.

Lee, 22, of Springfield said he does not understand the appeal.

"Do you have to wash it beforehand to rinse it off? And if you wash it beforehand, why do you even need to use it?" asked Lee, a program manager for the Washington-based Organization of Chinese Americans. "I see a lot of my white friends doing it. I'm like: Oh, well, whatever. I guess I can't judge them on how they clean their dishes."

Bernie Fischer, a self-described "typical white guy" who grew up in Baltimore, knows all the benefits of the dishwasher. His parents had been so attached to theirs that they used it even though the wash cycle caused the lights to dim in their aging house.

But these days, his dishwasher is simply a drying rack. It was his wife's idea. Mary Ngo is a Vietnamese American.

"Mary's kind of set in her ways," said Fischer, 29, a soft-spoken Columbia psychiatrist.

"I just don't see the practicality of using the dishwasher," explained Ngo, 28, a job trainer born and raised in Montgomery County.

But she does let her husband turn on the appliance every two weeks -- to clean it, not the dishes.

[7/4]

I don't even own one, the plumming in my building can't handle it.

[Kalo]

I was born in Oakland California, and I don't use the dishwasher, even though there's one in my apartment.

Since I'm single, it would take a while for me to build up a load worth running, and I don't like the idea of the dirty dishes just sitting there in the thing. If I had a family, though, I could imagine it coming in handy.

[Big Wheel]

Interesting. We rarely use the dishwasher, mainly at the impetus of my roommate--incidentally, his father immigrated from Latin America and his mom grew up in Puerto Rico. There are certainly good reasons to forgo it--big use of electricity and probably uses more water than hand washing, especially if you give the plates a quick hand rinse before tossing them in the dishwasher.

[Guy Berger]

Outside the United States, Canada and Western Europe, dishwashers are uncommon. In most countries, people cannot afford them; if they could, then they already have maids, who can do the dishes by hand.

What about Japan? I assume NZ and Australia count as "United States, Canada, and Western Europe"?

In tech-crazed South Korea, many families boast refrigerators with built-in TV screens and a cooler that regulates the temperature especially for jars of kimchi, the spicy pickled cabbage -- but no dishwasher.

Crazy!

Guy

[mikeweil]

Since I'm single, it would take a while for me to build up a load worth running, and I don't like the idea of the dirty dishes just sitting there in the thing.

There are smaller models for singles or couples without children. The only reason my wife and I didn't buy one last year was that the sizes available wouldn't fit the kitchen cabinets we currently have.

[ejp626]

Well, I hated dishwashing as a child (one of my main chores) and I hate it now. It generally falls to me, since my wife does more of the cooking. Sometimes I just wouldn't get around to it in the evening. So having a dishwasher removed a huge source of stress from my life and from our marriage.

[couw]

doing the dishes by hand ensures you of at least one success moment a day. For all the other stuff you didn't managed to get finished and done, you at least did the damn dishes!

[king ubu]

doing the dishes by hand ensures you of at least one success moment a day. For all the other stuff you didn't managed to get finished and done, you at least did the damn dishes!

←

Or else they're piling up in and around the sink... just as the other stuff piles up on the desk and on the floor and around the bed...

[AllenLowe]

it's flu season - buy that dishwasher and use it, as this will greatly DECREASE your chances of getting sick - and the last thing we want is an Organissimmo epidemic - (yes, Weizen I want even YOU to remain healthy - just shows what a generous and Nobel-prize winning. saintly, Mother Theresa, Virgin Mary, Shelly Manne-type of guy I am) -

[mgraham333]

it's flu season - buy that dishwasher and use it, as this will greatly DECREASE your chances of getting sick - and the last thing we want is an Organissimmo epidemic - (yes, Weizen I want even YOU to remain healthy - just shows what a generous and Nobel-prize winning. saintly, Mother Theresa, Virgin Mary,  Shelly Manne-type of guy I am) -

←

Exactly. Washing by hand just gives those germs a bath.

[jazzmessenger]

Outside the United States, Canada and Western Europe, dishwashers are uncommon. In most countries, people cannot afford them; if they could, then they already have maids, who can do the dishes by hand.

What about Japan?

No. Almost all families don't have a dishwasher. Actually, I had never seen one or known of its existence until I moved to the States.

[jazzbo]

I've never owned one or lived in a house that had one.

Not sure I want one!

[Soulstation1]

i have a dishwasher, but rarely use it

i usually wash my dishes by hand, since i don't like a pile of dirty dishes in the sink

[jazzypaul]

The dishes and I have a very odd relationship. And it's one that is shared by many of my friends as well. I HATE doing them. Absolutely despise it. Don't mind practically any other chore around the house. Except for the dishes. But, once I do them, I am always amazed at how quickly I was done with them. And I do them everyday that I'm actually anywhere near my apartment (these days, only once or twice per week).

But I'd still rather have a dishwasher. At least then, I could rinse everything load it in the dishwasher and split.

[sidewinder]

My machine recently went kaput. It was a toss-up between a new machine or the Kid Ory Mosaic. The Ory Mosaic won ( ).

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

it's flu season - buy that dishwasher and use it, as this will greatly DECREASE your chances of getting sick - and the last thing we want is an Organissimmo epidemic - (yes, Weizen I want even YOU to remain healthy - just shows what a generous and Nobel-prize winning. saintly, Mother Theresa, Virgin Mary,  Shelly Manne-type of guy I am) -

Geez Allen, from the looks of things, you and I could be the only two left standing when the flu gets all the rest of these wash-by-handers. Whatever will we talk about? Baseball cards? Horticulture? Albertson's extensive collection of Christo prints?

I guess we'll think of something...

http://grant-adams.wsu.edu/family_living/i...ht%20germs'

[AllenLowe]

well, I figured you can tell me about your conversion from card-carrying Republican to left-limousine-liberal-commie-red-pink-progressive-social-democrat-anti-states rights man-of-the-people -populist-allpowertothepeopleoffthepigs radical -

on the other hand, we could just look at your collection of Jospeh McCarthy memorabilia-

whatever makes you happy -

[AllenLowe]

or we could make doilies -

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

on the other hand, we could just look at your collection of Jospeh McCarthy memorabilia-

Let's stick to doilies.......I don't share my photos of Roy Cohn in the bathhouses with anyone. Suds central...just like your new Whirlpool washer!

Edited October 10, 2005 by Son-of-a-Weizen

[kinuta]

I don't know anyone in Tokyo, friend, work related, family who has a dishwasher or who knows anyone who has one. They have always seemed a bit decadent to me.

[JohnJ]

I don't know anyone in Tokyo, friend, work related, family who has a dishwasher or who knows anyone who has one.  They have always seemed a bit decadent to me.

←

Kinuta, you obviously don't move in the right circles . Several of my Azabu/Roppongi expat friends have them. Not me though.

[kinuta]

That's very true. I seldom if ever go to places like Roppongi and Azabu and know noone who lives there. The uptown islands of wealth and style are very different from where I live.

[JohnJ]

Actually, very different from where I live too (Nerima-ku).

[kinuta]

Were you effected by the recent flooding ? I'm next door in Setagaya ku.