Do you love the feeling of a quick, easy wash? Or do you enjoy the cozy, quiet time together washing dishes in the evening? We did the research to find out which way will save you the most money: washing by hand or in the dishwasher?
Dishwasher vs. by hand: which is cheaper?
Whether the dishwasher is cheaper than washing dishes by hand is difficult to answer unequivocally. How much a dishwasher costs you depends on several factors:
1. Water consumption
Modern energy-efficient dishwashers use much less water than when you wash by hand, as much as 80 to 85% less to be exact. According to Testaankoop, a dishwasher uses an average of 10 to 15 liters of water per cycle, while for two full sinks of dishes you need an average of 60 liters of water.
Note that your dishwasher must be completely full. Also, do not rinse your dishes beforehand, as you will use twice as much water. It is enough to scrape the dirt off the dishes for a while, then they can go straight into the dishwasher. Only really dirty dishes should be soaked for a while to prevent the dirt from caking.
2. Energy consumption
The dishwasher not only saves water, it also saves electricity: about 50 to 70% less energy than washing dishes by hand. Although your energy consumption depends a lot on which dishwashing program you use and how you heat your water when washing by hand.
If you use the dishwasher, be sure to set the machine to eco mode. That way you’ll save not only water, but also energy. The eco program may take longer, but it washes dishes at a lower temperature. This requires less electricity than a shorter wash at a higher temperature.
Especially if you heat your water with an electric water heater, hand washing is more expensive. If you heat your water with gas, the price is actually not too bad, and a hand wash is even just slightly cheaper than washing dishes on the dishwasher’s eco program.
3. Purchase cost
Whereas every kitchen has a sink for doing dishes by hand as standard, sometimes you still have to purchase a dishwasher. That purchase cost is not minus: according to Testaankoop, you pay between €300 and more than €1,000 for a dishwasher. The Best Buy according to Testaankoop is a € 699 machine, which with its 3,000 dishwashing cycles will cost you about 23 cents per cycle.
A dishwasher buys you considerable time, because the dishes are done much faster than if you wash by hand. Then again, washing dishes by hand is just slightly cheaper than buying and using a dishwasher if you have a natural gas system or heat pump. So it’s up to you to make the trade-off between what is cheapest for you and what works best for your situation.
