In Appreciation of my Dishwasher

A popular personality theory tells us that when we make decisions we each have a distinct preference for either 'thinking' (based on principles, categories, factual reasons, logic, etc) or 'feeling' (personal values, cultural expectations, pleasing other people, going with our heart, etc). It's not that simple, of course, and we all use all of the above at times, but the theory can be a useful way of understanding why some people make the decisions they do.

Recently, however, I read something which implied that in most cases, deep down, everyone makes 'feeling' decisions. Those who prefer 'thinking' may then try to justify those decisions rationally, or explain themselves, because (ironically) they care about their image and want to be thought of as logical. And, indeed, we all tend to find 'evidence' to support our decisions, whatever they might be. But the true 'reason' for most choices is - according to this - that it's what we felt was the best thing to do at the time.

I suspect there's some truth in this. Arguments and criticisms often arise due to differing principles and beliefs, yet in many cases decisions have been made due to personal preference or gut feelings. They may have been researched beforehand; there may be many 'thinking' factors taken into account: but when the purchase is made, or the contract signed, or the X marked on the voting paper, it's because at some level our heart tells us that it's the right decision.

A friend recently linked on Facebook to an article explaining why a large family in the United States have decided to wash their dishes by hand rather than using a dishwasher. Several people commented saying that they agreed, and gave reasons why they prefer hand-washing to dishwashers.

That's fine, and it's none of my business how anyone else chooses to wash their dishes. But it occurred to me that while I've read other posts, in the past, about why people choose not to use dishwashers (or computers, or air conditioners, or televisions, or whatever it happens to be) I rarely read posts about why people DO use them. So I started mentally composing my own blog post trying to refute each point from my own perspective.

Then I remembered what I mentioned above. People make their choices, sometimes based on past experience, sometimes based on hunches, sometimes on what they have read, or on inherent biases, or sometimes, (as is the case with the post concerned) to help family harmony. My viewpoint is equally valid, but there's no point presenting it as an argument.

We didn't have a dishwasher when we lived in the UK, but then neither did most of our friends. With a nice kitchen, built to suit my height (or lack thereof) and 'instant heat' water, washing up wasn't too much of a chore. We didn't entertain very often, and when we did it was usually close friends or family who helped with the dishes. At the time, I was ambivalent about dishwashers, seeing pros and cons, admiring them in other people's homes, but with no wish to have one of our own.

We didn't have a dishwasher at the house we rented when we first moved to Cyprus, either. But the sink was a bit too high to be comfortable for me. In Summer there was plenty of solar-powered hot water, but the kitchen was also hot and very humid. Washing up even just for the four of us was a major effort, and when we had guests, or visitors, even if they were keen to help, they were soon dripping and exhausted, unused to the temperature.

In winter the kitchen was cold and washing up much pleasanter... but without much sunshine we either had to run the immersion heater to get a tank full of hot water, or boil the kettle several times and risk being scalded (quite a high risk in my case!)

Now we have our own house, and one of the things that sold it to me was the space and plumbing for a dishwasher. Eleven years later there are just two of us living here, most of the time.  Recently I was here on my own for nearly two weeks. But I still used the dishwasher. Why? Because I like it!

Naturally enough, I can easily come up with some 'thinking' reasons, such as:

- I don't have to heat water specially to wash up
- I don't get the backache that inevitably comes with washing dishes at the sink
- Since having a dishwasher we haven't broken any glasses or plates while they're washed
- Everything is sparkling clean when it comes out, no matter how dirty it looked going in
- I pile dirty dishes inside at once, so they don't sit around on the counter top
- I don't have several soggy tea-towels to hang up every day

Since our dishwasher is very effective, we don't have to rinse anything beforehand, so there's never any doubt whether the contents are clean or unwashed.

We don't entertain as much as we used to, but a few days ago we invited a friend to join us for an evening meal. The dishwasher was almost full after lunch, so after we had our coffee I put it on and then started doing meal preparations. I made a turkey pie as we still had leftover meat in the freezer from Christmas. That meant I used a bowl for the pastry, and a pan for cooking the onions, mushrooms etc.

I made a quick chocolate dessert too, so that involved another couple of bowls; and there was also an empty 'spread' container, and two dishes from the fridge whose contents I had used as part of the meal. Plus measuring spoons and spatulas...

It doesn't look like that much:

I could have stopped, and boiled a kettle, and washed everything by hand. But some of the containers were quite greasy, so it would have taken more than one kettleful. I couldn't have fitted everything on the draining board, so it would probably have taken me at least ten minutes with a pause for drying the first load. By the end I would have developed a bit of backache. Being me, I would probably have splashed the front of my clothes, too, and I would be stressing about running out of time.

So I prepared all the vegetables instead, put the carrots and tomatoes in the oven, and sat down to relax with a book for ten minutes.

I did still have to wash a few things, but they weren't greasy and only took a couple of minutes. They fit easily on the draining board:

Shortly before our friend arrived, the dishwasher pinged and I was able to remove and put away all the clean contents from the previous day-and-a-half:

Having done that (which takes a couple of minutes and is still one of the most satisfying things I know of in the kitchen) I loaded in the bowls and other containers that I had used, leaving the kitchen surfaces clean and tidy. Clean, tidy surfaces make me feel much happier than cluttered ones.

We had a relaxed meal with our friend, and hot drinks afterwards. It was all very pleasant, but I was aware of the dirty plates and serving dishes etc piled in the kitchen:

Because our dining area is next to the kitchen, I was able to potter while still being part of the conversation, putting leftovers in the fridge, and then loading the dishwasher. Everything went in other than the saucepan, which had only contained broccoli, so was easy to wash in the water which was still hot from the kettle.

I'm a strong Introvert. While I enjoy having friends over, and chatting, it tends to leave me tired and somewhat drained. If I'd had to tackle the washing up after our friend left, even if it had only taken ten or fifteen minutes, I would probably have become very irritable. Alternatively I might have decided to leave it until the following morning, and would then have felt annoyed when I got up and was greeted by a pile of dirty dishes, with food hardened onto them.

Instead, the dishwasher was gently churning and I was able to go and read for a while in peace.

Many years ago we hosted a US-style Thanksgiving meal for the house group that used to meet here weekly. There were eight people, so by the end there were eight large plates, eight side plates, eight dessert dishes, eight water glasses, four or five wine glasses, coffee mugs, large amounts of cutlery, and the empty dishes from the food I had prepared (even though everyone else brought something too and took their dishes home).

As we went around the table after the meal saying what we were thankful for at that moment, my overwhelming feeling was extreme thankfulness for our dishwasher.

Beko Dishwasher

When we bought a house with space for a dishwasher, for the first time, we opted for a mid-range Blomberg, which was, perhaps, a mistake. It was good, but never great. It developed overheating problems after a few months, and while the shop where we bought it was very good at honouring their warranty - even giving us an elderly replacement when it was not possible to repair - it gradually become more and more unreliable. We don’t tend to replace items until they give up completely but we reckoned without our son, returned to Cyprus and working here after a few years at university in the UK. 

Our son - who had been living in a household with an excellent dishwasher - offered to buy us a new one. The old one, and it was nearly eight years old, was starting to smell, in addition to not doing its job. Then the door started to break, around the same time as, our local white goods shop was having a sale. So we did a bit of research, and checked what was available; again, there were only three or four options. 

CHECKING BEKO DISHWASHERS

We wanted a standard sized dishwasher (85cm high and 60cm wide) to fit the gap and preferably a white front panel. The owner of the shop recommended the Beko DSFN 1531. It looked much the same as our previous dishwasher, with space for up to twelve place settings, and the bonus of a cutlery holder that slides, so can be placed anywhere in the front rack. Water consumption and noise levels were standard, and the programs similar to those we were used to. It was rated A+ for energy. 

We searched online for reviews and double-checked the model number; while many of the Beko dishwashers in the DSFN range, including this one, were highly rated, we noted that a similar one (the 1534) was prone to leaking and not recommended at all. We also learned that the 1531 has a ‘slimline’ variation for those with less room. But it seemed that this particular model would suit us nicely. It cost a little over €300, which our son was more than willing to pay, and could be fitted the next day. 

USING THE DISHWASHER

I skimmed through the instructions, and noted that while any excess food needed to be scraped from plates and dishes, it was recommended not to rinse them before putting in the dishwasher, since the chemicals in powder or tablets is activated by the grease of dirty plates. Other recommendations were more obvious: to ensure gaps between plates; not to overfill; to avoid putting wooden items in the machine; to place knives and forks pointing downwards in the cutlery holder. 

Loading the dishwasher is fairly standard, with an extra bonus that the vertical plate holding spikes in the back row at the bottom can be pushed downwards, to allow for serving dishes or jugs to be placed more easily. We put mugs and glasses at the top, along with some smaller serving dishes; plates and bowls go in the bottom, along with any pots and pans that will fit.

Quite a bit of cutlery fits in its intended container, which has differently sized holes to take various shapes and sizes of handle. Large spatulas or similar items can be placed on top of little shelves that fold down at the sides over a row of glasses at the top. 

PROGRAMMES

The main programme which we have used almost daily is the 50C ‘economy’ wash. It takes about two hours from start to finish, ending with a thorough drying session. We were astounded, for the first few days, at how clean and sparkling everything was when we ran the dishwasher for the first time. I don’t think our previous machine ever produced such an excellent result. We generally use either hard or gel-based tabs, depending on which is best value, and have found that they all seem to work well. 

There is a quick rinse programme which is recommended to use if dishes are to be left in the dishwasher overnight; this just ensures that items don’t dry out completely before being washed. We’ve used this a couple of times, but usually forget and it hasn’t been a problem.

There’s a hot (70C) wash recommended for heavily soiled pans, or simply to clean the dishwasher out from time to time, but we haven’t had to use that. Nor have we used the 35C ‘quick’ wash, which apparently takes only half an hour and can be used to clean items which are not particularly dirty or greasy. The other option is a 60C 'Quick clean' wash which lasts about an hour, but doesn't fully dry the dishes. I use that sometimes if I know I will want to unload before two hours.

FILTERS

When I empty the dishwasher, I remove the main filter at the bottom and give it a quick rinse. Sometimes it’s fairly clean; other times it has small bits of food caught in it. Unlike our old dishwasher, I have not had to remove the twirly spray arms, although it’s not difficult to do so if something like a grain of rice gets caught in them. That was a regular occurrence with our other machine; the new one seems to be better made in almost every respect. 

CONCLUSION

We’re still within the warranty period, but so far have been extremely pleased with our Beko dishwasher, and would recommend it highly. When we chose it, it was available in the UK, but, as is the way with so many consumer goods, it seems now to have been replaced by others in the same range; however, parts are still available and the slimline (DSFS 1531) version can still be found on Amazon for about £230. Beko is a good brand, and their dishwashers all appear to be similar and highly-rated other than the rogue 1534 model as mentioned above. 

2022 UPDATE

Eight-and-a-half years after this was originally written, our Beko dishwasher is still going strong. There's a crack in the plastic bar to pull it open, but that's just cosmetic. Everything else has functioned perfectly, and I'm quite surprised to discover that it's as old as it is. Even quite dirty pots and pans come out sparkling without any prior rinsing or pre-washing. With our son no longer at home, we generally run it every other day, more when entertaining.

There's no bad smell, no build-up of dirt, and no mechanical problems. There's a bit of black mould around the edges, since I don't remember to wipe it after every use, but a bit of vinegar on a cloth gets rid of most of that. Once or twice I've run it at the 70 degree hot wash with a cup of vinegar and no crockery, particularly if we've been away for a while and it's become musty.

Unfortunately Beko dishwashers no longer seem to be available here. If there was a modern equivalent I would have no hesitation about replacing this one with a new Beko, when it eventually stops working - and I hope it still has several years of life.

Weather forecast for Larnaka...

We had no rain at all during November.

Then a heavy shower with a bit of thunder a few days ago, overnight. Enough to freshen the atmosphere a bit, and to cool the temperatures somewhat.

Today it looked a little grey, so I checked the forecast. Rain is due to start tomorrow morning, apparently, and continue through most of the day.

Then I looked at the ten-day forecast. I don't think I have ever seen continual rain for ten days predicted for Larnaka, so as it will no doubt change, I took a screenshot:


Clicking it will make it bigger, but even with the small version it shows rain icons every single day.

If we really get this much rain, it will certainly make up for the high temperatures and lack of precipitation during November.

Oh, and for anyone interested in our dishwasher saga... Richard took a look under the sink last night, found a spanner, and succeeded in turning the water on without breaking anything. Evidently the engineers hadn't tried hard enough, or were too worried about breaking it. So we don't need a plumber, and don't need any new fittings.

And the temporary replacement not-so-new dishwasher worked!

Dishwasher update... (sigh)

There is no longer a hole in our kitchen.


It definitely looks better this way, with a dishwasher in place.

So why am I sighing?

Well.. this IS Cyprus.

Two weeks ago, we were promised that the overheating problem should be solved 'tomorrow'. I didn't think it likely, knowing that the Greek word 'avrio' simply means 'some time in the future'. So I wasn't disappointed when nothing happened... and a few days later, Richard called in again. No news.

A week or so later, he tried again.

Ah, said the shop owner. The engineers are having a bad time with this dishwasher. They have blown up three controllers already, but they think they have discovered what the problem is now. They had to wait for a spare part to be delivered, but we hope to have it ready soon.

I wasn't holding my breath, but did comment that I really hoped we might have it back before Christmas...

Yesterday, out of the blue, Richard had a phone call from someone who didn't speak great English, asking when we would be in today. They said they were going to deliver a 'new' dishwasher which we could borrow until our old one is fixed. He said any time after 8.30am would be just fine.

I said, a little cynically, that they were probably going to lend us an elderly machine that someone else had replaced, and hope that we might forget about our own dishwasher, which will get put to the bottom of the pile (so to speak). Maybe they don't even know how to fix it.

Richard said his guess was that they were going to 'lend' us a brand new machine, and then, in a week or two, tell us that ours can't be fixed but that they can offer us a discount on the one we've been borrowing.

This morning, Richard waited in until I'd been out to the fruit shop, and then I've been at home all day. It wasn't until 3.30pm that Richard phoned to tell me that the dishwasher was on its way and would be here in a few minutes.

It was about 4.15 when a truck finally arrived, with a dishwasher strapped to the back. Clearly not a new one - I could see a bit of rust at the back, and the two engineers (who spoke virtually no English) emptied some water out before they carried it up the stairs.

They spent about half an hour in the kitchen, muttering to each other, popping down to the truck from time to time. Then one of them said, 'Small problem'. The other one was on the phone to the shop owner (who speaks pretty good English) and eventually passed his phone to me.

Apparently our taps are the wrong size, and the engineers don't want to force them as they're afraid something might break. So we need to get in a plumber.

I said I would speak to Richard when he got home.

What's odd is that it's the same make as our own dishwasher, and looks almost identical. Perhaps it's so old that the tap fittings are imperial rather than metric...

The thing is, we hope we might have our own dishwasher back one day. So changing the tap fittings doesn't sound like a great idea as we'd then have to change them back again...

Oh well. I guess we'll be washing dishes by hand again this evening.

Tomorrow... or 'avrio'?

It's over a week now since our dishwasher was taken away for repairs. I thought it would be, perhaps, a couple of days. On Friday, Richard phoned and spoke to George, the shop owner.

George said there was a thermostat problem. We'd rather guessed that, since the dishwasher was overheating so badly. He said the engineers were replacing that, and the main controller, and that it would cost €130. Ouch!

But, Richard pointed out, we had the main controller replaced at the end of June. It didn't seem unreasonable then, after four years of unstinting service. But surely it should last more than five months...?

Unfortunately, we had no paperwork. Some things are still very informal in Cyprus. We paid cash, and were not even given a receipt, let alone any kind of guarantee.

However, it IS Cyprus. Yesterday, having heard no more, Richard popped into the shop on his way back to work after lunch. George told him that yes, he had checked and we did indeed have a new controller in June, so we won't be charged for another new one. In fact, he said we won't have to pay much at all... though he didn't quote a figure.

So that's good.

Richard asked when we might get the dishwasher back again.

Well, George said, the engineers fixed the problem, they thought. So they ran it through a couple of cycles to make sure. And on the second one, it overheated dramatically again. So evidently they hadn't fixed the problem, and were doing some more tests.

'Tomorrow', he said.

However... the English word 'tomorrow' is translated into Greek as 'αυριο' (if that just looks like random symbols or squares because you don't have the correct Greek font on your computer, the transliteration is, roughly, 'avrio'). Unfortunately, it doesn't mean quite the same as 'tomorrow', which is a fairly specific word. It can.. but as far as we can determine, what it really means is, 'some time after today'.

Richard forgot to ask whether it would really be 'tomorrow' or 'αυριο'.. so I assumed the latter. Which is good, because it didn't arrive back today.

I'm almost getting used to washing dishes after meals, although I don't suppose I will ever like it.

Little visitors that we really don't want...

I mentioned last Tuesday that our dishwasher had to be taken away to be repaired.

It still hasn't returned. Richard did call on Friday, and they said there was a problem with the thermostat, but gave no idea as to when we might see it again.

In the meantime, the cats, naturally curious, sniffed around the space where the dishwasher has sat for the past four years and more. They were interested when it was gunky, and also interested when it was clean.

Sophia seemed to be showing particular interest.


We couldn't understand why it was taking her so long to get used to this space. Then on Friday morning, as I wandered sleepily into the kitchen to put the kettle on, Sophia suddenly belted across the kitchen like a rocket, made a leap, and quickly rushed into the dining room. I wondered if she'd found a cockroach, perhaps... it's not the season for them, but I had seen a sleepy one the previous day. She doesn't usually race for them, though, and if she does find one, she bats it around the floor.

She wouldn't let me go near her - any time I approached, she turned around. But I could see a tail dangling out of her mouth. I then heard a crunch from behind the television. Being of a squeamish disposition, I didn't go and investigate. But my great powers of deduction suggested that she must have caught and eaten a mouse.

We didn't find any evidence. But she kept on sniffing around the dishwasher hole (when she wasn't sniffing around behind the television) although, as far as I know, she hasn't found anything else.

It's rather worrying, really. Years ago, we were told that most households in Cyprus get mice at some point, but not if they have indoor cats. Mice are usually intelligent enough to keep away from homes where cats are in charge. And our part of the house is upstairs, which I would have thought would be quite tricky from a mouse entry perspective.

Richard did tidy the boiler room, which is below the kitchen window and might well have had a mouse's nest in it - he didn't find anything. And as far as we know, none of the cats has found any more mice. So we hope it was just a one-off.

We also hope we'll get the dishwasher back some time this week, preferably without too huge a bill...

There's a hole in my kitchen...

There's a sad-looking gap in our kitchen at present:


Those familiar with the layout will spot that it's where the dishwasher usually sits. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that it was running much too hot - washing the dishes very effectively, but at such a hot temperature that it has to cool down for about half an hour - at least - before I'm comfortable removing them.

In addition to probably using a lot of extra electricity heating the water so much, it made us concerned about safety so we were no longer running the dishwasher overnight, or while out. Not a huge problem.. but a concern.

So, yesterday Richard went to talk to our friendly white goods shop, where we bought the dishwasher four-and-a-half years ago. They mended the controller a few months ago - the first thing that had gone wrong since we bought it. But when Richard described the problem, they said they'd have to take it away to be checked.

The engineer arrived late morning yesterday, just as the dishwasher was finishing a full load. Good timing, really, since he could see - and feel - immediately what the problem was, since I opened it and a gush of steam came out of the top. He didn't have a whole lot of English, but agreed with me that it was indeed 'too hot'.

Of course, not such good timing in that I had to remove everything while it was still burning to the touch.

The engineer unwired and unplumbed the dishwasher, and then wheeled it down our outside steps on one of those ingenious sack trolleys whose wheels go down step by step, rather like an overgrown Slinky toy. He said that he would call when he had any news.

I did take the opportunity of cleaning the square on the floor where the dishwasher had stood all this time, before taking the photo. It was rather disgustingly gunky. A friend who called in to return some books said that everyone has gunk under large appliances. I suppose she's right.

No news from the dishwasher hospital to date. So I've been re-discovering the art of washing up dishes in the sink. Perhaps I had started taking the dishwasher for granted too much...

The sad demise of our juice extractor

Our dishwasher seems to have been running considerably hotter than it ought to, in the last couple of weeks. It's not a huge problem - it just means that I have to switch it off after it's finished, and then leave it to cool down for at least a couple of hours before unloading. I'm not sure if it's the washing or the drying that's over-hot, but everything in it is coming out sparkling clean. Richard plans to talk to our friendly repairman at some point... when he has a moment. And since it's working, it's not a huge disaster. Glasses are not cracking, the empty margarine containers I use for freezing portions of food are not melting...

..indeed, all was well until I decided that the bowl part of our juice extractor could do with a wash in the dishwasher. Not, I'm happy to say, our citrus juicer, but the centrifugal one for apples and other non-citrus fruit. We have fresh fruit juice every morning, and I usually alternate oranges and apples, with other seasonal fruit added as relevant.

Alas, when I came to remove the items from the dishwasher, this is what I found:


It's hard to do it justice with a photo. It has become distorted; and as it's hard plastic, it won't bend back. There's no way it will fit into the machine:


Getting small appliances repaired in Cyprus is both difficult and expensive, and not generally worth it. I don't remember exactly when we bought this juice extractor, but it must have been about four years ago. Still, I've found a very useful site in the UK which supplies spare parts for just about anything. So on Sunday, I got in touch with them - the site is Belstar Electrics. I couldn't find any trace of this juicer (a Tefal Elea) but they had a contact form, so I used it.

A few hours later, I had a friendly reply saying that they were sorry, but they didn't have anything for this machine.

So I tried Tefal's own recommended site for spare parts, Britcom. I couldn't find the juice extractor listed there either, but they also had a contact form. So I got in touch.

Today I had a reply saying, 'I'm sorry, but this product and its parts are now obsolete'.

Probably it was obsolete when we bought it. That does, sometimes, seem to be the case in Cyprus; items no longer available in the UK or mainland Europe can still be bought here. It's a good machine, so I don't know why they would have withdrawn it; we haven't had any problems with it, and it must have run at least three times per week for four years, which is quite a bit of juicing.

Yesterday I remembered, suddenly, that our food processor has a juice extractor attachment. This morning I hunted in several likely cupboards before finally running it to earth. Rather dusty, so I washed it and will see how well it works. If it manages apples successfully, then I may simply use that, which is simpler (and considerably cheaper) than having a new juice extractor.