American households are divided over how to load the dishwasher
livemint.comNina and Stephen Edwards have been on the same page for most things in their 25-year marriage: what to have for dinner, where to vacation, where to set the thermostat in their New York City home. But there is one thing they can’t agree on: how best to load the dishwasher. Nina, an illustrator and adjunct lecturer at Pratt Institute, has a more freewheeling approach.
Just make sure everything fits. “It might look random and messy," she says. “But I know where it all is." Stephen, a professor of computer science at Columbia University, has a plan.
“I make a mental map of how the water moves around the dishwasher before I put the dishes in," he explains. “If we’re going to wash it, we should make sure it’s as clean as it can be." It’s the household conundrum that keeps giving us load after load of headaches. To pre-rinse or not to pre-rinse? Is playing Tetris with your dishes the superior loading technique? Which side should the cutlery face? The global debate recently swirled anew after remarks from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
In an interview with fashion magazine Grazia, he and his wife, Akshata Murty, were asked who was better at loading the dishwasher. A loaded question? “Definitely Rishi, but I am ‘A’ for enthusiasm," Murty replied quickly. “But then it requires redoing after you’ve been very enthusiastic," Sunak quipped.
Their exchange lit up social media and the growing world of dishwasher-technique aficionados (yes there is one). The Facebook group “Extreme Dishwasher Loading" saw a jump in interest, topping 31,000 members. A majority of Americans (65%) agree there’s a “right and a wrong way" to load a dishwasher, according to data from YouGov Omnibus.
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