Last year when we moved to this house from Manhattan, I was determined to get a manual mower to help save the earth, stop relying on oil, etc. etc.
It worked wonderfully well during spring when the grass was young. We have about 2/3 acre of lawn and I got quite a work out from it. It would take me about 2 hours to mow the entire yard.
But then when the coarser summer grass arrived, it was harder to mow. I got a cold one weekend when the grass was growing like crazy, and then when I tried to mow again two weeks later, the grass was too tall for the blades to cut it, they would just roll over it. It was not a question of them being sharp enough, just that they could not handle it.
My neighbors thought I was insane, but I was out to prove them wrong!
Later in the summer we left on vacation and when we came back the lawn was just unmanageable, there was no way I could cut it, so we had to hire a lawn mowing service to mow it that one time.
Now it is one year later and last spring I went ahead and got a Toro power mower. I can't tell you what a difference it makes to be able to mow the lawn in one hour, and if I missed mowing for two weeks, the power mower will take care of the overgrown grass with no problem.
Long story short: if your yard is small, try the manual mower, but you have to be religious about mowing very often and not letting the grass get to long! Last year I was mowing twice a week at times.
This year because of the dry spell I did not even have to mow the lawn for four weeks in a row, so I may be telling a different story if I had moved to NJ this year ;)

If I had my way, we'd use a manual mower. My lawn is small enough for it but DH insists on manly power tools. And since he does the mowing, he gets to choose his tool. I always thought that the blades on a manual mower do a better job of cutting. But only on a smallish lawn. Otherwise, you'd spend your whole life mowing.

The wife and I went out to Lancaster PA recently and saw plenty of Amish people out there mowing with manual mowers. They had big properties also. I guess if they can do it then it is totally possible.Myself....It's the power or nothing! lol

I looked into the manual mowers, borrowed one, loved the sound! However, it does not to well with longish grass or bumpy yards. Since we often let ours get long, and 1/2 the yard is bumpy with tree roots, I decided to wait until the kids require less time, and then it would supplement the power mower. You do have to sharpen the blades, similar to the power mowers. Robin, you should try the power mower with ear protection, especially if it would help out DH while he is putting in a kitchen! They aren't too bad to use. You might also look for a teenager to mow it for you cheaply. I used to lived in Lancaster, and would have to say that the Amish do not care how neat the grass looks, just don't want it looking like a field, unless they planned and planted it that way.

I use a manual mower in my yard, however my yard is on the small side. If I let the grass get too tall I will use a power mower because I can't cut the long grass with it. Have to keep the blades sharp though in order to buzz through the grass.

For the future, an alternative is a rechargable electric mower -- they are very quiet. I love mine. I had a manual mower but it wasn't great on the crabgrass or stilt grass. I don't really have a lawn I have a green space. I gave my manual mower to my neighbor and it works great on her nicely planted lawn.