I prefer to unload. I am also amazed that so many prefer to wash by hand! I did that as a kid and would never go back to the old way

I do both. I am far more efficient at loading, and I found out early in our marriage that hubby loathes emptying the dishwasher, so I said, "You never have to do it again." I don't handwash unless an Item requires it. When we entertain, I run successive loads until all the dishes are clean. I like the sanitizing ability of a dishwasher. I am grateful that I don't remember a time without one.

I'm a master at loading a dishwasher. I fill every nook & cranny. Only problem is, the dishes don't always get clean, even though I have a new dishwasher and I use the 'heavy soil' setting. (Maybe I'm not such a 'master' after all!) I don't like to unload because most of the dishes are still wet and I have to prop the door open for a few hours to let them get dry. Cheap dishwasher. :(

@volgma...dishes may not be getting clean because you are filling all those nooks and crannies which doesn't allow proper water flow, especially if you have only one "spinner" on the bottom for all the dishes. The detergent you use can also make a difference as well as the hardness or softness of your water. The easiest way to test the first theory is to not load it quite as full and see if that helps. If not, experiment with different detergents. For my area, I find Cascade does the best job. Sometimes a rinse agent can also help. Good luck!

The only items that get hand washed in this house are either too fragile for the dishwasher or wouldn't get clean in the dishwasher anyway.

Unload for sure. The princess can't be getting her hands dirty. lol

I went 5 years without a dishwasher. I hated every minute of it! I hate to hand wash! I was a much happier camper after the kitchen re-do was done! Gimme my appliances!

I load, my husband unloads. Sweet arrangement!

No one else loads it properly so I HAVE to or I have to rearrange it anyway. It's an illness, what can I say? I really dislike unloading. No clue why.

Having a dishwasher has helped me so much in that I don't have to wet my hands for prolonged periods of times (up to 3+ times a day), which flares up my eczema. I've tried the gloves (which irritate my skin) for hand-washing, gentle dishwashing detergents/soaps, and slathering on butters for a better moisture barrier, to no avail. My condition of hands (dryness, cracked folds, stinging, itchiness, etc) have improved drastically since using the DW *sigh of relief.*

As for preference, I prefer to load (load during the days; run at night while sleeping). Because I like to organize things and I see it as a game of Tetris, fitting shapes in appropriate places haha. I dislike to unload because when I do, it's always early in the morning, when I drag.

Avoid the dishes :)

I really dislike unloading, but don't mind loading at all. I, too, am surprised that so many like to hand wash. We built a new house last year and put in two dishwashers. We generally use both every day. And it's just my husband and me!

I enjoy unloading the dishwasher, but many times getting loaded is fun too.

Lol...following Mark's comment. The only time papabear unloads or loads is when he is loaded. I do them both most of the time. I did not have a dishwasher in the first 2 houses we owned. When we built our 3rd, my dad was drawing up the kitchen and I asked what a DW was?? And he said..your dishwasher, silly! And I said oh, I don't want one of those. And he argued that yes I did, if no other reason but resale. I said I would never use it. Boy was I wrong!!

I'd rather unload...they are clean! I do use my dishwasher...but I make sure it's fully loaded before running it. We Californians are on water restrictions, and have to watch every drop. I really hate hand washing, not so much because of the washing, but more so for hand drying. But I do wash the crystal and silver by hand.

I do get annoyed with that husband of mine who is too lazy to open the dish draw and place his mug inside. Easier to just leave it on the bench, for muggin's here to have to do it. The whole idea of dish draws/washers is to keep the bench clean and tidy of clutter. Admittedly, most habits of his after 38 years I have got used to. But leaving dishes, cups etc, drives me insane :-) :-).

My father passed away about this time, a couple years ago. I still miss him. This thread reminds me of how my mother has said, that she would give anything to have him there, doing (or not doing) things that used to irritate her...

I do not like unloading. It's similar to I like putting washing ON the line, but don't like taking it off. But that's another subject all together.

I loved Marks remarks "It may sound crazy but we actually like to be together and chat about
our day while we wash and dry the dishes and put them away. It's a time
carved out of our busy day that we look forward to. Snapping wet tea
towels at each other like we were teenagers never grows old. Can't do
that with a dishwasher :)"

My Aunt and Uncle did the dishes together for years until they got a dishwasher. I wonder if they missed that quality time together.
Me. I hate doing dishes. Without the dishwasher it seems as if that is all I do all day. I love having one and if I can help it will never go without again.

You can have my washing machine but never ever my dishwasher.

Both b/c if you load it practically (knives with knives, forks with forks, all up or down, small plates together, etc) it is easy to grab and put it in its place. It's saving you time, putting cutlery all in the same direction in your drawer !

I hand wash everything and use the dishwasher as a draining rack. Really don't mind cleaning the kitchen and "loading" the dishwasher. But I generally never unload, seems to be a mental block on that task!

I would rather just wash by hand by the time you rinse the dishes to put them in the dishwasher you can add soap rinse dry and put away

Nadine Bruyninckx - I never put the cutlery together to avoid nesting (which means they dont' get as clean). Does your DW have a spacer that allows you to do this? Mine actually does have one, I stopped using it as I found I couldn't get as many pieces of cutlery in there that way and I prefer the regular box divided into 6 or 8 sections. The spacer that has individual spaces for each fork, spoon, etc took me weeks to figure out and then I just stopped using it !

i had 2 good dishwashers in my previous home and i hated using them. much easier to wash by hand, dry and put away. job done.

I live in India where there is house help for every work. No one uses a dish washer. I tried using it on stays abroad and after a couple of tries found washing by hand less cumbersome.

I don't mind doing both actually but, I really enjoy my dishwasher when i'm having one of those tiring just getting home from work, helping with homework, preparing for church things. I think you get it

I hate unloading, but I love loading it. I've even scolded my husband for doing it, because it really appeals to my OCD needs since I retired and have nothing else to focus it on. It's like reverse Jenga to me. It's a puzzle and helps me to feel at peace when I do it.

OCD????????????????

Rinse? Really, you Rinse the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Weird. Now you have to do that to hand wash but not for using the dishwasher. I also like the loading for the puzzle of it all. Getting every single thing in one load........very satisfying.

I'm not sure to be honest. We had a dishwasher in our old house, and the house before that. This one at the moment my mum is renting so we don't have a dishwasher. The first time we got the dishwasher installed we were so excited haha, after a while it stopped being exciting and became a chore, although we were pretty young. Unloading the dishwasher, it would always have the chemicaly dish powdery smell, and we would have to rinse them a few times to eat from them. Now with hand washing them, we seem to waste a ton of water, when the water gets dirty it is refilled with clean water but that seems to happen very quickly, also the water always goes over the counter and all over the floor. To be fair though, our kitchen is tiny.

I have a dishwasher. His name is Hubby Darling.
He can load it, unload it. He's very efficient at both, so I do not interfere.

I'm a little O.C.D. so I can't stand the thought of using a hand washed dish that hasn't been sterilized. I love my dishwasher and love the fact that there is never a dish left laying around in my sink or kitchen. Everyone loads as they go and I empty the dishwasher which is perfectly fine with me. That way the dishes are put up in the correct place and I'm not searching for something when I cook the meals. Perfect for me and everyone else in our house.

Have any of you that dislike unloading the dishwasher ever timed how long it takes? Less than 5 min. Just like making the bed takes about a min. and a half. Most chores we dislike take very little time. Just something to think about.

Having grown up "being" the dishwasher in our family, I deeply value my quiet efficient machine. I load it very efficiently, I only run it when it gets full, and I always use the steam sterilize function on it - using that has reduced the colds and flu that get passed around in the family otherwise. I'm in the middle of a kitchen remodel and hand washing everything - I can do it but I don't like it. Can't wait to get my dishwasher reinstalled!

rbgrass, make the bed :-) :-) another boring thankless, household task. One gets it looking pretty for 8 - 10 hours , sometimes less, then it's back to what it was like originally. I don't get too worried about the bed, no one but hubby shares it with me. Not even the dog. Come to think about it, if anyone but hubby shared the bed with me, I wouldn't have one............a hubby I meam lol.

Load and unload. Doesn't bother me... I am happy when loading because I don't have to do it by hand and happy unloading because everything is clean! Of course, I live alone but more importantly, I don't have anyone criticizing me if I don't "load or unload" on schedule!!!!

Just like doing the laundry I hate putting it away lol

Something about getting all of the dirty dishes off the counter and 'away' in the dishwasher seems more appealing than putting clean dishes 'away' in a cabinet. There have been times and apartments when I did the dishes by hand because the dishwasher looked like it would disintegrate at any moment, but I am happy to put everything except stainless steel or pots and pans in the one we have now. We rarely ever use plastic, so that's not a concern either. Just glass, china, Corelle plates, and silverware go in there.

"Something about getting all the dirty dishes off the counter and away" is exactly the way I feel. One minute it looks like a bomb site, 5 minutes later all gone, and a bench clean and tidy is magical. Val, why don't you put pots into the dish washer???

Hub and i have a system. I load, when i ask. He unloads. :)

Neither one bothers me; I'm grateful to have one!! Like many others have commented, I grew up in a household without a dishwasher! Every day of either washing or drying (my brother and I alternated-our sisters were too small for the task) for a family of six; china for the following; holidays, doubled or tripled when out of town relatives were visiting, and/or when my parents entertained! The previous owner upgraded all of the appliances when she built this house' so the dishwasher has a china/crystal setting!! Love it for entertaining and using my china! The only thing I don't put in it are my Wedgewood bowls! I'd hurt someone if they tried to take my dishwasher....

Unloading is so much better!

Either. I have no preference. My husband loads and unloads as needed without asking also. He's super sweet about that. Sometimes I'll start the task and the phone will ring or the timer on the oven will go off or some other interruption will occur. When come back a few minutes later he will say, "oh look, the dish fairies were here!" Lol. And everything is neatly put away. :-)

We just had our anniversary today (and I'm not saying how many years) but he's already "planning" for more. I told him that I wanted to renew our vows at the next milestone and he's up for that! Awww...

I'd rather unload since the dishes are clean and sanitized!

For the most part I don't mind hand washing, of course there's only two of us! I use our flighty DW to rinse them, then open the door & it air dries them which is more sanitary than towel drying them. When it decides it's actually going to clean the dishes it does a ok job. I always thought I'd want a DW but it's a big pain to deal with. Do like it to work properly when all the kids are home or the two of us have had a few busy days & there's a stack to get through. Found that there's resistance to anything to do with cleaning anything, be it dishes or bathrooms.

After 37 years of marriage, we rarely have a tiff, but when he leaves plates, glasses, etc on the bench above the dishwasher, it drives me insane. It's just as easy to pop them in the dishwasher, as it is to leave the damned things above it Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Since this just popped up on my radar again, I thought I would share this with you. My 13 yr old grandson has been given the job of loading and unloading the dishwasher. He HATES touching the dirty dishes. My daughter decided to overcome that problem by purchasing a pair of rubber gloves for him to use. Now picture that in your mind. :D

i dont mind dirty dishes that were just dirtied but things half soaking in the sink are big yucks.... will have to consider putting on my rubber gloves...

We hand wash about 70% of the dishes and pots/pans. But per the question of load or unload - I like to unload - I like the warm clean dishes and putting them they look shiny and new.