To pre-rinse or not, the dishes dilemma

How do you wash your dishes?

Nearly three quarters of New Zealanders are doing it wrong when it comes to washing dishes.

Technological advancements in dishwashers and dishwashing detergent mean that to get the best results from our machines, we should not rinse or pre wash our dishes.

Yet, according to the latest Canstar Blue survey, 71 per cent of Kiwis still do.

At 78 per cent, Baby boomers where the worst generational offenders and Bay of Plenty topped the regional offenders list where a whopping 83 per cent always pre rinse.

"Back in the day, dishwashers were pretty rudimentary with dishes and cutlery usually needing a good scrub before you put them in a dishwasher,” says Canstar Blue spokesperson Emma Quantrill.

'But we've come a long way since they first became popular back in the 1980's and today's machines come equipped with sensors and detergents that are actually designed to ‘lock on' to food particles to produce better results. It's all technical stuff but basically, if you rinse, you'll get an inferior clean.”

As well as hampering the cleaning capabilities of a dishwasher, it's estimated that pre-rinsing can use up an extra 22,700 litres of water per household every year, adding around $78 to an annual water bill.

"We're quite literally throwing money down the drain. Where it's still good to scrap off the food scraps, this rinsing habit a lot of us have is costing time and money, ultimately for a worse result."

Most Satisfied Customers

Australasian brand Westinghouse, was this years' winner of the Canstar Blue Most Satisfied Customer Award.

Accepting the award, Malcolm Bain, Director NZ says the award is great recognition of the quality of their products.

"Our aim is to provide Kiwis with good, solid, reliable appliances at an affordable price. We delighted this awards reflects that consumers feel that's exactly what we are doing."

Further information regarding this survey - https://www.canstarblue.co.nz/appliances/dishwashers

You may also like....

6 comments

Little choice

Posted on 02-08-2017 12:11 | By Papamoaner

Bossy wife - End of story!


Papamoaner reminds me ...

Posted on 02-08-2017 14:07 | By Murray.Guy

Built a home for folk and at handover asked the owners about the 'empty dishwasher space' under the bench in the kitchen. The husband (smaller chap) immediately crouched and crawled into the gap.


To the rescue

Posted on 02-08-2017 15:12 | By backofthequeue

And yet it was only recently that I read an article whereby an appliance repairman stated that those who did not rinse their dishes prior to running their dishwasher were his bread and butter.


Now there's a thought

Posted on 02-08-2017 17:39 | By Papamoaner

I could crawl into that gap and eat my bread and butter. The perfect dogbox some might say.


At my house..

Posted on 03-08-2017 11:38 | By Me again

when someone asked my hubby "where's your dishes, if you have the space under the sink". Answer, "why do I need one when there is my son, my daughter and my wife, all have good pair of working hands. A saving from buying a machine".


Toe piece

Posted on 03-08-2017 16:42 | By Minib

The reason for them is so the wife can get closer to the sink,although I wouldn't say that infront of her.


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.