RECYCLE AND REUSE: Dishwasher Tray as Dish Drainer?

RECYCLE AND REUSE

Dishwasher Tray

 

My Thoughts

Okay.. Here is another one of my or actually.. My HUSBAND's great ideas. (lol) Let me explain... When me and my husband moved back to the city, the house we lived and currently still live in did not have a dishwasher. Which at first I was like "Ehhhhhhhhhh... I guess we are gonna have to wash the dishes the old fashion way.." But I don't mind.. I love this house! We thought about buying a dishwasher but a couple factors came to mind. First, I really do not want to spend money on one because they are not cheap. Secondly, we did not have the room to put one in because our cabinets are too small for one. And third, between redesigning the cabinets, paint, and piping we would have to put in, my wanting for a dishwasher went away real quick. Now to finding the perfect dish drainer was the second problem.

We have tried numerous ones. Let me explain about the ones we have tried.

 Plastic Strainer: 

   - These are the basic strainers that you can buy at any store. These are nice if you either live by yourself or if you have one other person that lives with you or you are the type of awesome person that ensures that all dishes are washed, dried and put away at that moment. Well.. I am not.. nor anyone in my household.... like those type of people I just listed above. I am not perfect and I do not always put my dishes up each time.. Normally.. My sink will fill up until I hate looking at it and then I will do the dishes, put them on the strainer and leave them there. Then when more dishes pop up, I stack more in the strainer praying that it stays and does not tip over but eventually end up putting the dishes up. With these plastic ones for the not so perfect family like mine, these tip over, and just not big enough. The last thing is that lord help ya after you  put up the dishes and there is water still in the catch pan and you bump it. Water is going to go everywhere!! I've done this a few times... The pros to this strainers is that it is perfect for single or small families, low cost and are easy to clean.

 Metal Drainers:

   - The metal drainers can vary in price. Some are really cheap while some can get up there in the price range. Just remember the golden rule. You get what you paid for. This picture shown is the style of metal drainer that we tried. Yes. It was bigger but this had more flaws to it compared to the plastic one. For one, this strainer did not come with a drop pan to catch the water, but we used Shamwows cloths under it. Secondly, the rubber coating over the metal rack started coming off due to the heat assume from the dishes. But it was a cheap drainer so that did not surprise me. And finally the main thing that I hated was that it did not have a place to set the silverware. That really sucked! We ended up going back to the plastic one for a while. If it had a basket attached and a drop pan, then the metal one would not be so bad.

Wooden Strainer
   - Ehhh... Ehhhhhh.. Okay.... Let me tell you about this style. I would not waste my money on this style at all. Let me just list the cons:

• No drip pan
• No place for silverware
• Not big at all and plates would tip and fall over
• After a few uses, it would fall apart
• Hard to clean because parts will fall apart due to nail rusting and coming up. 

I think there is nothing more I can say about this drainer other than do not buy wooden drainers.

Dishwasher drawl with basket:
   - You can buy these from any appliance shop for about 10 bucks (or more) or go to Lowes Hardware but you will pay higher for one. This is what we use now only because is much better,  holds our dishes very well and even has a drop basket to separate and organize our silverware. Even though it is a bigger version of a metal drainer and it does not have a drip pan under it, I just love the idea of using an old dishwasher drawl as a dish drainer Not to mention that because it is bigger that I can clean it better since I don't have to dig or scrub "small or hard to reach" spots. We also use a towel or a shamwow type of cloth under it which is wonderful as well. Not to mention that this drainer is sturdy, strong,  can hold a lot more dishes in a more organized setting and gives me more space and time to avoid actually putting them up.. Yep... lol But I am sure I am not the only one who procrastinate on this.. At least they get washed and sometimes put up.. With kids in the house, they end up getting used before I can even put them up anyways. lol

I hope you have enjoyed my blog post today and have learned something. Thanks for reading and please share! <3 Ashley M. Ashley