Wait, WHAT? One-SIXTH of Americans Mainly Use Their Dishwasher for Something Other Than Washing Dishes
In a strange new poll, one out of every six Americans said they use their dishwasher primarily for a use other than washing dishes.
Respondents to the latest YouGov survey were asked “What do you primarily use your dishwasher for?”
A solid 60 percent majority responded “To wash dishes,” while another 25 percent said they don’t own a dishwasher.
But a not-insignificant 16 percent said they use their dishwasher primarily “To dry hand-washed dishes” (5%), or “To store kitchen items” (5%), while another 5 percent said they use the dishwasher for “nothing,” and another 1% responded with an ominous-sounding “other.”
YouGov
Results were consistent across political ideology but varied widely among income groups. Respondents earning under $40k were much more likely, at 36 percent, to report not owning a dishwasher, as were those earning from $40k-$80k, at 30 percent. Only 11 percent of those earning above $80k reported not owning a dishwasher.
And respondents earning under $40k were least likely, at 50 percent, to use their dishwasher primarily to wash dishes, versus 60 percent for those earning from $40k-$80k, and 79 percent for those earning above $80k.
What, you may be asking yourself, could those “other” uses for a dishwasher possibly be? The imagination reels, but one somewhat well-established alternate use for the dishwasher is cooking. The TLC program Extreme Cheapskates featured a woman who cooks lasagne in her dishwasher, and poached salmon appears to be a favorite among the creatively-applianced.
In fact, no less an American treasure than Vincent Price pioneered the technique:
On November 21, 1975, horror movie icon Vincent Price appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and proceeded to horrify the audience with his strange and abhorrent behavior. He cooked salmon in a dishwasher.
Price was a gourmet cook, which is another story entirely. The real takeaway here is that he may have pioneered—or at least popularized—the art of dishwasher cuisine, using the appliance’s steam-filled enclosure to poach food in a manner MacGyver would envy.
Watch Price’s demonstration above via The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
