Turn Dish Time into Play Time
When I was in college my two housemates and I would take turns doing the dishes. We didn’t do them every night, but we remained faithful to the rotation throughout the school year.
To break the routine, my roomate Tom started stacking his dishes artistically in the dish rack. Brett added his engineering expertise and devised ways to structure the bottom of drainer with heavier dishes, leaving a heavy foundation from which to build higher levels.
Just like riding a bicycle, the art of dish stacking never changes, and years later, I can realize my artistic potential. Even though I really wish we had a dishwasher, I don’t really find doing dishes to be that horrible a job, because it’s all about the stack. And, it’s a job that makes the whole house feel cleaner. You can’t have a clean house if your kitchen looks like this one.
Silverware goes first just because it’s gross if you don’t. Then big utensils to line the bottom of the pile.
Always go for plates, bowls dishes or other associated flatware next. They provide a really solid base for another level. Glassware goes on the outside. When the tower spills over the sides of the rack, thicker glasses and tumblers provide something fairly solid to displace some of the weight from the cookware above, which can function as a roof or start of another level. Ideally, nothing should go outside the bottom of the rack or touch the counter.
Here’s my latest work of art.
Notice the bottom of the rack is full of heavier, anchoring dishes. The colors are an added bonus here.
Although I did have to use the counter for the crock pot, the rest of the piece speaks for itself. The dish statue is back, stronger than ever.
Comment!
Technorati Tags: Silverware, plates, bowls, flatware, Glassware, tumblers, cookware, crock pot
Filed under: General Observations on April 15th, 2007
Rob, I have never seen such a glistening example of function and form. You should work for IKEA.
Also — I like the Tom Green-like photo of yourself on the About Me page.
Thanks Chris. I don’t think IKEA is ready for a man of my functional vision. If I had a dishwasher, I could spend my time more productively on my main mission, which is to take over the world.
Now that I think back to our college days, I do remember that world domination was your chosen mission. I can vividly picture you standing on that little wall near the food lines in the student union bellowing out that Ronald Reagan was a visionary, and that you wholeheartedly intended to “walk loudly and carry a big stick” as you marched toward crushing everyone around you. Well done.