Plastic washing up bowl in stainless steel kitchen sink - why?

Actually BradfordLass72 it's my understanding that dishwashers (of which I sadly don't have one!) are the only appliance that is better for the environment than the manual alternative (provided, obviously, that you fill them up before running)

Have had my washing up bowl at least five years..and same as Gonegirl..the old ones are in the shed and get lots of use when I'm gardening..

'- where do you put the slops if you don't have one? '

ah the joys of a Swiss sink - they all have a wide tall removal stopper in the corner, about 1 inch wide - so if you fill the sink with hot water, slops can be poured into that. No idea how one would call it in English.

Anyway, I'm alerted to washing my plastic bowl more often than I do!

As a child, our home had a big, stone sink, massive thing which would have taken many gallons to fill and in which, as babies, we were bathed. Mum also did a certain amount of laundry in it as well.

So for hygiene sake. Mum used a small enamel washing up bowl for our dishes, then graduated to plastic and when I grew up, I followed suit.

It saves water if you are paying by the gallon; it keeps the water hotter longer; you can discard and renew the soapy water if the pots are messy.
It's far better for delicate ceramics and glasses or even clear Pyrex dishes which look very shabby after regular pounding in the dishwasher.

It is ecological better - and yes, I know plastic is supposed to be the enemy these days but I am informed that the chemicals we use in a dishwasher, plus the energy needed to heat the water hot enough for such a device to be effective, several times a week, and the huge amount of water wasted used by these mechanical devices, far outweighs the footprint of a small plastic bowl.

The water stays hotter in the plastic bowl than the sink

I used to scoff at the plastic bowl idea, preferring to use the sink 'as is'. But my stainless steel sink got scratched by all the cutlery rattling around in it, so when I got a new kitchen, I also got a washing up bowl and now my sink has stayed super shiny

But the other benefits are that if, during the washing up, I pick up a cup or bowl that still has liquid in it,I can tip this down the outside of the bowl and therefore it doesn't dirty up the washing water. Also, if I am making a pot of tea to enjoy after the washing up, I can run the mixer tap to cold water outside of the bowl, to fill up the kettle, without cooling down the washing up water.

The bowl is easily cleaned and disinfected after using, with a capful of Zoflora (other disinfectants are available!).

Oh is that what those mats are for?! I thought they were to protect the sink. If I thought about them at all.

Good grief. What a first world dilemma

Can I ask whether all those who do not use a washing up bowl, if you use a mat in the bottom of your sinks, to protect delicate china/ glass?

I use the sink to rinse cloths that I have washed skirting boards with window sills tiles etc. Using the sink for dishes that I eat from? yuk!

This must be a British habit. I have never seen anyone using a plastic basin inside their sink here in Canada.

I have a plastic basin that I use for foot soaking!

I could never understand the idea of plastic bowls when living in the UK. Where I live no one I know uses bowls. We tend to have double or one and a half sinks and many people have dishwashers. I don’t have a dishwasher and use both my sinks as I like to rinse my dishes after I wash them.

I never bleach anything. Washing up liquid must kill bugs.

One of the many uses of a washing-up bowl is to catch all the cold water that comes through the taps before the hot water. It can then be used on plants , or even to flush the toilet. Good for both the purse and the environment!
The current bowl is about 10 years old, and hopefully has a lot of years left in it yet, so no, I'm not concerned about this particular use of plastic.
Plus my extremely snobbish SiL looks down her nose at anyone who uses one, saying it is very common (she once said this while staying with us, knowing full well that we use one). That's like a red rag to a bull where I am concerned ?

As well as a dishwasher I have one and a half sinks. I have a washing up bowl and a dishcloth. Very useful for the things that are too delicate or too big for the dishwasher. I can’t say I make a huge effort to bleach regularly, and we have never had tummy bugs etc.

I don’t have a washing up bowl, I have a half sink as well as full sink so dregs go in there but everything apart from pans goes in the dishwasher so no need for a bowl.

I don't use a washing up bowl. Most of my dishes go into the dishwasher. The only thing s I put in the sink are my glasses and the pans.

Gosh! This is a coincidence, I was asking DH today why he thinks most people we know use a plastic bowl in their sinks. I don’t. Also the use of cloths to wash dishes freaks me out after watching a show learning how they just push germs around and are a Petri dish to grow germs unless you wash them with boiling wash in between each use. I use a wash brush and boil the head for 5 mins once a week. Coincidentally no one in my family really catches colds etc. My neighbor washes her dog bowls with their dishes in the sink using a cloth and I won’t eat there.

I have a plastic bowl in the sink, it's black and I've never bleached it cos I can't see the stains! It just gets a good wash occasionally. I have never gone down with a nasty bug either so I think I must have built up resistance.

I clean the bowl out at least once every day. It's not such a faff as cleaning the sink out would be

I have always used a bowl, I can't see the difference between the sink and a bowl for hygienic reasons.
I spray my bowl all over every night the same as the sink, if there are messy pans I take the bowl out and use the sink.

Unless you have a utility room with a sink and you only use the kitchen sink for washing up, the bowl is definitely more hygienic.

I use a lot of my washing up water on the garden. Couldn’t do that if I didn’t have a bowl.
We have recently had a new butler sink in the utility room and my husband was getting a bit precious about my lack of care! It IS in the UTILITY room.( sorry for shouting!)
So I got a bowl for that sink too.

I have a single sink and the space at the side of the plastic bowl is used for rinsing, and for disposing of the first wash if necessary, I can also run the cold side of the mixer tap for making tea or rinsing in a small sieve while the dishes are in the washing up bowl.