Italian Dish Rack
Dishwashers are not nearly as universal in Italy as in the US, due to small kitchen spaces and the high cost of electricity. Italian kitchens also tend not to have a lot of counter space where you can leave dishes to dry after hand-washing them.
The solution? Dishes are washed, then immediately placed in a plastic-coated wire (or stainless steel) rack suspended over the sink. They’re ready to be taken out for the next meal, and when not in use the rack is closed off with cabinet doors that match the rest of the kitchen.
This appeals to my senses of efficiency and greenness: it saves steps cleaning up after a meal, and air drying is ecologically good practice. (NB: This particular rack in my mother-in-law’s kitchen is quite old; they normally look better than this!)
Another reason dishwashers aren’t so common… older houses kitchen aren’t equipped with the extra tubes needed to bring and take away water (and sometimes there is not even a power outlet in the “sink area”) , so even in bigger ones (and often the older the home is the bigger the kitchen is) one would not find a dishwasher as adding it would need some quite expensive “infrastructural” work.
Ciao!
Any idea where I could get one of these?
Where can you buy one in the U.S.?? My sister wants one put in when she builds her new house and we can’t find one online–anywhere!
Help?