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Comment by OJFord | Hacker News Reader

Presumably from £ being the primary currency in the readme. I think GP means the hacking is from UK, (and contributors) rather than the manufacturer of this mental device, which is surprising because who in the UK would have one of these when 'normal' dishwashers are basically ubiquitous.

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Is this a London thing?

I've rented in the UK for decades and I've never had a dishwasher or space for one. Friends haven't bothered with dishwashers until they had kids, and then they needed to create a space and add some plumbing.

Dishwashers in the UK seem like the opposite of ubiquitous. Maybe I live in a strange bubble.

These counter-top ones? Not that I'm aware of. I have a normal (though half-width, but that just makes sense for a 1 bed place really) one in London.

Maybe older builds that haven't been updated wouldn't have any space for one as you say, without re-jigging cupboards, so maybe people do. But then you're losing work surface for it..

My view on the utility of those devices :

I lived in Paris for a while. Large appartement have dishwasher, but in single units, it’s uncommon.

I remember looking for solution like that for a renter in a small place without proper plumbing to accommodate a dishwasher.

I also see a market for the so called tiny house folks or full time RVer.

I don’t find that particular product appealing too much, but I would like to see more like that. And I know folks around me that would buy one if it’s was more open and fixable.

I've rented.....8 houses so far, all in North East(Newcastle) and every single one of them had a dishwasher. I suppose maybe part of it is that I simply wouldn't rent a place without a dishwasher ;-)

presumably "houses" is the key word here?

Fair, but in my experience with the UK something like a 2 bed house is really just an apartment cosplaying as a house.

Well in a lot of places, the fact it is a self standing property means the owner can do whatever they want with it without having to consult a "building committee".

Like rearranging plumbing/electrical however you want.

Whether landlords use this advantage for tenants quality of life is a whole other story.

I've rented flats outside london for years, always come with a dishwasher. I'm on a high salary though, so it may skew my world view of what is "standard"

Anecdata: I've rented 2 flats in London over the last 30 years (and been a frequent visitor to 4 more); none had a dishwasher. Rented one house in Newcastle; also no dishwasher.

Every place I've rented in London had a dishwasher, and we're talking 6 places over 15 years

Some UK flats are tiny and can't fit a full-size dishwasher.

And as a singleton, you don't often make enough dishes to justify a full load either. (although a twin drawer dishwasher would work a treat there)

If your flat is so small that you can't have a dishwasher, do you really want to occupy some (probably significant) fraction of your countertop with this thing? It looks like it could wash maybe a few plates and cups at a time. That would take maybe 2 min to wash by hand in the sink. The entire premise of this device seems ridiculous to me.

I have a disability and can't really wash dishes by hand. imagine all your plates and cups are made of thick lead.. that's what it feels like.

I'd gladly use a tabletop dishwasher if I didn't have one, otherwise I'd have to use paper plates and plastic cups.

I live in a UK flat without a 'full-size' dishwasher. Did you see OP though? This isn't about that, my half-width one still goes under the counter and takes normal tablets.

Yes, I found it strange that anyone in the UK would find value in this device enough to ship one... nevermind hack the cartridge.

Yes I agree. Never heard of these, seems totally bizarre, but I suppose I get the appeal (if you didn't know/think about the proprietary connection/protocol) if your kitchen/scullery wasn't designed with space for a dishwasher. But how many properties in the UK can be like that? Not very many, I'm sure an estate agent would tell you you'd have a hard time selling without 'updating'.

I don’t know about the UK, but Paris provide a large number of incredibly tiny apartment without dishwasher and the landlord is not open to make the plumbing accommodation to setup one. If even possible.

I had to pay it myself once in 2013. It was a sunken cost I was ok with given how cutthroat the real estate market is and how much I hate to do dishes.

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