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Everything I know about cleaning I learned from Reddit threads and Facebook groups. Okay, that’s not entirely true, but I have gained a ton of knowledge from the conversations that follow when someone asks for advice on removing a stubborn stain or finding the source of a strange smell. It’s how I discovered my beloved vacuum mop and where I learned that my dishwasher has a filter and I should have been clearing it this whole time (oops). It’s also where I found out about the washing-up bowl.

“What do you do your dishes in?” someone posted in a housekeeping group. “Can anyone recommend a nice washing-up bowl?”

I responded immediately. “The sink? What’s a washing-up bowl? I’ve never heard of this!”

Through a 37-comment thread I learned that washing-up bowls are tubs used in the kitchen sink and that the best ones have drains on the bottom. They’re also very much “a cultural thing,” though reasons for using them are all over the place. One commenter said they’re ubiquitous in the UK where many homes have single-basin sinks, and said a separate tub makes it easy for Brits to pour cold tea down the drain without dirtying water used for soaking dishes. Another chimed in to point out that washing-up bowls are used to avoid cross contamination in kosher kitchens. They’re apparently also popular in Korean homes, as well as in the southern United States.

Okay, I thought, washing-up bowls just weren’t a part of my Midwestern upbringing. But then someone suggested they were necessary before homes had hot running water and I remembered that my grandmother—who was born in 1915 and held onto her Depression-era habits until the day she died—always kept a cheap plastic dish tub in her sink.

While I may not need one as much as my grandmother did, these days washing-up bowls can still be helpful—especially if you have an oversize farmhouse sink. If you like to soak your dishes before you wash them, you’ll use a lot less water filling a tub than you would filling an entire sink and you’ll still be able to use the rest of your kitchen sink as usual. And even when it’s not filled with water, a washing-up bowl can be a great receptacle for dirty dishes because it’s a softer landing spot for fragile plates and glasses than a cast iron or ceramic basin. It can protect the sink from stains and scratches too. Beyond dishes, a clean dish tub can be used to hand-wash masks or other delicate laundry.

I wondered if a washing-up bowl might work in my kitchen. I don’t have a big sink, but it is a single bowl—and I’m intent on keeping the white enameled cast iron as unblemished as possible. After a little research, I ordered this Joseph Joseph Wash & Drain Washing-Up Bowl because it looked sleek, and even better, it had a drain. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a little too big to live in my 22-inch Kohler, at least full time, but I do find it handy for bleaching all the small parts of my kids’ water bottles or soaking smaller items that need to be hand-washed. Most of the time, though, I keep it next to the sink as a place to store my dirty dishes. It’s basically a bus tub for my residential kitchen and it keeps my counter free of clutter and lets me keep my small sink open for everything else. When it’s time to wash, I can stick it in the sink and fill it with soapy water for a quick soak or open the drain and attempt to rinse everything at the same time (which usually actually works). And now the washing-up bowl has a new demographic: frazzled millennial moms who can’t seem to keep up with the dishes.

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