The main reason dishwashers are as big and inefficient as they are is because they are made to accommodate all the varying sizes and shapes of dishes you have to put in them. My idea is a dishwasher which comes preloaded with dishes made specially for it which fit in specific slots which have been planned for optimal size and cleaning efficiency.
These dishwashers would come in a variety of sizes and layouts depending on their intended purpose. There would be ones ranging from studio apartment to large family and from TV dinner and pizza eaters to gourmet chefs. Each one would have all the dishes you would generally need.
Another feature to further increase efficiency would be buttons/sensors in the slots to tell the dishwasher whether or not there is a dish present.
I will admit that this would not work for households which already have a collection of dishes or people who like to collect handmade dishes from street fairs, but for those just moving into a new home who want to start fresh I think this would be very helpful.-- Joolin, Oct 21 2010 I don't think one could optimize space much in a dishwasher. One has to leave room for the water to get to the surface of all the dishes.-- gisho, Oct 21 2010 Oh, you've only got SMEG plates! How do you find food tastes, when eaten off them?-- infidel, Oct 21 2010 [infidel]. I laughed the other day at a promotion by Strongbow "Win the ultimate SMEG fridge". There is a fridge manufacturer called SMEG.-- marklar, Oct 21 2010 Yes, it's an Italian manufacturer, trying to sound German and simply coming off all "Red Dwarf".-- infidel, Oct 21 2010 No idea what smeg meant, but combined with dishwasher I got the visual of Dr. Evil saying, "Throw the dishes into the boiling hot "Smeg...ma"."Then I found out that smegma is a real word and it made the image Even Funnier!
Somebody must have made an Austin Powers porno by now.I really should have been consulted?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 21 2010 I have no qualms with an Austin Powers porno, just so long as I don't have to watch it and it doesn't involve smegma, because I really don't think we should be encouraging smegma fetishes. If you are ever consulted for said porno, be extra clear about the not encouraging smegma fetishes bit.-- Joolin, Nov 10 2010 Also I'd just like to note that a post about dishwashers has devolved into being about an Austin Powers porno. Again, I have no problem with that, I just thought it was amusing.-- Joolin, Nov 10 2010 random, halfbakery