We have one currently but we are renting. We are deciding on options for our new home (new construction) and since we have a long list of upgrades I wonder if we really need it or not. In our previous apartment we didnt have one and just had mesh drainer. For me personally having the disposal in the sink can quickly get kinda gross not sure if we are just not doing it right.
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I can't live without one. I dont have time to scrape every piece of rice off the kids plates into the trash and I hate cleaning out those mesh things (GROSS). They really aren't expensive like $100.
If you are unsure, maybe have them put the hook up there with the power and you could install one later?
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We have a septic system so no disposal.
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I don't have one and it's not really a problem. We scrape and empty the mesh thingy. Since I've never had one maybe I don't know what I'm missing.
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i couldn't live without one.... they're fairly easy to install if the hookups are in place and electric is run
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I love having one. It's never smelled or anything.
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We dont have one, DH was against putting one in because of the septic. Everything just goes into the garbage.
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I miss having one. Our old apartment had one but our current house is on a septic tank.
To keep ours clean I would throw egg shells in there and then once a week I would slice a lemon in half and toss it in. We never had problems with it being dirty or smelly.
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This is an American thing, I think - I've never had one and never known anybody who did.
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I never had one growing up, and now that we DO have one, I never use it. DH uses it when he's cleaning, but this is definitely something I wouldn't even think to install on my own.
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Thanks everyone, I guess I have some deciding to do. Buying a home is excting but stressful and so many decisions!!!
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@T.H.O.U.: @KT326: Do you ever have issues with forks and stuff falling in there? For some reason thats one of the issues I have is being grossed out when utensils touch the inside of the garbage disposal.
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It would t be a deal breaker to me, but I can't imagine having the option and not picking it. It helps scrape off dishes really quickly.
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I've never had one but they're not really a thing here. I can totally cope without.
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They aren't allowed in my city.
We have compost pick up weekly so everything that would go down the disposal goes in the green bin instead. -
I don't think they are a thing here. We don't have one. I just use a little plastic food catcher thing right in the drain.
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We have one but plan on removing them. They aren't really good for sewer systems and we just scrape everything into the trash.
@oliviaoblivia: They are kicking around a similar initiative in my city but most people are really against it. They hate having to sort their recycling and don't want to sort their trash too.
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I've dealt with both having one and not having one.
I don't feel strongly about it. I'm sort of grossed out by food bits gathering in a strainer when I don't have one though. And I can't imagine how much grosser it would be with DH (he's not a very good scraper sometimes)
I use "plink" cleaners occasionally, and don't really have issues with stuff falling into the disposal.
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Never had one and never felt like we needed one! TBH they're kinda scary!
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I don't have one, I always thought I wanted one, but it has been fine without it. My husband would probably benefit from using one though, because he puts a lot of stuff in the sink that he shouldn't and I am worried about clogs.
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I had one most of the time growing up, but now in urban nyc area, we haven't had one for ...umm..9 years now? We don't really miss it at all. Scrape in the trash and into the dishwasher the plates go. I keep the oxo drain strainers in each of the sinks (we have a double). They go into the dishwasher often as well. The caveat is I think a dishwasher is sort of crucial in this scenario.
My most recent experience with a garbage disposal is at a family members house who is on septic. They put a "special garbage disposal in" when they built the kitchen addittion. However they use it for anything and everything with little regard to the fact they are on septic Lo and behold, it is TOTALLY gunked up, not working well, and SO gross. As in, backing up and burbling/gurgling into the kitchen sinks. -
@Mrsbells: never really. There is a rubber stopper thing. We take that out and soak it in bleach or toss in the dishwasher ever now and then.
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Also we are on septic and never had an issue. But we do scrape in the trash (or to the dog) and only rise or wash down the bits of stuff that fall down.
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@erinbaderin: must be an American thing! I'm the same - don't know anyone who has ever had one.
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@Mrsbells: nope, I never had that issue. But we also had a really big sink.
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We had one when we lived in our apartment and it was nice but I can definitely live without it. We have a septic system so it's no longer an option. For those that don't have a garbage disposal, this is the best sink strainer FYI: https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Silicone-Strainer/dp/B000U0K5PU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481309675&sr=8-1&keywords=oxo+sink+strainer
Way better than the wire mesh ones! -
@Mrs. Champagne: @Mrs. Champagne: It definitely is more prominent in the US, I only know one person in UK who had one and her home had many other custom things that werent common in the UK
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@petitenoisette: Thanks for sharing that looks really good
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I grew up without one, and have one now, and I LOVE it. It doesn't take the place of a garbage can, in case that's how some people are using it, resulting in clogs / issues.... We scrape off what we can in the trash, and then rinse the dish or empty the cereal bowl in the garbage disposal. No issues in 3 years. Sometimes We'll run it with soap and water for a minute. Hot water and lemon is supposed to help too, or orange peel or lemon peel.
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If you're not used to it, then it's probably not necessary... We have septic so cannot have one. I suppose if we did it would be nice.... We have weekly compost pickup and when I'm on top of things i do collect extra food scaps and put them in my compost bin.
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We keep a compost bucket on our bench and our food waste all gets composted and put on the garden. It feels very environmentally un-friendly to be putting food waste down the drain when it could be reused.
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I'd kind of like one but we don't have one and never have. My parents had one in one of our houses for a few years. I think we did accidentally put a baby cloth in it or a baby spoon. I think after that they taped the switch off permanently.
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I've never had one, either growing up or as an adult. We have septic so don't have the option where we are. I honestly don't have a problem with not having one/wish we had one at all. It's not that hard to scrape plates into the garbage, plus we compost, so there are a ton of things people might put down a disposal that we never would.
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We have septic- no disposal.
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They aren't allowed in my city. We use a mesh drainer thing and it grosses me out, it's dh's job to clean it
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It's really bad for the waste water treatment to use one. Not good for the environment. I wouldn't have one of I had a choice. I use ours little as possible. I also hate having to pull stuff out of it.
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When we bought we actually decided not to upgrade and have no disposal. We like ridding the sink of debris daily and not having another part to fix. We empty the mesh strainer, compost and empty trash daily.
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We have one and it would be really annoying to not have one. But inreally didn't know it's bad for the environment. Anyone have more info on that? I do mostly scrape food into the trash but is that any better? I don't compost (for now. Maybe one day).
Also what's this about septic systems. It having a disposal? Our house used to be on septic, hooked up to town sewer before we purchased, but we have a disposal...
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I don't have one and never have. I don't think I've ever known anyone with one.
We compost for our garden anyway so I don't see a need.
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We have one but we never use it.....we have had issues with them breaking or getting backed up or whatnot when we rented in apartments. Now that we own our home and can't just easily call a maintenance person to come fix it if something happens I just won't risk it. We scrape into the trash and also have a strainer.
I also had a plumber tell me once that garbage disposals can never truly grind everything down finely enough....
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