Could a dishwasher and table combination be the future of kitchens?

On one hand, it seems a bit entitled and lazy to complain about what a hassle it is to fill and unload the dishwasher, given that some people don’t even have access to running water and all. On the other… well, there’s a lot of bending, isn’t there?

But maybe there’s another way. Treehugger spotted a dishwasher/table concept design by Steven M. Johnson, which simply involves folding the table up when you’ve finished eating. Magnets hold the plates in place while a dishwasher mechanism moves up to clean and dry them, and next time you flip the table down, everything’s clean and ready to go.

I’m a big fan of technology that takes the effort out of life, so this definitely appeals, but I can see some potential problems, too: if it’s only washing one set of plates, what about everything else you need to make a meal? Or if you need another plate while the dishwasher’s still going? Do you need to wash your pans by hand, or in another appliance? Because that hardly seems energy efficient. I also take issue with the name, the Lazy Bachelor Dining System, and its implication that women can’t be just as lazy as men.

The idea of eating, folding up the table and being done with cleaning up for the day is one of my dreams, though, so I hope this can become reality, perhaps in some kind of extended, bigger capacity way, in the future. According to Johnson’s website, while many of his ideas haven’t panned out, he did correctly predict pre-ripped jeans, so you never know.

Image © Steven M. Johnson.