Well the answer is obvious to me, we have only had a dishwasher for 13 years, so before that it was wash by hand,although I would miss it terribly, my daughter has never really had to wash a dish by hand almost, now I could not do without my washing machine, I wash about 4 loads a day, and I have never had to wash by hand except little things that need hand washing, and that is hardly ever because the machine has a delicate cycle etc, so yes I would be lost without it for sure.

P.S until i came to PT, I never knew there was an american who did not own a dishwasher, honestly, no joking, after all you guy's had that technology long before we ever did.