It’s hard to fall in love with a dishpan. They’re so... well... utilitarian. I mean, who does dishes by hand (me) in a dishpan (not me) any more? Rectangular plastic tubs that seem to show up in every home, you never really appreciate them until you need one and don’t have one. Then you realize how indispensable they are. Love has thrived on less.

I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t a Rubbermaid Dishpan 2951 in my household. My mom used them for everything. I bought one as a matter of course when I first established my own household. And even as I write this, there are two of ‘em reposing in my camping bins, ready for duty the next time we go camping: one to hold the dirty dishes and one for the clean after they’ve been rinsed under the communal tap. Sometimes one just won’t do.


FEATURES

• My Rubbermaid Dishpan 2951 is 12" wide x 14½” long x 5½” tall.

• It’s made of sturdy plastic, slightly flexible but rigid enough to carry a load of dishes without flexing.

• It has a smooth rolled rim with two integrated handles for easy carrying.

• It’s sized to fit neatly into even the smallest sink.

• Although this page is for the white one, it comes in several colors; I have white and beige, and I’ve seen them in dark blue and dark green.

• The Rubbermaid Dishpan 2951 is available just about everywhere: supermarkets, megastores, drug-stores, you name it. It sells for about $3.95.


WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT

• The Rubbermaid Dishpan 2951 is versatile. I use mine for doing dishes when I’m camping, doing hand-wash at home, storing small items that would otherwise get lost, like my 4" flowerpots and saucers, gardening hand-tools, penguins when I do my annual dusting of the display shelves... you get the idea.

• It’s sturdy and durable. I keep mine for years and use and abuse them a lot. Eventually, the plastic may crack, but it takes years for that to happen. I’m still using mine 15 years after I bought them.

• The angles are generously rounded, so nothing gets caught in the corners because there aren’t any.

• The rolled edge makes carrying easy. Yes, they claim to have integrated handles, and they do, but the handles are simply slightly reinforced segments of the edge. So you can carry it from any grip.

• The smooth plastic doesn’t keep dirt. So clean-up is easy.


WHAT I’D CHANGE IF I COULD

• I’d give it a more substantial handle. If you have big fingers, you might have trouble curling them under the handles.

• While the plastic is smooth, it does scratch with rough use, like camping. And when it does, crud gets into the scratches and is hard to remove. So my camping Rubbermaid Dishpan 2951, which has been dragged along many a rocky ground, has some scratches in the underside that no longer get clean. I’m not too worried about it because they are on the outside, but be aware that as sturdy as these tubs are, plastic is never entirely impervious to scratching.

• The curves that replace the right angles are a bit too generous. So “floor space” is somewhat reduced. A smaller curve would be nice.


SUMMARY AND VERDICT

My Rubbermaid Dishpan 2951 is the unsung hero of my household. As I speak, my smaller and more delicate Christmas ornaments are reposing in one until I can find their storage box. And my new Chico’s sweater is languishing in cold suds in another. (No, I didn’t read the care label before buying.) I love simple, well-designed, multi-use tools and the Rubbermaid Dishpan 2951 definitely fits that description. Five stars.



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