I was browsing through Target for a replacement to the simple dish scrubbing tools we have used for quite some time. We had just moved to a new, bigger apartment, necessitated by the arrival of our bouncing baby girl, Nia and, like the last one, this place is virtually perfect except for the lack of a dishwasher.

Our duties having had multiplied by, oh, infinity, with the stork's knocking (and my aversion to washing dishes), I hurried through the aisles. I spotted the unit, a chic, see-through one that looked kind of flaky. I had my doubts, but a quick comparison to the other available models, along with an attractively low price, made it a no-brainer.

I enthusiastically unwrapped it and immediately put it to use. You unscrew a cap on the end of the handle and pour dishwashing liquid into it. From there, you simply wet the scrubbing end, which is a sturdy oblong piece worthy of the Rubbermaid name, and you're in business. Next, simply depress the lever when you want to dispense soap. It's important to wet the end, because this helps to draw the soap into the scrubbing unit. It may also be necessary to press the scrubber onto the surface you're cleaning to pump the soap out.

This works well for any object short of small-diameter tubes, which need some kind of long brush anyways. The oblong shape seems to get into tight spaces that a rectangular one can't, and it also doesn't get caught on sharper edges perceptibly.

Dishes used to pile up, but now it's a rarity, and it's actually fun to clean the dishes. Sometimes I think my wife and I now compete to wash them, whereas before, I absolutely loathed washing dishes and she incessantly complained about my lack of "sink etiquette."

Pots and pans, plates, and even small utensils wash clean quite well, and it saves a lot of both water and detergent. Notably, it enables me to quickly wash my stick blender, which I would formerly risk using after only rinsing under water--I think that had contributed to me getting sick more frequently. In the 3 months that I've used it (from November to February, wintertime), no one in the house has gotten a cold beyond an occasional sneeze or cough. Any other year, we'd have endured several serious colds by now.

A nearly "perfect" product.

Recommended: Yes