Exactly, I lived in a house full of bachelors for 6 years (4 of us), and we had exactly the opposite problem: there were tons of cups/plates/bowls/pans (everybo

Exactly, I lived in a house full of bachelors for 6 years (4 of us), and we had exactly the opposite problem: there were tons of cups/plates/bowls/pans (everybody brought their own to the house), but none of them were ever clean and in the cabinets. This problem is almost unsolvable in such a house, but the real annoyance is that there's so many dishes in the sink at all times. At some point I solved this problem by removing all but 4 of each item, and locking them up. That way you at least limit the dirty pile and force people to clean the dishes semi-frequently. If you're having 7 people over for dinner (never happened), just ask me for the key :)