Seriously! I was surprised to see how many different opinions there were about how to load your dishwasher. The most talked about dilemma was how to load the silverwares.
Now, loading a dishwasher should not be rocket science. But, clearly, many people have issues with some things in the dishwasher not coming out as clean as they had hoped.
Assuming your dishwasher isn’t that old (let’s say over 10 years), here are some tips that seem to work for most people:
- Scrape the heavy food off. No need to pre-rinse and in fact, it’s not recommended (unless it’s going to sit for more than 2 days.)
- Dishes and bowls can basically face the utensil rack. But, when possible, have them face the center.
- Large items like casserole dishes should be placed around the outside and slightly face down (to drain better.)
- Tupperware and so forth are OK. But, it’s better to put them on the top rack. (It doesn’t get as hot as the bottom.)
- Glasses and cups generally go on the top rack. If it’s actual glass (not plastic, etc.), it can go on the bottom.
- It’s OK to put wine glasses in the dishwasher. In fact, some manufacturers make wine glass holders to keep them from banging around.
- Knives go sharp end down! (This was mentioned in like 99% of the articles I read.)
That covers most items people clean. You can probably figure out the rest.
But, wait. What about forks and spoons? Believe it or not, this one actually takes a little work. First, let me say that many people feel they should be face up to get clean. However, articles like that from Yahoo News say “all utensils head in”. Then, I remembered that our dishwasher was recently replaced and I figured why not look in the owner’s manual and see if it says anything about it. Well, it does! The dishwasher is made by Frigidaire and here’s what it says: “When covers are up, mix items in each section of the basket with some pointing up and some down to avoid nesting. Water spray cannot reach nested items.”
So, there you have it. It basically doesn’t matter which way you put the forks and spoons in. Just be sure they’re not sitting on top of each other.
You may have noticed that the Frigidaire quote starts out with: “When covers are up…” In case you’re not sure what they mean by that, it’s those utensil tray covers that you can snap down to cover up a section of the utensil tray. I always thought they were just for putting small items in like corn cob holders, etc. Well, if you really want to place all your forks and spoons upright and get the maximum cleaning, just close those lids and place the utensils in the individual spots. This helps separate them for maximum cleaning. You can also use these for your (small) knives. But, again, make sure they are sharp end down! (NOTE: If you use your hands to remove forks and spoons that are face up, wash your hands first! Actually, you should do that anytime you empty the dishwasher.)
Lastly, here’s a video from Bosch that covers some of these points: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8ibae45Yw8