What the eyes see and what the brain registers are two different things. Sigh.
6 Likes
We have two as well, which is a blessing when we have big dinners or lots of family home. During the week I run them alternately so they both get used. Donāt run them until they are full or mostly full.
Iām kind of OCD about stuff being really clean (which for me for washing up often means hot, if it can take it) so I use the dishwasher where I can, but pots I will usually wash by hand and definitely my Dutch ovens, pans and bakeware - even the ones that say dishwasher safe - get washed by hand. And obviously wood gets washed by hand. Does it annoy anyone else when stemware is dishwasher safe but never fits or fits efficiently ?! So yeah that gets handwashed too.
I donāt let anyone else load the dishwasher:) other family members empty it.
Regarding dishwasher loading, there are social media pages and articles about how to load a dishwasher most efficiently.
What is really weird is that several influencers I follow on Instagram and such have posted dishwasher content in the last few days, lol. Itās not the algorithm because these are people I see on the daily with their content anyway!
Tip: You can make your own. 7oz hot water (I basically just fill my spray bottle almost to the top. If you are reusing an old Dawn Power Wash bottle I think you double the recipe), 2 TBSP dish soap (I just do one big squirt. I was originally using Dawn, but I like the scents of Mrs. Meyers and that works just as well), and 1 TBSP rubbing alcohol ).
I love this recipe because I make it for pennies and I can just buy one bottle of dish soap and one bottle of rubbing alcohol and it will last forever. Iām not into measuring and it still works every time, so itās very forgiving. No more adding dish soap to the shopping list. Plus, now I have a much prettier spray bottle.
Iām trying to cut down on plastic, packaging, and any type of microplastics that can get into the water system. Iāve been using this detergent and now have it on autoship. That says a lot, as Iām picky about dish detergents. It works as well as the Quantum tabs I was previously using.
For those of you that avoid Amazon, their autoship price is the same as Amazonās regular price, but you have to order 2 at a time to avoid shipping costs.
I think these are ingenious. Wash a dish and put it away to dry, rather than waiting for it to dry and putting it away. The only problem is thereās no window over your sink and I know for some people that is a deal breaker. Itās a European thing, so probably most common in apartments.
I HATE that our washer takes 2:39 (I know because it blinks at me every time I set it). Iām going to try the short cycle and see how it goes. Although we run it at night and it sits til morning so it really doesnāt matter. But, who thought that a washing method that takes over 2 1/2 hours was a good thing for a convenience appliance?
3 Likes
How things are supposed to work in our home:
We are a load as you go family. Use something and put it in the dishwasher. The washer gets turned on after dinner and unloaded first thing in the morning.Iāve found if the dishwasher isnāt emptied the first thing in the morning, the whole dish thing cascades into chaos the rest of the day. Iāve timed how long it takes and itās about 3 minutes. It should be done by the first person up so that all of the breakfast dishes can be loaded as they are used. Unless you are just having a bowl of cereal, whatever you are making takes longer to cook than the 3 minutes of unloading dishes. Do it as your stuff cooks. If you are having cereal, you can wait 3 minutes.
I cook almost all of our food (very little convienence food) due to preferences and allergies and I meal prep lunches for work while Iām cooking dinner. I donāt like cooking in a messy kitchen, so I clean as I go. Although we generate a lot of dishes, after dinner clean-up tends to just be handwashables (knives), the plates/utensils/serving dishes, and maybe a baking sheet or air fryer pan.
How it really happens.
Letās be real. Itās me that empties the dishwasher in the morning, whether Iām the first person up and making breakfast or not. That also means I clean up all the breakfast dishes left in the sink because the washer was full.
If the dishwasher is empty, people are pretty good about loading it. If itās full, they just throw their dishes in the sink. If itās empty , but there is a dish in the sink, they assume itās full and throw their dishes in the sink as well.
Daughter and husband will empty the dishwasher, but they leave anything that isnāt a dish, cup or plate for me to find a home for. This baffles me as they know where these things are kept when they take them out of their homes to use them.
Husband and daughter will load cups, plates, utensils and some larger cooking bowls. But somethings they never load like the french press that is used every day, water bottles, etc. Not sure what they are afraid of. Perhaps itās that they only load what they have touched. Somehow Iām the magic person that can load things they havenāt touched.
One day after work, running errands, exercising, doing āmomā stuff, and cooking dinner I exploded while everyone left the table. I am on my feet 12 hours by the time dinner is served and it is not fair that Iām expected to clean it all up as well. Husband, who retired in January, finally had a light bulb moment and now cleans up after dinner. However, he doesnāt seem to know how to clean a knife. Again, Iām baffled. Somehow, I am the only person in this house that can clean and put away a knife (which we do not put in the dishwasher).
Some people obviously havenāt played enough Tetris. While Iām loading the dishwasher as I cook dinner, I always have to rearrange what was previously put in the dishwasher so that the rest of the the dishes will fit. Who puts a plate sideways in the middles of the dishwasher? As a sped. teacher, Iām always yelling at my family to āmatch to sampleā while Iām in the kitchen. Plates are obviousy going to go where the other plates are in the cabinet. Cups with cups. IF he see everything stacked one way, stack the other stuff the same way. Youāve unloaded the dishwasher enough to see how the dishes need to be loaded to all fit in.
My biggest pet peeve: People rinsing their dishes, but not cleaning out the sink after.
What is happening right now in my kitchen?
There is a lasagna pan soaking the in the sink. From Christmas! I made lasagna for the family that I canāt eat (it contained gluten and dairy). I told them that since I wasnāt going to be eating it, they needed to remember to clean it out from the downstairs fridge when they were done with it. I knew it wasnāt ever going to happen, so finally, yesterday, I asked my husband where the lasagna plan was. Itās now been brought up and is soaking in my sink. That is as far as itās going to make it if I donāt say anything else. Iām sure the thought is āleave it and mom will take care of itā. Nope. Not only did I ask them to take care of it a month ago, I also am not going to end up with a rash and blisters on my hands from the dairy. Now the questions is, will I just let it sit and see when they finally clean it, or will I get fed up and say something?
5 Likes
I honestly donāt care at all how the dishwasher is loaded as long as the dishes get clean. And they do.
2 Likes
I love the honesty in this post so much and find it very relatable. The lasagna pan sounds like my issue yesterday only yours has gone on much longer!
For me itās a matter of efficiency and sometimes if not breaking things in the dishwasher! If someone puts a cup/bowl in right side up then I have a gross bowl full of yucky water to clean when unloading- or it all spills everywhere when unloading cause I didnāt know it was upside down!
The efficiency comes from me not wanting to have the task of unloading more than necessary- good loading extends the time before another load needs to be done.
I admit to being fairly regimented about house and household tasks. For two reasons. 1. I get great satisfaction from a well kept and looking house. 2. My time is precious! I donāt want to clean more than is necessary!
1 Like
Badly packed dishwashers also lead to chipped crockery though.
2 Likes
No one badly stacks things here. But DH has a preference for where bowls, plates and cups go.
Iām sayingā¦I donāt care.
Iām not saying people should be careless. Iām saying that there is more than one āright wayā to load a dishwasher.
ETAā¦some dishes just donāt fit well between the rings in a dishwasher. Our old stoneware was awful.
1 Like
Tang?! Maybe the astronaut version of putting orange peels in the garbage disposal to freshen it up? 
1 Like
Just 2 of us now so sometimes I run the DW if it not completely, but mostly, full. Spouse is not a good handwasher. And you use way more water handwashing than a DW. But we do usually handwash pots.
DC moved into an apt and didnāt realize there was no DW. They are a bit of a germaphobe and said their next place would definitely have one.
While my daughter didnāt get one, when she was in an apt without a dishwasher her best friend who lived above her got permission to get a portable dishwasher - just needed to get hooked up to the sink. But you need to have the room to store that nearby as well.
1 Like
There are only two of us, except that we entertain a lot and have people staying over at our house not infrequently. When we renovated, we installed two dishwashers. The first is a full-size KitchenAid (which seemed in reviews to outperform the Bosches, which we had, and in my experience the reviews are correct) and a single drawer dishwasher (Fisher & Paykel). ShawWife is a very good cook, who can use lots of dishes and then we end up having leftovers, which we use, and so lots of tupperware (though I think it is really made by Corning but is whatever they sell at Costco).
With that background, we use the drawer dishwasher every day when we are the only ones who have been around. Usually sufficient. If we have people over (or use lots of tupperware). we use the full-size dishwasher. Often we need to use both if we have had people over. So pretty much, we run them every day.
My job is is clean-up. So I load the dishwashers. ShawD found a quote from someone who said that in every couple, there is one person who loads the dishwasher like a rabid raccoon and the other like a Swiss engineer (who will reload if the raccoon has been there first). ShawWife is the raccoon and Iām the engineer. Whoever gets up earlier usually unloads the dishwasher while he/she is making coffee.
Based upon a video I watched (ShawWife laughs that I would watch a youtube video about dishwashing efficiency), I run hot water in advance and put in some detergent for a prewash. We scrape the dishes but typically donāt rinse (except perhaps if they have egg or mustard congealed on them).
We clean the filters whenever we notice that they holes on the rotors have some gunk in them or if the top shelf items have some debris still on them.
3 Likes
Thought of this thread tonight when I came downstairs after football to find that my lovely husband had emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the pans that were soaking in the sink. Go dadofboiler1!
Andā¦there was a pile of assorted items stacked on the island because, he didnāt know where they wentā¦.
Weāve lived in this house for nearly 7 years 
7 Likes
I get that too.
Iām like: how come you always know where to find something, but not where to pack it away?
8 Likes
Another rule I have: Donāt EVER start a sentence with āWhere isā¦ā Youāve lived here as long as I have. Figure it out.
2 Likes
This is my Hās reason for leaving his dishes in the sink. I admit I am picky about how stuff is loaded in the dishwasher but itās not that it is difficult to follow what I am doing. He just canāt be bothered.
1 Like
Orā¦ from his standpoint, you are too picky. I donāt like the way my husband loads some stuff (and vice versa - in our case tis mostly opinion, not obvious right/wrong). I rarely criticize, sometimes move stuff around. Iām glad he puts stuff in DW, not sink. BUT it is annoying when he forgets certain things should NOT go in the DWā¦ like the plastic bowl to the rice maker, since the starchy residue gets baked on in the DW cycles.