What’s not to love about Thanksgiving Day? The dishes!!! Whether you cook at home and spend all day in the kitchen, or someone else cooks and you have cleanup duties, one thing is a given; dishes! Tons and tons and tons of dishes. The merrier the gathering, the more dirty, greasy dishes will result.
Here are some tips on how to protect your beloved dishwasher while you are thankful for the many good things in your life.
Enjoy the good things about the Holidays and don’t worry about your appliances…
How to properly load up your dishwasher
Contrary to popular belief, there is a right way to load your dishwasher, this will ensure you get optimal results and you’ll protect your dishes when washing them.
We love appliance repairs. We are even thankful for broken appliances because they have kept us in business for so many years. But both your family and ours deserve a day where appliances work perfectly. So we thought these dishwasher tips were especially useful for this weekend and other upcoming holiday events.
As always, follow the manual and recommendations made by the manufacturer, but here is some other useful advice.
Dishwasher Basics
- Pre-rinse dishes every time. Your dishwasher is for cleaning and sanitizing, and you can avoid unnecessary service calls to clean out your pump of food debris by pre-rinsing.
- Don’t stack items in your dishwasher. Water will not reach all the items to clean them. Make sure each item is free and clear of others for maximum cleaning.
- It is best to run two small cycles than one large one. Yes, you’ll use more water and detergent but the wash performance will be better, so in the end this will be most efficient.
- Before placing any plastics inside your dishwasher, first make sure to check if it is dishwasher safe. You really want to avoid cleaning up the mess if they melt.
Loading the Bottom Rack
- Don’t overload, as this will not allow the water to run freely or allow the soap dispenser to open, resulting in dirty dishes.
- You can place your forks and spoons half up and half down. Place sharp knives facing down for safety.
- Separate stainless steel pots and silver plates, as mixing steel and silver can create a chemical reaction and cause the silver to split.
- Delicate dishes should not touch each other to avoid breakage.
Loading the Top Rack
- Glasses and mugs need to face down. Otherwise, they will fill up with water and not get clean.
- Dirtier cups or larger cups should go on the bottom rack as the water pressure is higher and will get more grime off.
Utensil Compartment
Make sure to mix up the silverware in the designated sections, don’t make the mistake of bundling them by spoon, forks and knives. Spoons and forks tend to nest within each other so mix them up to ensure all surfaces get cleaned properly. As a safety recommendation, knives should always be facing down. But apart from that forks and spoons can be facing up and down.
From our family to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
We hope these dishwasher tips help your loading strategy for your Thanksgiving dishes and all the great holidays (and dishes) to come!