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Carrion Luggage #1101535 added November 13, 2025 at 10:44am
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Dish Me
And now to highlight the really important stuff, here's EatingWell:
Yes, there is a right way to load the dishwasher: My way.
Dishwashers can save you literal loads of time spent cleaning up your kitchen.
I'll give "literal" a pass here, because of the pun on "loads."
While dishwashers have come a long way since the first hand-crank model...
A while back, I shared the story of the chick who invented the first dishwasher—not to save herself time, but because her servants kept chipping her elegant dishes. Ah, yes, here it is, from the old blog: "Pretty Petty" 
...if not used properly, they can leave you with less than sparkling results.
Sparkling results? So it doesn't come from the Shine region of France?
EatingWell spoke with a Maytag expert to find out everything from how to load and maintain a dishwasher to what products to use for the cleanest dishes.
You mean "what products have paid us to include them in our article."
Lower racks are intentionally designed to be larger than upper racks, providing room for larger items like dinner plates and soup bowls.
I don't have those fancy wide, shallow soup bowls. The deep but small-diameter bowls, which can also be used for cereal if I ate cereal, go on the upper rack.
Stack these items between the tines, facing the center of the spray arm to ensure that they stay upright during cycles and are properly spaced and angled for effective cleaning and drying.
Seriously? You have to specify this?
If your dishwasher does not have a dedicated spray arm for the upper rack...
...get a better dishwasher.
Jones says that the upper rack is optimal for drinkware (like glasses and mugs) as well as smaller plates and bowls, and that these items should be placed facing downward to prevent pooling.
I feel dumber just reading this.
Jones explains that facing forks and spoons upward is essential for getting a proper clean, while sharp kitchen tools like knives and vegetable peelers should be pointed downward to make unloading safer.
Or if you live with someone you hate, go ahead and point those knives up and then make them do the unloading.
"Heavy items like pots and pans [...] should be loaded on the bottom rack as they need additional room," says Jones.
Eh. My dishwasher's not that big, and I hand-wash pots and pans.
While dishwashers and dishwasher detergents can damage wood cutting boards, they can effectively clean plastic and glass cutting boards, and they even help prevent foodborne illness when using high-temperature or sanitize cycles.
Yeah, I figured that out about wood cutting boards the hard way. Another thing I finally figured out is to oil the damn things fairly regularly.
Fragile items like crystal and lightweight plastic containers are best hand-washed to avoid damage, but many are dishwasher-safe when placed on the upper rack.
Lightweight plastic containers are a lot of things, but "fragile" isn't one of them.
Jones names dirty and clogged filters as the number one reason that dishes don’t come out clean after a cycle. "Cleaning and maintaining appliances regularly helps to clear grime and grit from dishes," she says.
Dammit, if I wanted to do work, I'd just hand-wash everything.
How to use vinegar and baking soda to clean dishwashers
Anyone who's ever participated in a science fair knows to sit back and watch as the volcano happens.
Just be sure never to use dish soap intended for hand-washing, as it can create a thick foam that may leak out of and damage your dishwasher.
Similar to, but not nearly as much fun as, the acid/base reaction above.
And after all that (and more at the link), I was pleasantly surprised to note that there were no ads for specific cleaning products. Nor did I see any ads on the site in general, thanks to my blockers, though your experience may be different. It's still a stealth ad for Maytag, but whatever: how often does one actually purchase a dishwasher? |
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