How do you load your dishwasher?

[saltysam]

This popped up on my yahoo home page and thought it would be good to share. Most of the steps outlined make a lot of sense to me.
How doe you all load your dishwasher?
I tend to organize everything so there is more space for all the dishes that need to be washed. My wife on the other hand just puts things in without any thought to organization.

Mark

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/haven/the-dos-and-donts-of-loading-your-dishwasher-1154517/

 

[favorit]

omg .... don't get me started in this thing

Fist i load large pots, pans and bowls. Pots absolutely flat on the rack, maybe a bit slanted if they aren't very soiled. I slant the biggest pan onto the cutlery basket, then I sit smaller ones behind. I try to load as more possible but I never nest smaller items under bigger ones. Water can't bend .

Then I load plates in the tines and in the gaps between pots and bowls, even on rack sides facing the centre.
Shallow bowls (aka soup7pasta "deep plates") go loaded upright as flat dishes, but deeper bowls *never* go upright

In the upper rack I first load left plates from lower rack, then espresso cups under the foldable shelves, mugs and glasses over the foldable shelves and left bowls in the centre

Last thing before starting : the "aviator check up". I make spray arms spin to be sure they are free

I really suffer for those DW badly loaded eg with large bowls under the shelves and tiny cups/glasses On the shelves.
And maybe owners also complain that the machine doesn't clean well ... not to mention some nested pots i watch on youtube

A "Bobload" is a true one if stuff is properly loaded with some common sense, otherwise it's a storageload and nothing else

 

[maytagbear]

How do I load

my dishwasher?

Usually with my hands. I'm not agile enough to load it with my feet, though I have tried.

Rosa del Gata, lacking an opposable thumb, keeps dropping the dishes. No problem when it's the Texas Ware melamine, but a big problem when it's the Franciscan.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[favorit]

cough........

I admit sometimes when i have dirty hands and don't want to touch that stainless door ..... i close it with a "instep and knee" move, then i push those two buttons with my right knee

 

[MrX]

I've a fairly new Bosch Logixx dishwasher. We just load it as the dishes are used up and it goes on when it's full.

We don't really take any special precautions when loading it, other than to ensure that the dishes are not blocking the spray arms and that they are going to be sprayed properly and aren't sheltering each other.

We never pre-rinse and just scrape the dishes into the trash before putting them in.

The filter system is basically self-cleaning i.e. the wash pump circulates the water by sucking through the sides of the filter causing the water to go through multiple layers of coarse to fine filtration. Then the drain pump sucks through the bottom of the filter and any small particles of food stuck to the plates are washed away down the drain.

We use Unilever Sun Green Power (phosphate free eco-friendly) all-in-one tablets, but also use Salt and rinse aid.

Or, alternatively Ecover tablets (with salt and rinse aid).

I have never really understood the fuss about avoiding salt and rinse aid, they're not THAT difficult to load in and you only have to do it about once every few weeks for the rinse aid, and maybe once every two months for the salt.

We get great results without any fuss.

The filter just needs to be cleared out maybe once a week or so.

 

[lordkenmore]

"Rosa del Gata, lacking an opposable thumb, keeps dropping the dishes. No problem when it's the Texas Ware melamine, but a big problem when it's the Franciscan."

Lawrence/Maytagbear--Rosa del Gata isn't supposed to load the dishwasher. Rosa del Gata is the master, you're the slave.

At least, that's how it's worked with every cat I've ever lived with.

 

[maytagbear]

Shhhh!

She'll clean up after herself. I want her to continue doing so.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[roto204]

Hmmm

Since my present daily-drivers are an impeller top-loader and the spin-tube, I let the dishes accumulate in the sink before loading them all at once. Neither machine is well-suited to building up a load--you have to take what you have and assess the best way to fit it all together. I find it's easier when I have everything in front of me, and I can then play a rousing game of Dishwasher Tetris.

 

[cleanteamofny]

It's not the way we load it, it's the machine, the machine are so quiet that we cannot hear water sloshing.
Did you hear that?
What?
Is it on?
Yes it is and there is one cup of water to clean this load, amazing!

 

[mrb627]

Reader Comments

I love some of the goofy reader comments at the bottom of the article. People can be so stupid!

 

[passatdoc]

My Bosch upper rack does not have adjustable height, but the tub is tall enough to accomodate 9" (22.5 cm) plates in its tines on the upper rack, as well as moderate sized wine glasses.

Bottom: pots and pans (stainless steel Cuisinart), large bowls and casseroles, full size plates, silverware/utensils in basket. Unfortunately the basket, while it does lift out, cannot really be placed elsewhere in the lower rack, so it usually stays put.

Occasionally I might spend a day of cooking and/or baking where silverware does not get used (i.e. soiled bowls, food processor parts, pots, pans, casserole and baking dishes, but not a lot of plates or silverware) and in that situation I remove the silverware basket to make room for more items on the lower rack, and then wash whatever's in the basket with the next normal load (I have enough silverware to last).

Top: smaller plates, cups, glasses, mugs, small bowls, drip coffee maker carafe & lid & brew basket, French press coffee maker, cereal bowls. I usually make microwaved oatmeal as part of breakfast and I have cereal bowls that stand up neatly (vertically) in the upper rack tines. Even with dried on oatmeal and stacking them vertically, Bosch plus Finish tabs plus Jet Dry gets them perfectly clean.

I do follow Favorit's method and always check the upper spray arm (underside of top rack) to be sure that it spins freely. Because the heating element in the Bosch is hidden, and because there is no heated drying option, plastics are safe on either rack.

I have had eight and a half years of perfect service from the Bosch, no service calls and no maintenance beyond periodically checking/cleaning the filter at the bottom of the tub. I also descale two or three times a year with citric acid. However, I have heard complaints re: newer models, so I wonder if Bosch now builds them more cheaply, or whether US water use rules have diminished the cleaning performance of this model. Model number is SHU8802/UC 02 and it was purchased/installed in October 2001.

 

[panthera]

Since I swapped out that horrid

flatware drawer and lower basket against a "normal" lower basket with, well, basket, my Miele doesn't care what I put in her or how I shove it into her - it all comes out clean as a whistle.

The only thing I do have to pay attention to is, as Favorit said, not putting something small right on top of something big so that the water can't get to it.

It takes less than a minute to fill the salt and rinse aid dispensers, though since I use combi-tabs, I just ignore them and enjoy the pretty extra lights. If American dishwashers had soft water generators, they probably wouldn't be so wonderfully deep dish.

 

[rp2813]

That article was plain common sense. I'm amazed, though, about the legions of dishwasher owners who don't have a clue or possess a particle of logic about how to load one.

Last night my partner's bi-polar sister managed to do something to the Thundering Thermador that left a white film on everything. I spent time this morning using a scrubby sponge and clear water cleaning everything by hand to remove the film. I have no idea what she did to prep them, and I had to go back behind her before the machine ran so I could un-nest all of the flatware.

ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

I am so glad she's leaving today. I've already run the bleach and vinegar routine through the machine in an attempt to undo whatever the hell she did.

 

[favorit]

There's Bosch and Bosch .....

Don't comment those makes coming from New Bern factory, don't know them at all

In europe we have these 300 euro "el cheapo" loud Bosch Synthesi with a half plastic/half stainless tub.
Every big box store sell them : the Bosch logo with a low price catches eye attention ...

This is the cheapest full stainless tub, well built model

Middle of line model

Top of the line model

 

[rolls_rapide]

Bosch Logixx and salt

I have a five year old model and I only need to fill the salt container ONCE every year. It has never used a lot of salt, even from day one, and it is set at the medium setting (4) on the scale of (0 - 6).

 

[whirlcool]

We put all of our stuff (plates, cups, glasses, top half of Sunbeam Vacuum Coffee pot and assorted parts) on the top rack and place the silverware in the basket on the lower level. We mix it all together so there are no pieces stacking.
The plates are all together in the right rear, the cups & glasses are all together on the left front, bowls are left rear.
We don't own anything plastic, so we don't have to worry about that.

And all the dog bowls go on the bottom.

We then run the dishwasher on auto sense clean and sanitize. About half way through the cycle the dishwasher stops and the "heating water" light comes on for about 5 minutes. Nothing is rinsed before putting it in the DW. We have a year and a half old Maytag (the old JetClean design) and everything comes out spotless.
We use the finish tabs and Cascade Complete packs. We also tried SUN DW detergent from the dollar store. It seems to work well, but while the dishes seem clean, they are not as shiny as when cleaned with more pricier brands.

I do have a question. It seems like a lot of the DW detergents we use have Jet Dry built in to them. We also have Jet Dry in the machine. Isn't this a bit of overkill? Shouldn't it be one or the other?