Minor household wars: should cutlery be sorted in the dishwasher?

Perhaps it's the pandemic. Little things like whether the knives, forks & spoons should be put together in a dishwasher become discussions. What is your opinion? Me: separating the cutlery in the dishwasher makes easier unpacking.

You? And what other similar things might disrupt domestic household bliss?
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Comments

  • Cutlery put in at random and sorted when it comes out.
  • I don't separate cutlery, 'cause when I take it out of the dishwasher, I gather it all in my hand, then sort when I fill the cutlery drawer. But Mrs C and I do disagree on the best orientation - she likes points down, I like points up.
  • Points up has stabbed my hands more than once.
  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Mystery Worship Editor
    Points up. And to the extent possible, no two items alike in the same bin.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited March 20
    My family could describe just how I can be about the dishwasher, shaking my head at why anyone would what put dishes in the way they have, and unloading it and reloading it so it’s done right. Ditto my sister’s and brother’s family. Unfortunately, it’s a trait we inherited from our father and he from his father (who once unloaded a washing machine I’d just loaded because I hadn’t put clothes in properly).

    Cutlery—or flatware as we’d say here—should be put in at random and separated when being put away. Otherwise, spoons and forks can nest while washing and may not get as clean.

    And knife points down, handles of all flatware up. Otherwise, not only might you get stabbed, as @NOprophet_NØprofit says, you also may end up handling the blades that were just cleaned, or the bowls of spoons and tines of forks that’ll be going into mouths.

    And good knives for food prep should be washed by hand, not put in the dishwasher.

    Them’s my opinions and I’m sticking to them. :tongue:

  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    The person who loads is the same one who unloads. Only way I ve ever known to stop the arguments!

    We no longer have a dishwasher and the disagreements in the kitchen have almost stopped.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Mr F never disputes how I load the dishwasher, or indeed any manner of housework. He can get a little snippy about how I scoop the spreadable butter out of the tub though.
  • LydaLyda Shipmate
    Ethne Alba:
    "We no longer have a dishwasher and the disagreements in the kitchen have almost stopped."

    Even about who does the dishes by hand?
  • Ethne AlbaEthne Alba Shipmate
    edited March 20
    I do the dishes by hand and if Mr Alba puts a foot out of line in That dept.........!

    He cooks though. And shops.
    For which I give daily thanks and much praise.
  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    My family could describe just how I can be about the dishwasher, shaking my head at why anyone would what put dishes in the way they have, and unloading it and reloading it so it’s done right. Ditto my sister’s and brother’s family. Unfortunately, it’s a trait we inherited from our father and he from his father (who once unloaded a washing machine I’d just loaded because I hadn’t put clothes in properly).

    Cutlery—or flatware as we’d say here—should be put in at random and separated when being put away. Otherwise, spoons and forks can nest while washing and may not get as clean.

    And knife points down, handles of all flatware up. Otherwise, not only might you get stabbed, as @NOprophet_NØprofit says, you also may end up handling the blades that were just cleaned, or the bowls of spoons and tines of forks that’ll be going into mouths.

    And good knives for food prep should be washed by hand, not put in the dishwasher.

    Them’s my opinions and I’m sticking to them. :tongue:

    @Nick Tamen I think you and I are twins. My family leaves the dishes out for me to load into the machine, because they know they will always do it wrong, and I will redo it anyway. Keep like utensils away from like or they nest and stay dirty. I completely agree with you on orientation of handles. And never, ever, ever wash a quality knife in the dishwasher.

    Perhaps you and I should consider cohabiting. It looks like we agree on the most basic essentials of life together :lol: :lol:
  • DafydDafyd Shipmate
    It is a well-known fact that for every given dishwasher and set of stuff to be washed there is one way of loading the dishwasher that is clearly and obviously the right way to do it. It's just that nobody can agree on what it is.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    There are four compartments in the cutlery thing. Clearly this means that you are supposed to sort knives, forks, big spoons and small spoons separately.

    The one that really gets me, though: the plates go in slots 1, 2 and 3. Why in the name of all that is sacred would you put them in slots 1, 3 and 5 with a space in between? :grimace:
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    edited March 20
    Totally random in our dishwasher - so is the crockery. When my son visits it drives him maaaaaad! 🤪
  • Dishwasher is my husband’s job (I’m in charge of the laundry instead) and the cutlery definitely needs sorting separately or it is loudly commented on 🙄
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited March 20
    I do laundry and a good share of the washing-up (we used to have a rule that "the cook doesn't wash up" but it seems to have fallen into abeyance). We've never had a dishwasher and we tend to wash up as we go along anyway.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    If I put my plates in adjacent slots, they do not clean properly because they touch. I unload with clean hands so touching the clean spoons and forks is not a problem. If I put them and the knives pointing down, they don't get enough water sloshing around them. As I have a table top dishwasher, stabbing myself by falling on the knives isn't an issue.
  • Just yesterday I got around to reading my owners manual for the dishwasher in our new home. It says to put all spoons and forks pointing up but sharp knives pointing down. It also says to mix each silverware basket and not put all forks and spoons together as doing so means they often fit together and restrict water flow. Also, the surprise for me was the glasses should not go over the knobs on the top tray but fit between them. Here I have been doing it wrong, low these many years.
  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    I was commenting to Mr Cats tonight that when we move house and have a dishwasher he will be out of a job, as I will load it after meals and run it in the evening, and put away in the morning. He sees his job, for these many years, to dry everything that I wash as soon as it is on the rack, and sometimes sooner (reaching for things that have yet to go in the sink is not unknown, though usually a reflex action, not something he has actually thought about). It drives me crazy. I would far rather let the hand-washed dishes at least partially air dry. He knows this but he can’t help himself. If you find him with a knife in his chest it will be because he has a dish towel in his hand.....
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    I was taught as a child (at Girl Scout camp rather than in Home Economics class) never to dry clean dishes, etc., with a towel. And I never have. I do have a dish washer -- and I don't run the energy-hogging dry cycle on that, but open it up and let things air dry.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Perhaps you and I should consider cohabiting. It looks like we agree on the most basic essentials of life together :lol: :lol:
    :lol: Of course, there would be the Canada–Carolinas challenge to work out, among other . . . logistics.

    But in the meantime, we can each take comfort in the sure and certain knowledge that the other is out there, Doing Dishwashering RightTM. :lol:

  • Should forks, spoons and forks really shower together during the pandemic?
  • Sharp knives washed by hand in soda crystals and rinsed, ditto bone-handled and silver. Otherwise my dishwasher has a tray for cutlery to be put into individual slots.
  • LeafLeaf Shipmate
    Cutlery should be mixed so that similar items do not nest against each other, preventing water flow. Pulling out spoons that have nested, with crud trapped between them, is gross.

    I am a points-down, handles-upward organizer, on the theory that you pick them up by the handles and they stay cleaner and don't poke you. But I'm not fussed about it, and sometimes others load with handles down.
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    When I load the cutlery, I am careful to alternate forks and spoons to make sure they don't nest.
  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Perhaps you and I should consider cohabiting. It looks like we agree on the most basic essentials of life together :lol: :lol:
    :lol: Of course, there would be the Canada–Carolinas challenge to work out, among other . . . logistics.

    But in the meantime, we can each take comfort in the sure and certain knowledge that the other is out there, Doing Dishwashering RightTM. :lol:

    I could join you too, maybe? Because it's the One True Way™.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Perhaps you and I should consider cohabiting. It looks like we agree on the most basic essentials of life together :lol: :lol:
    :lol: Of course, there would be the Canada–Carolinas challenge to work out, among other . . . logistics.

    But in the meantime, we can each take comfort in the sure and certain knowledge that the other is out there, Doing Dishwashering RightTM. :lol:

    I could join you too, maybe? Because it's the One True Way™.
    But of course!

  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    I'm the dish washer in our house.
  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Perhaps you and I should consider cohabiting. It looks like we agree on the most basic essentials of life together :lol: :lol:
    :lol: Of course, there would be the Canada–Carolinas challenge to work out, among other . . . logistics.

    But in the meantime, we can each take comfort in the sure and certain knowledge that the other is out there, Doing Dishwashering RightTM. :lol:

    I could join you too, maybe? Because it's the One True Way™.
    But of course!

    Wow! I knew I liked the way both of you thought. Who would have dreamed that our similarities would be so profound!
  • Should forks, spoons and forks really shower together during the pandemic?

    Only if they are wearing face-masks.
  • Ethne Alba wrote: »
    We no longer have a dishwasher and the disagreements in the kitchen have almost stopped.
    On the other hand when we bought our house, early on in our marriage, it had a dishwasher in unlike our previous flat. This may have saved our marriage.
    NOprophet wrote: »
    Should forks, spoons and forks really shower together during the pandemic?
    Maybe not, but what about knives?
  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    Our cutlery basket has a grid that can go across it courtesy of two flaps. I have it half open as most cutlery sits nicely upright in that but a couple of veg knives and all the toddler cutlery have handles or blades that are too wide to fit. Big knives have their own special rack in the top shelf.
  • PatdysPatdys Shipmate
    In my country, sticking a knife in the dishwasher can get you 10-20 years...
  • I'm in the sort them as they go in camp. When we had children in the house and we gave them the job, my daughter was the Loader, and she complained that it was far too much trouble to separate knives, forks and spoons, and way would anyone care anyway. Eventually there was a reassignment of duties and she was tasked with unloading, at which point it became absolutely essential that silverware be sorted going in...
  • rhubarbrhubarb Shipmate
    We have only recently graduated to a dishwasher and I am usually the loader. I tend to be of an obsessive nature, so always sort the cutlery into the basket. Knives point down the spoons and forks have handles down. I certainly haven't experienced 'nesting'. Any special items are washed by hand. However, I have decided not to bother with rinse aid as it doesn't seem to do anything, just make me spend more at the supermarket.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    Silverware? My sister showed me some items which had once been silver plated and which had been in the dishwasher. There's some interesting stuff in very low quantities to be found in the sewers. (Don't get me started on edible gold leaf.) I don't even use the silverware I would be using if I lived by myself and could do a quick handwash. Got out of the habit while having a lot to do.
  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Mystery Worship Editor
    rhubarb wrote: »
    I have decided not to bother with rinse aid as it doesn't seem to do anything.

    Totally agree. There is, however, a distinct difference in quality among the various brands of dishwasher detergent.

    And do you rinse the plates first, or load them in caked with leftover food?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Everything gets a scrape or a rinse, but anything with rice gets a going over. The grains are just the right size to block the water jets.
  • DardaDarda Shipmate
    With only two in the house, there isn't that much washing up from meals, so most is done by hand. Many of you have already admitted to rinsing plates / pots by hand first, so why not just hand wash them anyway? Some preparation / cooking equipment can often be washed, dried and put away before the meal is served. Similarly, plates & cutlery from the main course are usually dealt with while dessert is being sorted out. When family or guests are present, the dishwasher comes in onto its own!
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Penny S wrote: »
    Silverware? My sister showed me some items which had once been silver plated and which had been in the dishwasher. There's some interesting stuff in very low quantities to be found in the sewers. (Don't get me started on edible gold leaf.) I don't even use the silverware I would be using if I lived by myself and could do a quick handwash. Got out of the habit while having a lot to do.
    Probably worth mentioning that in the US, or at least parts of, “silverware” can be a generic term for all table utensils—knives, forks, spoons—regardless of what they’re made from. I’ve seen bags of “plastic silverware” in the grocery store. The other generic term here is “flatware.” So when an American says “silverware,” they don’t necessarily have actual silver in mind.

    We never put silver or silver-plated anything in the dishwasher.

  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host, 8th Day Host
    Like some others here, I carry my dishwasher with me everywhere, attached to the ends of my arms. There's only one of me eating here these days! Well, except for rare dinners with family.

    My little kitchen has no new-fangled dishwasher, but I suspect that one will exist sometime in the future; D-U is wanting me to have a new kitchen installed. (She and her dear hubby have been helping me to update my home!)
  • LandlubberLandlubber Shipmate
    Visitors (remember them?) think I am obsessed with loading the dishwasher My Way as I always reload it after them. If they only looked, they would see that the base rack is higher one side than the other and when large plates are loaded that side they stop the water jet arm spinning. (Why others inevitably load large plates on that side, I cannot say.)
  • Even living on your own dishwashers can be less than straightforward. I put mine in as a proof of concept when I thought I might be moving soon after refitting the kitchen. Anyway I ballsed it up by blocking the spray arm with a pan handle. Cue cursing and soaking of pans......
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    edited March 21
    I remember my late FiL, while visiting, pooh-poohing the idea of needing a dishwasher at all. I felt like giving him a sum total for all the cups, plates, saucers, mugs, dishes, cutlery and utensils (never mind pots and pans) that providing three meals a day for three people used. But since it was all female labour, it didn't need saving obviously.
  • BoogieBoogie Shipmate
    I am the one who does the dishes as OH is cook. Because he doesn’t do the dishes he uses oodles of pans and spoons, jugs - you name it - in his cooking. So, even ‘tho there are only two of us, the dishwasher is full to the gunnels every day and I have to wash what’s left by hand!

    It’s the price I pay for having a resident cook.

  • Firenze wrote: »
    I remember my late FiL, while visiting, pooh-poohing the idea of needing a dishwasher at all. I felt like giving him a sum total for all the cups, plates, saucers, mugs, dishes, cutlery and utensils (never mind pots and pans) that providing three meals a day for three people used. But since it was all female labour, it didn't need saving obviously.

    Why, what else would you do with your time?

    (Ducks and runs, narrowly missing the carving knife thrown after him...
    but falling to the small, sharp and lethal prongs of a highly-polished cake fork!)
  • AnselminaAnselmina Shipmate
    If baking sheets and grills fitted into my dishwasher I'd run them through. Even the dog's puzzle brick goes through the dishwasher. And any utensil that isn't in danger in falling through the wires. But cutlery is divided into various tribes just as Moses commanded the Israelites in the desert.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Boogie wrote: »
    I am the one who does the dishes as OH is cook. Because he doesn’t do the dishes he uses oodles of pans and spoons, jugs - you name it - in his cooking. So, even ‘tho there are only two of us, the dishwasher is full to the gunnels every day and I have to wash what’s left by hand!

    It’s the price I pay for having a resident cook.

    My boyfriend and I share the cooking duties, and the one who cooks does the dishes, because I clean as I go and he doesn't.
  • Notice on TV cooking shows no-one ever washes any dishes?
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    edited March 21
    Thanks Nick - I did wonder about the silverware, especially after seeing flatware referred to so much. I like the idea of plastic silverware - I'm seeing it as grey with sparkles in it! (Not really liking the idea of the plastic, of course.)
  • My late father developed an interest in cooking late in life but had a knack of using every utensil, pan, etc in the place, plus if you went into the kitchen while he was cooking you were pressed into service as a commis. Still, we put up with it because he proved to be an exceptional cook.
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