How to Load a Dishwasher

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Having a dishwasher can be a blessing. It saves time and can, in some cases, save water. To make the dishwasher most efficient and keep you from having to rewash or rinse the dishes to get rid of caked-on food, it's important to load the appliance correctly.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Dirty dishes

Step1

Quickly rinse the dirty dishes. Don’t take a sponge to them or anything, but get the chunks of food off your dishes. If you have a ring of milk on the bottom of a glass, rinse that away as well.

Step2

Put glasses and plastic containers on the top rack. The top rack will get a little more gentle treatment. Also watch out for glasses that are too tall to fit comfortably on the rack or things that are too fragile. Don’t load your fine crystal into the dishwasher.

Step3

Put your plates, bowls and the like in the bottom rack. The silverware will go into baskets on the side of the rack. Put the silverware with the blade, prongs or spoon pointed up to get all of the food off of them.

Tips & Warnings

If you have little ones running around and you have silverware stabbing fears, you can load them with the business ends down. Just be sure to rinse them thoroughly.
Don’t put pots and pans in the dishwasher; go ahead and hand wash them. Cooked-on food needs a stronger hand. If your dishwasher has a pots and pans setting, give it a try. Load them on the bottom rack.