Plastic/SS pots-pans in dishwasher vs. handwashing in sink

10 years ago

How do those of you who don't want to wash most plastic items in the dishwasher, or stainless steel pots/pans, deal with the resulting clutter in the sink that results?

Or more specifically - is there a dishwasher setting for plasticware that would make me happy, as a crunchy person who doesn't want to hand-wash my plastic containers unless they are just too greasy for me to deal with and need sanitizing?

We have a double sink and usually one side of the sink is cluttered with plastic and pans we didn't wash yet and our system simply doesn't work well. I live in NYC with a long commute (usually) and we have cats and cat bowls and a child and I brown bag to work using plasticware and, well, it's too much clutter.

So now that we have just put in a new kitchen with a Miele dishwasher and I'm learning how to use it vs. our old Maytag one, I want to de-clutter and have a better system.

Thoughts/suggestions? (cross posting in Kitchens and probably also posting asking for suggestions on dishracks on the counter vs. in the sink, but the handwashing-plastic issue needs resolving as part of this)

Thanks for any replies!

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Comments (5)

weissman
10 years ago
Miele doesn't have heated dry so you can put plastics anywhere in the DW. I have a KA with heated dry so I limit my plastics to the top rack. Some of my old pots go in the DW but I do handwash the All Clad and all my good knives.
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jakkom
10 years ago
I have a KA but never use heated dry anyway. The recycled heat dries almost everything, and if I pop the door open for an hour, everything's completely dry when I take them out.

I run almost all my loads on the sterilize option. Everything, including plastics and SS pans, goes in the DW. With the elimination of phosphates, I find using the sterilize option helps cleaning.

Only items that are definitely not high-heat resistant, are hand-washed. Modern DWs save so much water, it's better to run them even if not completely full.
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Oops...sorry Dee! It actually never occured to me that anyone wouldn't have a double sink. My bad. On the upside, I just bought a dishpan to use for washing my bras out, and it cost all of $1.49, so it's no great expense, anyways. :-) As a side note, my sister and I *did* used to take baths in those deep porcelain sinks when we were very small... I'm kind of finiky about washing plastic - especially thin plastics, so the shower cap bowl covers wouldn't work for me...I'd never feel like they got clean enough, and I'd toss them (I don't wash out ziplock bags either, so I just don't use many). I'm pretty picky about having a nice table setting (even on a dinner tray), so jars, plastic storage containers, etc...wouldn't solve my problem either, because I'd be moving the food to a "nicer" bowl or dish for us to eat it from. It would just multiply the too many dishes problem (and I'd have to clean out more cupboard space to store "storage" containers as well). I'm pretty sure my larger sink is deep enough (front to back) that one of the smaller drainpans that fits across (side to side) will fit on the back of it, leaving room at the front to slide dirty dishes underneath. So I'm going to try that, and just rinse off saucers/salad plates that I use to cover bowls. The drain pan sitting there all the time should remind me to do that right away, so we'll cross our fingers that will work. At the very least, I'll use it for drying teapots, teacups and saucers too. But I'm optimistic this will solve the problem. :-)
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vacuumfreak, sounds like you have a great system working for you. I always find it helpful to run some hot water in the sink while I'm cooking. Not a full sink but some and any utensils I'm using can start to soak immediately. This helps me keep up with the dishes. I really have a problem with washing dishes immediately after a meal. I like to be able to enjoy the meal, relax, maybe have dessert later and not rush into doing the dishes. I like to have them soak and that way they're ready to quickly swish, rinse and dry in the rack. BTW, for the one who gets a flavor from the Direct Foam, I'm sure you're just not rinsing them right. Or you're using too much soap. I've always found Dawn & Joy to be the best for rinsing off easily. Sunlite is pretty good. Generics are the worst, Palmolive is pretty bad. Water makes a difference. Find what works best for you. A couple tips: It's a good idea to give brushes, sponges, etc an occasional bleach soaking to kill off the crud. I like having a small, cheap flexible plastic putty knife handy for cleaning things on the counter or on dishes. BTW, I'm not sure the advantage of having a dishpan in the sink. I just put less water in the sink. If you have only one sink, of course it's a benefit, but I don't understand the need. I have the drainer out of the sink. Have thought about leaving it in there and rinsing, but I often have more dishes so it would pile up over so I have the drain tray divert the water to the sink and use one sink for washing and the other for rinsing. Sometimes plug the sink to hold the water for rinsing. But if there's a lot, then you have to change the water or you'll leave soap on the dishes and get the taste. Don't want that! :)
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I put almost everything in our Miele DW except a few hand painted glasses. Everything comes out clean and dry - except for the plastic rims if they catch any water or flip over if they aren't tucked in between other dishes - just the little plastic container but I try to use glass whenever possible. The only problem that I encountered was with the black restaurant style catering dishes- thin plastic when I ran on pot scrubber- it turned into a taco I asp wash my SS pots in the DW. If a lot if them, I run on pots cycle-other wise just on sensor cycle. Also- read your manual- it tells you not to rinse your dishes :-) There are a number of threads claiming you need food for the catalyst to work. I don't know if that is true but your Miele has a sensor and is looking for dirt to tell the DW - dishes are clean- go to rinse So bottom line - don't rinse! Usual iPhone text errors
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Cavimum
10 years ago
Our Bosch does not dry with heat. The Kenmore before it did, but I never used it anyway. The Bosch gets our SS pots and plastic-ware beautifully clean. IN fact, overall, it cleans much better than our old Kenmore Elite. For that reason, I do very little hand-washing at the sink, anymore. It all goes into the Bosch and, thus, I am a happy camper. :-)
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julieste
10 years ago
I have a KA, and I too put nearly everything in the dishwasher. A few big pots that would take up too much space if I already have a full load will be washed by hand, but that's pretty much it. It can get a bit tricky placing plastic items so they don't flip over and collect water, but my dishwasher has some little clips on the top rack to anchor these down.

Just put it all in, and your life will be less cluttered. I'm in my 60s and have always done this with no bad results so far other than 2 incidents I can recall--once in former dishwasher a large plastic container was put in the bottom and touched the heating coil and the corner melted a bit, and once I stupidly put a hand blown vase in and the detergent etched it in places.
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nerdyshopper
10 years ago
We have Teflon lined pots and pans and never put them in the dishwasher because it destroys the non-stick properties, especially in the frying pans. I know for sure this happens because it has happened to us, even with expensive Cuisenart sets. We just wash them immedialty after the meal. The rest goes into the dishwasher. Also we wash all good sharp cutlery by hand. We have an old Maytag heated dry washer and use heated wash and dry all the time. To the poster that said they never use the heated dry on their dishwasher: when you set to sanitize the heater comes on to raise the temperature of the wash water sufficiently to do this. Not sure if it is safe to put plastic ware too close to the heating element when water is present. Do you know?
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Plastic/SS pots-pans in dishwasher vs. handwashing in sink

Comments (5)

weissman

jakkom

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