Although many people may still do so out of habit, pre-rinsing, or "pre-cleaning" as you call it, should not be necessary with ANY modern dishwasher unless it has no filtering system. There were low-end units in the past with no food grinders OR filters, relying on a large number of water changes to flush away soils (which didn't always work very well), but I believe such machines are rare nowadays.

Thanks for the reply. I agree completely, it shouldn't be necessary to pre rinse/clean the dishes prior to putting them in the dishwasher. With my current one, (lowest end builder grade Kenmore) I have to completely clean everything off of them. One time I did not clean off one knife that still had some peanut butter on it. When it came out, it still had peanut butter on it (and this was with detergent that had phosphates in it)

IâÂÂve seen some reports on here that people still have food residue on their dishes after they come out of the dishwasher unless they rinse them thoroughly prior. I just want to make sure I donâÂÂt buy one of those since I prefer to not do that LOL.

I have a KA KUDE60. I just scrape and my dishes come out clean.

Listen to dadoes. He/she speaks the truth.

dandridge - I have a Whirlpool and we just scrape and load it.

I only pre-wash baking dishes with burnt spots because the baked on stuff doesn't always come off.

We have the KUDE70 and I never rinse, just scrape. Everything comes out spotless. With prior dishwashers, I would put casserole dishes in to "get off the major stuff" and would scrub them afterwards. With my current KA, I tried that and was amazed when even the baked on food came right off. Never thought I would say this but I am in love with a dishwasher!

warmfridge, thanks so much! that makes me very happy to hear.

Asolo, LOL I hear ya! you must be happy with the performance of your D/W, would you happen to know which model etc you have if you don't mind sharing?

Dadoes, I apologize, should've asked you earlier which brand/model of D/W you have if you are happy with yours!

Lazygardens, thanks for your reply! do you happen to know which model you have? of course me asking may be a moot point if these models are older and aren't manufactured anymore.

the best one we ever had was a cheap one that came with the apartment we lived in, I don't remember the brand (this was back in 1993, it would clean anything we put in it. since then, I haven't been able to use one that does that. we just bought our first house, so I'm hoping to get one that cleans super well, and is quiet since our kitchen is open to our living room.

Mrsthesun, Woo whoo! I can feel your enthusiasm! LOL. that is great! thanks so much.

thank you all for the info. :o)

We have the KUDE60. I do it both ways. It's just my husband and myself so it's not uncommon to go three days between running a cycle. I just can NOT let goopy plates sit in the dishwasher for three days :o So I'd say I mostly do rinse but just a quick splash. I do NOT "wash" the dishes before loading them. I've put some really dried on stuff in there and have never been disappointed! This dw is my ALL TIME FAVORITE appliance purchase (and I've been purchasing appliances for 31 years) :) The cutlery rack is uber-wonderful! I've removed my silverware basket, opening up a huge slot for larger items, and use the cutlery rack for silverware.
Monica

17-year-old Whirlpool Gold (can't remember model#, but next to top of line) that has a grinder built in. Had a flawed fill solenoid that was replaced under warranty in about about ten minutes when it was new. Otherwise, no issues. Same model at another location for same amount of time with zero issues.

Only complaint is Whirlpool's incredibly poorly designed utensil basket with a latch that likes to open unexpectedly and dump everything out. I trussed them both with wire-ties to eliminate the problem. Otherwise impressive machines.

Monicakm, thanks for your input! I can certainly understand why you'd rinse them if you only do a load every few days.

we do a load every day sometimes more, but mostly due to not being able to fit much of anything in our D/W.

I've seen some of your posts about your KUDE60, you seem so thrilled with it, and that's awesome! The cutlery tray is something that sounds very appealing to me. I'd most likely do as you do and remove the bottom one, so I'd have more room there. Thanks again for you input!

Asolo, WOW that is very impressive! I'd be so happy to have a D/W (or any appliance) last that long. we did have a whirlpool manufactured Kenmore portable dishwasher that worked very well for a few years, then I had to start pre rinsing. But with the pre rinsing it cleaned quite well. Thanks for you input, you must be thrilled to have an appliance going strong after that many years!

I mis-spoke, as Reagan's press secretary used to say. One of the machines is only nine years old.

dandridge, my DW is one of those Fisher & Paykel DishDrawer thingies that everyone loves to hate-on. Based on the machine's accumulated cycle count which I checked a couple months ago, calculated against its age (7 years), I run a load on average every four days. I DO leave goopy plates (and other items) sitting for the duration until a load is run.

My sister is using my previous KA (a much different creature than the current models), which is now 17+ years old, with no repairs.

I have a 20-year-old Whirlpool that cleans great. Utensil rack is on the door. I don't rinse and have left dishes sitting for a week or more before running the load. All came sparkling clean, except for the infamous peanut butter. However, unrinsed dishes sitting there do reek. Not too keen on that.

I will replace it when I remodel this year because it is ugly and my dog broke one hinge. It is also as noisy as a truck, and I'd like a quieter one. Even though we don't have an open floor plan, I can't run the DW if we want to sleep or watch TV elsewhere in the house. It's kind of amusing because the front panel boldly proclaims "Quiet Wash." LOL! If I weren't remodeling, I would seriously fix the hinge though. I will be disappointed if my new one doesn't clean as well.

LOL Asolo :o) I think 9 years is still quite long time.

Dadoes, I did read some not so happy reviews about Fisher & Paykel D/W's, so I had sort of steered away from looking at those. I'm glad yours works so well for you! perhaps people are more likely to come across negative reviews than positive ones, since people often post looking for help with an appliance problem?

yes I've heard such great things about the older kitchenaid D/W's. Is that one of the Hobart ones? I've been reading here quite a bit about the D/W's but some of it can sort of blend together after a while and get confusing LOL.

Andersons, WOW! 20 years, that is spectacular. so there are a few whirlpool users who are very happy here, that is good to know. my kenmore/whirlpool portable dishwasher also proclaimed "quiet wash" on the front of it LOL. I think they were mistaken, because it was anything but. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that your new one will be just as good.

thank you all for the replies!

I'm going to stop prewashing! Can't believe I've been doing it all this time when I didn't have to.

Yep, not pre-rinsing is one of those easy energy/water saving ideas.

We have a 5-year-old KA, forget which model. It occasionally leaves stuff on. We also have spousal conflict over loading it- I fit stuff in there tight the same way every time, DW fits about half as much (she eats corn on the cob the same way, a bite here a bite there; I'm all rows).

My keys to success:
- We use the Electrasol tablets; for big/dirty loads I have a small box of Cascade to put a little in the pre-wash bin so the soap gets on them right away

- I generally use the Sani Rinse instead of heat dry, esp. b/c it doesn't bake on anything that's left following the wash (and may knock the last bit of stuff off)

- I like the flip down cutlery holders, even though you have to handle the dirty ends of the utensils to load them; they do a great job of getting the utensils all clean and free up the other utensil baskets for spatulas and the like with less crowding.

- Depending on how much I'm running and how dirty (esp. if there's a lot of plastic containers, which I worry the most about getting clean), I go from Normal wash to Normal plus hot wash, then to Heavy Duty and hot wash.

- We have the top tray, but it gets some use, not every day

our KA is probably 10 yrs old now. I don't have model number handy but it was the top of line model, stainless interior. I just flick off any large particles left on food with leftover napkins and put dishes in the DW. I do soak pans that have baked on food. But that's it. Everything else goes straight into Miss KA and she does all of the dirty work for me. Very occasionally I will use the "rinse only" feature. Like maybe if there are some very dirty dishes in there but I don't have a totally full load yet and know I will have to wait until the next day to run the DW. Otherwise, I load her up and let her do her magic. I will get another one when she bites the dust. She has been worth her weight in gold to me.

Well, I spoke too soon. The 9-year-old unit just quit heating yesterday. Element's OK...likely relay or control-panel issue. I'll fix it Monday. Ho hum.

Thull, thanks so much for the detailed info!
do you happen to know if your electrasol tabs are the ones that still have phosphate, or are they the new phosphate free kind? phosphates are still legal in my state, but I can't find any dish detergent anywhere with it.

I tried the electrasol tabs when they first came out, and they didn't work well for me but I believe they were reformulated a few times since then? I hear a lot of good things about them so I plan on trying those.

right now I have the cascade complete gel packs, the phosphate free kind, and I am getting bits of the detergent left on my dishes when I remove them from the D/W. I have a crappy D/W so I can't fully blame the detergent, but the cascade gel packs w/phosphate that I used prior never gave me that issue.

Sippimom, 10 years, thats great! Thank you for the detailed info as well. I'm so glad to hear you are happy with your dishwasher!

Asolo, gosh, I'm sorry to hear that. Blame it on me for asking about it LOL. It sounds like you know what you are doing and can fix it though. It made it quite a few years without any issues. Hopefully this will be the last one for many years to come.

Ah, the joy of machines. Thanks for taking the blame, though. : )

Anytime! LOL ;o)