I always loaded them up, but the dishwasher that came with the house I bought is awful, so I tried loading them down, and they get much cleaner.

Glad your mom is okay.

That's why I was so happy to get a new dishwasher with a 3rd rack - I load them down for safety, hubby loads them up because he thinks they get cleaner.

Pointy-stabby things get loaded stabby side DOWN.

Agree - I always load pointy-stabby things with sharp end down.

But I alternate the forks and spoons. Some up and some down. Otherwise they can "nest" together and don't always come out clean.

I do exactly the same as Phone Lady.

Pointy stabby like forks face down but I hand wash my knives. Spoons and other non pointy stabby things are alternated randomly to avoid nesting. I impaled my hand on a steak knife that DH loaded facing up a few years ago...cut all the way to the bone and required 7 stitches to close up. No sharp knives in the dishwasher after that.

I load all facing down, so that when unloading I touch handles only. In food service you always only touch clean utensils by handle. Guess all those college years jobs left their mark.

I load them all down. How would you easily get them in and out if you reverse them? You would be touching the dirty and sharp parts going in and touching the clean and sharp parts coming out.

Debrak,

If you have them pointing up, you grab a handful around the throat (the skinny part of the handle next to the works) and remove them from the basket.

My flatware isn't flat! It doesn't spoon (nest). :) It has thick, acrylic handles. It doesn't fit into those third racks either, and certainly doesn't get clean pointing down. My old dishwasher's flatware basket opened up on one side to make it easy to take the items out by the handle. That was a brilliant design!

Monicakm, thanks for the warning! I'll still be putting them works side up, but will be careful about having it open around unsteady elders. At least my flatware isn't pointy. Even the forks have rounded tines. And sharp knives never go in. It's a scary thing to think about. Falls can be awful.

I load up except for pointy things like sharp knives. Simply wash my hands before unloading.

I also touch things like lettuce and red peppers and cherry tomatoes with my *bare hands* before they go in my family's mouth. I do wash my hands before prep as well, and no one's died yet. :-)

Forks and knives points down as my Mom taught me. Here's another one: Always run the faucet on cold after you've used plain hot water so that the next person doesn't get burned. I'm glad your dear Mom is OK. Sheesh ! Scary !

PhoneLady

Agree - I always load pointy-stabby things with sharp end down.

But I alternate the forks and spoons. Some up and some down. Otherwise they can "nest" together and don't always come out clean.

Yep!

I've always loaded everything pointing down, so when you empty, you are grabbing the handle, not the eating or sharp end ...Just seems like an obvious no brainer to me

I'm the same as ctycdm. So much easier to unload!

The instructions that came with my DW (Kenmore by Bosch) agree with PhoneLady.

Sorry about your mom! Hope her back heals quickly.

Pointy/eating sides down. I just make sure when I put them in to not put all spoons together so they don't nest. Everything always comes out clean.

While I know I always wash my hands when unloading the dishwasher, I know the rest of the family can't be trusted to do that. So I'd rather not have them grabbing the part I eat with using their dirty hands.

Up?! You'll poke your eye out.

And stop running in the house.

I always load knives point up, at the very back. Forks and spoons are alternating as others have suggested and my DW manual suggested to prevent nesting.

I had a brief period where I loaded knives point down, all I ended up with were duller knives and broken points.

I will continue in my method of ALWAYS unloading knives and other sharp/breakable items first but I won't change my DW loading method or switch to hand washing.

Pllog, my baskets are so deep and could not reach the handle to pull them out. If it is possible, I don't think I'm coordinated enough to do it. : )

marcolo, good to see you back. Please update us on your kitchen.

Forks and spoons do not fit with the handles up. Knives go blade down.

MARCOLO!!!

Instructions on my Bosch DW said to load knives down, which I do. Don't worry too much about crowding forks and spoons (loaded up) b/c I rinse b4 dishwashing. I'm stubborn and old fashioned when it comes to DW. To me they're strictly a sanitation tool, not cleaning

I truly want to gag at the thought of dried up egg residue on a fork after it's gone thru DW. It grosses me out more that it annoys me to prewash, lol

duplicate post

This post was edited by bossyvossy on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 13:19

My dishwasher (Maytag) has the baskets with the covers that have cut out holes. Those holes are to place your flatware in, one utensil in each hole. This keeps them separated so they can be washed completely. Using these holes, it is impossible to put forks and spoons downwards. I do put the (butter) knives in downwards, but I never wash my sharp knives in the dishwasher.

Down. No poked hands and easier to grab the handles to unload.

Spoons, down and up, so they don't cup. Knives down and the rest up. They come out clean, some occasional peanut butter signs on the non sharp knives. Ahhh, love that PB.