I'm not familiar with that scene. Tell us about it.

I remember that. The entire staff was in a tizzy! Are you in a tizzy, too too? Nicenthat you’re using the good silver.

I have all my serving pieces and some of the flatware all laid out to be cleaned-from Christmas. Oh dear.

I didnt see the movie, who did the cleaning? I remember seeing a documentary of Elizabeth ll and they showed the man who cleaned her silver. Now there was a job. He was ancient.

Use the silver everyday and you will rarely need to polish it. Sterling goes in the dishwasher with ease.

We're rewatching Downton Abbey. Carson was always polishing the silver. And fussing over every detail.

I LOVE to polish silver! I use silverplate for everyday and it also goes in the dishwasher. I've been using my mom's 'good' flatware (the silverplate) daily, for at least 15 years, always washing in the dw and it looks as good as new. I do polish it a few times a year and love when it's all spiffed up. The sterling gets used less often and is stored with blackboard chalk, which seems to keep it tarnish free. I inherited it from an auntie and that's how she stored it.

I believe the scene about polishing the silver was in the first Downton movie. Mary asked Carson to come back and help, even though he had retired, to be sure everything was done correctly.
I myself am not in a tizzy at all, just getting things done ahead of time.

My silver flatware is quadruple plated, not sterling. It was my mother's and is about 75 years old. I have read that you can put it in the dishwasher, but not along with stainless. I use it for special occasions and hand wash it.

I don't have sterling flatware. Well, I did for a while but didn't know it. My SIL was having a house built and was storing several things here. I didn't know I had a few thousand worth of her sterling in my linen closet until the day she came to take the wooden boxes out of one cabinet:)

She loves to polish silver and has a few bowls she uses often even though entertaining has become much more casual over the years.

OT story but a true one ;) My SIL was going to be gone one Halloween and her DH had said he'd man the door, pass out candy, then got a last minute invitation to a football game. He took a large bowl from the kitchen counter, filled it with candy and sat it outside the front door. He had no idea it was Wallace Sterling. The then empty bowl was still there on the front steps when she arrived home, either they had really honest trick or treaters or no one recognized how valuable.

i like using our silver - it's not too fancy and is easy to polish when needed. It's always the end of the fork tines that show tarnish first. I hand wash mine but I don't mind. It's been recommended that knives shouldn't go in the dishwasher - while the handle is sterling the cutting half is often stainless, and the heat from the dishwasher may cause the blade to loosen.

In an average Big house with a butler, he was responsible for the silver because it was very valuable, had to be counted, cleaned and safely stored every day. Silver isnt nearly as valuable as it used to be. In a really large house like Downton there would likely be an upper footman who assisted but not of course when the Royal family is coming. The late queen's silver guy was responsible mainly for keeping up the epergnes and candle sticks. They were enormous, staggeringly valuable and difficult to polish. Quite the job. I dont mind polishing my silver but I just dont seem to get to it when there are other things to do.

I handwash my sterling, but when I was growing up, ours went into the dishwasher (once we had a dishwasher). It's funny, but we only had sterling growing up because we couldn't afford to buy a set of stainless. I imagine the sterling was a wedding gift to my parents. We still use it at my mother's house for big family meals because she has more place settings of the sterling than any other flatware. It's stored in drawers lined and covered with Pacific cloth so it doesn't get tarnished.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm I use plastic silverware and paper plates so there's no cleanup afterwards. Am I doing it wrong? ;)

What exactly is the rule about silver and stainless in the dishwasher? Is it that they can’t touch? or can they not even be in the dw together at all? What DOES it look like if they ”hook up”? and is that fixable?

I put my silverplate in the DW, and I’ve been known to put the sterling in as well, along woth the stainless (and of course, the knife blades are all stainless). My biggest problem is a little spotting, but a very slightly damp cloth takes care of that. (Would I kill it if I did one spritz of Sparkel window cleaner on a cloth and gave a quick touch on the spots?)

@WittyNickNameHere ;), yes, you are, plastic forks are environmentally unfriendly and paper plates not a lot better.

@bpath, for spotting, an easy fix is to put the spotty flatware into a jug of very hot water for a few minutes, then pull them out one piece at t time and dry them with a clean tea towel. Because they’re hot it only takes a quick swipe to dry them.

I always get my mother’s sterling out for special occasions. It lives in a silvercloth-lined box so it rarely needs polishing.

When I run out of everyday flatware but the dishwasher isn't full enough to run--I use the silverplate.

Like so many brides back in the 1960s, I got sterling flatware, a very simple pattern (Pointed Antique) which I had adored as a child. My mother had that pattern in a set of dessert forks, used only for holiday feasts. Silver-polishing was one of my jobs...

I rarely use my sterling, but I am considering doing just that in my "old age" -- I already know it has very little re-sale value, and also know that non of my grandchildren will want it. Bah, humbug. So I may as well use it for my own enjoyment -- and put it in the dishwasher, too (except for the hollow-handled knives, or the ditto butter knives).

H*ll, I may as well use my good china, also! Even if the dishwasher will wreak havoc on the gold trim... I shall not introduce the china to the microwave, however. =)

Zalco, I need more clarification on putting sterling silver place settings in the dishwasher please. i'll be glad to use it for everyday since my stainless steel flatware is in sad shape.

Should silver be separated from stainless? do you recommend a detergent. Anything else. i wish i loved polishing but i don't.

"hmmmmmmmmmmmm I use plastic silverware and paper plates so there's no cleanup afterwards. Am I doing it wrong?"

You are using plastic utensils, not "silverware"

Another one here who likes to use the good and beautiful stuff for simple meals all alone for her own pleasure.

Another one who uses the ”good stuff” (China and Sterling) every day. I like it. It looks lovely and it makes me happy. My sons and their wives have no interest in it, so there’s no reason to store it/save it for them. Hoping the grandkids will take an interest.

@colleenoz: where did I say I didn't re-use the plastic silverware. I can actually show you my container full of plastic knives, forks and spoons that I bought probably 30 years ago. We usually only use them for backyard barbecues or firepit dinners. The plates go into the compost bin because they break down. So, tell me again how I'm destroying the environment?

I use plastic and paper in case pieces get lost or dropped and broken. My silverware NEVER leaves my house. Not even when I take lunch to work. I use plastic. That I re-use.

FWIW, dishwasher detergent is very harsh on things and can wear away finishes - it usually contains chlorine bleach. I imagine silver plating could get worn away over time.

My mom's good flatware was/is a huge set of stainless steel Dansk from Georg Jensen - something like 12 sets in individual felt bags, plus serving pieces and extra spoons.

She did have a number of silver bowls and platters, and polishing them was one of our chores as kids.

I'd thought that the chemicals in dishwasher detergents would 'eat' silver (and gold). No?

My DM's less expensive sterling is in the attic. She bought it piece by piece when she worked as a secretary at Shepard's Dept. Store in Providence -- home to many silver and jewelry manufacturers. My International "Vision" is unused as well. The cheap Gorham SS I bought 20 years ago is getting battered -- knives dull, etc. I know not to put aluminum in the DW, I think because it 'transfers' to other items, blackening them.

My everyday Mikasa pottery is *much* sturdier than any of the sets of china gathering dust in my house. Twelve place settings have held up well, but it's looking worn.

I don’t have silver flatware except a pair of silver lotus vases for flower arrangements. I found them at a consignment store few years back. They are hand washed and need polished once in awhile.

When polishing sterling forks, how do you remove the tarnish from the sides of the tines? The tines are what need polishing on mine .

@WittyNickNameHere ;), ”I use plastic silverware and paper plates so there's no cleanup afterwards” implies that these are thrown out.

In any case, even if you compost the paper plates, trees had to die to create them.

I have a bunch of cheap ceramic plates for backyard BBQs and picnics. If one is dropped (and none has been in the nearly 20 years since I’ve owned them) it’s no great loss and they’re easier to manage (especially if you’re eating without a table) than paper as they don’t give when you’re trying to cut something, or just collapse.

I also have a collection of stainless steel flatware that I’ve purchased from thrift stores and garage sales that I use for this purpose and in my lunch box. Again, if something goes missing it’s no great loss.

palisades -- I just polished my identical bowl last month. It was a wedding present.

I use Haggerty's Silver Foam on antiques and a dip on modern pieces, followed by a bit of the foam, which seems to retard tarnish. When the large fine-pore sponge that came with the foam wore out, bpath suggested buying makeup sponges. That's what I used last month. They are perfect.

happy2b -- You might use the dip on fork tines before polishing. Pour a little liquid into a small disposable container; I use the plastic cups individual servings of applesauce come in. I'd never use the dip on fine silver, partly because it removes the patina.

I like using my sterling, too, but I try not to use it with acidic foods. When I was in my 20s, I used it for dinner. I should have rinsed the salad forks more quickly as the dressing damaged the forks.

I know my son and belle-fille don't really want what I have-I have my wedding silver and my mother's also. I really should just give away the stainless and just always use the sterling. One set could be for every day and the other for special. I also have the everyday we used growing up but that is terribly tarnished and some of the knives have a bit of rust on the blades.

I don't know why we save "the good" stuff for company or special occasions. I think I will start making every day a special occasion.

Cyn, I know everybody says the SS blades are a problem in the dishwasher, but my set has been in the DW for low the past ... 29 years, no problems. I polish once or twice a year.

Maggie, I wish I were home so I could show you my pieces. I throw everything in, willy-nilly and it all comes out perfectly. I avoid any detergents with lemon in their name, no idea if that is a real problem, but costs me nothing.

Although nowadays I’m using stainless for everyday, but I used to use silverplate, which could not be put into the DW with stainless, as I recall. The silverplate knives could not go through the DH, as the handles would loosen from the blades- a few knives snuck into the DW now and again, and that indeed did happen. Perhaps it depends on the maker- my silverplate was Christofle.
I now have my mother’s sterling, and rarely use it. I should!

Just asked my engineer husband about this stainless and silver issue. He claims silver will rust the stainless over time. I am thinking 29 years of dishwashing render this concern moot.

Zalco, I have put sterling forks, spoons, serving pieces in the dishwasher. I do not let the silver ones come into contact with the stainless pieces. I never put the hollowware knives in, but butter knives that are made in one piece are okay. These with the rust are ones with the hollow handles and the SS knife blade fitted into the sterling handle. They can loosen over time. This set is 90 or more years old and roughly treated most likely by my dad and his brothers and not coddled once we used then in the 50s-70s. The other sets are 75 and 48 years old. I think I will start using my set and save my mother's which is more ornate for holidays.

Cyn, I think perhaps since my dishwasher historically dried the dishes really quickly, I may have been spared the problem with the knives. My service is not fancy, Minuet by International.

It was an engagement gift to my husband's grandparents in the 20s. The pattern was discontinued in the mid-30s. Some of the teaspoons are quite thin, the difference with new ones I buy on eBay is dramatic.

I hated hearing China's Christofle had the handles and blades issue. I think I may keep mum on this subject lest I lead anyone astray.

Cyn, OT but is your belle-fille your stepdaughter, daughter-in-law, or something else? I like the term, it’s lovely, might just have occasion to use it.

Zalco, thanks thanks. my dishwasher has an extra place for another set of flatware it's a pullout at the top. i'm quite sure i will be as happy as you are.

bpath, belle-fille is daughter-in-law. I just much prefer that because she is indeed a beautiful woman inside and out and DIL just doesn't convey that. I always worry that it might sound pretentious, but decided not to worry about that. The French word is much more affectionate and make the relationship sound like one based on love.

ETA: Mother-in-law is belle-mère-also lovely.

OT, but a propos la belle-fille, the French take care of addressing their belle-mère affectionately as well.

Cyn - what a lovely way to think of your DDIL. I have such a hard time finding the right card for both of my DDILs. I don't care for the ones that have on the front "For my son and his wife" or "For my son and daughter-in-law" - it just sounds like she's a plus one rather than a member of the family.

@colleenoz

The way I see it, both reusalbe plates and paper plates are bad for the environment. your dishes don't break down and are probably not recycleable. One day, *someone* will toss them in the trash where they will stay for millions of years. It may not be you. It may not be one of your kids, but that's where they will eventually end up. Plus the chemicals and water waste used to clean them is also not good for the enviroment. Trees are a renewable resourse. I don't know about the US, but when trees in Canada are cut down, trees MUST be planted to replace them. While they do take time to grow: they do grow.

Have a great day!

OP: sorry to hijack your thread.

Paper vs reusable pros and cons