The Right Way to Load a Dishwasher

A lot of people use dishwashers to save time, energy, and water. With this kitchen appliance, you no longer have to spend hours in the kitchen scrubbing all the dirty plates, cookware, and utensils after cooking and eating with the whole family.

It’s definitely a must in a busy household, as it gives you more time for important things.

RELATED: 12 Things You Should Never Put in the Dishwasher

There is no question that it makes life easier, but are you sure it’s cleaning everything properly? If you are not, here’s the right way to load a dishwasher. There is also a long ongoing debate about whether to pre-rinse everything before placing them inside the rack. MinuteFood will finally answer that question and explain the dos and don’ts when loading your dishwasher.

Here’s another kitchen tip for you: 4 Kitchen Storage Tips & Hacks

How to Load a Dishwasher

1 – Pre-rinsing is not necessary

Except for dishes that are baked on, your dishwasher should be capable of getting dishes clean without rinsing them first. What you only need to do is scrape all the chunks. You don’t want to clog your spray arms, filters, or pipes.

2 – Load dishes

Make sure the dirty surfaces of your dishes are facing down not up. Put the dirtiest dishes in the bottom rack. Delicate and light stuff like fancy glasses and plastics, should go in the top rack where the spray is a bit gentler.

3 – How to orient dishes

The ideal pattern depends a bit on the specifics of your dishwasher. Check your manual. You can find it online. It will show you how to load your dishwasher for the best results.

In general, put your dishes close together to maximize the amount of stuff you can fit in there, but not too close. You don’t want to block little streams of water from actually getting stuff clean.

If you don’t have a full load, avoid overlapping dishes that are dirty. Do not load stuff in a way that blocks the moving parts in your dishwasher. Make sure your spray arms can spin and nothing keeps the detergent door from opening.

4 – Utensils

Should utensils go in the eating surface down or up? According to the experts, direction doesn’t matter. What matters is keeping your utensils from snuggling tight together. Keep this from happening by mixing up different types of utensils in each bin.

5 – Not working

If you are sure that you are doing everything right and your dishes still aren’t getting clean, there might be something wrong with your dishwasher. Check your spray arms, it might be clogged.

The Right Way to Load a Dishwasher