Okay, maybe there's no one right way to load the dishwasher. But there sure are plenty of ways to do it wrong. Mike Nerdig, marketing manager for dishwashers at GE Appliances, offers his top tips for getting sparkly-clean results.
Stay Clear of the Rotating Spray Arms
Those arms spin as they spray to shoot streams of water and detergent onto the dishes for a thorough cleaning. Anything that slips through a dishwasher rack—say, a spatula handle—can get in the way and prevent an arm from turning. The end result is a lousy dishwashing job.
"Don't block the rotating spray arms," Nerdig says. "That's the number one cause of poor performance—a utensil or something getting under the rack and blocking the arm." He advises placing items with long handles, including pots and pans, along the side of the rack to eliminate the possibility they will interfere with a spray arm if they slip through, since the arms don't reach all the way to the sides. Spatulas, large knives and other long items should be placed flat on the rack.
That Goes for the Detergent Cup, Too
Obviously, the door where you place your detergent needs to open while the machine is running to let the soap out. If you place a cookie sheet or another large item along the front of the bottom rack, it can block the door.
"The detergent cup is on the door, so it's out of sight when you're loading the dishwasher," Nerdig says. "You don't think about the cookie sheet, but it can block the detergent cup so it won't open or get enough water in it." That is, you don't think about the cookie sheet until you open the little compartment and find a big blob of detergent stuck in there.
"No Touching!"
Leave space between wine glasses and other items that can break easily, because shooting jet streams of water can cause the glasses to bang together and crack. "Dishes do move around because of the water," Nerdig says, adding that dishwasher clips are available that hold items in place so they don't move while they're getting blasted. Even if those wine glasses don't crack, if they're touching then they'll end up with ugly water spots after the drying cycle.
Leave Some Breathing Room for Dinnerware As Well
A common mistake people make is overlapping plates, bowls, and other dinnerware. "In general, you don't want any dishes touching because it's a place where dirt can get trapped," Nerdig explains. "You don't want any stacking because that restricts the water flow. You need the full water action to get them clean." Also make sure bowls, cups, and anything else that can hold water are loaded face down so the water will drain out.
When You Load Silverware, Think About Unloading
It may not have reached the intensity level of the toilet paper roll debate, but there is an ongoing conversation about how to best load silverware—handle up or handle down. Nerdig is a hangle up man. "For safety reasons, we always recommend that knives should point down. You have to think about unloading as much as loading," he says. With that in mind, the argument for having forks and spoons placed with the handles up is that when they're unloaded, you'll grab them by the handles instead of the business end. People who are sensitive to cleanliness don't want someone's hands on the part that will touch their food and end up in their mouths.
If you believe in handle down, then go ahead. However it's loaded, silverware will get clean as long as the items aren't crammed together or overlapping (you don't want your spoons spooning). Covers (or cells) are available that fit over the silverware basket, then silverware is placed through the slots to ensure adequate separation.
Plates on the Bottom, Glasses on Top
The lower rack should be used for plates, large bowls, pots, and pans. The upper rack is for glasses, coffee cups and odd-shaped utensils. The silverware rack is for forks, knives, spoons, measuring spoons and small utensils. This might seem blindingly obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people load their dishwashers in an utterly haphazard way.
That said, you loading skills don't need to be perfect anymore. Manufacturers used to tell homeowners to load their plates and other items so they faced toward the center of the dishwasher. This was to ensure that they received the full force of the water streams. But with today's dishwashers, direction is irrelevant. "It doesn't matter which way they face, water will get to them," Nerdig says. "The last couple generations of dishwashers were designed to deal with chaos instead of only working on one loading regiment. Dishwashers are more user friendly and versatile to allow people to load the way they want."
Keep Plastic on the Top Shelf
With the exception of high-end dishwashers, most models have an exposed heating element that sits along the bottom of the machine. It heats the air during the drying cycle, and it can get very hot. So if you're running plastics, including Tupperware, though the dishwasher, put them on the top shelf as far from the heating element as possible so they won't melt or warp.
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