Dishwasher What level of Clean ?

We rinse dishes before putting in the dishwasher. Food that sticks and dries on dishes, isn't always removed by the dishwasher.

 

I have to rub out the insides of tall glasses. Any avocado residue must be completely removed. Dish soap and water to scrub out greasy nonstick skillets. Tupperware that had something greasy in it typically has to go through the dishwasher twice. Most everything gets at least a rinse, unless it was just a plate with toast on it or something.

 

I think at our house we should run the dishwasher more often especially in the summer. Even if the dishwasher isn’t full I think it should be run every other day.

 

depends...
It will get a good water and brush scrubbing to get dried off food before sitting in the dishwasher for any length of time before running. If I am going to run it right after the meal and loading I can generally get away with loading them right away, but habit usually has me scrubbing them first.
Other family members can just put theirs in their dishwashers and they normally come out clean. Maybe it is our water?

 

We rinse off anything heavy before the dishwasher, and sometimes certain items (plastic containers with particularly potent or greasy foods, pots etc) get a presoak on the sink.

I think it depends on the machine too. We had a portable maytag before we moved, hose hooked up to the sink faucet. Frigidaire built in at the new house. May have something to do with the water, I dont know. But the maytag does a much better job of cleaning than the Frigidaire. Using the same detergent, the little great value dishwasher pods.

But even if they don't come out emaculate, I dont ever plan on not having one. Before we got the portable maytag at the other house, the wife was after me for a while to install one. After much gnashing of teeth, the portable was the compromise due to small kitchen and lack of cabinets. Dont tell her I said so, but some of the BEST money I/we've ever spent.

 

I have never understood that about dishwashers. Why do owners think it is still better to have a dishwasher when you must prewash everything that goes into them?

No, I do not have one or want one. However, there is one other member of this household that does want one.

Everyone we know that has a DW prewashes! How is this more convenient or efficient?

 

We just replaced our dishwasher and it's night and day what we can get away with now. Also the pods are far superior to the old detergent.

I just rinse unless someone else failed to and the crud is all hard and unlikely to get clean.

Even with the new machine, you can't just not do anything and expect good results.

 

The prewash is just to get heavy or stubborn stuff. Like others said above, if the dishes havent dried with the food on, you usually dont have to worry about it. The prewashing is more like a rinse, and doesnt take long. Beats the h3ll out of having to stand there at the sink and hand wash all those dishes. We ALL know the saying happy wife happy life..well in this case it is absolutely true and warranted.

 

Our pre-wash cycle is called Cricket and Rascal except if it is a heavy sugar meal like pancake syrup. I find I have to soak or lightly scrub dishes that have dried food on it. Dishes that get stained and don't come clean are the dishes that water has sat on. We wash grapes and put them on a plate. the plate gets brown. I hate to think what is in our town water to do that. I find that the bottom of tea cups don't always come that clean either. Our dishwasher is an older model.

 

I never use my dishwasher. It does a pretty good job but I find it faster and easier to just wash by hand.

 

Wife pre washes, I just load it and put it on heavy duty and that seems to work. I’m not much on doing dishes.

 

Running it frequently keeps the seals and gaskets pliable and prevents leaks,

 

You guys from Canada love a tight seal!

 

we have found that using Cascade Platinum Pods not only cleans the dishes but also keeps the interior clean as well.

 

Welcome to Renfrew County......................where men are men and sheep are afraid...............................

 

I do have the boots, just in case!

 

My wife pre-washes everything...there have been a few "discussions" about this, the outcome has been that if I load, there will only be a pre-rinsing of things with heavy or particularly hard to clean soiling on them...if she wants to continue to waste her time pre-washing everything, have fun...but not necessary IMO...and I ran it regularly for years before we were married, so I do have some experience.
Our dishwasher is an older (early 2000's) elcheapo Frigidaire model and it gets things clean about 98% of the time with no excessive pre-cleaning...but I do have the water line hooked to the hot water supply instead of the cold side like was suggested in the manual...so that may be part of it too...