The dishwasher is a great time-saving device, but it has limits like everything else. While it does a wonderful job of cleaning plates, dishes, cups, and silverware, there are some items you should never put in a dishwasher. Whether it's due to the size of the item or the materials it's made of, it's better to wash certain things you use in the kitchen by hand rather than risk ruining them in the dishwasher.
These include:
- Dishes, utensils, and pots and pans made of brass, gold, or silver: Although bowls and cups with gold trim are pretty to look at, they can be difficult to clean. To avoid having the dishwasher peel off the trim with its high water pressure and sometimes abrasive detergents, don't put these types of dishes inside of it. Items made from sterling silver may actually turn yellow when ran through a dishwasher cycle.
- Cutting knives and items made of wood: It's fine to put butter knives and small steak knives with the blade pointed down into the dishwasher. However, it's no place for larger knives that you use to chop food. The environment inside of the dishwasher can nick the blades of the knives and make them dull. The long and sharp blades can also damage your dishwasher. Wood items, such as cutting boards and bowls, also don't belong in the dishwasher. The intense heat can cause swelling, which in turn causes cracks that render the item useless.
- Pots and pans: Not only are these items too bulky for the dishwasher, they can easily get scratched and develop rust. If your pots and pans have food stuck to the sides and bottom, it's better to allow them to soak in warm soapy water for a while and then wash them by hand.Clean-up time goes much smoother when you know what you can safely put in the dishwasher and what you need to clean another way.