Is there a kitchen appliance that causes more conflict than the dishwasher?  Methinks not.

I can still hear my mother after any big holiday dinner telling us, her grown children, that we were “doing it wrong” as we loaded her dishwasher. Strangely, now that I think about it, this was never her concern when we were still living at home and loading the dishwasher was part of our daily chores. But over time, after years of loading the dishwasher herself, Mom had developed her own system and though we had been successfully loading our own dishwashers for some time, she wanted to enlighten us on the error of our ways.

There are, it turns out, many ways to “correctly” load a dishwasher.

The first big hurdle is to rinse or not to rinse.  Many boomers were taught that rinsing their dishes was the first step toward maximum dishwasher effectiveness.  And many were essentially handwashing their dishes before the dishwasher got a shot, in effect making the dishwasher a second wash and dry of already-cleaned dishes. Then came the news that it was not necessary to wash your dishes before putting them in the machine—imagine that! Scandalized boomers watched in horror as their children gave the dishes a quick scrape and put them into their Bosch or KitchenAid or Sears machine, only to discover that—egad—they came out clean!  Who knew?

Not that seeing this miracle changed anyone’s behavior.  That rinsing impulse was way too ingrained to be changed by facts.

There are also the finer points of loading one’s dishwasher.  

This is what Mom was referring to when she called us out. We can agree that certain racks were designed to hold specific items. Glasses on top, plates on the bottom, for example. I still feel anxious if I have to slip a glass on the bottom rack.  It just seems wrong.

Some folks hold strong opinions on the correct way to load silverware into the machine.  Some like to keep like items together, but I find that the spoons tend to “spoon” and not get truly clean.  Others put forks and knives and spoons upright in the basket. However, I was once lovingly corrected by a friend who cautioned me to put all the silverware in upside down, lest the children get harmed by an errant tine or blade. At that time, the youngest person in the home was about 55 years old, but I digress… Such helpful advice.

I’m certain that all dishwashers come with a user guide explaining the most effective way to load them.  And I’m confident that most users never read the guide, or, if they did, decided that they knew better.

Don’t advise, enjoy.  If someone is willing to do my dishes, any way they choose to do so is fine with me. If most of the dishes come out clean, I’m a happy camper.