11 Things You Should Never Put In Your Dishwasher

P.s. my metal straws also get hand washed. No dishwasher is going to clean up inside those tubes!

I find that #5 plastic (polypropylene) does just fine on the top rack even in a high heat cycle. It’s the other plastics like #1 and #2 that get warped and melt unless they happen to be extra thick. I check my recycling labels and #5 goes in the dishwasher on top and everything else gets hand washed.

I wash “handled” colanders – those sets of different sizes with handles – by hand, as debris collects between the mesh and the metal ring around the outside so that I have to wash it again by hand anyway. Before my food processor bowl broke I had started washing it by hand as well as it would collect gunk in an impossible-to-reach spot (one of those tiny brushes for cleaning hummingbird feeders was the only thing that would reach) at the base of the handle, putting undue strain on the locking mechanism that eventually transferred to the rim and caused it to chip when locking the lid in place. It was a long-standing model that’s been discontinued, so hopefully subsequent designs have corrected this flaw. But I’m still waiting for a glass food processor with all the bells and whistles of the plastic ones.

My dishwasher has a cycle specifically for crystal and fine china, I use that if washing dishes after having company and I have used our “good” china and crystal goblets.
I do wash my printed measuring cups in the dishwasher, but I put them on the top rack, I’ve had them for fifty two years and they still have their printed numbers and lines on them.
I must admit to something that is probably a “no no” to many folks, but I rinse my dirty dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. (My kids say, “Mom washes the dishes before she washes the dishes.”) I never, or hardly ever use the “Regular Cycle,” but I use the “Speed Cycle” and that cycle, on my dishwasher that is 15+ years old, does not have a “dry cycle.” The dishes are so hot when the cycle is over that they literally dry themselves.
If one of us is ill with flu or a bad cold, I do use the Regular Cycle and let the dishes go through the “Dry Cycle.”
As for very thin plastic containers, I recycle them, as this area has a recycle truck that picks up glass, plastic, and metal cans one week and paper and cardboard the next week. I do not reuse thin plastic containers.
Sadly, not many of our neighbors recycle but throw everything into their garbage that is picked up every week. Some neighbors let friends and relatives, from other towns, that do not have garbage pick up, dump their garbage in their driveway to be picked up. Someday this will end our “free,” ( our taxes pay for this) garbage pickup service. I have some plastic containers for left overs, which I have purchased for this purpose, but that plastic is sturdy enough to be washed on the top rack.

I have clear acrylic mugs/cups that I handwash, otherwise they get that “frosty look”

I can’t begin to tell you how many baby bottle nipples ended up melted at the bottom of my dishwasher. Ugh! I can still smell the odor 30 years later! Yeesh!

P.s. my metal straws also get hand washed. No dishwasher is going to clean up inside those tubes!

I find that #5 plastic (polypropylene) does just fine on the top rack even in a high heat cycle. It’s the other plastics like #1 and #2 that get warped and melt unless they happen to be extra thick. I check my recycling labels and #5 goes in the dishwasher on top and everything else gets hand washed.

I wash “handled” colanders – those sets of different sizes with handles – by hand, as debris collects between the mesh and the metal ring around the outside so that I have to wash it again by hand anyway. Before my food processor bowl broke I had started washing it by hand as well as it would collect gunk in an impossible-to-reach spot (one of those tiny brushes for cleaning hummingbird feeders was the only thing that would reach) at the base of the handle, putting undue strain on the locking mechanism that eventually transferred to the rim and caused it to chip when locking the lid in place. It was a long-standing model that’s been discontinued, so hopefully subsequent designs have corrected this flaw. But I’m still waiting for a glass food processor with all the bells and whistles of the plastic ones.

My dishwasher has a cycle specifically for crystal and fine china, I use that if washing dishes after having company and I have used our “good” china and crystal goblets.
I do wash my printed measuring cups in the dishwasher, but I put them on the top rack, I’ve had them for fifty two years and they still have their printed numbers and lines on them.
I must admit to something that is probably a “no no” to many folks, but I rinse my dirty dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. (My kids say, “Mom washes the dishes before she washes the dishes.”) I never, or hardly ever use the “Regular Cycle,” but I use the “Speed Cycle” and that cycle, on my dishwasher that is 15+ years old, does not have a “dry cycle.” The dishes are so hot when the cycle is over that they literally dry themselves.
If one of us is ill with flu or a bad cold, I do use the Regular Cycle and let the dishes go through the “Dry Cycle.”
As for very thin plastic containers, I recycle them, as this area has a recycle truck that picks up glass, plastic, and metal cans one week and paper and cardboard the next week. I do not reuse thin plastic containers.
Sadly, not many of our neighbors recycle but throw everything into their garbage that is picked up every week. Some neighbors let friends and relatives, from other towns, that do not have garbage pick up, dump their garbage in their driveway to be picked up. Someday this will end our “free,” ( our taxes pay for this) garbage pickup service. I have some plastic containers for left overs, which I have purchased for this purpose, but that plastic is sturdy enough to be washed on the top rack.

I have clear acrylic mugs/cups that I handwash, otherwise they get that “frosty look”

I can’t begin to tell you how many baby bottle nipples ended up melted at the bottom of my dishwasher. Ugh! I can still smell the odor 30 years later! Yeesh!