How to Wash Dishes

There are two ways to wash your dishes: by hand or in the dishwasher. Both ways have their devotees. There seems to be a disagreement about which is better. Some prefer the dishwasher for its convenience, and others prefer hand washing because you can control how much water you use and ensure that your dishes are clean the first time.

*For instructions on using the dishwasher, scroll down.

There are two methods you can use to wash your dishes by hand. One requires a double bowled sink and one is for those with just one sink in the kitchen. Besides that, they take roughly the same steps. Before you start the actual washing process, you should scrape any leftover food into the trash. You can also run it through the garbage disposal, but then you risk clogging the sink.

1. Fill the sink with hot water

Use the hottest water that you can without making it so hot that you burn yourself. Don’t fill the sink all the way to the top, since you need room to drop the dishes in. Make it about half full. If you’d like you can fill a large bowl in the sink instead of the sink itself. This will make it a little easier if you have to change the water.

2. Soak pots and pans

If you have any dishes that have baked on grime that will be hard to get off, such as pots or casserole dishes, fill these dishes with the hot water as well and set them on the counter so that they are out of the way. Let them sit for about 10 to 15 minutes. You can also put smaller dishes with baked on crud in these pans, such as spatulas and knives.

3. Add the soap

Add a couple squirts of dish soap for hand washing to the sink and stir it around with your hands to make a uniform solution with lots of bubbles. If the soapy water is hard on your hands, you can wear a pair of rubber gloves. This will also protect you from cutting yourself on any utensils.

4. Start washing

• Begin with the glasses and delicate plates, such as those used for dessert. Clean any flatware next, then proceed to the dinner plates, and then finally the pots and pans and cooking utensils that had been soaking. You want to do the most delicate items first to ensure they don’t break, and the most soiled items last, so they don’t get the sink and cleaning tools dirty at the start of the process.
• To start washing, simply immerse the dishes in the water and scrub any grease, sauce or food off by using a kitchen brush, sponge or steel wool pad. Since steel wool can be abrasive, don’t use it on dishes made from delicate materials, like stainless steel. To clean forks, use the corner of a scrub pad or dish cloth to get between the tines.
• Be sure to scrub every part of each item, including the handles on coffee cups and saucepans where finger oils have been deposited. The old adage of ‘squeaky clean’ comes from washing dishes; you can tell when a dish is clean when it actually starts squeaking when you rub it.
• If the burnt food still won’t budge after soaking or scrubbing, see the guide How to Clean Burnt Food from a Saucepan for more options.
• Replace the water and add more soap whenever it becomes too full of gunk to really clean any subsequent dishes or when the water has cooled or the soapy suds have disappeared.

5. Rinse the dishes

As you finish with scrubbing each dish, you want to rinse it off under the tap to remove the soap, or in the second sink if you’re using the double-bowled method. For this method, you can simply fill the second sink with lukewarm water and dunk the dishes in to rinse them, replacing the water as needed. If you don’t have a second sink, just rinse the dishes under the tap. You may need to drain out a little of the water as you do so. Using lukewarm water is fine. If you have hard water, add a cup of white vinegar to the rinse sink to help prevent the mineral deposits from forming on your dishes as they dry.

6. Check the dishes

After you rinse each dish, double-check that you’ve gotten it completely clean. Any remaining sauce or food will be fairly obvious, but you may have to remove your gloves and check with your fingers to ensure that you’ve gotten off all of the grease. If any amount of soil remains, repeat steps four and five. If you still can’t get the dish clean, you can try soaking it longer or using a stronger cleaning solution.

7. Dry the dishes

Once you’re sure each dish is indeed clean, wash your hands so those are clean too, then dry off the dish using a fresh dish towel. Don’t use a bath or hand towel since the lint may stick to your dishes. You’ll want to dry the dishes as you go, not save them all for the end, since you don’t want them to get streaks or spots from sitting wet. If you can, recruit a friend or friends to help you dry. It’s an easy task; they’ll still be your friends after this. If this isn’t an option, you can leave the dishes to dry in a drying rack. Be sure to put bowls and glasses in the rack upside down so that the water doesn’t pool.

8. Put the dishes away

Put the dishes away in the cabinet after you dry them. That way they’ll be easy to find later and harder to knock on the floor and break.

9. Clean the dishwashing area

Once the dishes are put away, wipe down the dish rack with a damp cloth then towel it dry to prevent mineral build-up from hard water. Wiping out the sink is also a good idea to remove any food debris.

10. Clean the prep area

Whenever there are dirty dishes in the sink, that means that food was prepared somehow, which means that the countertops and stove need to be wiped down as well. Use a dish cloth or sponge with soapy water on it to remove any crumbs or sticky messes, then wipe the counters with a disinfecting kitchen cleaner if needed to ensure the food prep area is safe for the next cooking session.

1. Preparing dishes for the dishwasher is a much shorter process, especially if you have one of the newer dishwashers that will practically scrape off everything. If you’re not so lucky, you should soak your pots and pans, as in step two, and then follow the scrubbing instructions in step three. You should also scrape off as much food as possible to avoid clogging your dishwasher’s drain.
2. Inspect your dishwasher to determine the locations of the water jets so that you can avoid blocking them with a large pan if needed.
3. After this is done, simply load the dishes in the dishwasher, taking care to put lighter and more delicate dishes in the top rack so that they don’t get damaged. Flatware should be placed upside-down in the basket. Be sure not to crowd in too many items in the flatware basket or in the dishwasher in general as they won’t get clean; it is better to run two separate loads if needed. It is a good idea to mix up the flatware in each basket compartment for the same reason since they can easily stack together, which would prevent them from getting clean.
4. Add the detergent to the dispenser. Be sure not to overfill the dispenser. One of the most common mistakes is to use too much dishwasher detergent, which then leaves a residue on the dishes. Usually only 2 tablespoons of detergent is needed, but read the label of your specific product for the most accurate instructions.
5. If your machine has a rinse air dispenser, you can fill that with some white vinegar, which is especially helpful if you have hard water, or you can use a commercial rinse aid.
6. Put your dish cloth or sponge in the dishwasher as well. Do not put nylon scrubbers in the dishwasher though as the high heat could melt the nylon.
7. When everything is ready, lock the machine, and run it. While the dishwasher is running, complete steps 9 and 10 from the section above: clean the dishwashing area and the prep area.
8. Most dishwashers drain into the sink, so be sure the sink isn’t clogged before you turn the dishwasher on or you could end up with quite a mess on your counter and floor.
9. When the dishwasher is finished, take the dishes out and put them away. Give them a quick check to make sure they are clean and dry first, so that there are no surprises later when you set the table.

In the great debate between using a dish sponge and dish cloth, science says the cleanest choice is a dish cloth. There are several reasons why a dish cloth is cleaner:

• A sponge is more porous and can harbor bacteria more easily.
• A sponge does not dry out as quickly as a dish cloth, which allows bacteria to live for longer.
• A dish cloth can be disinfected after each use more easily than a sponge, which might disintegrate if boiled in water or exposed to chlorine bleach.

If you have any doubt about which is better, keep in mind that the FDA has outlawed the use of a dish sponge in any commercial kitchen due to the higher risk of bacteria contamination.

A scrub pad is usually easier to clean with than a dish cloth when you need scrubbing power, but you don’t need to have a scrub pad attached to a sponge. Instead, get a plain scrub pad or loofa, which can stand up to more a intense disinfecting processes. If you invest in several, you can clean them along with the dish cloths every few days so that you always have a clean one for washing dishes, or if you use a dishwasher, you can put them in the dishwasher each day where the hot water can disinfect them.

• It will be a lot easier on you and the friends you recruit to help you if you clean the dishes as you cook each meal. Instead of leaving dirty dishes out on the counter for hours, you want to at least rinse them right away so the food doesn’t have a chance to set. This will make it much quicker when you run the dish detail.
• Some items that should never go in a dishwasher are crystal, china, cast iron, copper, wood, and any plastic items.
• Never use dish liquid meant for handwashing in the dishwasher. Dish liquid is created to produce a high amount of suds, which helps to lift bacteria away from surfaces. In the dishwasher, these suds can overwhelm the available space and start to leak out, creating a soapy mess on your floor.
• Many dish liquids contain ammonia, especially ones that are antibacterial. Never use chlorine bleach in a sink or on a dish cloth or sponge if your dish liquid contains ammonia as the combination creates toxic fumes.
• In a large family household, it can be helpful to put a sign on your dishwasher that allows you to flip between “washed” and “unwashed” so that everyone always knows if the dishes inside are clean or not.

• Household Hints for Dummies by Janet Sobesky
• Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck
• Handy Household Hints from Heloise by Heloise
• Cleaning Plain & Simple by Donna Smallin
• Clean It Fast, Clean It Right by Jeff Bredenberg
• Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook by Martha Stewart
• Help from Heloise by Heloise