Loading and unloading the dishwasher

Summary

This pattern is for anyone who loads or unloads a household dishwasher. It describes an order of work and a placement of items that reduces reaching, breakage, cuts and re-washing.

Recommendation	Why?
Fill each rack from back to front.	You never have to reach over items you’ve already loaded, which reduces knocking things over and getting splashed.
Put knives in the cutlery basket blade down, and the rest of the cutlery eating-end down as well.	Nobody grabs a blade when reaching in, and when unloading you hold every piece by the handle, so clean surfaces aren’t touched.
Mix forks, spoons and knives in each basket compartment.	Spoons of the same kind nest together and water can’t reach between them.
Scrape food off, but don’t pre-rinse.	Modern detergents use enzymes that work on food residue, and pre-rinsing wastes water and time.
Face the dirty side of plates and bowls toward the centre and the spray arms.	Water reaches the surfaces that actually need cleaning.
Put tall items at the sides or back of the bottom rack, and check the spray arms can turn freely.	A blocked spray arm or detergent door leaves the whole load half-washed.
Put plastics and glasses on the top rack.	The heating element is at the bottom, and heat warps plastic and stresses glass.
Unload the bottom rack first.	Water pools on upturned cups and bowls in the top rack, and pulling those out first drips it onto the clean, dry dishes below.
Clean the filter about once a month.	A clogged filter causes gritty residue, bad smells and poorer washing.

Context

This pattern suits everyday mixed loads of crockery, cutlery, glasses and cooking utensils.

It does not suit items that should be hand-washed: sharp chef’s knives (the edge dulls and the handles degrade, see Keeping knives sharp), wooden boards and spoons, cast iron (see Caring for cast iron), non-stick pans not marked dishwasher-safe (see Making non-stick pans last), crystal, insulated mugs and aluminium.

There’s a trade-off with cutlery orientation. Eating-end up gets slightly better cleaning, while eating-end down is safer and more hygienic to unload. This pattern chooses safety and hygiene, but a household with a strong dishwasher and frequent residue problems may prefer eating-end up for forks and spoons, with knives always kept blade down.

Usage

Loading: start with the bottom rack, back to front, then the top rack, back to front, then cutlery. Run it when it’s full, not before.

Unloading: open the door a crack after the cycle and let it stand for 10 to 20 minutes so steam escapes and things dry. Then empty the bottom rack, then the cutlery, then the top rack.

References

Your dishwasher’s manual is the best source for its own rack layout, spray-arm positions and filter-cleaning steps.