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so now you can't wash pots or flatware in the dishwasher?


grazhina

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I got my first dishwasher around 18 years ago, and have been washing almost all my cookware, bake ware, glasses, dishes and flatware in it ever since with fine results. Lately, though, I've started having problems. First it was baking pans rusting, then cookware and now even some stainless flatware that's turning dark gray.

Looking online for a possible reason, I kept finding sites that said:

Never put aluminum cookware in the dishwasher.

Never put stainless steel cookware in the dishwasher.

Never wash your aluminum bake ware in the dishwasher.

Wash your stainless steel flatware by hand.

What's a dishwasher for nowadays anyway? Washing the plates is the easy part.

It's not the dishwasher, it's the quality of the stuff we put in it. Even the the stuff that's expensive and touted as durable and long lasting has to be babied.

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It's such a hassle. I use glass cake pans and bakeware for the dish washer reason. I've never had trouble with my stainless pots and pans in the dishwasher however. As for the tin and aluminium stuff, it turns black if water even drips 6 inches away from it, I hated it so much, I let my DH cut it up, and use it for body metal to patch his old junkers that he liked working on and fixing up years ago.

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If you've had no problems before in 18 years, maybe it's the newer detergent. Most contain oxalic acid and bleach. I know aluminum discolors in dishwashers but thought stainless would be OK. I've just always washed my pots and pans by hand because they never really got clean in the dishwasher. I've had Revere Ware forever and the dishwasher ruined the plastic handles over time ages ago so after replacing them, I never put them in the dishwasher again.

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I haven't had an automatic dishwasher in so mini years I've forgotten when! But when we visit our two older sons and use their dishwashers, everything goes in, and #2 only has stainlwess flatware, etc. We've never noticed discoloration.

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I only put my pots and pans in the dishwasher every once in a while. I just like to wash them by hand. But, everything else goes in. What I have noticed is that my glasses are seeming to break more often. I've heard that the dishwaher thins the glass.

Ugh, wasn't it much easier back in the day? Seems like we are always trying to make things "easier" with technology but are only ruining stuff.

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We don't have a dishwasher now, but when we did have one, the "only one" rule was in effect. If we had only one of an item -- pots and pans, utensils, etc. -- it was washed by hand and put away. The dishwasher didn't run every day, so items with multiples -- plates, glasses, flatware -- were rinsed and stashed. I was not happy having to pull an item out of the dishwasher and wash it in order to cook the next meal.

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I have the same set of stainless flatware that we got when we were married, 38 years ago! It's always been washed in the dishwasher and still looks good. My Revere ware is hand washed, just because it takes up so much room in a dishwasher. And I don't wash plastic in the dishwasher, although I know a lot of people do. Other than that, everything goes in there, cookie sheets, muffin tins, etc, and seems to be surviving just fine.

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Our poor dishwasher is out of commission currently--I'm embarrassed to say, but it's our 4th in this house in 15 yrs---the first was 20 or more years old--not the prettiest, but worked well for about a year after we got here. With one, the electrical stuff in the panel went on the fritz out of warranty, and the repairman said it'd be cheaper to buy a new one, 1 just never seemed to clean well--I think it had something to do with the plumbing, I know sounds weird, but...and then the "lock" on the door didn't lock correctly one day, the panel "burned out" because it was "on" but not closed correctly--another freak thing---I think it says tons for our "throw away" society--things just aren't made like they used to be!! Our current dishwasher is fine, but we have an intermittent problem with our well/pump--we lose water pressure---in fact, all the water in the house will turn off while running for like 30 sec! DH knows about it, but apparently it's not a priority...cause there's still water,lol. Yes, to call a plumber would be the answer, but if DH could fix it-which he knows the problem and it's not expensive for him to do--a plumber would probably charge us an arm and a leg, which I just can't afford right now....at least there's still water! lol I'd rather just wait til one day the water doesn't turn back on so I could say "I told you so", lol j/k :lol: At least the girls have been helping with the dishes!

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We are having problems with ours right now, but it's because it has shifted or something since it was installed last year. You have to push hard on one side to get the door to close. Not a priority with my DH either, along with the burned out light fixture where I do all my mini work...

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Actually, I misspoke earlier. I do have a dishwasher: Lloyd. I cook, he cleans up. He gets miffed if I clean up as I go along, which is my habit so as not to have a mountain of dirty bowls, pots, etc., when dinner hits the table. He claims I'm cutting into his territory. There is the question of maintenance, though, what with having to replace several parts over the years, but all in all, he's holding up well, even without a warranty. :lol:

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Actually, I misspoke earlier. I do have a dishwasher: Lloyd. I cook, he cleans up. He gets miffed if I clean up as I go along, which is my habit so as not to have a mountain of dirty bowls, pots, etc., when dinner hits the table. He claims I'm cutting into his territory. There is the question of maintenance, though, what with having to replace several parts over the years, but all in all, he's holding up well, even without a warranty. :lol:

Sounds a little like our place then Kathie, I usuallu say that I have a MAN-uel dishwasher LOL, never owned one since living on our own do it is all done by hand, but with only the two of us here it works out OK

Hugs

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For us, it is matter of using the right settings and loading. I wash good china and older glassware but use the ''China/Light" setting. We do pots and pans, but use that setting, and some of the cheaper aluminum pans do color, but you know what washing them by hand they get pitted, and my grandmother always attributed that to the salt sea air that we get with the windows open. Plastic goes on the top rack only, and survives fine, it is never on bottom where it tends to melt near the heat elements. Flatware...never a problem....Silver plate on the other hand does not go well in dishwasher. Glasses that are older, will get pitted and scratched even on top rack but not a problem with newer glass. I am of the opinion that china/glass was not meant to just be looked at in a cabinet, and we do eat/use cook with older/antique things everyday. Could be water issues, hard water, etc for some of you, or detergents and your water........I know the rinse agent is key for us, really helps. And yes we do pre-wash heavy soiled things. Still beats washing all by hand for me.........

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When I moved here a little over two years ago, I lucked into a top-of-the-line Maytag portable dishwasher for not much $$$. I only use it maybe once a week or even less often (it's just me here, and I tend to hand-wash stuff every morning), but I do use it when I get a full load together. EVERYTHING goes in - Revere Ware, plastic (carefully stacked - when I was a child a Tupperware lid ended up melting in the bottom of our dishwasher, and I never forgot that!), Pyrex, stoneware, Corelle, it all goes in. It all seems to be holding up well and that may be because things like pots and pans rarely go in there more often than every couple of weeks, and so far I have never, ever set the cycle for more than the most gentle cycle, which is called "china and silverware". Don't know if that's made a difference or not. I've always had the feeling that the "potscrubber" cycle would probably take the pattern right off of the Corelle plates, and my Pyrex bakeware would be much, much thinner!

I will admit that I mostly use this dishwasher as extra counter space in my kitchen! :cheer:

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i've had dishwashers for over 20 years now.

everything goes in, even silver.

only things i wash by hand are crystal glasses and crystal vases.

i have aluminium pans and stainless steel pans and they go in the dishwasher

on a daily basis.

never seen any discolouration.

so maybe it is the detergent?

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Well, I don't know what's causing the discoloration on some my aluminum pots lately. The ones in question are sort of old, and I'd been thinking of getting replacements for them anyway.

What bothered me was the repeated warnings I found about not washing things in the dishwasher. I remember when everything was geared towards making your life easier, with less household drudgery.

I don't approve of household drudgery. :chat:

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We put anything but cast iron in our new dishwasher and everything comes out fine. I've never heard of pots that have to be washed by hand, but now I will be on the look out so I can avoid them. There are better things to do in life that wash dishes by hand.

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