Everyone has his or her own idiosyncratic approach to dishwasher loading and unloading. My particular quirk is that I am extremely lazy and haphazard; everything gets shoved in at random. But at our rental house this summer, the dishwasher wouldn't comply with my approach. It was equipped with an extra top shelf dedicated to utensils. I had to insert each spoon, knife and fork in it's own slot!
What do you think of this alternative to the standard cutlery basket? What are the pros and cons of the various dishwasher systems for storing and washing flatware and utensils?
1. Old School Standard--The Basket: What is nice about the basic removable cutlery basket is that it fosters a nice, careless attitude toward the tedium of dishwasher loading. You can quickly stuff the utensils in any which way, which is nice. However, if you have an older, less effective dishwasher as I do, this means that the occasional knife or spoon comes out encrusted with last night's meal. Eww. Moreover, laziness on the front end comes back to haunt you when it's time to unload: Any time you saved initially is lost while you sort through the random jumble of forks and spoons to put them back in the drawer. It is important, therefore, to have a system for loading cutlery that simplifies unloading and also prevents pieces from nesting together, which interferes with cleaning. You could alternate the spoons and forks (some handle-up and some handle-down), while always putting knives sharp-end down, of course.
2. Inside Door Basket: This approach is similar to #1. But unlike the standard removable basket, the door basket may be fixed, which can be inconvenient. On the upside, having the basket attached to the inside of the door does free up more space in the main compartment.
3. Dedicated 3rd-Level Cutlery Tray: Dishwashers are increasingly being made with an extra top-shelf cutlery and utensil tray. This approach makes loading more time-consuming (no more cramming those forks in the basket) but does save time on the back end: unloading is much easier when you can see what you're dealing with. This extra tray is also perfect for stashing those hard-to-place oversized utensils like ladles, whisks and spatulas. In some dishwashers the third tray can be flipped over, with one side with little slots for flatware and the other side fitted with larger slots for big utensils.
Owners may complain that the extra tray cuts into the space available in the shelf below, making it impossible to load tall glasses. In some models, like this Miele one, the tray is adjustable by height, which is helpful. Ideally, the tray should also be removable. The best case scenario, in my mind, are the dishwashers that have a removable cutlery shelf in addition to a standard cutlery basket. This way, you could put some cutlery (e.g., spoons and knives) on the special tray and keep the forks down below in the basket. With less overcrowding, everything gets cleaner and unloading is easier. If you have a load full of tall wine glasses, for example, you can simply remove the top tray to create more space.
What kind of dishwasher do you have? And how are the cutlery and utensils stored ?
Image: Miele
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I live in a rental apartment with very old appliances (circa 1970's). It has the basket for flatware and I like that feature. I am very anal about how my dishwasher is loaded and my husband runs like the wind when it is time to load it. He use to try and be helpful and put the dishes he used in the dishwasher, but I have my own system for loading it so he could never get it right. I have to have each piece of flatware separated by style, and loaded with the handles down forks together, knives and so on. I have used the style where the flatware goes in a separate tray, but I felt that it took more time to load and unload them when they are in that way. I can carry my basket to the drawer that I am filling, not being able to do that creates extra steps that I am not willing to take.
I've had a Miele cutlery tray for 12 years. The cutlery tray was an adjustment at first, but I would never go back to a messy basket that lets cutlery bunch up. Once you get used to the tray, it is easy to load and unload. The Miele dishwasher runs so quiet, I can operate it overnight or even when I have company over. Plus it has never required service calls. Miele is worth paying a premium for.
REMOVABLE inside-the-door basket, and I won't go back! Lift it out for my kids to put away the utensils;and I have so much DW space to fill that I can get pots, pans, baking dishes, tons of normals plates & everything in. It's a pity that they still make DW w/baskets that take up most of the bottom rack space.
Our Samsung DW has flip-down lids for the removable baskets with slots in them. You can open the lid (and remove it, if you prefer) and pile your cutlery in haphazardly, or you can insert each piece into a slot handle first, so everything stays separate. I load each row with one utensil type (ie, line up all the forks / knives / spoons) and it makes unloading so easy!
I would think the tray would be so annoying. I vote for a removeable basket but it has to be the right size. Our current dishwasher has a basket takes up 2/3rds of a row and leaves an awkard un-useable space in the bottom rack.
Love our tray--though I have to say that the new Miele version of it (in the photo) is much better than the older one we have. Now, apparently, it has a handle (the one thing that bugs me about the old one) and you can lift out sections of it on some models, either to put things away or to put taller things on the rack below. (KitchenAid and Bosch also offer cutlery trays now too, and I suspect more companies will start offering them now that Miele's exclusive right to the design has expired.)
It does take getting used to if you're coming from a basket---loads and unloads a little differently, though I don't think it takes any more time once you adapt to it. But I love-love-love it! And as a bonus, there's a lot more space on the bottom rack, so that's easier to load too.
Removable door basket. LOVE it! I load it randomly, just spreading things out among the pockets as best I can. Take the whole basket to the appropriate drawers (silverware and tools) and unload quickly. (Just because they are "scrambled" doesn't mean it takes longer to put them away. At least for me. Sorting ahead of time is a waste of efficiency.)
My door basket has front "flaps" that can unclip to fold down to get tiny things (corn on the cob handles) or to fish our random beans or other food particles that fail to wash away... very handy!
I would hate that clip system drawer -- deal breaker for me.
Basket every time. I have a whirlpool (I think?) that we got about 5 years ago, and it has a basket that is long and skinny and fits across the length of the bottom row. No odd corner issues, and everything fits. Ours also has little flaps that you can fold down to contain odd small stuff in one of the sections of the basket.
It would take me twice as long to slot everything in as it currently takes to just toss in everything and wash, then take the basket over to the drawer and pull out 2-3 utensils at a time and lay them in their home in the drawer. (or if you're like me, you put spoons in the first two compartments, forks after, etc... and it's easy-peasy to put away too)
Honestly, the slotted tray thing seems like a waste of time and space. Sort of a "what new feature can we add now" type of thing that really isn't a better way to do things, but seems like a fancy option that you ~should~ want.
Paragraph 1: "...its own slot," not "...it's own slot!"
I agree with the Miele owner above - if you can afford it go with Miele - the germans know what they are doing as far as engineering, water and energy efficiency and quiet.... I wish I could afford to buy everything Miele - I LOVE their stuff - just bcs you pay for it once and you are done for 30 years - it will NEVER ever break.
oh and the way Miele does the cutlery is the BEST - things don't bunch up and clean to perfection with less water.
artoak - have you contacted Miele directly to get a newer tray - you might have to pay a little, but it is a thing that bugs you, it might be worth it - Miele has probably very standard sizes on everything they do, so the new model would fit in yours as well - just saying :-)
Anyone who refers to loading a dishwasher as 'tedious' must come wash my dishes for me.
I've had the luxurious benefit of a dishwasher only four years out of my entire life! Didn't grow up with one... and I've had only two apartments that had one.
how about this... AT - please do a giveaway for an "in sink dishwasher" http://www.insideadvantage.com/assets/pdfs/cms/KA-briva.pdf and let me be the winner!! I don't have an extra $3,500!!
Thanks,
CC
We have a Miele with a cutlery tray. Awesome.
I've been cooking for at least 10 people for past 2 weeks - the Miele with cutlery tray is great. One night, we had 23 people, and everything was done in 2 loads.
We have both styles: a removable basket at home and a tray style at a vacation house we share with extended family. We (four families in all) prefer the basket style as it is faster to load and unload plus it can hold oddly shaped utensils that do not fit in the shallow tray.
removable basket plus an extra tray for chopsticks
I decided against the cutlery tray. It's hard enough getting the kids to unpack the dishwasher as it is, and the cutlery basket is left for whoever gets there second. I can't imagine them even bothering with the tray!
Our current place has the cutlery tray and at first we were totally confounded by it. But once we worked out how you were supposed to put the cutlery in, I was converted. Things rarely come out dirty anymore, and it's so much easier to group like with like when loading, which makes unloading a total breeze. Oh, and you don't even have to be that fussy about putting them in; our forks are often a tad on the diagonal side...
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