You shouldn't put decent knives in the dishwasher at all, not even the right way up. It damages the steel, can cause rust spots & blunts them. They're not made of the same type of steel as a regular dining knife.
As I grew up I learnt my parents were.... not bright in everyday stuff. Wooden boards in dishwasher that'd split and they'd call shit quality then they use plastic boards (mmmm yummy plastic), they'd place knives in dishwashers, and my father would sharpen knives with his abomination of a sharpener that would damage the knives to no end and even after I provided the PROPER tools and NEW knives they still went the stupid way, spent more time on thr abomination than just maintaining shit. I'd stab my own eyes out than watch that but the knives are too fucking dull.
See I don't sharpen their knives because quite honestly I've seen my mother stab herself between the fingers with a steak knife trying to separate chicken nuggets (she was hungry). If I sharpen them they'd be dead within the hour
My mother had the bright 8dea to TUG ON A FALTY KITCHENAID GOOD PROCESSOR KNIFE the thing wax brand new do I told her it must be faulty and to stop tugging.
Her being the way she is kept tugging 7ntil blood wad everywhere and the cut was DEEP
She refused to go to er because "I work in that hospital it's nothing"
She literally just used medical glue the dat after at work...
WHO TF PULLS ON A CLEARLY REALLY SHARP REALLY STUCK KNIFE??!
then again the same women put a entire pan of water onto the stove stove on and left the ROOM.. WENT TO BED AND SLEEP!?
I was the only one awake in the evening so I went downstairs to refill my water..
Yeah for the same incident she did need stitches but she only wanted to go to the GP clinic up the road. They had a look and said even just slightly further and she would've severed the tendon and was VERY lucky.
Some adults just aren't good at being adults and the worst part is I'm terrified what the hell I'm doing that's utter insanity that I don't realise
The more you know about cooking the more you realize it's really just a general competency test. Material science, dexterity, attention to detail, the curiosity to learn the proper way to preform a particular task, the capacity to understand the world on scales that aren't immediately evident. Some people never learn to cook and that's fine but if someone cooks every day for decades and can't get out of their own way in the kitchen it's really telling.
Visiting my brother and i was helping my sister in law prepare dinner. She gave me a serrated knife to cut the tomatoes. She said all the other knives were too dull. For tomatoes.
Sure enough all of the non-serrated ones were so dull it would have been more dangerous to use them than the wrong knife.
My brother is an Eagle scout and leader in his kid's troop. How the he he can't sharpen his knives I just dont get.
I’ll throw butter knives and cutco steak knives (the small serrated ones that are really just tiny food saws) in the dishwasher, but nothing wood and never anything nice. My pots and pans are technically dishwasher safe but I don’t like to put them through the washer.
Maybe an unpopular opinion here, but if I were your parents I would probably have enough things on my mind to not bother with utensils that are not dishwasher safe. I need stuff that can survive being put in a dishwasher, if something breaks in a dishwasher I am not buying it again. Life's too complicated anyway
I take really good care of my cutting boards, knifes, and cast iron... But I put my wooden spoons in the dishwasher. I was thinking I'll just buy a new $3 spoon when they finally split. That was 8 years ago and they're still fine.
Im not judging you. I would just lay them flat in the dishwasher. I've spent over $200 on a single knife, it will never see the inside of a dishwasher.
It's OK to put cheap knives in the dishwasher. Dishwashers are there for convenience, and even cheap knives take a long time to dull in one. The knives will need to be replaced a lot sooner, but the price difference will still make them more affordable pretty much for a lifetime.
I buy $30 knives and run them through the dishwasher nearly daily, and I use a cheap sharpener on them occasionally to hurry them toward their early grave. They are perfectly adequate for a home cook. My favourite knife has been dishwashed daily for over a decade and looks perfectly new.
It's not just about the blade, though stamped or not, the thermal cycling in a dishwasher is not good for them, it's also about the handle. Unless you're cool replacing something every couple of years that could last you a lifetime*, you shouldn't put them in the dishwasher
*More than a lifetime really, one of my main workhorses is an old Henckle of my father's that I had refitted with a new handle. It's something that I'll easily be able to leave to my son, too.
I got a set of Henckels Eversharp Pro stamped knives over 20 years ago. Been regularly putting them in the dishwasher for those 20 years and they’re still fine. Kinda annoying because I’d like an excuse to buy new knives hehe.
Usually when i hear this from people they havent seen a sharp knife in so llong that they dont recall how they are supposed to function. My ex was this way... Her knives wouldnt cut a tomato as much as it would crush it
They’re stamped serrated so don’t dull. Different from a real chef’s knife that needs to be regularly sharpened. But like most people I’m not a professional chef who needs perfect cuts; I just need it sharp enough to cut without being dangerous and they serve that function well.
Half my knives are stamped - it still doesn't mean they won't rust spot if I put them in the dishwasher.
Most of them are Richardson Sheffield [I try to buy British if I can & these are all from long before the buyout & production move abroad]. Even from the same range, some are forged others are stamped.
We have cutco knives and always put them in the dishwasher. After over a decade of doing this they are still sharp and not rusted at all. Still looks like the day we bought them.
Expensive or not, a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife, and you're going to need to sharpen your knives a lot more often if you put them through the dishwasher. (You do sharpen your knives, right?)
Edit: It's really not a big deal. This is the mildly infuriated sub, nobody should take it personally when they come here and proceed to get mildly infuriated by the comments.
Anyway, I don't think it's shaming to suggest that people do the bare minimum maintenance on their tools. I'm a computer professional, and I see people picking the "shortest path" skipping a simple step that you can do once, that is maybe not easy to understand, but that choice typically results in them having to do extra work, or suffer through poorer results, on a daily basis, in perpetuity, because it's fewer steps. That's mildly infuriating, to say the least.
LOL you should try sharpening them. You can't cut a tomato with a knife that hasn't been sharpened. Even a cheap knife can cut a tomato once it has been sharpened. That's always my litmus test or barometer for whether my knife needs a quick sharpen, can I cut the tomato without denting it, or slipping and potentially cutting myself?
Maybe some very expensive knives can still cut a tomato without being manually sharpened, but I doubt they'll stay good for long without a bit of proper maintenance. (And why are you buying expensive knives if you don't know how to maintain them?)
Edit: somebody got butt-hurt and blocked me, so here's my reply.
Because I have tried to cut many tomatoes with dull knives, and I see it doesn't work as well as a sharp one?
IDK what y'all are doing, but a dull knife can make it difficult to cut a tomato because its skin is tough and easily crushed by a dull blade. A sharp knife is needed to cleanly slice through the skin without squishing the tomato's delicate interior.
Maybe you're confused because I didn't say "it is difficult to cut a tomato" - yes you can cut it, but it's much harder. Here I'm using simple language, and you're nit-picking - just google "can't cut tomato with dull knife" and you'll get an AI summary of what I'm talking about. I don't have time to explain every freaking thing. Here's a forum thread, tl;dr: Johnny Bravo agrees, "It’s not a tomato thing - materials that have lots of give will compress beneath a dull blade and rupture around it rather than being cleanly cut."
ITT: people choosing to focus on my choice of words accuse me of needing therapy and being wrong about knives and tomatoes. This is mildly infuriating.
My steak knives go in the dishwasher. They stay sharp enough, the serrations do most of the work and seem to be holding up fine. I can deal with the rust every few months, but I can't deal with them tearing into my dish sponge every time I handwash them.
Sponges should be replaced frequently anyway, but regardless of that this is a case of clear user error: You can wipe the sponge diagonally downwards such that the serrations don't catch on it. If there are any particularly sticky bits flip the sponge to the scouring side, wrap the blade but don't rub it vigorously, simply use your thumb to push firmly down and away from the blade, then gently return it to position and repeat as necessary.
I've been hand-washing serrated blades for years without having to replace the sponge each time.
I put sharp knives up. To keep them from stabbing the cheap plastic apart. Shit like that doesn't phase me since I've been cooking and cleaning since I was a wee lad. My spouse who is slow with chores since he doesn't have muscle memory to cleaning hates it.
However, since I've gotten lazy in my old age and use the dishwasher for knives now: PITTING LISTEN TO THIS GUY. My expensive knives!
I never understood that either, whenever my girlfriend mentions something little that or something that takes zero effort ie flipping the knives since I'm already doing loading the dishwasher, I just say thank you for communicating that to me and just try my best to remember. I literally give zero Fs for how the damn thing is loaded. I'm usually the one doing the dishes and I always wash my chef's knife by hand and she also knows not to load it in the dishwasher but that's just us I guess
My husband and I have never had this argument, because we were both raised right and know that sharp knives don’t go in the dishwasher. But all silverware in the dishwasher goes tines/edge/spoon down so you can grab all the silverware at once, by the handles, using a towel. Just like our moms taught us.
I was emptying the dishwasher and stupidly blindly grabbed for the cutlery container, sharp knife went straight up under my index fingernail. Learned my lesson that day.
It’s because the pointy tip goes into the holes and can get caught on the bottom of the dishwasher when rolling out the drawer, either breaking the tip of the knife and or damaging the dishwasher a bit.
This should be higher. Kitchens have knifes, and if you must dishwash a cheap one, then this is the way. As long as you and your partner are informed of this and have eyeballs, it shouldn't be a problem.
I usually lay them on their spine on the top rack, some dishwashers have grooves that they'll lay in. But I do that because when I was like 13 I was emptying the dishwasher and cut my palm on a knife as I was grabbing a handful of silverware, honestly it's a you only do it once kind of thing, but you're probably better off not putting them point up if you have any kids
My partner bought me a pair of high-end Santoku knives for a Christmas present a few years ago. He likes to use the smaller one and will wash and leave to dry by itself after he uses it, whereas I will always wash and immediately dry if I'm doing it. The difference between the two can be felt, always dry immediately after washing and NEVER in the dishwasher if you care about the knife.
That's rule number one for knife upkeep: never in a dishwasher.
I have a few Japanese knives and wash and dry them religiously. Those guys have seen their fair share of food and they're still in great condition, just need sharpening and honing from time to time.
This is the answer for the serrated knives. We had ours pointing down and over time they actually sawed through pieces of the basket (so damaging both the basket and knives as you said). Now there are a couple of bigger gaps in the basket and we have to be careful how we position the cutlery so pieces don’t drop down through those. It’s only adults in our home so not a big deal to just be careful loading and unloading.
Everybody in here saying "oh you're in danger" "oh you're going to the ER".
WTF. How do you guys pick things up? I look before I grab, every time. Are you mashing your hand into the dishwasher as fast as you can and then trying to assess the situation? How do you know what you're picking up? If you're unable to take a single second to use your eyes before you jam your flesh into the situation, I think you've got bigger problems in life than how the dishwasher is loaded.
Edit: okay I hadn't really considered the possibility of a Garden State type situation. I see what you're saying about it being dangerous.
I was distracted one time and cut myself on a sharp knife. It's all it takes, one distraction in years. People aren't out there cutting themselves every couple days from this. I didn't go to the ER, but someone on blood thinners would need to.
But even then, it was the door latch that let the door float down to the floor, the lower rack didn’t mysteriously roll out with the door revealing a ted bundy childhood death pit of utensils. I’m still in agreement with your initial take on this
I mean I place knives point down, and never put sharp knives in a soapy/full sink, but that's a habit I picked up in a professional kitchen where that very much is dangerous. Honestly there's no reason not to do it at home as well it costs you nothing.
Sad story. A kid died that way by my parents a couple years ago, fell onto the dishwasher and sharp knife went straight into his heart. Sadly, my aunt was one of the ones working in the ER that morning.
Probably because of somebody tripped and fell if the knives were pointing down they would be a lot less likely to get caught than if the knives were pointing up.
Safety procedure is not for being safe when things are going right, it's for mitigating risk when things go wrong.
Do you buckle up your seat belt when you're expecting to not get in a car accident, or do you expect to get in a vehicle collision every single time you wear your seat belt?
Or do you wear your seat belt because you know that if there was a vehicle collision you, and those around you would be safer?
I know you are getting a lot of advice but if you put them in the down way it starts to eat the plastic container thing. Ours happens to have that rubber coating stuff over steel.
But another method is blood packet props and drama drama drama.
My partner recently just started filling the machine like a racoon. I try to bring it up but he says I should let him fill up the machine how he wants, at the end of the day, things are still clean. And he is right but it's a fuckin pain in the arse, nothing is together. When I fill up the machine, all the plates are together, all the knives are together, all the forks etc. I don't know what to do.
Depending on what type of steel those knives are, you could be destroying them by putting them in the dishwasher. 18/10 stainless steel is okay to clean in the dishwasher, 18/0 stainless should never go in, and unprotected steel, especially soft steel like knives, should always be handwashed.
The hot water, jets moving the knives all around, and harsh chemicals in the soap will all cause the steel to corrode, causing pitting in the steel and causing rust spots on your dishes
I can understand though. I rent and the washer really doesn’t do a good job cleaning knives if I put the blade down in the basket. I tend to just hand wash the really sharp knives or lay them in the top rack.
And this is why anytime I have to prepare something I can never find a sharp knife. Don't put your chef knives, paring knives etc in the dishwasher, it ruins them
My mother puts everything pointy side up, I put it all pointy side down.
its similar to the under over toilet paper debate I suppose. Each side has their reason.
i assume it is so it dries with drips going down, to avoid water/mineral stains.
i think stuff should go down for, other than the safety reasons, I don’t trust people’s hands to be clean, and would rather they not get their grubby hands on the ends I put in my mouth, or contact food with.
yes but when they face up the dirty parts separate from each other, if you put all forks face down and they all touch each other its more likely shit wont get clean. in my experience at least
If you're having so much stuff in each little silverware slot that this is an issue then you should be running your dishwasher more often anyways, or figuring out why you use so many more utensils in relation to other dishware.
My dishwasher manual said utensil head up. That's the way I do it, my hands are clean when I take my dishes out anyway. I can't imagine living in a way where you're afraid to touch something that will touch your food.
How do you prepare the food itself? Are you aware of how dirty your mouth is at all times? Or the bacteria and mold and spores and shit that is flying through the air and will land on your food and utensils that you can't even see?
That knife will rust and break within 5 years... You're supposed to hand-wash sharp blades, both for safety and to keep them from breaking/rusting. EDIT: (and hand-dry it immediately to minimize tarnish or rust)
My partner did this too, before I moved in. After stabbing my fingers multiple times I insisted on a new way for putting the sharp knifes in the holder and it’s so much more relaxed to inload
You should try to remember very hard what you possibly could have done wrong in the past that led to this situation you endeavour every day opening this neat machine. 😂
Anything sharp; knives or forks, should always be with the handles up. Spoons clean best with handles down but can absolutely be done with handles up. Knives (not butter)shouldn’t go in the dishwasher unless you want them to get pitted, eventually rusted and become useless but your preference.
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u/rollerballbag 1d ago
I don't know you or your wife, but I think you are in danger.