Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use our dishwasher every day but am confused by the responses from people who only use the dishwasher. Daily I have numerous items that can't go in the dishwasher - plastic cups, wooden items, cast-iron pots etc. All of these things have to be washed by hand.

Not necessarily. I wash everyday plastic cups and wooden spoons on the top rack all the time. And I know you're not supposed to, but I wash my Le Creuset cast iron cookware in the dishwasher also. It comes out fine; the Le Creuset sometimes has stains that could use more attention, but it's clean and sanitary, which is all I really care about. I grew up washing dishes by hand and absolutely hated it. Plus the dishes never truly felt clean. Dishwashers are a godsend.

Do you need to re-season your cast iron every time you put it in the dishwasher? That sounds like a major pain in the @ss.

We are a family of 4 and run the dishwasher every other day. Dishes go into the dishwasher after every meal and pots and pans are washed by hand (with warm water running). We rotate 2 sets of sponges - one scrubby for cleaning stuff in the sink and one for cleaning countertops - that get put in the dishwasher to get sterilized. I spent the last 4 months washing by hand during our kitchen remodel and never felt like any of the dishes were getting totally cleaned. We are now back in the new kitchen and I love using my new dishwasher.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use our dishwasher every day but am confused by the responses from people who only use the dishwasher. Daily I have numerous items that can't go in the dishwasher - plastic cups, wooden items, cast-iron pots etc. All of these things have to be washed by hand.

Not necessarily. I wash everyday plastic cups and wooden spoons on the top rack all the time. And I know you're not supposed to, but I wash my Le Creuset cast iron cookware in the dishwasher also. It comes out fine; the Le Creuset sometimes has stains that could use more attention, but it's clean and sanitary, which is all I really care about. I grew up washing dishes by hand and absolutely hated it. Plus the dishes never truly felt clean. Dishwashers are a godsend.

I put my LC, Staub and wooden spoons in the dishwasher. My different LC and Staub have been with us for 25+ years and are still going strong with no chips or cracks or anything bad. The wooden spoons get tossed into the kindling box for the fireplace when they start looking bad.

Oh, I should start doing this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use our dishwasher every day but am confused by the responses from people who only use the dishwasher. Daily I have numerous items that can't go in the dishwasher - plastic cups, wooden items, cast-iron pots etc. All of these things have to be washed by hand.

Not necessarily. I wash everyday plastic cups and wooden spoons on the top rack all the time. And I know you're not supposed to, but I wash my Le Creuset cast iron cookware in the dishwasher also. It comes out fine; the Le Creuset sometimes has stains that could use more attention, but it's clean and sanitary, which is all I really care about. I grew up washing dishes by hand and absolutely hated it. Plus the dishes never truly felt clean. Dishwashers are a godsend.

I put my LC, Staub and wooden spoons in the dishwasher. My different LC and Staub have been with us for 25+ years and are still going strong with no chips or cracks or anything bad. The wooden spoons get tossed into the kindling box for the fireplace when they start looking bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you have a dishwasher? Everyone does.

We don't use ours. We didn't have a dishwasher in our house when I was younger...so I'm just used to doing everything by hand.

Since you referenced cleanliness and moldy smell in your first post, OP, I want to point out that if cleanliness is your goal then you should begin to use your dishwasher. Washing dishes by hand is considerably less sanitary than having them washed by the hot water of a dishwasher. And while drying dishes in a dishrack may be marginally better than sink washing, drying dishes with a towel is like throwing Typhoid Kate into the middle of a sanitized room full of healthy people and having TK cough and spit and hack all over them.

Anonymous wrote:I use our dishwasher every day but am confused by the responses from people who only use the dishwasher. Daily I have numerous items that can't go in the dishwasher - plastic cups, wooden items, cast-iron pots etc. All of these things have to be washed by hand.

Not necessarily. I wash everyday plastic cups and wooden spoons on the top rack all the time. And I know you're not supposed to, but I wash my Le Creuset cast iron cookware in the dishwasher also. It comes out fine; the Le Creuset sometimes has stains that could use more attention, but it's clean and sanitary, which is all I really care about. I grew up washing dishes by hand and absolutely hated it. Plus the dishes never truly felt clean. Dishwashers are a godsend.