Surprising Things That Can & Can’t Go in the Dishwasher

Looking for some help sorting which items can and can’t survive a dishwashing cycle? You’ve come to the right place! Dishwashers can handle a lot more than just plates, bowls, and mugs, but might not manage everything you want to clean up quickly. Improve your cleaning efficiency while prolonging the life of your knives, pots, and pans with this guide.

9 Surprising Things You Can Put In Your Dishwasher

Let’s start with a list of nine things you can clean up quick with a run through the dishwasher.

QUICK TIP: If you’re going to be cleaning unusual things in your dishwasher, you may want to invest in a mesh laundry bag. These nets effectively keep anything light enough to be bounced around by the dishwasher’s jets in one place so you don’t lose anything to the drain during a cycle.

1. Sponges and Plastic Scrubber Brushes

If your sponges or scrubbers are looking dingy, you can pop them in the dishwasher with an ordinary load of dishes. Sponges will do well on the top shelf, and will benefit from a heated dry – according to Good Housekeeping, it’s an excellent way to kill germs. Your scrubbers should be placed in the silverware rack, and only if they’re made of plastic! If you have scrubbers with wooden handles, those will need to be hand washed.

2. Silicone Baking Mats, Oven Mitts, and Pot Holders

Silicone mats, mitts, and pot holders can all be washed on the top rack. This is a great way to rid them of gunk and oily residue without spending all your time scrubbing away in the sink. Just make sure the dish detergent you use doesn’t contain bleach!

For your mats, in particular, loosely roll them up before setting them on the top rack. Other items can simply be placed as normal.

3. Refrigerator Shelves and Bins

Cut down on the tediousness of cleaning your refrigerator by loading shelves and bins into the dishwasher. Just make absolutely sure these items have come to room temperature before you wash them – hot water can cause cold glass and plastic to crack or even shatter.

4. Your Microwave’s Turntable

That glass (or ceramic) plate in your microwave is like any other dish, and it can be easily loaded up with your other plates to thoroughly clean up stains and greasy residue.

5. Non-Aluminum Appliance Knobs

Provided they don’t have any labeling printed on them, plastic and stainless steel appliance knobs can go on the top rack of the dishwasher. If you’re worried about them bouncing around, you can load them into a mesh bag before placing them on the rack. It’s a good way to clean off greasy build-up! Most appliance knobs can be removed by hand without any tools, and then slid back into place when you’re ready to put them back.

If the dials and knobs on your appliances do have labels, stick to hand washing. The combination of hot water and detergent will eventually wash labeling away.

6. Plastic Toys

Simple plastic toys – like bath toys, pacifiers, frisbees, or your dog’s favorite ball – can be loaded into the dishwasher on the top rack to both clean and disinfect them. Be sure to use that mesh laundry bag to keep smaller toys together, and don’t run anything through a drying cycle – remove toys from the dishwasher and allow them to air dry, instead, to keep them in better shape for longer.

7. Plastic combs and brushes

If you use a comb or brush to apply gel or other products to your hair, you’re probably familiar with how gunky and gross they can get – and it’s often a pain to clean by hand, too. To save time, just remove any hair still on the brush or comb and load it up in the silverware basket to melt away any buildup.

8. Vacuum Cleaner and Shop Vac Attachments

If your vacuum’s plastic attachments are getting a little too gunked up to clean easily on your own, you can get them clean without hassle in the dishwasher. Be sure to remove any large clumps of hair first, then load them on the top rack and run a gentle cycle.

9. Flower Pots

Did you recently lose a plant to blight or fungus? Dump out any dirt, sand, or other filler that may have been left behind, give the pot a rinse, and run it through the dishwasher on a gentle cycle. This will help to rid the pot of any mold, fungus, or other build-up that may still be lingering, giving your next go at gardening a fresh start.

Keep These Items Out Of Your Dishwasher

Your dishwasher’s primary job is to get your everyday kitchen tools clean quickly and efficiently. While it can certainly handle some off-label uses like the ones we’ve outlined above, there are quite a few items that seem like natural additions to a regular wash that should actually stay in the sink.

Here’s a list to help guide you in deciding what you should stick to hand washing:

1. A Whole Lot of Common Kitchen and Dining Tools

Wooden cutting boards, expensive copper pots, cheap Teflon pans, aluminum mixer accessories, and a well-seasoned cast iron skillet all have more in common than just food prep: they don’t stand up well to the high heat and abrasive detergent used in dishwashers.

To avoid damage and discoloration, certain items should always be hand washed — or, in the case of cast iron, just rinsed with hot water. Here’s a list of common materials that you’ll want to hand wash, and why.

• Anything made of or coated in copper, silver, and other precious metals will tarnish and discolor.

• Aluminum will oxidize, discoloring your utensils and leaving behind a powdery film.

• Anything with metal plating trim or hand-painted details will fade and chip very quickly.

• Wooden items like utensils, bowls, and cutting boards can warp and crack or break in the dishwasher’s high heat.

• Non-stick coatings can be scratched by abrasive detergents. If the nonstick coating on your pan is scratched or peeling, you shouldn’t use that pan.

• Cast iron and carbon steel will rust in the dishwasher.

• Thin plastics can melt and warp in high heat. Be sure to check that a plastic item is dishwasher safe before loading it up!

• Crystal and delicate glassware can break and chip, even if placed on the top rack.

2. High-Quality Knives

While your butter knives will be perfectly fine in the silverware basket, you’ll want to stick with hand washing your sharper knives, like cleavers and carving knives. The detergent, high heat, and water pressure wreaks havoc on blades and plastic and wooden handles. Just one wash can dull and nick knife edges, create rust, and loosen, warp, or discolor a handle. This is especially true of high-quality chef knives, which are more likely to rust because of the higher carbon content in their blades.

As you are probably well aware, dull knives are less efficient knives. They’re also more likely to cut you rather than your meat or veggies. So, for your safety and for the longevity of your knives, stick to hand washing.

3. Disposable Baking and Storage Items

If you like to reuse old yogurt tubs or aluminum baking pans, stick with washing them by hand between uses. Running these items through the dishwasher is as apt to damage your appliance as it is the items, themselves.

4. Tin and Aluminum Cans

If you need to clean out your cans before recycling them, stick with doing it in the sink. Not only can the metal potentially corrode in the dishwasher, the labels and the glue that adheres them can damage your dishwasher’s mechanical parts or leave marks on your plates. 

5. Candle Holders

You might’ve heard that a run through the dishwasher is a quick way to clear the wax out of an old candle jar. It is, certainly, but it’s also a quick way to clog up your dishwasher, damage its mechanical parts, and cause a mess. All that wax has to go somewhere, and it might not make it through the dishwasher’s drainage system.

6. Engine or Motor Parts

While dishwashers can handle some fats and cooking oil, they aren’t intended to manage the sort of heavy duty grease found on mechanical parts. Don’t use your dishwasher to clean up car or lawn equipment parts. You’ll wind up footing the bill for a new filter and pump for your appliance.

Wrapping Up

Knowing what can and can’t go in your dishwasher should help prolong the life of all your possessions. We hope this guide has helped you out. If you’d like to know more, why not check out our blog? We’ve got tons of guides for cleaning and maintaining your appliances, and if you have more questions that aren’t answered there, our friendly staff at AppliancePartsPros.com is on hand with more tips and advice.