Learning a few dishwasher basics can make washing dishes seem like less of a chore. Try these tips:
Delicate Glassware
Typically, you need to use soft water to safely clean china and other delicate glassware. However, new types of dishwashers actually detect the hardness in water that can etch glassware. They add salt as needed so that the dishwasher can safely clean delicate items.
Energy and Timesaving Features
Having a dishwasher with an internal water heater saves energy and allows the dishwasher to get hot enough to remove baked-on messes-meaning you won’t have to prerinse dishes. An added bonus to a dishwasher with an internal heater is that the washer does not have an electric wire on the bottom. That means you can load plastics on the bottom rack without fear of melting.
Loading Capacity
When shopping for a dishwasher, determine the load capacity you need your washer to have. Don’t be afraid to bring your tall plates, glasses and other items to the store so you can get a feel for how they load. A new line of dishwashers from Miele is designed to accommodate a bulk of everyday dishes, as well as unusually shaped items such as champagne flutes, oversized dinner plates and serving platters. The washers have a loading capacity of up to 14 international place settings and a clever array of baskets and inserts helps homeowners optimize the space inside the washer.
Specific Wash Functions
The washers also feature a high-tech touch-screen system that lets users select the exact type of wash they need. The system has 19 wash cycles and a wash program for virtually all types of dirty-dish situations-whether you need to get baked-on Brie off of china or rice out from between the tines of forks. It’s designed to sanitize baby bottles, blast pots and pans clean and hygienically clean plastic. Additionally, the dishwashers were designed with appearance and quiet perfor-mance in mind (some models barely make more noise than a pot of boiling water)-and they’re energy efficient and conserve water. In fact, 90 percent of the dishwashers themselves are recyclable.
