How to Load a Dishwasher Like a Pro

I will admit to having strong emotional reactions to how dishwashers are loaded. At times, it’s a calm that descends on me when I open one post-cycle to see the gleaming clean of beautiful organization and spatial efficiency. Others, it’s ire and frustration that bubble up when the racks are inexplicably chaotic and—worse!—still dirty as a result.

This is not the first time I have written about these feelings, and in the past when I’ve shared my passions for dishwasher techniques I have used my wife as a straw man, exaggeratedly depicting her (somewhat unpolished) technique to get my own plate-cleaning lessons across. Why? Because I am lazy! Lazy enough to rage at the thought of having to rewash dishes after they’ve been through the dishwasher. It makes me so angry I have to use italics when I type it, so angry that I forget the wisdom of leaving spouses out of very public discussions of dishwasher methodology.

I will not use my wife in this way today, despite the fact that she once wrote (at my expense and for your entertainment!) that she’d rather stab her eyes out than listen once more to me lecturing about the unsanitary nature of breadcrumbs. No, I will keep it to the point, in a list, a very impersonal but informative list. I fear most of this list will seem obvious, but then I remember how many dishwashers I’ve seen loaded in such criminal ways that I think: Maybe the world does need a reminder of what should be patently obvious to everyone.

And so, I commence.

Rule #1: Don’t Blame Me

Before I share the rest of my rules, I want to stress that you should always follow your dishwasher’s instructions over mine. If you do something that creates a problem, that’s on you, not me. I’m not really sure how my tips could lead to trouble, but publish as many tried-and-true recipes on the internet as I have and see some of the results and you’ll understand why I issue this disclaimer anyway.

Rule #2: Learn What Goes in a Dishwasher

I’ve already written a whole article on what to put into a dishwasher and what to keep out, so I won’t repeat it here, but I’ll share a link for your reference.

Rule #3: Scrape, Don’t Wash

Scrape off chunks of food but don’t rinse plates to the point where they’re visibly clean—dishwashers and their detergents are designed to act on food residue, so it’s fine (arguably even good) to leave them with something to work on.

Plus, overeagerly washing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher is a waste of water, time, and effort. If you’re rinsing everything to the point where you can’t see food residue anymore, just grab a sponge and dish soap and finish the job, you’ve clearly already committed to being the dishwasher, so be the dishwasher.

Rule #4: Organize

Can “organize” be a rule? Unclear, but it’s gonna be one here. Loading a dishwasher, despite what some people seem to think, is not a free-for-all. You’re meant to put things in designated and/or logical places.

There are plenty of exceptions to this, but generally speaking, you want to put smaller and more fragile things on the top rack of a dishwasher. This includes most glassware, small bowls, fine-mesh strainers, large utensils if they don’t fit in the utensil trays, storage containers, and more.

Larger items and more robust ones are best put on the bottom, including most dishware (especially bigger plates and bowls), any dishwasher-safe pots and pans, large mixing bowls, and more. Put your silverware and utensils wherever they’re meant to go, either in the provided baskets or dedicated silverware and utensil trays.

When I’m loading my dishwasher at home, as shown in the photo above, I usually line large and small plates and bowls on the bottom in rows using the rack’s provided dividers to pack them closely while still spaced out, with any larger cooking vessels or bowls leaning on each other near that. On top, glassware and mugs are tightly assembled mostly along one side of the upper rack, using the space strategically so there aren’t large gaps between them (even a mug’s handle orientation can make a big difference in how things fit!); smaller bowls like condiment bowls and cereal bowls are sort of clamshelled on each other like the Sydney Opera House. This type of leaning-but-not-nesting arrangement is essential for efficient loading of a dishwasher that maximizes how much you can pack in while ensuring everything is exposed to the water for proper cleaning.

Rule #5: Nest Like the Sydney Opera House

I’m just repeating the Sydney Opera House idea from above because it’s important enough to get its own entry in this rigid list of very serious dishwasher rules. As I wrote already, you don’t want to nest items such that the prevent the ones above from getting clean, but you do want to shingle them for efficient packing. Laying all your bowls flat is a significant waste of space, so they should lean on each other as much as possible while still being well exposed to the water.

The bottom line is that it comes down to thinking about water access to each item in the dishwasher—the goal is to pack everything in as tightly as possible without allowing any object to block another from the water.

Rule 5A: Avoid Water Traps

Just as important as making sure nothing is blocking anything else, you also want to make sure nothing is positioned such that it might become a receptacle for dirty dishwasher water to pool. Which is to say, make sure nothing is at risk of being right side up in the dishwasher, nor at risk of getting jostled into a right side up position from the moving water—a big risk in particular for lightweight plastic containers (when I used to put plastic in my dishwasher, I’d try to lean something heavier on top of the light plastic things to ensure they stayed put).

Rule #6: Optimize Further

Just as a smart packer takes advantage of all spaces in a suitcase—stuffing socks into the hollows of shoes, for example—a skilled dishwasher packer takes advantage of unused space after loading most of the big stuff. Can you squeeze a small glass into an open space on the bottom rack? Do so, assuming it’s nothing too fragile, as glasses are at higher risk of breaking down there. Is there a large mixing bowl that is taking up too much real estate, and can you fit a much smaller item or two below it? Do it, as long as those smaller items don’t block the larger one from getting clean.

This is the time when you can begin to break rules #4 and #5 by putting things in less “official” places. It’s all about using up every last square inch of space without overpacking or improperly nesting. This is a good time to also slide thin items like container lids into nooks and crannies where they can get clean without taking up excess space.

Rule #7: Test the Spinning Arms

Always make sure the sprayer arms can fully rotate inside the dishwasher with the racks pushed into place. If they hit anything, you need to rearrange the dishwasher, since sprayer arms getting stuck is guaranteed dirty dishes later.

Rule #8: Observe

I’ve found that many dishwashers have critical areas that, if blocked, will lead to an unsuccessful cleaning cycle. Sometimes I’ll slide a final plate into an odd spot, proud of myself for managing to jam it into an already full dishwasher, only to find afterwards that nothing near that plate got clean enough. Other times, I’ve seen that the detergent didn’t fully rinse away from the detergent holder. These things usually mean an item blocked too much of the water’s movement because of where it was positioned. I’ll keep a mental note not to repeat that mistake in the future.

A Final Tip

Also, I’m not in the business of dispensing medical advice, but consider keeping plastics out of the dishwasher as much as possible—concerns about microplastics are growing and there’s reason to worry that putting plastics through multiple dishwasher cycles leads to their breakdown. In fact, this is the only dishwashing rule my wife has become adamant about: We no longer put any plastics into our dishwasher, at times to my chagrin, but possibly to my body’s benefit.