Dishwasher 101

This is a post about my boyfriend. The Bosch Serie 4 (secondary level) dishwasher. And no this isn’t an #ad or a paid promotion or even a punt. It’s actually just a love letter.

Once upon a time there was a minimalist who hated washing dishes, an eco warrior who hated packaging, and a naturalist who hated chemicals. They all fell in love with the dishwasher. Dear dishwasher, we love you.

I chose this, the fifth dishwasher of my seven year marriage, because it has a cutlery rack and a superb drying facility. Nothing breaks my heart more than opening a “finished” dishwasher to discover moist dishes. Moist.

After a reasonable amount of research I chose my Bosch.

The various voices in my head wanted so very many things from this new man in our life:

Low energy consumption, no chemicals required, no store bought detergents, and and and.

So now I present to you the ultimate routine for the ultimate dishwasher. Call it the Valentine’s dinner date of kitchen hygiene.

Step 1.

Fill one sink with water for the entire day. Every time a dish is used “clean” (read: thoroughly rinse) it in the same sink of plain water. No soap. Just water and tenacity.

This water will become dirty. That is fine. As long as the plate appears to be clean.

Note: it is not yet actually clean (see later about dirt vs. germs).

Also anyone who thinks they can get away with stacking un-rinsed plates into a dishwasher and yielding a decent result is fooling themselves. I don’t care what the lady at the shop said.

Step 2.

Stack the dishwasher. Never, I really mean never, run a less-than-full dishwasher. Seriously people we have one planet.

At this stage the dishwasher will appear to be full of clean plates and glasses. However they have only been rinsed thoroughly in a basin of dirty water and as such are not safe for use because, germs.

If you don’t believe me on this one I offer two words: Gastro Week.

Step 3.

You are now going to sterilize the contents of the kitchen using the dishwasher - primarily with it’s heat and supplementing with some all important bicarbonate of soda.

If the dishwasher in my boyfriend then bicarbonate of soda is like that one (eco-friendly and all natural) best friend who always tags along and is basically part of the relationship.

Also, LESS IS MORE!

If you use too much bicarb it will cake on the plates and you will be sad. Two tablespoons in the slot of the dishwasher tablet (and instead of) should be sufficient. Add a drop of peppermint essential oil if you want to feel like you’ve been to a spa when you open the machine. Add vinegar where you would usually add rinse aid and your glasses will look like crystal.

Step 4.

Now that you have done all the prep work it’s time to select a setting. I would obviously advocate the eco setting in terms of temperate and water consumption, but consider taking it a step further and select a half cycle. Remember the dishes don’t actually have any food left on them and are now just being sterilized in the dishwasher with a combination of heat and water and bicarbonate of soda. So a half cycle should be sufficient. Even the eco temperature is around 45-50 Celsius which is kak-hot!

Step 5.

Relax on the couch and drink a coffee.

Kidding.

You’ll probably need to go clean your kids artwork off the wall now. Oh wait they used permanent marker. That sucks.