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Dishwashers

Do you really need to rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher?

We’ve got the surprising answer

A person loading a bowl covered with spinach puree into a dishwasher that also has plates and mugs in it. Credit: Reviewed / Timothy Renzi

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When it's time to load the dishwasher, do you stop and wonder if you need to rinse your dirty dishes off first? You are not alone! This is a frequently asked question in kitchens everywhere. Will that baked-on residue really come off without a little human strength to help it?

It is easy to understand why so many people take the time to rinse (or sometimes even wash) dishes before adding them to the dishwasher. But is it really necessary, or simply a waste of time and resources? Our Reviewed team has done extensive research and is ready to dish on the surprising truth.

When it comes to the reasons why you shouldn’t pre-rinse your dirty dishes, it boils down to appliance performance, using resources wisely, and good old-fashioned time and energy.

Appliance performance: Let it do its job

The Bosch 800 Series dishwasher open with dishes loaded inside.
Credit: Reviewed / Timothy Renzi

Remember, dishwashers are designed to wash dirty dishes.

Top-rated dishwashers, like the popular Bosch 800 Series SHP78CM5N, do such a great job cleaning dishes that pre-washing is totally unnecessary. They are designed to remove even the most stubborn foods like eggs, dried-on meat residue, pureed spinach, pasta sauce, and baked-on cheese.

A dishwasher’s spray arm rotates like a propeller, ensuring it hits the dirty dishes in multiple spots. Dishwashers like the Bosch 800 have even more advanced features like the PowerControl Spray Arm, which allows water jets to wash your dishes from significantly more angles than a traditional spray arm.

Most dishwashers also feature an elaborate setup of pumps, filters, and spray jets that reuse water throughout the cleaning process making it more efficient than hand washing. This leads us to the next reason why you should rely on your dishwasher versus pre-rinsing or handwashing.

Save water: Newer dishwashers use far less

Water spinning around inside of a dishwasher.
Credit: Electrolux

The average dishwasher uses 3.5 times less water than hand-washing dishes.

Simply put, pre-rinsing dirty dishes is a waste of time and water, according to Reviewed scientists. In fact, if you are spending more than a minute rinsing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, you are at least doubling the amount of water that is being used in the process.

If you're trying to save water by washing dishes by hand instead of running the dishwasher, we're afraid you've got it mixed up. Studies show that automatic dishwashers use far less water than manually scrubbing with soap and water.

Handwashing uses five times as much water as an efficient dishwasher and 3.5 times more than an average dishwasher. That's not even counting the energy used to heat hot water. If saving water is your goal, you need to stop pre-rising and handwashing.

If you're worried that your dirty dishes might start to smell, don't wait until the dishwasher is full to run a cycle. It'll take less water to wash a half-load than it would take to pre-wash your dishes before loading them.

And if it turns out that some specks of food are left behind on a dish, you can always put it back in the dishwasher for another round. Even another wash cycle would still be less wasteful than pre-washing every dish. (And don’t forget to clean your dishwasher filter for optimal performance.)

You really will save time

Time is money; just think of the hours you’ve spent standing at the sink rinsing dishes. You could be using that time to clean just about anything else, or taking time to enjoy a hobby or even a much-deserved break to practice a bit of self-care. We are sure you can find a better use of your time than doing the job that your dishwasher is supposed to be tackling.

Pre-washing is a hard habit to break. Trust me, we get it. But hopefully, with this expert knowledge, and a trusted dishwasher you’ll be able to break this water-wasting, time-draining behavior before your next load of dishes is done!

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