Tupperware runs the risk of melting close to the heating element. Metal and plastic/wood expand at different rates in dampness and warmth, so the interface can weaken if they’re washed in the high heat of the dishwasher. That said, you can usually get away with both of these things.
Most tupperware should be “dishwasher safe”, meaning it’s been tested to high temperatures and won’t melt even in the lower rack of the dishwasher. The real problem with putting tupperware, or indeed any plastic container, in the bottom rack is the water jets. The jets shoot out of the aerator (that’s the plastic spinny thing on the bottom), and will blow light objects around the dishwasher instead of scrubbing them out. Putting tupperware on the top rack restricts their movements.
Most tupperware should be “dishwasher safe”, meaning it’s been tested to high temperatures and won’t melt even in the lower rack of the dishwasher.
I think there is vocabulary confusion happening here.
Real Tupperware—the expensive stuff—is nigh-indestructable. Some of it is made out of polycarbonate, the same material used for windshields in fighter jets and in presidential limos. At the thickness used in the Tupperware line, it is not quite bulletproof, but it is still very, very tough. You don’t have to worry about it in the dishwasher.
Lower-end Rubbermaid plastic containers are much cheaper and not made out of the same material. (Rubbermaid does have a “premier” line that is supposedly comparable to true Tupperware.) These bins should not be placed in the lower rack of the dishwasher.
Agreed. Also, for light objects, it is handy to have something to hold them down, even on the upper rack. I have a small plastic-covered-wire rack which I put over light objects (normally plastic ones) on the top rack of a dishwasher to prevent them from getting flipped over.
many people would say: don’t put knives in the dishwasher at all.
Meaning, good kitchen knives...tableware is fine. But kitchen knives (slicers, dicers, etc) depend on very thin foils at the blade edge. The chemicals and heat involved in dishwashers can damage the blade.
(this is only marginally resolved by using serrated knives...those may not be damaged by dishwashers as much, but I have yet to find one that works as well as a pretty good kitchen knife that is even marginally maintained)
Henckels do a really nice serrated knife. That being said—they also do really nice proper knives. They’re really expensive, but if you have, say, a mother who never ever sharpens her knives and therefore believes that only serrated knives are “sharp”, a Henckels knife is a great present.
Aside from melting the plastic, lightweight containers can get flipped in the dishwasher, fill up with water, and then get not quite clean. If you put them on the top rack, they’re farther from the jets of water, and are less likely to be tossed around.
The others were obvious to me, but I don’t understand these two. I’ve been disobeying them for a long time without any problems.
Tupperware runs the risk of melting close to the heating element. Metal and plastic/wood expand at different rates in dampness and warmth, so the interface can weaken if they’re washed in the high heat of the dishwasher. That said, you can usually get away with both of these things.
Most tupperware should be “dishwasher safe”, meaning it’s been tested to high temperatures and won’t melt even in the lower rack of the dishwasher. The real problem with putting tupperware, or indeed any plastic container, in the bottom rack is the water jets. The jets shoot out of the aerator (that’s the plastic spinny thing on the bottom), and will blow light objects around the dishwasher instead of scrubbing them out. Putting tupperware on the top rack restricts their movements.
I think there is vocabulary confusion happening here.
Real Tupperware—the expensive stuff—is nigh-indestructable. Some of it is made out of polycarbonate, the same material used for windshields in fighter jets and in presidential limos. At the thickness used in the Tupperware line, it is not quite bulletproof, but it is still very, very tough. You don’t have to worry about it in the dishwasher.
Lower-end Rubbermaid plastic containers are much cheaper and not made out of the same material. (Rubbermaid does have a “premier” line that is supposedly comparable to true Tupperware.) These bins should not be placed in the lower rack of the dishwasher.
Agreed. Also, for light objects, it is handy to have something to hold them down, even on the upper rack. I have a small plastic-covered-wire rack which I put over light objects (normally plastic ones) on the top rack of a dishwasher to prevent them from getting flipped over.
I had a teapot cover fall into the heating spiral and partly melt. Thats not recommend.
Weird. I live in France, and I have never seen a dish-washing machine with an exposed heating element.
many people would say: don’t put knives in the dishwasher at all.
Meaning, good kitchen knives...tableware is fine. But kitchen knives (slicers, dicers, etc) depend on very thin foils at the blade edge. The chemicals and heat involved in dishwashers can damage the blade.
(this is only marginally resolved by using serrated knives...those may not be damaged by dishwashers as much, but I have yet to find one that works as well as a pretty good kitchen knife that is even marginally maintained)
Henckels do a really nice serrated knife. That being said—they also do really nice proper knives. They’re really expensive, but if you have, say, a mother who never ever sharpens her knives and therefore believes that only serrated knives are “sharp”, a Henckels knife is a great present.
Aside from melting the plastic, lightweight containers can get flipped in the dishwasher, fill up with water, and then get not quite clean. If you put them on the top rack, they’re farther from the jets of water, and are less likely to be tossed around.