You probably think of your dishwasher as a handy kitchen appliance that you can’t live without. But it’s so much more than that—it’s also your best defense against kitchen contaminants, as long as you’ve kept your “dry” cycle turned on. That “dry” cycle reaches a temperature of at least 170°F, which is the magic number when it comes to attacking harmful microbes that may be hanging onto your dishware. So if you’ve turned your “dry” cycle off in an effort to save energy, do yourself a favor, and switch it back on!
Also be sure to clean your dishwasher between cycles. Here’s a few easy ways to do so:
- Pour 1 cup of white vinegar into a sturdy mug or bowl, set it in the top rack of your dishwasher, and run through a cycle on the hottest setting—with nothing else inside.
- Cut greasy crud with a simple bleach treatment. Pour 1 cup of bleach into the bottom surface, and run it through a full cycle.
- To tackle mineral deposits, use the bleach treatment (above), then when the cycle is finished, pour 1 cup of white vinegar into the bottom, and run it through again.
- Freshen up the insides by using Coca-Cola® to clean up the crud. Pour a 2-liter bottle of the real thing (use the “classic,” not diet, version) into the bottom of your machine, and run it through a full cycle. And if the bottom tray is really grungy, let it soak for a few minutes before you start the cycle.
- Denture-cleaning tablets will dissolve dishwasher grime in no time at all. So if you have plenty of tablets on hand, drop a couple in the bottom of your empty dishwasher, and run it through a regular cycle.
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