[aetherson]

I've seen a lot of people claim this for 15 years, but every experience I've ever had with minimal or no handwashing of dishes before putting them in the dishwasher has resulted in visibly dirty dishes.

It's possible that the (several) dishwashers I've used have been "not good enough," but if so I suggest most people's dishwashers aren't good enough.

[pflenker]

Father here with a family of 4. our dishwasher runs multiple times per day and we never hand wash before, and I can tell you that the dishes tend to be very dirty before they go in. They always come out sparkling clean.

Here is what works for us: - keep the salt tank filled as well as the rinsing agent. Don’t use these tabs which claim to have all of this in there combined. - don’t overload the dish washer - clean it regularly. Once per week I take out the sieve at the bottom, clean it (takes less than 5 minutes) and then I use one of these bottles of cleaning fluid with a wax cap. You put it in, start a cleaning program, the wax melts and the fluid does its work. That’s also when I refill the salt and rinsing agent. Total time effort per week: 15 mins.

We have a low mid-tier dish washer, but I had the same results with cheaper ones.

[aetherson]

Okay, a heated debate in my slack group is now going. We need more deets:

* When you say that you don't hand-wash, can you clarify? Does that mean you just take the dish and put it directly into the dishwasher after throwing any large chunks of food away? Or do you rinse it or even soap it, you just don't scrub it thoroughly?

* You mention washing the dishes multiple times per day. Does any food actually dry on your plates before the dishwasher gets run?

* You don't have a problem with fingerprints or lipprints on glassware?

* Do you feel like the salt tank has benefits beyond hard water mitigation?