An awesome kitchen appliance such as dishwasher has a plenty of advantages for your life. Here are some dishwasher hacks that will totally blow your mind. You’ll wish you knew them sooner.
1. Rinse Fruits And Veggies
If you still hand-wash each individual fruit or vegetable from your weekly farmer’s market haul, you’re wasting your time. Throw them all in your dishwasher and run a cold (soap-free) rinse cycle, instead, and you’ll never need to turn on your sink.
Bonus tip: To protect more delicate items, such as tomatoes and peaches, place them on the top rack. Heavier produce like potatoes and cantaloupes can go on the bottom.
2. De-germ Your Computer Keyboard
Our computer keyboards are downright filthy. Thankfully, many experts say tossing them in your dishwasher can remove all that grime in a jiffy. But you should proceed with caution; avoid using soap and hot water, never select the heated drying cycle, and don’t put anything else in the dishwasher.
You should also allow your keyboard to air dry for up to three days once it has been through the wash. For a less risky cleaning, some manufacturers recommend gently wiping the surface with a damp cloth.
3. Keep Food Warm
Keeping cooked food warm until you’re ready to eat might as well be rocket science. If your oven is full, set the dishwasher to dry cycle with no water and leave the dish on the top rack. Your meal will stay nice and toasty, guaranteed.
4. Warm-up Dishes
Every restaurant-worthy feast needs warm plates and bowls. While some dishwashers have a convenient plate warming setting, you can always turn on the heat/dry cycle for the same effect.
5. Ripen Avocados
Need to ripen an avocado fast? Your dishwasher is here to help. Just throw the fruit on the top rack for one normal cycle; according to a restaurant employee, something about the heat and/or humidity can soften up these rock-hard fruits.
6. Sanitize Makeup Brushes
All the scouring and scrubbing in the world won’t make that gunk in your makeup brushes go away. Instead, try placing them in your dishwasher’s silverware basket and running a normal cycle. You can do the same thing for nail clippers, hairbrushes, and combs, too.
7. Reuse The Racks As Storage
Ahh, another dishwasher bites the dust. But before you toss it out, you can actually reuse almost all of its parts. The top rack, for example, can double as a creative storage for craft supplies or gardening tools. Just turn the rack on its side and hang it on a wall in your craft room or garage.
8. Organize Utensils And Writing Supplies
Speaking of salvaging broken dishwashers, that old silverware caddy can also have a second life as a place to stash pencils, markers, crayons, or other craft supplies.
9. De-grease Car Parts
No need to break your back making those pesky hubcaps and wheel covers spic and span; simply remove them from your car and place them in the dishwasher. With little to no elbow grease, they will shine like new—just try not to wash them with your dinner plates.
10. Dry your hand-washed dishes
Hand-washing dishes is time-consuming enough without drying them all, too. Let that huge stack of delicate bowls and plates air dry in the empty dishwasher (with the door cracked open), or run the dry cycle if you’re in a hurry.
11. Clean fake flowers
Your plastic flower arrangements can look beautiful on a mantel, but they are also major dust magnets. The simplest solution? Just throw the whole bouquet on the top rack of the dishwasher, and they will get back to brighten up your space in no time.