Knives in the dishwasher?

LadyMillil · June 2014

After almost skewering myself again on the chef's knife DH put in the dishwasher I told him that he is loading the sharp knives wrong. How do you wash your sharp knives?

phira · June 2014

I never put sharp knives (chef's knive, steak knives, whatever) in the dishwasher. I always wash them by hand.

smalfrie19 · June 2014

If I'm doing the dishes they go in face down!

Blergbot · June 2014

I don't put them in the dishwasher because I thought it was bad for the knives. If I did put them in the dishwasher I would put them in the top rack and not in the silverware thingy (I assume we are talking about the kind of knives you keep in the knife block? I totally put butter knives every which way in the sivlerware caddy).

LadyMillil · June 2014

Blergbot said:

I don't put them in the dishwasher because I thought it was bad for the knives. If I did put them in the dishwasher I would put them in the top rack and not in the silverware thingy (I assume we are talking about the kind of knives you keep in the knife block? I totally put butter knives every which way in the sivlerware caddy).

Yup, knife block knives. I haven't had any close calls with the butter knives and they point every which way.

lc07 · June 2014

Putting ours in the dishwasher voids the warranty. It corrodes them somehow. I can't remember the details. But they were expensive and when the blade snapped off one of them, I called the company and found out that it's a no-no to put them in the dishwasher. So now I wash them by hand.

JasperandOpal · June 2014

I wash all silverware and sharp knives by hand because they last longer that way.

KytchynWitche · June 2014

We do ours in the dishwasher, blades down for steak knives and other similarly sized knives, top rack for the bigger ones.

For the best clean, they should be done blades UP, that is if you're going to put them in the dishwasher. We don't do that though because a) our silverware rack thingy doesn't have slots big enough for the knives to go handle first, and b) I'm already engaged in a serious battle with our forks, which like to attack me when I grab a spoon.

FI is supposed to do the dishes, which means that most of the time he waits until we've completely run out of dishes and then runs the dishwasher, then doesn't unload it. So we use the clean stuff straight out of the dishwasher, and the cycle starts all over again. I know I could do the dishes and/or unpack the dishwasher myself, but we agreed that he would do dishes and I'd do laundry.

lovesclimbing · June 2014

By hand. I have always been told sharp knives should not go in the dish washer.

Ven&Radio · June 2014

My steak knives go in the dishwasher point-down. All of my good knives (chef's, paring, bread) I wash by hand immediately after use, towel dry and put back on my knife strip (point up).

themuffinman16 · June 2014

Always by hand. If you have plastic handles, the heat from the extreme hot temperatures in your dishwasher will, over time, melt the glue adhering the plastic handle to the blade. If you have wooden blades, the long periods of being put under water will seep into the wooden handles and crack them. Really good quality knives or not as high quality knives, a dishwasher will ruin both

ElcaB · June 2014

I can't believe so many people wash theirs in the dishwasher!

I always wash them by hand, then immediately dry them with a dish towel and replace them in the knife block. I have great knives, so I want to take good care of them.

offensivekitten2 · June 2014

Business end pointed down in the silverware section. If they're too big, they go on the top rack in the same place so no accidents happen.

Obviously this isn't what we do for wooden handle knives, which need to be hand washed.

ScoutF · June 2014

Butter knives go in the dishwasher blade down. Our Shuns are washed immediately after use by hand. The rest are washed by hand at some point after we eat.

JCbride2015 · June 2014

Always by hand. Same for wooden spoons. The heat is bad for the blades and the wood.

Unfortunately I discovered that my awesome red coordinating set of Kitchenaid gadgets (even those that could normally be put in the dishwasher) is hand-wash-only because the red plastic handle gets messed up in the dishwasher. So we have a lot of hand-washing going on.

emmyg65 · June 2014

Our knives are Wusthof and Shun, with wood handles. They never, ever go in the dishwasher or soak in water.

theartistformerlyknownas · June 2014

My knives aren't all that great, and don't have wooden handles, so I don't give two shits about putting them in the dishwasher. Once I have nice ones I'll hand wash them.

I did have to retrain FI to put the REST of the silverware business-end up, because they get cleaner that way. Knives go either point-down or on the top rack, depending on how long they are.

LadyMillil · June 2014

I've been washing my new knives wrong! I've been putting them in the dishwasher but I should be hand washing them. For my hand-me-down knives, putting the big ones on the top rack is a great idea. I'll have to tell DH that we were both wrong on how to load the big knives in the dishwasher.

beethery · June 2014

Blades down, taken out as soon as the dishwasher is done so that I can wipe them down and put them away.

I have Rada knives, and I fucking LOVE THEM.

Maggie0829 · June 2014

I kind of want to call bull on the dishwasher being bad for knives and knives with wooden handles. I have two knives from my Mom and I believe they were her Mom's before she took them that have wooden handles. I can't count the number of times they have been thrown in the dishwasher. A few whacks on the blade sharpener before I cut anything (pretty much do this whenever I use any sharp knife) and they are good to go. I mean, these things are a good 30+ years old and they work and cut fabulously.

JCbride2015 · June 2014

Maggie0829 said:

I kind of want to call bull on the dishwasher being bad for knives and knives with wooden handles. I have two knives from my Mom and I believe they were her Mom's before she took them that have wooden handles. I can't count the number of times they have been thrown in the dishwasher. A few whacks on the blade sharpener before I cut anything (pretty much do this whenever I use any sharp knife) and they are good to go. I mean, these things are a good 30+ years old and they work and cut fabulously.

The dishwasher is really bad for wood because of the heat. I used to throw wooden spoons and cutting boards in there, and eventually they started to crack because of the expansion and contraction with the heat and cooling. So that part isn't BS.

I think the worst thing the dishwasher can probably do to your metal knife blade is dull it, as you said. Because of the flying debris and knocking against the rack it's in. So I guess if you don't mind sharpening it a lot, it's probably okay. I wonder if eventually all that sharpening would shorten the life span of the knife?

Idk. My dad is militant about his knives so I learned from him. I never let them air-dry after washing, either. Wipe them down immediately and into the block they go.

Maggie0829 · June 2014

JCbride2015 said:

Maggie0829 said:

I kind of want to call bull on the dishwasher being bad for knives and knives with wooden handles. I have two knives from my Mom and I believe they were her Mom's before she took them that have wooden handles. I can't count the number of times they have been thrown in the dishwasher. A few whacks on the blade sharpener before I cut anything (pretty much do this whenever I use any sharp knife) and they are good to go. I mean, these things are a good 30+ years old and they work and cut fabulously.

The dishwasher is really bad for wood because of the heat. I used to throw wooden spoons and cutting boards in there, and eventually they started to crack because of the expansion and contraction with the heat and cooling. So that part isn't BS.

I think the worst thing the dishwasher can probably do to your metal knife blade is dull it, as you said. Because of the flying debris and knocking against the rack it's in. So I guess if you don't mind sharpening it a lot, it's probably okay. I wonder if eventually all that sharpening would shorten the life span of the knife?

Idk. My dad is militant about his knives so I learned from him. I never let them air-dry after washing, either. Wipe them down immediately and into the block they go.

I don't sharpen them a lot. I am talking about "whack whack whack" on the sharpener and that is it. Even when I watch professional chefs on tv they "whack" their knives a few times (ooh that sounded dirty).

The handles of my two knives are fine and have never cracked. They are worn because well they are 30+ years old and have been used a lot.

Just from my experience the dishwasher has not done anything to any of my knives.

erollis · June 2014

Our good knives are hand washed. The sharp knives from ikea go in the dishwasher pointy side down.

lyndausvi · June 2014

phira said:

I never put sharp knives (chef's knive, steak knives, whatever) in the dishwasher. I always wash them by hand.

This. Here is our dish rack. The knife block is always full.

chibiyui · June 2014

Good knives (shun) and even not so good knives (cusiniart) wash by hand. Crappy steak knives, dishwasher (farberware) old wood handle ones H likes though I wash by hand as well.

KatieinBkln · June 2014

Short knives go with the other silverware in the silverware-holder, blade down. Big knives go on the top, lying face up so their blade doesn't get dulled by the dishwasher itself.

That and we have a sharpener and one of those cool knife-holder thingies that is full of bristles to keep the knife from really touching anything.

photokitty · June 2014

I wish I had a dishwasher to have this problem...oh what I do, it's DH!!

But even when I did I always washed sharp knives by hand. Nothing better than cheap steak knives ever goes in a dishwasher IMHO

Emmy1493 · June 2014

If they are big knives, handwash. Smaller ones, if there are a lot-DW. If not, HW.

Cookie Pusher · June 2014

The few knives I put in the dishwasher go in pointy side up (except for the large ones that go in the top rack). My good knives get hand washed because they get used more frequently than I run the dishwasher. My cleaver sometimes gets thrown in the dishwasher if I've used it to cut something particularly gnarly, and I don't worry about reducing its life by having to sharpen it on occasion since it has a 4" wide blade.

KeptInStitches · June 2014

Knives get washed by hand - I was told that sharp knives should always be washed by hand, too. Plus I'm less likely to skewer myself washing a knife by hand than reaching into the dishwasher's silverware compartment.

pinkcow13 · June 2014

I feel like the only one without a dishwasher

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