When you first move into a house with a full set of appliances, you may have to learn the dishwasher rules the hard way. I once woke up to a three-foot-deep suds party in the kitchen of my college apartment after accidentally adding dishwashing soap to the dishwasher. (By the way, a tip I hope you never need: salt helps the suds disappear faster.)
On the other hand, some dishwashing tips don’t have such immediate and obvious consequences. These rules – like not putting knives or wooden utensils in the dishwasher – are passed down from generation to generation like immutable laws, lest you irreparably ruin your cookware… you know, one day or another.
Well, Ina Garten has come to prove that rules are there to be broken. In a recent Instagram post, she showed us a glimpse of her clean dishwasher, revealing some forbidden items that just took a spin, seemingly unscathed: a wooden hand spatula, an All-Clad pan, and a Wüsthof chef’s knife.
Commentators were quick to take notice and asked Garten’s opinion. Is it really safe to put these utensils in the dishwasher? We all know that the high temperatures in the dishwasher can warp or dry out wooden utensils and damage non-stick coatings, and that high-pressure water can hit delicate knives and damage their cutting edges.
“EVERYTHING goes in the dishwasher!!!,” Garten responded in an Instagram comment on her post. “My assistant used to put the bird cage in the dishwasher (she would take the bird out first).” (Garten later clarified in a follow-up comment: Everything but cast-iron skillets.)
The All-Clad pan pictured in Garten’s dishwasher-safe photo looks like this 15-inch lasagna pan, which Amazon says is dishwasher safe. As for wooden or wood-handled utensils, some are perfectly dishwasher safe; it depends on the manufacturer. (And you’ll probably have to coat them with mineral oil afterward).
On the other hand, other cookware experts disagree that knives are dishwasher safe. Josh Moses, co-founder of cookware company Misen, once pleaded with Kitchn readers, “Please don’t put your knife in the dishwasher.”
“The high temperature and moisture in the dishwasher can seriously damage the steel and handle,” Josh Moses explains. “The jets of water from the dishwasher can cause the knife to hit everything in the dishwasher, which can damage the cutting edge. It’s a good way to damage a knife quickly.”
But Garten has been skipping this rule for years (“I do it several times a day and some of my knives are 40 years old!”) So, if you’re tired of washing your knives by hand, know that you have Ina’s seal of approval. Mind you, be careful when you unload them.
