FYI, Rinsing Your Dishes Before They Go In The Dishwasher Might Just Leave Them Dirtier

Your post-meal cleanup routine is about to get easier — with one important caveat.

If you see someone put their plate straight in the dishwasher without giving it a cursory rinse first, you may think they’re being lazy, trying to bypass a step. The reality? They’re probably doing it right.

Holly Moore, founder and owner of in-home cleaning company Maids and Moore, told HuffPost that rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher is a common mistake she sees people make in the kitchen. While you still should scrape food off the plate, rinsing your dishes is completely unnecessary.

We reached out to home appliance experts about why rinsing dishes backfires (in most cases, at least) and other ways people unknowingly damage their dishwashers. Ready to get down and dirty? Let’s get into it.

Why rinsing dishes can do more harm than good

Ian Palmer-Smith, an appliance repair expert at Domestic & General, told HuffPost that most dishwashers have a built-in food sensor that can detect how much food is on the dishes, which then signals to the dishwasher how long the cycle should be, as well as the temperature of the water. “So if you rinse the dishes off first, the dishwasher isn’t going to do as heavy of a cycle as it would otherwise,” Palmer-Smith explained, adding that this can cause grime stuck on dishes to not be cleaned off as well.