Again, why? Empty the dishwasher when they’re clean, and then put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher as you use them. Keeps the sink clear, cuts down on work, and keeps dirty dishes out of sight and smell range.

The way you do it sounds really lazy and backwards.

Spill…into the dishwasher? Oh no, what a tragedy.

Why does it matter if a pod melts? It’s designed to melt. I really don’t understand what you are struggling with here. None of what you listed is a negative outcome.

I’ve been doing this for a decade and never had any issues.

And no, you can’t always tell by looking at them. Lots of dishes aren’t visibly dirty after using them. And why would I I go root around in the dishwasher looking at every dish (and still running the risk of putting away dirty dishes or adding a dirty dish to clean ones) when I could just glance at the detergent reservoir?

This takes no more time than not doing it, and gives you a 100% reliable way of knowing if dishes are dirty.

Do you live alone? If more than one person runs the dishwasher in your house, then you have to go off of how the dishes look. Many dishes don’t look visibly dirty after using them. You can root around in there, looking at them all, and hope that you make the right judgement call (otherwise you’re putting away dirty dishes or adding a dirty dish to the clean dishes) or you can just glance at the detergent reservoir and know that closed=dirty and open=clean. It takes no more time than any other way of doing the dishes because you still have to fill up the detergent at some point.

Hard to tell? You can just look at whether the detergent reservoir is open or closed.

The important thing about this LPT is that it doesn’t require any extra steps or expense. You’re still filling up the dishwashing detergent like you normally would, you’re just doing it as soon as you empty the clean dishes.

I’m astounded at how much flak this simple LPT has gotten.

This is more for people who share a living space. If person A runs the dishwasher and then person B opens the dishwasher a couple hours later, it may not be apparent whether the dishes are clean or dirty. Glasses in particular are difficult because I always wash out the glass before putting it in the dishwasher, so it looks “clean” but really isn’t.

Sorry but that’s gross. Why not just put them in the dishwasher? It’s better than a sink full of dirty dishes. It looks bad, smells bad, and makes more work because you have to handle the dishes twice instead of once.

I don’t understand: why do you have a full load of dirty dishes to put into the dishwasher?

I don’t think this is the burn you think it is. I slowly fill up my dishwasher as I use dishes, always keeping my kitchen sink empty.

What kind of like do YOU live?

I had no idea that a simple LPT like this would be so controversial. A huge percentage of people have little signs on their dishwashers that say “clean” and “dirty” that you can flip around. Like this one. This saves a person from buying one of those and is more reliable. And if you pre-rinse your dishes (like me) it can be difficult to tell whether they’re clean or not.

I wash most of the visible stuff off of my dishes before putting them in there. You don’t rinse your plates and glasses before you put them in the dishwasher? That’s a really common thing. I’d actually wager that most people do it.

I don’t understand how everyone is so baffled that this could possibly be an issue. If you go on Amazon, there are dozens of these clean/dirty signs. This method does the same thing but you don’t have to buy anything, plus it’s more reliable.

Being a renter, I don’t have a top-of-the-line dishwasher that will clean any dish no matter how dirty it is. If I don’t pre-rinse dishes, they have a good chance of still having gunk on them when the cycle is done, not to mention all that gunk being spread around by the water.

Do all you heathens just throw your caked-on plates directly in the dishwasher? I pre-wash most of the visible stuff off of my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I asked around and everyone I asked also does this, it’s a normal thing.

They even sell magnets that says “clean/dirty.” This is not some weird thing unique to me.