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jyl_gw

Washing Formal Ware

6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago

We have some sets of china and glassware with elaborate gold accents, and some silver (plate) flatware. These get used for large dinner parties and special or holiday occasions.

I airways dread the mountain of handwashing that follows. 20 place settings, each with 3-4 dishes and bowls, 3-4 pieces of glassware, 5 pieces of silverware.

I handwash this stuff because I've been warned not to wash it in a dishwasher. I was told that modern detergents will degrade or discolor such ware over time.

Is that true? Can you regularly wash this sort of stuff in a conventional dishwasher using standard detergents?

I don't currently have a conventional dishwasher. Instead I have a commercial dishwasher that uses a (tiny) amount of detergent which seems to be mostly a grease cutting agent, and mostly relies on prerinsing, then a short and very hot "wash" cycle. Will that be safe for such ware?

I'm almost thinking about selecting one gold trimmed dish and one piece of silver, and leaving them in the rack for the next month, so that they get subjected to several dozen cycles. As a sacrificial test.

Comments (3)

  • 6 years ago

    It will remove the gold and silver. If it doesn’t have that, it’s fine for a DW.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Testing as you have described is the best way to go.

    Do not put knives with sterling handles, or even silver plate handles in the dishwasher. My mother in law once told me the glue can deteriorate from the heat, in a DW. IDK if she was right or not, but I'm not risking it.

    I started putting my sterling silver flatware in the DW but two things happened that caused me to stop that. First, the black oxidization around the 3-D design on the handle is removed in the DW. Nothing wrong with that, but I prefer the look because it accents the design that attracted us to the pattern, to begin with. Second, our residential DW uses a rinse aid. I would swear it leaves a residue that makes the flatware tarnish faster. So after a few years of polishing before each use, instead of every few years, I am back to washing all flatware by hand. Your commercial DW may not do any of this, so YMMV.

    As for the china, I started putting it in the DW after decades of hand washing. These plates are used only once or twice a year, so the gold rim has held up very well in the DW for the last ten years. I am over the hand washing and the kids won't want our china after I am gone.


    Edited to add --- I use a low dose of powder detergent when I wash the good china And have rinsed them thoroughly before putting into the DW. I would never use one of the pods that I use for everyday washing.

  • 6 years ago

    I have this Mikasa dinnerware:

    Runs through my KA DW with Finish tablets, and rinse aid, just fine, and has for 10 yrs (admittedly only parties, not everyday).

    What I don't do is run the heated dry cycle with it. I was told the metal trim will get extremely hot and may become damaged. No problem with the usual evaporative drying process.

    I've been told silverware goes through the DW but one has to be careful not to let mixed metals touch; e.g., your stainless flatware/server utensils with the silverware.

    Unfortunately, I have handmade bronze flatware, so I've never been willing to risk the DW, LOL. I asked several professionals (not just in the appliance field) if they thought it would be okay, but this kind of flatware is so rare nobody wanted to risk an opinion! Had to stay with hand-washing and storing in anti-tarnish cloth, sigh.

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