Health

Six things homeowners should know about their dishwasher

Inspiring Savings · Jan 15, 2026 15:40 · 4 min read

Six Things You Need to Know about Your Dishwasher — Your dishwasher is an important kitchen appliance that can do more than just washing pots...

Your dishwasher is an important kitchen appliance that can do more than just washing pots...

Your dishwasher is an important kitchen appliance that can do more than just washing pots and pans. From maintenance advice to troubleshooting common issues, equip yourself with the knowledge to keep your dishwasher running efficiently. Read how you can save money and clean more.

If your household is like most, the dishwasher is a very important appliance in your household. You may not even think about how awesome your dishwasher is until it breaks down and you have to live without it for a few days.

Your dishwasher can do more than just wash dishes. Did you know? It does, and it is a pretty impressive list of extras your dishwasher can do. Here are a few things that you should know about your dishwasher.

Six Things Homeowners Should Know About Their Dishwasher

Save You Money on Water

It might not seem as though your dishwasher is using less water than hand washing a sink full of dirty dishes, but it’s true.

You save water by running your dishwasher instead of handwashing those dishes, which means you are saving money on water and energy costs, plus freeing up some of your valuable time so that you can do something else. The newer your dishwasher is, the more energy and water-efficient it is.

cleaning your dishwasher- pictured woman with rubber gloves on putting glasses in dishwasher

Clean Your Dishwasher Regularly

When was the last time you cleaned your faithful dishwashing machine? Have you ever cleaned your dishwasher? We often overlook that appliances like washing machines and dishwashers also require regular cleaning for optimal performance and efficiency. You can learn more about how to deep clean your dishwasher in this post here.

Use Your Dishwasher at Night is Best

According to EnergySage, most electricity providers offer discounted rates for nighttime use of electricity. So, before you go to bed, turn on your dishwasher. And in the morning, you will have saved a few extra bucks and will wake to clean dishes.

One of the things I do appreciate is the added humidity that dishwashers bring to your home. In the winter, our home gets dry. So adding humidity back in during the night makes me feel more comfortable.

Your Dishwasher Can Keep Your Food Warm

Did you know that you can use your dishwasher to keep food warm? Around the holidays, if your oven is already in use, you may run out of places to keep your food warm until it is ready to be served. You can use your dishwasher for this task.

Simply place your dishes of prepared food in the dishwasher and run a dry cycle to keep the food warm. Just make sure that it is a drying cycle. You don’t want to ruin all of your hard work with water.

Clean with Vinegar to Prevent Spots

If you find that after running your dishwasher, your dishes still have hard water spots, you can prevent them with white vinegar. Yes, you can buy expensive spot-prevention products on the aisle with the dishwasher detergent, but you can use a small cup or bowl of white vinegar on the top shelf of the dishwasher just as easily.

White vinegar is fairly inexpensive, and you can use it for other cleaning tasks around your home, too.

It’s Not Just For Dishes

Did you know that you can clean way more than just dishes in your dishwasher? It’s true! You can use it to wash the following, plus more;

silk flowers
gardening tools
baseball caps
flip flops
sneakers
small plastic toys
glass light fixture covers
refrigerator shelves
make-up brushes
cleaning sponges
Those shells you found on the beach
And more.

These are just a few of the other things your dishwasher can wash besides dishes. I love it when I can just pop it open and add in a few extra household items that need to be cleaned. But be careful. Those household items that have special embellishments or plated coloring will still need to be hand-washed.

Load Your Dishwasher Correctly

To get the most out of your dishwasher as far as cleanliness, energy, and water efficiency go, you really do need to load it correctly. Now, to correctly load your machine, you are going to need to read your owner’s manual, or look it up online if it has gotten lost over the years.

Each brand is different, so the correct way to load one may not be the correct way to load another. There you have it, six things about your dishwasher you may not have known before.