My dishwasher is flippant.

February 12, 2009 6:04 AM

DishwasherFilter: How do I keep plastic containers from flipping over in the dishwasher?

I'm afraid of wedging them in there because I've had a dishwasher mold/melt/reshape containers due to the heat. But I'm tired of opening the dishwasher to find that half of the containers have flipped over and are filled with gucky dishwasher water.

There doesn't seem to be a particular area that gets flipped over (bottom or top, one side or the other, edges or middle). It's just pretty much a bunch of them get flipped over.

Ideas?

(i did try searching but only came up with questions about dishwashers the equipment or dishwasher safe. please point in the right direction if previous threads exist.) thanks mefi!

posted by sio42 to home & garden (8 comments total)

Top Rack. Lay something across them, like a spatula, tongs, a large spoon, etc.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:09 AM on February 12

Netting? Cut open a net lingerie bag, tie it down over your inverted pieces, and see what happens.

I haven't tried this, and one possible major issue is whatever you tie down with coming loose, but I'm sure you can improvise something resilient.
posted by maudlin at 6:09 AM on February 12

When I had this problem with my old dishwasher, I would put my plastic stuff in a row on the top rack, and then clip a little bungee cord over them. It looked really MacGyver-ish, but it worked! With my new dishwasher, I don't have the problem of plastic stuff getting tossed around, so if you are upgrading soon, this problem may resolve itself.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:21 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

i like the SuperSquirrel-MacGyver team up! i'll give it a whirl and post back in a few days.

still open to other ideas/experiences with this.

sadly, it's an apt appliance and the landlord is not likely to upgrade anything so we're stuck till we move.
posted by sio42 at 6:46 AM on February 12

Yeah, lay something on top of them, wedge them slightly beneath something, or strap something over them.

I was at the Dollar Tree a while back and saw they were selling a little gadget specifically for this purpose: two little clippy things with a length of sturdy rubber band connecting them. They were only a dollar, so I bought two.

We don't use either one of them. But you might.
posted by Work to Live at 7:10 AM on February 12

You could just turn off the drying cycle and wedge 'em in anywhere you like.
posted by TruncatedTiller at 9:41 AM on February 12

I usually weigh them down with a couple of upside-down plates or pot lids that are already fairly clean, so it's a non-issue for me.
posted by crapmatic at 10:18 AM on February 12

our big spoons are plastic so that didn't work well - guess they were too light.

i've found that having our pot lids sort of lean against them kinda helps - i never thought about just laying it on top (since the small containers are on the top rack).

thanks for the ideas, mefites!
posted by sio42 at 7:20 AM on March 5