How to Load the Dishwasher

Dishwashers have often been a source of heated debate among households with strong (and slightly obsessive) opinions on the most efficient loading technique. Forks pointing up or pointing down? Large plates stacked side by side or staggered with small plates?

Fortunately, you can put an end to the arguments by simply looking in your dishwasher manual. (Do you even remember where you put your dishwasher manual?)

Turns out, the instruction manuals from every manufacturer actually provide photos and illustrations of ideal rack layouts when you're running a full load of 10 or 12 place settings, including what to do and what not to do.

A PDF of your misplaced manual is just a Google search away, but you can take advantage of all the work Joe Clark has already done: the writer (who works in web accessibility) downloaded the dishwasher manuals for virtually every manufacturer in existence, extracted all the loading tips and tricks (like this one from Dacor, above), and uploaded those pages to a Flickr album.

The result is an assemblage of organizational porn that will appease even the most OCD among us.