Dishwasher - knives up or down?

Knives down too dangerous

My Bosch dishwasher cutlery basket has two compartments with a raised bottom. All the sharp knives and scissors go in there. It is designed so the tips of the blades do not protrude beneath the basket. Any large knives are laid side ways, handles forward on the trays at the top. They have a little flap that can stand up to cradle the knives blade down. I am afraid everything that can be washed in a dishwasher goes in. Wooden spoons are laid down in the top. I find the dishwasher gets them a lot cleaner than by hand. They are stood upwards in a ceramic pot to air dry. as others have said never have sharp blades pointing upwards!

The ‘blade’ I mean

It’s most dangerous to place the knives, sharp end up.

Foxyferret

No cutlery basket in mine, a tray with grooves so they sit horizontally usually blades facing downwards.

Wehad this in our previous house. And really missed it when we moved here, ad dw had a basket. First thing I said when we finally replaced the kitchen last year, dishwasher with tray on top. Great.

Sorry about x/kiss

Blade up, but no sharp knives in the dishwasher. x

The thought of them facing upwards, pointing at your eyes terrifies me 😮.

Down. I have a nurse friend who looked after someone in intensive care falling on dishwasher. They didn't survive

Blades down - always.
After reading of a young mum in UK who tripped and died as a result of a dishwasher knife being blade upwards.

As for the hygiene aspect, which ixion brings up, I learned as an au pair back when I was a teenager to spread a tea towel on the work surface and tip the lot out into it. You can pick everything up by the handle, sort it out on the teatowel, and put away with minimum handling.

I used to put all cutlery handles down, dishwashers are designed to wash cutlery that way. I’ve a tray now so no need to think about it. I’d never put sharp knives in though, it ruins them.

As for the dirt about the child killing being killed it’s an apocryphal story. And his could an adult fall into an open dishwasher, let alone impale themselves?

I always put cutlery with the business end up because that was where the muck was. If I put them in with the blades/tines/spoons down, the bits just got swirled about and stuck to another item in the same section of the basket and then, for good measure, got baked on in the drying process.

It never occurred to me to put the blades facing down.

Who leaves a dishwasher open anyway?

Nowadays I have a model with a tray at the top. This is a very bad design.

1. The third level (cutlery tray) doesn't have its own spray arms and the spray from the second level does not reach up properly to clean the cutlery.

2. Due to the third tray taking up space, you lose on height in the other two trays.

I don't like to pre-rinse the dishes because then I may as well wash the lot by hand anyway.

We used to have a cutlery basket in our former dishwasher, all the cutlery went in 'head first', as it were.

Not only for reasons of safety but of basic hygiene.
No handling of blades, tines or spoon bowls when taking them out. No point in having cutlery washed in very hot water and air dried if you're going handle the very bits which you are going to eat off when you remove them from the basket.

No cutlery basket in mine, a tray with grooves so they sit horizontally usually blades facing downwards.

Cateq

Our last dishwasher didn’t have a cutlery basket but a tray that sat at the top of the machine and each item of cutlery was placed in the individual slots whack prevented any knives causing damage

Yes, ours has a cutlery tray too.
It took a bit of getting used to at first and seemed much slower than just put it all into a basket (sharp knives points down, cutlery knives with rounded edges blade up) but it's so much better than a basket.

Down unless you want to risk a nasty accident.

Ordinary cutlery goes on a tray with the tines facing up. Any type of kitchen knife never goes in the dishwasher as I understand dishwasher blunts the blade, due I think, but not sure, to chemicals.

I always put the blades down now ,
my grandson aged 6 at the time , backed into the open door of the dishwasher , and sat down abruptly!
Luckily he was wearing sturdy thick denim jeans and only got a scratch on his bottom !
I have never had to replace the basket !

All blades down. However my favourite little chopping-up knife never goes in the dishwasher - the wooden handle would soon be wrecked.
I possess hardly any of what I call ‘murderous’ knives - the sort people keep in a block, all ready for any intruder to grab. Funnily enough I manage fine without.

Knives should go blade down but I've also wondered what is the best way to manage the fragile cutlery baskets as I'm about to replace yet another.

It is so easy for someone to trip over the lowered front flap and I do know of a woman who impaled herself in this way on a sharp knife, punctured her lung and died . Possibly lay a sharp knife along a shelf instead of cutlery container ?

For safety blades and prongs down,

kittylester I agree. Dishwasher detergent will take the edge off your good kitchen knives. We don't put them in even if the packaging says you can.

If you watch Eastenders, that's how Chantelle died, after Gray pushed her. She was impaled. As others say, wash by hand or sideways, handles facing you, in dishwasher.