When drying the dishes, do you.........?

Question

Do you dry your silverware and utinsils handle up or down in the drainer? Also, why do you do it the way that you choose to do it?

Also, do you wash your hands before putting away all your dishes? I ask this because, what difference does it make what part of a dish you touch if your hands are clean?

Answer 1

The handles are always down, you don't want to put the eating part down in the place where water was, that's where all the bacteria lays from water drying, the only thing that I put down are the sharp knifes, and I rinse them before I use them. If you did a bacteria test you would find most of the bacteria is where the water was. I've seen tests on TV about this and one woman's toilet was cleaner than her sink....yikes !!!!!!!! Anywhere there is water is a breeding place for germs !

Answer 2

If I am washing dishes manually, I rinse with very hot water because the dishes dry fast. That said, any clean silverware is placed handle side down, with the exception of sharp knives (so no one gets hurt when they are put away).

I put other silverware handle side down mostly because of the spoons, since the spoon can pool water if it winds up facing with the spoon-part upward; I make sure the spoon-part is face-down when the handle part is down (in the drainer).

I also wash silverware last, so I can see which direction they are facing in the drainer.

Since I rinse with very hot water, the dishes dry ultra fast, so I can begin putting them away almost as soon as I finish washing the dishes. This way, my hands are still clean from washing the dishes. Even if I wait a little bit, I don't really worry about my hands (unless they've gotten dirty) because all I have to touch are the handles of my silverware (with the exception of the knives). Of course, if I've gone on to put dinner away in the meantime as the dishes dry, or due to that I've cleaned the sink, I wash my hands just for good measure.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

I put the utinsils handle down, this allow better drainage. Yes, wash your hands before you handle any dishes. Even though you only handle one part, should you have some germ on your hand, the person who uses that utinsil could handle that part while eating or cooking resulting in a bug being caught. Always wash your hands prior to working in the kitchen. Why take any chances! Everybody needs to always wash their drainrack weekly in hot soapy water. Never let anything touching your dishes get yucky!

Answer 4

Well I do it both ways! I put the forks, spoons and butter knifes eating end up. This way you can see what you are grabbing. However, I put steak knifes, parring knifes and such blade down for safety reasons. All it takes is you reaching across to get a dish out of the drainer and the next thing you know you are in the emergency room getting stitches!

Answer 5

I put everything handle up, both so that when I put the silverware away again, I don't touch with my hands the part that goes in your mouth and so that I don't have sharp knives pointing up at me.

My husband puts them handle down so he can see what he's taking out of the dishwasher more easily.

Answer 6

I dry handle side down - so the part that touches the food does not touch the bottom of the drainer cup - it gets kind of gross in there.

However, I dry sharp items, like steak knives, handle side up so no one accidently cuts themselves.

Answer 7

Flat-ware (silverware) goes handles down, sharp knives go handles up. Because the flatware dries better this way, and I don't have to worry about stabbing myself when it's time to put everything away.

Answer 8

handle down for forks and spoons...cause it gets too crowded if u do it handle up and handle up on knifes so that u don't damage the towel when grabbing it...and no u don't have to wash ur hands before putting away dishes cause you washed them when u washed the dishes. eh!

Answer 9

I dry them handle up. I don't like hitting my hand against the fork tines, and I can then pick them up by the handful when they're dry.

Answer 10

Handles up so that nothing falls thru the basket.