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Dishwasher and Microwave Safety for Ceramics
"Do's and Don'ts"

hese days we have a lot of new gadgets to help out in our daily lives. Two of these -- the dishwasher and the microwave -- have the potential to damage our ceramic tableware and other ceramic items. Follwing a few simple rules will help to avert disaster. Let's start with dishwashers.

Dishwashers and Ceramics
Dishwashers are quite harsh when cleaning. They use extremely hot water and abrasive, possibly corrosive chemicals to get dried up grime off your dishes. This means that your ceramic items will get quite a battering in the dishwasher. Usually a manufacturer will specify whether ceramic tableware or dinnerware is dishwasher safe, but if in doubt, you should be safe if you take heed of the following.

Porcelain and stoneware is generally safe, except if there are decals or onglaze lustres, e.g. gold on the surface. Sometimes porcelain is glazed at a lower temperature. In this case, the glaze may not be so strong and subject to eventual degradation in the dishwasher. If the glaze scratches easily, this may be the case.

I generally wouldn't recommend to clean earthenware utensils in the dishwasher as these are not fired as high as stoneware and thus more vulnerable.

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