How to test your dishwasher to see whether it damages your fine china?

Buy the most inexpensive piece available in your china design. Now place this piece in the bottom towards the back of your dish washer. Forget about it for a month. (set a reminder note in your calendar). After running your dish washer for a month with your normal everyday cycles you can now take out the piece of china you stashed in there for testing. Get out another piece of china to judge it against. Is there fading or significant damage? If there is no damage and you feel confident about your dishes longevity when washed in a dishwasher, you can use your dishwasher to wash that particular china dinnerware set.

Washing fine china by hand.

This is the tried and tested method for keeping china clean that has been passed down over the generations.

How to wash by hand:

1.    Before you even soap up your first dish. Place a dish towel at the bottom of the sink. This will ensure that when you slide dishes into the sink they will not be damaged by the metal surface of the sink.

2.    Take off rings or jewelry that make chip or cause damage to the delicate dinnerware. Alternatively turn rings inwards.

3.    Wear gloves to protect your hands from damage and dry skin caused by detergent.

4.    Fill the sink with moderately warm water. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar. The vinegar acts as power-booster to any detergent.

5.    Slowly slide dishes into the sink one at a time, sideways. This will help you avoid chipping a dish inadvertently on a spout. When china enters water too quickly cracks can form on the delicate dinnerware.

6.    Using a sponge cloth remove the grime in gentle circular motions. You may add extra dishwashing liquid to your cloth. A cloth or sponge that is textured can cause damage to the pattern on the surface of china.

7.    You can add a tablespoon of vinegar to the rinsing water for added shine.


Tip: if your china seems to have inexplicable hairline cracks, try soaking it in warm/tepid milk overnight.  Hand wash the next morning and they should have vanished.

Written by Leanne Naidoo, LIfeOrganizers Editor