After a meal, do you put unused cutlery & crockery back in the cupboard or does it get washed anyway?

[TheKitchenWitch]

Just that. It hasn’t been used, but it might have been touched. Does it go in the dishwasher or get put away?
It’s driving me crazy!

How would it be unused? Are you putting some out in case unexpected guests turn up?

If it's been on the table, it gets washed.

I only take out what we'll need.

I’m a little confused as to why you would have y used cutlery or crockery in the first place?

Surely you only lay the table with what you need?

Would put in dishwasher with everything else - sorry!

I leave it on the table for the next meal.
When setting the table I just add whichever cutlery is missing from the setting (usually the forks), I figure even if it has been touched it's still going to be used by the person that touched it.

Cutler I wash, crockery I don't.

Hate going out to eat where the table is already set, I often wonder when they clear away the clean stuff (table set for four and there's just two of us) if it goes back into the clean section, as it could have been handled anyway!

Back in the drawer / cupboard, unless the dishwasher is closer and the space is negligible.

It entirely depends on whether the DC have put their grubby mitts on them or not! If only I’ve touched them then they go away, but if the DC have picked them up and played with them while waiting for dinner to be served, or while eating dinner, or while daydreaming, or whatever - then they’ll go into the dishwasher because they’ll definitely have finger marks all over them even if the DC have actually washed their hands!

(As for the PPs asking why they would be out in the first place - sometimes we put our knives and forks and only the forks get used, or if we are having something like tacos then we put out forks in case anyone wants to scoop up bits that have fallen out, but they might not be needed. Or I’ll put out spoons for dessert and someone won’t have any.)

When it’s come out of the dishwasher clean, you nice it to the cutlery drawer, then you move it yto the table - it’s ‘touched’ before it’s even back clean in the drawer. Why would you wash it again if it’s not dirty!

I always put unused cutlery in the dishwasher. My DH puts it back in the drawer. He thinks I’m weird, and I think he is!

I hand wash, so don't want to wash unnecessary extras. I eyeball any items I am unsure of, and pop them back in the drawer if they look clean. We sit down to eat with freshly washed hands, so nothing should be too grubb, even if it has been touched.

grubby

In Australian slang these are referred to as 'sunbeams' and get returned to the drawer in our house.

I generally try only to get cutlery out that will be used. If there's the odd unused bit left on the table that is still clean, I'll put it back in the drawer but sometimes things have been handled or had spills on them and then they go in dishwasher with the rest.

How fabulous that you have a specific slang term for this in Australia, antipodes1.

Wash them.

"It might have been touched"

Unless people use sterile gloves when setting the table, every clean piece of cutlery has been touched before you use it.

"Maybe ghosts lick it?"

This has actually made me laugh

Child’s place setting, dishwasher just in case. Adults, back in the drawer.

FastWindow yes, exactly that - sometimes knives don't get used, or like you say it#s finger food and you put out forks in case anyone needs one but then they don't.

"Touched" - I don't mean picked up by the handle - I mean small-children-touched, or maybe a bit of food might have fallen on it and been wiped away, so it hasn't been used but it's not really clean any more either.

I would wash anything set out for use regardless of whether it has been used or not. Partly because I have coeliac disease and we don't have an entirely gluten free household so on the off chance it has come into contact with some crumbs from another plate, or something left on the table. I also just don't see the harm in giving it a wash 'just in case'. We don't have a dish washer but even if we did, it wouldn't mean another wash...it'd just get put in with everything else so I don't see how it's a negative environmental impact. Equally, I don't need a fresh bowl of washing up water to wash them in...they just get washed with the rest, so I don't see the issue with giving them a quick wash if you want to. I wouldn't say it was 'unclean' to put them away again without washing them. It's just my preference to ensure they are 100% clean.

Back in the drawer, unless I’ve been ignoring it for days at which point I will stick it in the dishwasher in case I’ve spilt something on it.