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Housekeeping

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Original poster

Dishwasher- cutlery tray or basket?

23 replies

Bubble77bee · 05/05/2018 12:30

Any thoughts on which is best? I’ve only had a dishwasher with a basket before, but most seem to now have a tray.

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 05/05/2018 12:32

Tray definitely. It’s really quick to grab a handful of knives and put them away. Also easier to load without getting your hands dirty.

notapizzaeater · 05/05/2018 12:34

Try is a pa8n in the arse to load but leaves lots of room for other stuff and much to my amazement always comes out clean

Ethelswith · 05/05/2018 12:35

I have a half width one, and so it's tray. I find it much easier than the basket at DMum's. Both work well and I think you get used to whatever you have.

CiderwithBuda · 05/05/2018 12:36

I thought a tray would be very faffy at first but once you load it properly it’s much better than a basket. My friend has a tray and hers was the first I saw but they just load any old way. I on the other hand load properly. All knives together, forks etc. So much quicker to put away.

DramaAlpaca · 05/05/2018 22:19

I've just changed to one with a tray and I prefer it. It's much easier to load and to empty and definitely maximises space in the dishwasher.

You also have much more room in the bottom section if you don't have a basket.

YimminiYoudar · 05/05/2018 22:23

I've just got one with a tray for the first time. Mostly I like it, but pint glasses don't fit on the upper rack as everything is squashed down, so that's annoying but on balance it's still better

WhoKnowsWhereTheW1neGoes · 05/05/2018 22:32

Basket 100%. We had a basket one for 10 years and perfectly happy with it, switched to a tray one a couple of years ago and it's a total PITA. Faffy to load and unload, several items per load not clean and the loss of height means we have to choose between not putting our large plates in the bottom rack or tall glasses in the top rack. The extra space in the bottom rack is no compensation for any of this.

Madcats · 05/05/2018 22:35

Love having a tray (16 year old dishwasher we are just wondering about replacing). Admittedly we have the cutlery drawer sited next to the dishwasher so we just scoop up clean cutlery and pop it in (all at waist height). Cutlery is easily rinsed and cleaned .

Just try to get your family to agree on an "order" so you can just scoop up each type of cutlery together without sorting.

Yimmin it might be worth double checking that you can't drop the middle tray down a bit (that certainly seems to be an option on a lot of dishwashers).

WhoKnowsWhereTheW1neGoes · 05/05/2018 22:37

Madcats, if we drop the middle tray down to get the tall glasses in then our dinner plates don't fit in the bottom rack.

pallisers · 05/05/2018 22:39

I have both. Love having the tray but would hate if that was all I had. Much easier to take cutlery in and out of a basket

frasier · 05/05/2018 22:43

We have both at the moment (running two houses, long story) and I HATE the tray. It’s the faffiest faffy thing from faff street. I bought a second basket for my other one because admittedly you can get more in the tray.

RandomMess · 05/05/2018 22:45

I loved the tray...

DrWhy · 05/05/2018 22:51

Tray itself works great but means as others have said that we can’t fit pint or wine glasses in the top anymore - total PITA.

EtonianMother · 05/05/2018 22:54

Tray. No, no, no, no, no. And no. Don't do it.

RandomMess · 05/05/2018 23:00

I loved having more plate space guess it's a personal thing!

sproutsandparsnips · 05/05/2018 23:22

Basket for sure. The tray meant everything was squashed - no pint or wine glasses. Also if you didn't load it properly they wouldn't get clean.

Original poster
Bubble77bee · 06/05/2018 00:25

Many thanks for all your thoughts! We’re going to go with a dishwasher with a basket.

OP posts:
3boys3dogshelp · 06/05/2018 00:33

tray much easier to unload and everything gets cleaned properly

WhoKnowsWhereTheW1neGoes · 06/05/2018 08:45

Our tray doesn't clean spoons properly at all, the basket was much better.

EtonianMother · 06/05/2018 12:25

Basket. Yessss!!!! Excellent decision. I am currently trying to buy a second hand one as I can't afford new. The advantage to this is that an old one is unlikely to come with a flipping cutlery tray. Grin

ThankYouGillian · 06/05/2018 22:37

Noooo, tray is fabulous. Ours gets everything clean.

erniepigy · 08/05/2018 13:06

TRAY all the way. Had a basket for years till I could get a new one with a tray. Moved house and I'm back to a basket and HATE it. Thank heavens it's started playing up so I'll get a new one and go back to a tray, they both clean but much more room for pots and placates with the tray up out of the way

chloechloe · 08/05/2018 16:02

We have a basket. MIL has a tray and it drives me insane - it takes forever to load and the same time to unload. I can't say I've noticed a difference in how clean things are bug I do rinse everything quickly before loading.

I find the tray sometimes gets full before the rest of the dishwasher unless you're really pedantic and line everything up like soldiers.

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