Do you put gilt/metal finished dinner services in the dishwasher?

[derelicte]

I know it will damage it eventually, but we have a lovely dinner service that we hardly ever use because I can't be arsed to wash it by hand.

And how long / how many washes does it take for it to become damaged?

some dishwashers have a delicate cycle for such dishes. bit like the handwash cycle on your washing machine.