The high mineral content of our water here in the mountains of Utah can make it nigh impossible for dishes to come out of the dishwasher without those dreaded spots. One site claimed that up to 85% of the U.S. has hard water!
But luckily for all of us who struggle with hard water, there’s a simple way to solve the problem of spotty dishes. Check it out now!
Part 1: The Problem
It’s disheartening to pull your clean dishes out of the dishwasher only to find that they don’t look very clean at all! Some dishes (especially plastic ones like food storage containers) used to come out of my dishwasher looking so spotty or cloudy that I would leave them in the dishwasher to go through another wash cycle, but that never really made it any better.
In fact, in some cases it made it even worse, because those mineral deposits would just continue building up. Even after scrubbing them with steel wool, that cloudy film just would not budge.
Part 2: The Solution
This problem continued to drive me crazy up until a couple of years ago, when I stumbled across a little tip online that ended up making all the difference. I read a comment somewhere that recommended using white vinegar as a rinse-aid in the dishwasher, and I had vinegar on hand, so I figured it was worth a shot!
I loaded my dishwasher like usual, then placed a small ramekin in the center of the top rack. I filled the ramekin with plain white vinegar, then gently shut the dishwasher and turned it on to run a wash cycle.
Part 3: The Results
The results of my little experiment were nothing short of miraculous! Once the cycle had finished, I opened my dishwasher to find many of my drinking glasses looked as clean and shiny as the day I bought them. And on top of that, the dishes affected by that cloudy film of mineral buildup came out perfectly clean too.
All of that came from putting less than a cup of white vinegar into my dishwasher. Ever since that first test, I have added vinegar to the top rack of nearly every load of dishes I’ve done, and it continues to work just as well today as it did the first time.
And if your water isn’t terribly hard, you could opt to put vinegar straight into your rinse-aid dispenser instead. It will dispense a small amount of vinegar into your dishwasher during each load, which is perfect if you just need a little boost of cleanliness instead of a full-fledged hard water intervention.
A Note About Dishwasher Door Seals
I share my “vinegar hack” with people as often as I possibly can, and the vast majority of the time, I hear nothing but good things from those who have tried it. But I did want to mention that a few readers have told me their plumbers have actually advised them not to use vinegar in their dishwashers.