Washing dishes: tips and tricks

Water, a cloth and washing-up liquid are usually all you need for washing dishes after use. To easily remove heavy soiling or discolouration on your tableware, you can use a
standard ceramic hob cleaner, found in most homes, or a non-scratch cleaning product/porcelain cleaner, such as "Etolit". You may need to wash your dishes several times or leave the cleaning product to work for a while. In some cases, steeping your dishes in water helps to remove encrusted food residue and stains. You can then wipe them off with a cloth.

You can also clean cutlery, glasses and porcelain in the dishwasher, provided the items are dishwasher-safe. Depending on the level of soiling, you may need to pre-rinse the dishes to ensure the machine fully removes baked-on food residue.

The dishwasher is a staple in many kitchens today. Manufacturers claim that their machines make dishes exceptionally clean, which is often true. However, dishwashers are not the right choice for every type of crockery. Good old-fashioned hand washing is often more appropriate, especially for delicate items. Read on to find out how to wash dishes properly!

Not all dishes can be washed in the dishwasher. This particularly applies to delicate glassware, wood, sharp knives and hand-painted crockery. Villeroy & Boch tableware is made from different materials: hard porcelain, Premium Porcelain, Premium Bone Porcelain and earthenware. These materials are dishwasher-safe, with the exception of decorative items in hard porcelain and porcelain crockery with gold or silver detailing. For these items, we recommend hand washing using a mild washing-up liquid. What about Villeroy & Boch glasses? Glass and crystal are sensitive to temperature variations and should not be washed using water that is either too hot or too cold, both of which can cause the material to shatter.

As you can see, in some cases it really does make sense to wash dishes by hand. It is very annoying if crockery – and in particular high-quality items – becomes damaged or broken due to incorrect care.