Start Keeping A Silverware Organizer In Your Sink And See How Easy Dishes Get

Doing the dishes can be the most cumbersome chore, especially during a busy week. Dirty dishes can quickly build up in your sink, piling up after just a few meals. As you set your plates, bowls, and cups aside until it's time to load the dishwasher, you probably just let the used cutlery pile up alongside the dinnerware. This can be a problem if you have a stack of dishes piled high, which isn't unusual. One way to cut through the stress of digging through a piled-high sink? Keep the silverware holder in the sink. As you accumulate dirty knives, forks, or spoons before you load, you can set them inside the silverware basket and then set the full basket in the dishwasher when ready. 

A 2022 survey by LG shows the average dirty dish sits in the sink for a day and a half. That's about equal to the time you could spend streaming your favorite show, and wouldn't you rather do that than the dishes? This clever dishwasher hack will make your life easier because you won't have to hunt around for silverware to finish loading the dishes. It also works if you find yourself looking for a few pieces to hand-wash if you've run out of clean silverware, perhaps needing a spoon to dip into a pint of ice cream. Hey, no judgement — you do you!

Most dishwasher brands let you remove the utensil basket with ease, which makes it easier to unload the dishes. You'll no longer have to bend up and down to retrieve cutlery as you unload. TikTokers have shown off this space-saving feature of moving the silverware basket to make more room for large dishes and cookware by removing it entirely until the next cycle. You can try to remove the basket, looking for any clips or tabs that might be holding it in place. Remove it gently, and don't pull if tabs or clips are attached, or you could break the basket.

If you discover your silverware basket isn't easily removable or you want to leave it in place, consider instead buying a universal dishwasher basket, such as the Ying-Ti Dishwasher Silverware Replacement Basket. Having an additional basket for your cutlery lets you keep it permanently in your sink, ready anytime for dirty silverware. Another good side to this kitchen hack? If you have stuck-on food on your silverware and find that various spoons or forks don't get squeaky clean in the dishwasher, just give them a good spray of water to dislodge any stubborn food — peanut butter, this means you — while they're in the basket.