The goal of any gadget or appliance is to make our lives simpler. Nowhere is that more important than in the kitchen. The television airwaves are clogged with commercials of kitchen gadgets that help you slice, dice, fry, bake and store all kinds of food. But you might already have an appliance in your kitchen that is a perfect multi-task kind of device. That would be your dishwasher. Yes, the primary goal of the dishwasher is to actually wash those dishes but it turns out this is a very versatile appliance. Consider these possible dishwasher hacks:
Keep Food Warm
Have you ever run out oven space when cooking a large meal? It is important to keep everything warm and that is where the “heat/dry cycle – no water” setting on your dishwasher can be a help. Place the covered dishes in the dishwasher and hit the cycle. Just to make sure you’ve got this right, you might want to do a test run without any food in there!
Clean Filters
Your dryer and oven might have filters that have built up layers of fabric softener and grease, respectively. Run them through the dishwasher for a thorough cleaning. That’s good for washing and cooking.
Sanitize Toys
Action figures and other small toys can build up quite a lot of germ and grime. A dishwasher can be used to sanitize those toys. You just want to avoid anything that might melt. In fact, you might even notice that on a lot of these toys they’ve been classified as “dishwasher safe.”
Clean Makeup Brushes
Makeup brushes are another one of those items we use every day that can have a buildup of bacteria and oil. Those bristles can be made clean again with a cycle through the dishwasher. Just avoid using dishwashing liquid and instead find a nontoxic cleaning solution.
Clean Baseball Caps
Sweat and grime can become caked into a favorite baseball cap. However, tossing that in the washing machine might cause it to lose its shape. Instead, place it on the top rack of the dishwasher and run it through. There are even devices designed to hold the form of the cap in place while it gets washed.
Finally, after all the multi-use of your dishwasher make sure you occasionally wash the machine itself. There are special cleaning solutions meant for this purpose.
