Actually, when we eat red meat, I usually use the steak knives, and I never run out of those. But we use the dinner knives to:
spread PB and hummus
cut soft foods, like cheese for lunch
eat eggs
cut a chunk of butter off the stick for a recipe
cut vegetables dinner
probably other stuff I’m not thinking of. But often a few were used during the day, and then we may not have 3 to set the table for supper.
Do you eat most meals one-handed? I usually use a fork and knife whenever I use a plate. I use the little forks for lunch, and the big ones at dinner, but we only have one set of table knives.
(I also have an assortment of kitchen knives, you know, the sharp ones you use to cut strawberries or carve a roast, but they get hand-washed, so all of them are always available.)
We have a Meile. Not sure I’m spelling that right. After a few years I am not overly impressed, probably for the reasons Lucy said.
One thing I don’r understand is the assertion I’ve seen in a few places that if you don’t use a rinse aid the dishwasher won’t clean properly. Why not? (We’re bad about refilling that and sometimes I just fill it with water.)
I’ve also heard that better detergent can really make a difference. I’m gonna try that (with the rinse aid) and see if things improve.
Miele is like one step up from the Thermador stuff I got at the “luxury appliance” store for my ol’ McMansion. (I loved the Thermador dishwasher btw).
The house before that one had maybe a Whirlpool(?) and the dishes came out white after washing. Gaslighting bf told me that was normal and to stop complaining.
…but really, a dishwasher that doesn’t wash the dishes?! BUT WHY?!
I assume it had something to do with the extremely hard water and lack of rinse aid but I’m not a dishwasher scientist.
I guess when I use chopsticks, I do eat one-handed. I only use chopsticks for “asian-style” food, though.
Huh, I grew up with a fork and a knife, and I use the knife to hold peas in place to get them on the fork, as well as to cut anything that’s larger than bite-size. Even if it’s something really soft, like an acorn squash, I will cut a piece neatly with a knife and then grab it with a fork.
So, for years, I’ve just grabbed the Cascade liquid at Costco, didn’t think much of it.
Some months back we were out of detergent and didn’t need a Costco run, so I grabbed some Finish brand at the grocery store. There was a very light haze on our dishes, which we never had with Cascade, and by the time I’d used up the two bottles I bought, there was a significant buildup (white haze) below the detergent dispenser on the (stainless) door. I always use the Finish rinse aid, fwiw.
Switched back to Cascade, and within a few weeks the white haze on the DW door was gone. So with a sample size of one, and two products tested, detergent matters.
ETA: we have a… I’d call it a mid-grade GE DW. It’s nice and quiet but nothing fancy.
I’m assuming you grew up somewhat well off? I made more than my parents by the time I was 30, so we weren’t fancy with dinner rules like using a knife or matching dishes growing up.
Yes, but my husband, who spent a lot of his childhood on welfare, grew up the same way. His parents had been given silverware as a wedding present, his mom kept it after the divorce, and it’s not expensive to maintain a set of metal flatware.
I personally found it impossible to keep my kids from leaving spoons here there and everywhere. Didn’t seem to happen with other utensils. Someday maybe I’ll have a matching set again.
We got a new KitchenAid a couple of years ago and it’s much quieter than the old one. Cycle time seems to vary. Sometimes it’s less than an hour, other times it takes over 2 hours. Maybe it has some kind of sensor that runs it longer if necessary? Like the delay feature - push it before going to bed and dishes are done in the morning.
Only thing we run out of are cereal bowls sometimes. We use the Corelle with tile floor and granite counters. Like to live on the edge I guess.
We started using the Cascade pod things when they were on sale at Costco one time and I was shocked that they work so well. Better than the liquid.
Our table growing up was always set with the full set of utensils because my mom wanted it that way, but considering our family calls the dinner knife (that @Lucy uses regularly) a butter knife (I know such things exist, but there’s only one in a set of silverware), you can guess how it was used. Definitely wasn’t for cutting things into bite sized pieces (that’s what steak knives are for, everything else gets split with a fork).
Just checked: we have a Samsung. It has a “time left” display, which is nice, because you know it’s running. Works well, takes about 2.5 hours to clean on the setting we use, which we usually run overnight.
Before I had a dishwasher I limited myself to 4 of everything, because I didn’t want to be able to let the dishes accumulate.
Once I got a dishwasher I doubled everything, and I’ve since doubled the flatware again because I don’t like running out of any one thing before the dishwasher gets full.
So I’m confused by Lucy having a dishwasher and only like 4 butter knives.
I only have one butter knife. I have a set of 8 place settings, which includes a dinner knife. I could probably find the same pattern and get more, but the handle is large, and it would be awkward to add many more to the silverware drawer. The knives already overflow their slot a little when they are all clean.
I do have some additional flatware i use for parties, but i feel like it shouldn’t take 2.5 hours to do the dishes.
There are serrated knives that can cut meat i.e. steak knives, and there are dull knives for vegetables and whatever which I’ve only ever heard referred to as butter knives.
A butter knife is small, and typically has no edge at all. You might have one per person at a fancy table, or you might have one on the butter dish, so each person can grab their portion of butter without using their own utensils on the shared dish.
This one is 7"
A dinner knife isn’t as sharp as a kitchen knife, but it has an edge. Sometimes they are slightly serrated, although usually they aren’t. They are usually longer than the fork, whereas the butter knife is typically shorter than the fork.
A steak knife is usually has a pointy tip and a sharp edge. Mine aren’t serrated, although they often are. (You need better quality steel to hold a decent edge than to work if you saw away with serrations. My steak knives were somewhat pricey, although still cheaper per knife than a good kitchen paring knife.)
This one is 8". I was surprised, when looking for these images, to notice that the steak knife is often a little shorter than the dinner knife within a set that has both.
I’m surprised so few people are using dinner knives. Even if your food is soft enough to cut with a fork, don’t you find it easier to chase down the peas with a second utensil to corral them? Or to cut the carrot if you can pin it in place with a fork? Someone gave us a child’s fancy silver place-setting, (well, technically, they probably gave it to our baby) and it includes a “pusher” instead of a knife.
