How to Clean a Dishwasher

A Guide to Keeping the Machine That Cleans Clean

A woman cleaning her dishwasher.

You’d think a dishwasher, being full of soap and hot water all the time, would just stay clean on its own. But no. Life, as usual, is not so simple. The machine that exists to clean your dishes is itself a filthy, bacteria-riddled beast that demands maintenance like a fussy old man in a creaking armchair. And if you neglect it? The smell will remind you. Oh, it will remind you.

We spend our days shoving dirty plates into this mechanical maw, trusting it to make everything better, to undo the messes of our living. It is, in many ways, a perfect machine: it corrects the consequences of human appetite. And yet, it too succumbs to time, to filth, to the inevitable decline of all things.

Why a Dirty Dishwasher is a Tragedy

A dirty dishwasher is a paradox, a betrayal, a cosmic joke. If the thing that cleans is dirty, then what, my dear reader, is clean? A dishwasher clogged with food particles, soap scum, and mildew will not only fail at its singular task but will also transform into a damp, humid petri dish for microbial horror. You will open the door one day and be greeted not by the citrus-scented triumph of hygiene, but by an odor that suggests something has died and is only pretending to be a dishwasher.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, moisture-heavy appliances like dishwashers can be prime breeding grounds for mold and bacteria, which, as it turns out, are very bad at scrubbing your plates. Instead of making things clean, your dishwasher will simply redistribute the filth evenly, like a great socialist experiment gone horribly wrong.

How to Clean a Dishwasher: Step-by-Step Guide

1. Remove the Racks and Shake Your Fist at the Filth

First, you must remove the racks, utensil holders, and any other thing that can be removed. Take them out. Lay them on the counter. Observe them. Meditate on their condition. You will likely find a layer of gunk clinging to them, like barnacles on the bottom of a cursed ship. This is what happens when you trust a machine to take care of your problems without ever giving it a moment’s care in return.

Now, take a sponge or a brush and scrub them down with warm, soapy water. If you need extra firepower, a little baking soda paste will help break down the residue. Rinse them thoroughly and set them aside. They are now reborn.

2. Confront the Filter, the Heart of the Horror

The filter, if your dishwasher has one, is where your sins collect. Old food particles, grease, and debris gather here, forming a putrid swamp that is neither solid nor liquid but something worse—something existentially disturbing.

Remove the filter, if possible. Take a deep breath, steel your nerves, and rinse it under hot water. Scrub it with a toothbrush dipped in dish soap until it is free from the ghosts of meals past. If it is beyond saving, replace it. A fresh filter is a fresh start, a rare chance at redemption.

3. Wipe Down the Seals, the Hidden Frontier of Filth

The rubber door seals of your dishwasher hold secrets. Nefarious ones. Run a damp cloth along them, and you will collect a dark and mysterious grime that you will wish you had never seen. It is the residue of countless washes, the stubborn remnants of water and soap and human negligence.

If mere water and cloth fail you, summon the power of distilled white vinegar. Dip a cloth into the vinegar and wipe down every inch of the seals, the hinges, and the door itself. You will be astonished, and not in a good way.

4. Pour Vinegar into the Bottom and Let the Machine Reckon with Itself

Fill a dishwasher-safe cup with white vinegar and place it on the top rack. Then, run the dishwasher on the hottest cycle available. The vinegar will swirl through the machine, breaking down grease and soap scum, cutting through the stench of stagnation.

Somewhere deep in the dishwasher’s mechanical heart, something will shift. It will remember its purpose. It will find itself clean again.

5. Banish the Last Remnants with Baking Soda

Once the vinegar cycle is complete, sprinkle a cup of baking soda across the bottom of the dishwasher. Run a short, hot cycle. The baking soda will scrub away any lingering odors and restore a sense of righteousness to your appliance.

If you still detect foulness, something worse may be lurking. You may need to consult the experts at Whirlpool for troubleshooting, because at this point, you are dealing with forces beyond your control.

6. Check the Spray Arms, the Unsung Heroes of Cleanliness

The spray arms are the dishwasher’s hands, reaching out with scalding water to wipe away your filth. But over time, their tiny jets clog with mineral deposits, food particles, and resentment. If the water can’t spray freely, the whole operation is a farce.

Take a toothpick or a thin wire and clear out the holes. You may be surprised at what you find—tiny remnants of past meals, microscopic debris that has been hitchhiking through countless cycles. Once the holes are clear, rinse the arms under warm water and reinstall them. Your dishwasher is now whole again.

How Professionals Clean Dishwashers

If you take your dishwasher cleaning seriously but not that seriously, you may wish to consult professionals. Appliance repair technicians and professional cleaners use high-powered descaling agents to remove mineral buildup, specialized steam treatments to sterilize internal components, and industrial-strength degreasers to cut through layers of neglected filth.

Many technicians, like those recommended by Angi, suggest a thorough deep cleaning at least once a year. This is to ensure that the dishwasher does not, at some point, rise up against you in protest of its mistreatment.

Final Thoughts

And so, you have cleaned your dishwasher. The great machine has been restored to its proper function. It will now resume its task of keeping your dishes clean, of erasing the evidence of human consumption, of making your life slightly easier in the face of chaos.

But remember this: it will grow dirty again. Time will pass, entropy will do its work, and once more, the machine that cleans will itself require cleaning. And so the cycle continues. You are not above it. None of us are.