Getting the most from your kitchen appliances

The kitchen is one area where we spend our hard-earned money on appliances big and small, expecting them to protect our food, save our time, and clean our dishes. And while there’s a lot these machines can do for us, there is also some maintenance we need to do to ensure they last long, productive lives.

The Coffee Maker 

If you regularly use a drip coffee maker, it is important to clean it once a month in order to prevent buildup that will slow the performance and flow of the machine. If you’re using a pod brewing system like Keurig, you should descale the machine every six months. You can read cleaning tips for a Keurig (and similar machines) here. At the end of that article, there is also a link showing how to clean a drip coffee maker.  

The Dishwasher 

The dishwasher helps us avoid standing at the sink washing one dish at a time. But the last thing we want to see after the wash cycle ends is a dish that’s been left dirty.  

Proper dish loading helps prevent that. For example, to allow water and soap to get easy access to the dirtiest part of the silverware, they should be loaded with the eating ends of the utensils facing upward. The only exception is sharp knives. For safety, they need to go into the basket blade down. Quickly see how to best load most dishwashers in this video. 

The Refrigerator 

New refrigerators can do a lot. In fact, some can even sync your shopping list to your smartphone! One overlooked feature that you may not be using efficiently is the humidity setting on crisper drawers. As produce ages, it loses moisture. The adjustable humidity setting on those drawers is designed to help keep produce in the freshest state possible for as long as possible. Learn what to place in high or low humidity settings here.

No matter what the appliance, a quick review of the manual can be a great way to get basic information. If you want to learn even more, a simple Google search will often provide posts and videos like the ones linked here that reveal tips on how to get the most value, performance, and longevity from all your appliances.