When it pays to sweat the small stuff

Anyone who’s ever reorganized a dishwasher understands the importance of optimization. You know that the dirty side of plates should face the middle. Utensils that are too tall to fit in the carriage on the bottom rack can be laid on their side in the top rack. If you’re just slightly obsessive, like me, you might place all the forks in one compartment, all knives in another, and so on to ensure that unloading will be a breeze. It can be a very simple and enjoyable process depending on how you prep. Even though the technology does the dirty work (pun intended), a human touch is still needed at certain points in the process.