I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but our glasses all end up looking like I’ve gone over them with sand paper. In Missouri, I blamed it on the water. I don’t think that’s the problem here, and now I don’t think it was the problem there. I don’t buy horribly expensive or horribly inexpensive glassware and I make sure it says dishwasher safe but this is how all my glasses end up looking.
Glasses
What am I doing wrong? I’ve had glasses all my life and used the dishwasher most all my life and it’s only been in the last 10 years that my glasses have all done this. I think these glasses are less than a year old and the photo looks a whole lot better than the glasses look in real life.
I use Cascade in the dishwasher. I don’t leave soda or lemonade or anything acidic in the glasses. In fact, there are large tumbler type glasses and smaller glasses. I like the smaller glasses and that’s what I use for Dr. Pepper. Vince pretty much drinks water only out of the larger glasses so it has to be the dishwasher.
A while back, I told Vince that I was tired of buying glasses every two or three years and I wanted to switch to using canning jars for our drinking glasses. He said that was fine but I wanted to try it for a week or so and make sure he really was ok with it. I suppose it doesn’t matter. The worst that happens is I throw out all the etched glasses and then he doesn’t like the canning jars so I buy new glasses . . which I need to do anyway.
Also, since I’m so limited on cabinet space, and since almost all of our leftovers go into canning jars to store in the fridge, I don’t need all the plastic containers I have in my cabinets. I can pack all the plastic up, store it in the shop and clear out that cabinet. I’ll have one cabinet of jars instead of a cabinet of drinking glasses and a cabinet of plastic storage containers and the jars will serve multiple purposes.
The joint decision has been made . . we’re getting rid of all our glasses. As we use the ones in the cabinet, we throw them away instead of washing them. We’ll see how this works. If anyone has any ideas about why my glasses are getting all scratchy, I’d love to hear it.
Katherine Williams says
I add Lemi Shine to my dishwasher and it has helped to eliminate this problem. Also, I was told by an appliance store it is better to use powdered dishwasher soap than liquid.
CheriB says
Try spraying the glass and wiping it with Lime Away then a thorough rinse.
I used this method on some glasses I got at a garage sale and it worked. Be sure to wear gloves.
Ranch Wife says
I don’t have a dishwasher so I wash everything my hand and I can’t make a true comparison with you, but we don’t have good water here and our glasses are fine, but I DO use canning jars for our glasses. 🙂 Love them!
Liz Rogers says
use powdered dish washer compound and just a tablespoon.
Sue in Desert Hills (Phoenix), AZ (formerly in Scottsdale, AZ) says
I am also on well water. I use Finish with a Powerball rinse agent (this is a large tablet with the powerball embedded in it). I don’t get the left-over residue any longer. I also have some of the liquid finish rinse agent that I put into the dispenser in the dishwasher door and replenish it occasionally.
Verna A. says
Same here! Our dishes have never looked so clean since we switched a few months ago.
Judy Laquidara says
It isn’t residue. I’ve tried cleaning them with Barkeeper’s Friend and the glasses are more etched than having something on them.
Nelle Coursey says
Once you use the cascade packets and the Lemi shine, it will get rid of the residue on the glasses. Believe me, we did not buy new glasses either and they came out looking better than they did before.
Rebecca in SoCal says
I have the same problem and do blame my water. The main difference is that I’ve held on to my glasses, not wanting new ones to end up like this.
Do the canning jars stay clear? That makes it seem like a fault in the glasses.
Judy Laquidara says
They don’t seem to get discolored or etchy looking like regular glasses. It may just be that I haven’t put them through the dishwasher enough but I would think some of those jars that I use for leftovers have been through the dishwasher as much as some of the newer glasses.
Diann Smith says
White vinegar works for me.
Jean Truchan says
We have soft water going to our dishwasher (Bosc) & I was told by the installer that using too much soap causes that etching effect on glassware. Evidently all the soap doesn’t get rinsed off and bakes onto the glasses during the drying cycle. I have been using Finish liquid soap & JetDry for over a year now so that I can control the amount of soap (using less than a tablespoon) & my glasses are staying clear. Just my opinion, but maybe those pre-packaged soaps contain too much soap. P.S. I have also tried in the past Lemi-Shine & Limeaway, plus vinegar but none have given good results.
Linda in NE says
Order Bubble Bandit dishwasher soap from Amazon. It’s one of the few that still has phosphates in it. It’s the lack of phosphates in the detergents that let the glassware, flatware and everything else get that film on them. It’s pricey, but so is buying regular dishwasher detergent plus LemiShine or another rinse agent.
Lee Young says
I too used LemiShine (available at Walmart), loved it!, but I will say, that after several years of using it, it also eats away at the glaze over a dish’s pattern and subsequently the pattern. When the phosphates were removed from dishwasher detergent, my dishes were no longer getting clean and looked like your glasses. I started doing them by hand, and using the d/w as a draining rack, until I discovered LemiShine and gave it a try. WHEN we re-do our kitchen (it’s been on the list for 5 years now), I will have the space & hook-ups in place for a d/w but will probably not replace my current one, which go to the dump (over 15 yrs & falling apart), as even now, I’m finding it’s just better to hand-wash overall, though I still do a load in the d/w now and then.
Pauline Kennelly says
Do you have a water softener? The salt will do it to every glass in it. So think what salt is doing to raise your blood pressure!
Judy Laquidara says
I think that may be it! We had a water softener in MO and we have one here. These are the only places we’ve had a softener and the only times I’ve had problems with glasses.
Clare says
Judy i live in Chicago area and no problems with my glassware, dishwasher is Bosch and I use the Finish detergent and Finish rinse aid. I do not have a water softener. At my Arizona house I have a Kitchenaid and use Finish detergent and rinse plus a water softener. I have worse glasses than those and use them cause no one comes here, just my Husband and I. I think it might be the water softener.—just my opinion
Sharon Malone says
I have had problems with Cascade in the past. A sample was included with the new dishwasher. Switched to Finish and had better luck. I now use Wal-Mart brand pods and they work fine. I also have my water heater set pretty hot. Was told to do this by my plumber. By the way I live in Missouri not far from Nevada but we have better water than that area.
Susan says
I don’t know. The dishwasher has been broken for two years. LOL
Karen Sutton says
I found that if the glasses touch in the dishwasher they do that. I also use a rinse product – I think it’s Finish.
Dar says
Our glasses get that way over time too. I find that I can get them clear and clean looking again by washing them with Dawn by hand. We do not have a water softener, so thought it was probably something in the electric dishwashing liquid/powder that I use. Our dishwasher has not worked for over a year, so my glasses are all looking good right now. But cannot say the same for my hands! (And I usually wear gloves. lol)
Paula says
We had the same issue with our last glasses. I was so frustrated that I had to replace the glasses I loved because of this. I bought new glasses and the same thing was happening. I’d always used Cascade, but I had a great coupon and Finish was on sale, so I tried it. To my surprise the glasses came out clean. I now switch back and forth, but use Finish more often. I also noticed that if the JetDry ran out, the glasses look dingy. Good luck with your new adventure in drinkware.
montanaclarks says
Try the LemiShine Judy–it just might help. We had a horrible time at our other house and nothing I did made the glasses look better. Bought a new, high end dishwasher and the guy told me to use Finish tablets and LemiShine–totally cured the nasty glasses–it might help!
Melissa raddetz says
I had the same problem. We have a top of the line dishwasher and I use Cascade. I bought new glasses every year at the holidays so they would look nice for the holiday meals. Now I hand wash all of our glassware and they look wonderful.
Nelle Coursey says
Pat & I had the same problem and looked it up on Google. It is the dish soap. The Lemi Shine works. We use Cascade Platinum and a rinse aid. This does the same thing. Our glasses are now clean. It is not the dishwasher but the soap.
Tee says
A dishwasher repairman told me once that if you rinse your dishes too much before washing them that the detergent doesn’t have anything to “eat”, so it eats the glass. Also, that too little detergent causes etching, so I don’t ever rinse my dishes before putting them in, just knock off the big pieces of food, and I fill both cups in my dishwasher with detergent. I haven’t had issues since doing this.
Cathi in Texas says
My daughter & family has used various & sundry jars for drinking for years. No great loss if one gets broken.
Claudia Duke says
My dishwasher serviceman told me it was caused by the removal of phosphates in the detergent too. That was over a year ago. He recommended Cascade Complete pods. They have the blue and green liquids with the powder. He also recommended that I clean my dishwasher about every six months with a product that I can’t remember the name of. I know what it looks like so I just buy the container. You put it in the silverware basket with the opening down and run it through a regular cycle, no dishes in the washer though. A friend of mine owns a Service Master business and she said they do the same thing with a carton of frozen orange juice concentrate.