We recently hosted a little family dinner at our place. Nothing fancy, just tacos and nachos. I’d finally replaced our old dishwasher a couple weeks ago, had been meaning to for ages, and after I managed to save some money, I figured it was time to upgrade some of the appliances that were on their last legs.
After dinner, I was cleaning up and just sort of went into autopilot. I loaded up the dishwasher, tossed in the detergent pod, and ran it. Everything seemed fine… until I opened it an hour later and got hit with a wave of steamy, funky cheese smell.
Turns out I had thrown in a half-used bag of shredded cheddar like, the actual plastic pouch probably in my rush to clean up the table and kitchen counters. It must’ve gotten stuck between a plate and a bowl and I just didn’t notice. What I opened was a disaster zone. The bag had fully melted onto the bottom rack and the cheese had turned into this sticky, oozing film coating everything.
I spent the next hour trying to scrape melted cheese off the spray arms and filters while my wife laughed from the hallway, refusing to come help because, in her words, “you created this cheesy hell.” We ended up having to rewash everything by hand and I’m still not sure if the dishwasher smells like cheese or burnt plastic.
TL;DR: didn’t realize I loaded a full bag of shredded cheese into the dishwasher. It melted everywhere. My kitchen still smells like a Taco Bell dumpster.
Comments
Oh no! Good luck to you and your dishwasher!
My kitchen sink is currently clogged for the 3rd time this year and I’m on Reddit to put off washing dishes in the bathtub while we wait for Roto-Rooter, so your tale of woe is really making me feel better.
Nooooo not the cheese! Something I’d do in a rush too
Edit: added words
This is a proper fuck up. So sorry. It sounds like an absolute nightmare!!
You no longer need to worry about getting the first scratch on the new shiny.
and THIS is yet one more reason to rinse things before they go in the dishwasher.
Make sure to clean out the filter!
Finally a true FIFU. Condolences, OP. 😭
And I thought it was bad when I dropped a stack of glass mixing bowls into the dishwasher. All I had to do was vacuum out the dishwasher.
Oh gosh, that’s truly something… my relative once accidentally put a whole bag of marshmallows into the clothes dryer, and while that didn’t melt, it was a sticky mess that took hours to clean up, so I can really sympathize with the cheesy aftermath!
This is the first time I’ve heard of someone accidentally turning their dishwasher into a fondue fountain bold culinary innovation, really.
Wow, you really fucked up!
I’m just picturing the sheer horror of opening that dishwasher and being greeted by a cheesy cloud… it’s almost impressive, in a tragically hilarious way, I mean, who needs a hazmat suit when you have melted cheddar? (I probably shouldn’t laugh, but I can’t help it!)
WOW. I’ve heard of people cooking in the dishwasher (with sealed food containers/bags) but that’s… something else.
iI you put a pile of ice in the bottom of your dishwasher will that harden the cheese and make it easier to remove? Also does your dishwasher come with a built in hard food disposer to make removal easier? finally if it has a filter, look up in the manual and learn to clean that too. Be glad you have a spouse with a sense of humor! Me, I would have quickly closed it, acted like everything was fine and waited until he was gone to do something about it. My husband is Mr. New White Tennis Shoes