Hey everyone, and welcome back to the blog! If you’re a plate supplier (yeah, that’s me – I spend half my days testing how our plates hold up in dishwashers and the other half fielding texts from restaurant owners complaining about the same annoying problem), you know exactly what I’m here to talk about today. It’s that one thing that’s tripped up even the most seasoned line cooks and home chefs: cleaning plates with hard-to-reach areas. You know the spots I’m talking about – the tiny crevices between the rim and the well, the grooved edges on our stoneware line, those little indentations we added for grip that somehow turned into food magnet traps. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve grabbed a batch of plates fresh out of a busy kitchen, only to see a glob of marinara hiding in a groove that’s less than a millimeter wide, or a piece of cheese crust caked under the rim. Plate
The thing is, I get it. When you’re running a service, the last thing you want to do is spend five minutes scrubbing one plate, especially when you’ve got a hundred more to stack. But here’s the deal: skipping those hard-to-reach spots doesn’t just mean your plates look messy – it can lead to bacteria buildup, leftover flavors ruining the next dish you serve on them, and even make your dishwasher work way harder than it needs to. As a plate supplier, I test every design of ours over and over, and I’ve figured out some tricks that actually work (no fancy, overpriced tools required, either). Today, I’m breaking down what I’ve learned, straight from the shop floor and the kitchens I work with, so you don’t have to deal with this headache.
First off, let’s get one thing straight: hard-to-reach areas on plates aren’t just random. Most of them are intentional design choices. I mentioned our stoneware line – we added those small grooves on the sides because clients said the plates were slippery when carrying full entrées, and hey, that’s a win until food gets stuck there. The rim-well gap? We made that slightly wider for stacking durability, but that also creates a little nook that’s perfect for sauce to pool. Even the small dabs we put on the bottom of some of our porcelain plates to keep them from scratching table tops? Yeah, those can hold crumbs. The key here is working with the design, not against it – that’s way more effective than forcing a tool that wasn’t made for the job.
Let’s start with the basics most people skip, because it sounds too simple: pre-rinsing. I know, I know, you’re in a rush. But here’s what I’ve noticed over the years – if you don’t scrape or rinse off the big chunks first, they dry right into those hard-to-reach spots. Let’s say you serve a plate of pasta with a thick tomato sauce. If you just stack it in the bin, the sauce runs down the rim and settles in that little crevice between the well and the rim. By the time you load the dishwasher, that’s baked on, and no amount of spray will get it out. The trick here isn’t just “rinse it” – it’s how you rinse it. Don’t just hold the plate under the faucet and spin it. Instead, take a quick, damp paper towel (or a soft sponge, no metal ones – we test metal scrubbers on our plates and they leave scratches that hold food too, ugh) and run it along those edges. For the groove areas on our stoneware, I actually run the corner of the paper towel into each groove to pull out any big bits. It takes 10 seconds per plate, and it saves you minutes later when you don’t have to scrub for five minutes to get baked-on food out.
Next up, the dishwasher hack that changed everything for our commercial clients. A lot of people just load plates into the dishwasher rack haphazardly – you know, stack them a little, cram them in. But if you put them in the right way, the spray arms reach those hard-to-get spots way better. Here’s what I tell every restaurant client I work with: angle each plate so the well is tilted slightly away from the spray arm. Wait, why? Think about it – if a plate is straight up and down, the spray hits the flat part of the well, but that little crevice under the rim is facing the back of the plate, away from the spray. Tilt it, and that nook is open to the spray, plus the water runs through the groove areas instead of getting trapped. Also, don’t overcrowd the rack. I know, dishwashers are a time crunch, but if you have to pick between fitting 2 more plates or making sure each one is positioned right, pick the latter. I tested this last quarter with a café that was having constant food residue complaints – they rearranged their rack and cut their hand-scrub time for plates by 40%. That’s huge for a small team.
Now, what if you’re dealing with really stubborn, dried-on food that the dishwasher or a quick rinse didn’t get? For those, you don’t need a fancy scrub brush. I see people using toothbrushes all the time, but not just any toothbrush – get one with soft, bristles, not the hard ones. Wait, and not the one you use for your teeth! I keep a set of cheap, soft toothbrushes in the shop specifically for this. The small head fits perfectly into those tiny grooves, and the soft bristles don’t scratch our porcelain or stoneware (scratch marks are bad because they create more hard-to-reach spots, ironic, right?). For the rim-well crevice, run the edge of the toothbrush along the gap – push gently, and the bristles will get right in there. I also tried using a cotton swab for extra-tiny spots, like the little dots on the bottom of our plates, and that works too, but only if the food is still a little soft. If it’s baked on, the toothbrush is better.
Wait, another trick I swear by: warm water and a little dish soap, pre-soaking. If you have a pile of plates that’s been sitting for an hour (I know, busy nights happen), don’t just throw them in the dishwasher. Fill a sink with warm (not hot, hot can set some stains, plus it’s a pain to wash out of the sink) water and a tiny bit of dish soap. Let the plates soak for 5-10 minutes – any longer than that, and the soap can leave a film on the plates, which actually makes food stick more next time. After soaking, the baked-on food will loosen up so much that you can just wipe it off with a paper towel, no scrubbing needed. I tested this with a batch of our stoneware plates that had cheese crust caked in their grooves – after 8 minutes of soaking, I just ran a paper towel along the grooves and every bit came out. No scrubbing, no fuss.
But wait, what if you’re working with home plates, not commercial? A lot of my blog readers are home cooks, and I get that you don’t have a commercial dishwasher or a sink full of plates every night. For home users, the same tricks apply, but adjusted. When you’re hand-washing, don’t use a big sponge – use a small, soft brush (like a dish brush with a narrow head) or that same cheap toothbrush. For the rim-well gap, hold the plate over the sink and run the brush along the crevice while you rinse with warm water. Also, I’ve noticed a lot of people put their plates in the dish rack to dry right after washing – make sure you prop them slightly, so air circulates under the rim. If you lay them flat, moisture can get trapped in that nook, leading to mildew, which is another problem entirely. That’s a quick win for home cooks.
Let’s also talk about what not to do, because I’ve seen some mistakes that make the problem way worse. First, don’t use steel wool or abrasive scrubbers on our plates (or any plates, really). Even if you think you’re being gentle, those leave tiny scratches, and those scratches are new hard-to-reach areas that food and bacteria love. I had a client a few months ago who used a metal scrubber on our stoneware plates and ended up with so many scratches, we had to replace half the batch – not a great look for either of us. Second, don’t use too much dish soap. If you have a ton of suds, they can get trapped in those hard-to-reach spots and leave a residue that makes food stick next time. A tiny drop goes a long way. Third, don’t load your plates into the dishwasher with the food side facing down. That might seem like it keeps the well clean, but it pushes all the food and grease into the edge of the plate, right into the crevice between the rim and the well. I watched a line cook do that on a busy Saturday last year, and we had to hand-scrub 20 plates because the food got pushed into the hardest spot to reach.
Now, as a plate supplier, I want to add a quick note about our own plates, because this is stuff we designed with these cleaning issues in mind. The grooves on our stoneware line are wider than standard plate grooves, so they’re easier to clean without losing the anti-slip function. The rim-well gap on our porcelain plates is slightly sloped, so water doesn’t pool there, which cuts down on food getting stuck. Even those little dot feet on our flat plates – we made them larger and fewer, so they don’t trap crumbs like the tiny dots used to. So if you’ve been dealing with this problem a lot, maybe it’s time to try a plate that’s made with cleaning in mind? No, that’s not a sales pitch (okay, a little, but it’s honest – I test this stuff).
Wait, let’s test one of these tricks right now for you. Grab a plate, think about the hard-to-reach spot you hate most – let’s say the gap under the rim. Step 1: Rinse the plate quickly under warm water, tilting it so water runs into the gap. Step 2: Take a cheap toothbrush, get a little dish soap on it, and run the edge along the gap. Step 3: Rinse again, tilting to make sure soapy water gets out. Chances are, that gap that used to hold food is now clean, and it took less than 30 seconds. That’s the real proof here – these tricks aren’t complicated, they’re just easy steps most people miss.
I also have a quick tip for when you’re in a pinch, like after a party and you have a mountain of plates to clean. Keep a spray bottle filled with warm water and a tiny bit of vinegar under your sink. Spray the hard-to-reach spots on the plates, let them sit for 2 minutes, then wipe with a paper towel. Vinegar cuts through grease and loosens food without being harsh, and it’s cheap – way cheaper than buying special cleaners. I used this after my kid’s birthday party last month, and 20 plates were clean in 5 minutes, no scrubbing.
At the end of the day, cleaning plates with hard-to-reach areas isn’t about having fancy tools or spending hours on it. It’s about working with the plate’s design, taking those quick pre-rinse steps, and positioning your plates the right way in the dishwasher (or when washing by hand). As a plate supplier, my goal isn’t just to sell plates – it’s to make people’s lives easier, whether you’re a line cook dealing with 100 plates a night or a home cook trying to get dinner done after work.
If you’re a kitchen manager or a restaurant owner who’s still struggling with this, or even a home cook who wants to test out plates that are designed with these cleaning hacks in mind, I’d love to chat. We can go over what kind of plates work best for your space, share more tricks specific to the plates we make, and figure out what’s going to cut down on your cleaning time. Just reach out to us to connect and talk through your needs – no pressure, just a bunch of plate people who know how annoying this problem is and want to help.
Takeaway Burger Boxes References:
- Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Guide to Commercial Warewashing and Sanitation. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Stoneware Manufacturing Association. (2021). Plate Design and Functional Performance for Food Service. Industry Technical Report.
- Home Ec 101. (2023). How to Clean Hard-to-Reach Areas on Dishes Without Scrubbing. Household Tips Quarterly.
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