I've been seeing lots of coupons and advertising for affresh, which bills itself as a "dishwasher and disposal cleaner."
Sounded pretty good to me. My dishwasher was looking pretty grungy, and I had been putting off cleaning it just because it is a little tough for me to sit on the floor, and try to contort myself into reaching the back of the washer. So, a few weeks ago, I finally ordered a package from amazon.com, as I didn't have any luck finding it in my local stores. (Gotta love amazon's Prime Shipping!) I tried it the other night, following directions carefully (one tablet in the wash compartment, one in the pre-soak compartment, and one in the disposal). It smelled REALLY nice while the dishwasher was running (on the highest, heaviest cycle), I'll give it that.
The above is NOT the "before" picture. It is the "after" picture. Huh? It doesn't look any different. Rats. Now I'll have to clean the dishwasher the oldfashioned way.
I used Fantastik spray cleaner and a rag and a toothbrush. After wiping up as much of the gunk as possible, I ran another empty cycle using my regular detergent. MUUUUCH better!As I was working on this post, I grabbed my package and noticed that underneath the words "dishwasher & disposal cleaner" were the words "removes odor from dishwashers and disposals." Doesn't say anything about "removes stains," but to me that was implied by calling it a dishwasher and disposal cleaner.
Lesson learned. While the fragrance was nice, and the dishwasher definitely seemed fresher after using it, it did not do what I expected it to do. I won't be buying this again.
Frugal Readers: Do any of you have a tried-and-true method for cleaning your dishwasher?? Do tell!
