Dishes

I love dishes. I love looking at patterns. The dishes I have are Corelle because I wanted one set I could use every day that would look good twenty years later, and something nice enough that I could make them look more formal when I wanted to. The pattern I settled on is called English Breakfast. I love them - they're pink and blue (my favorite colors) and they have a nice border with ribbons and roses. They're simple and plain enough that I don't get tired of them. I plan to have these dishes for the rest of my life.

But I started noticing that all my plates and bowls are getting shaved around the edges. I wondered if it was my dishwasher, so I called the company and they said "your washing arm is cracked, we can send someone out to replace it for $200." I took a close look at the arms of the dishwasher, top and bottom, no cracks. I decided not to spend the money to replace something that doesn't seem broken. A friend suggested that maybe my water is too hot. So I switched the water setting. It didn't help. In fact, my glasses were starting to have nicks and slivers missing on the edges. That's dangerous, but not a huge deal, I'm not in love with my glasses.

Then a couple weeks ago another friend happened to mention in passing that Cascade Complete is the worst detergent because it eats away your dishes. Hmmm. When my dishwasher was new, I did a little research online and a few sites raved about Cascade Complete, that it was the best detergent. No other detergent was named by name on any other site. So, naturally, that's what I've been using.

So, I've switched detergents - and now I'm working on replacing my damaged dishes piece by piece. My pattern is discontinued, so I'm having to slowly rebuild via ebay.