FIFO in the kitchen

[andiesenji]

I bought several of these a couple of years ago and have all of my everyday plates, saucers, soup and pasta bowls organized in them.

Here's a photo I pulled out various sizes of plates (and a soup bowl and put them in two so you can see what the large size will hold.

The largest plate is an 11 1/2 inch charger.

The smaller cradle (no photo) holds dessert plates, saucers, smaller soup and pasta bowls and etc.

They can be washed in the dishwasher, upper rack without the drying cycle.

Edited August 15, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[dcarch]

You know the under-the-counter corner kitchen cabinet?

Something like this in there would work well for what you need.

http://www.storageessentials.co.uk/shop/file+storage/images/library/Rotating%20unit.jpg

dcarch

[David A. Goldfarb]

Consider the top three dishes your "everyday" set and the rest of the stack as the special dishes you take out for company. How often do you have dinner for twelve?

[Boilerfood]

Wash your dishes less frequently, so that you'll wind up using all of them. At least, that's my "solution"...

I too am in this camp. (Goes and hides in the corner.)

[LindaK]

Everyone is talking about dishes--how about glassware? They may not be stacked like dishes, but the glassware in the back row or upper shelves can get pretty lonely, while the last glasses in, sitting in the front row, get used over and over...

I make an effort to rotate my use of stemware, which I keep on open shelving, so that nothing stays ignored in the back for very long. Anything kept on open shelves can get dusty if not used frequently, so it's all about keeping them clean and saving me work.

[janeer]

If you don't run your dishwasher until all plates are used (which is what I do, who live alone), then it's you have a full rotation every time. With my Ginori, however, which has gold rims that noticably wear, I intentionally draw from the bottom of the stack when I am using fewer than 12 plates, putting the clean ones on top.

[chezcherie]

i was married a long time ago. 32 years. we got the requisite china, and a set of stoneware. we have three children, now grown, and we have used these dishes thousands of times. nearly every day for those years. sometimes we have used the whole set at one time, but not often. i cannot see any difference between the plates or bowls. we may have broken one or two along the way, but these things are formidable. this feels like searching for a solution for which there is no problem. (that being said, i'm enjoying the fifo banter!)

[Blether]

I'm with LindaK - it's accumulating dust & stuff that makes cycling the crockery important to me.

I got my rack here retail, but there are similar things on Google at wire plate stacker.

[threestars]

Last In First Out works out on me pretty well. I think I'd stick with that.

[weinoo]

I also tend to use the same cocktail glasses over and over again, saving the "special, fancy" ones for when there are guests. Of course, then every time I take those out of the cabinets, they need to be washed because they've got, in addition to dust, the wonderful NYC grime that seems to accumulate on everything.

Makes sense to rotate almost everything here.

[andiesenji]

I also tend to use the same cocktail glasses over and over again, saving the "special, fancy" ones for when there are guests. Of course, then every time I take those out of the cabinets, they need to be washed because they've got, in addition to dust, the wonderful NYC grime that seems to accumulate on everything.

Makes sense to rotate almost everything here.

I just had a prolonged phone chat with a friend who lives near one of the elevated train platforms and keeps all her plates, saucers, etc., in those accordian-fold file carriers, keeps her stemware in the slider hangers, upside down and keeps other glasses, cups and etc., in a drawer, covered with tea towels.

She says otherwise she has to wash everything prior to use. Her building is being renovated and they are taking out the old windows and putting in the double-paned ones with new seals around the windows and she is hoping that will solve her NYC dirt problems.

She's an atty so has easy access to the accordian files.

[pastrygirl]

My concern is potential uneven wear over the course of hundreds of uses and trips through the dishwasher.

But then you can save the 'nice' plates for when you have dinner guests.

[Kouign Aman]

Have a party. Use all the dishes. Stop worrying.

Even so, the bottom dish in your stack was the first one to hit the shelf in your cupboard, so despite Mr Chang's phenomonal memory, and the factory camera, it was the first in.

[Fat Guy]

The bottom plate was the only one to hit the shelf. No other plate in the stack has ever touched the shelf. Nevertheless, every plate in the stack went in at once.

[Kouign Aman]

Yup. And you talking about removal from the shelf.

[ruthcooks]

Besides, who cares if they wear, they're going to break eventually, and don't you get tired of the same old dishes? I get sick of the same design (and I don't like pure white) and have sold or given away several sets in my lifetime. I agree that the metallic rims get worn off in the dishwasher, so I don't have those on everyday china, only on the set that my grandfather and his 7 sisters gave to my great-grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary, back in the 1930s.

[ScoopKW]

I hate my dishware -- so I happily LIFO.

And Steven, think of LIFO this way: You have a stack of dishes in the dishwasher. You remove them from the dishwasher one at a time and place them on a stack in the cupboard, counting 1, 2, 3, etc.

The last number you count will be the first plate you grab next time you need a plate. That's LIFO.

FIFO would be placing the clean dishes from the cabinet onto the counter upside down. Then placing the dishes from the dishwasher on top of the stack. And then flipping them all over and placing them in the cabinet. This is how I would accomplish the task if I gave a [censored] about my dishes.

[natasha1270]

If you are truly concerned for your plates, then I vote for the bi-annual bottom to top stack swap. Add it to your daylight savings time routine, right after you change the clocks, replace the smoke detector batteries and get new air filters, etc.

If you just want a FIFO solution that will leave your plates in pristine condition, there's always this:

http://www.amazon.com/Camco-57001-RV-White-Pop-A-Plate/dp/B00094I1SA