My wife and her mother believe that if I put teflon dishes in the dishwasher, it will come off and ruin all the other dishes.
I don’t think this is true. But am I wrong?
-FrL-
Never put Teflon cookware in the dishwasher. To maintain the coating properly, the cookware should ONLY be wiped clean with warm water, and dried with a soft towel. You should not use soap or detergent of any kind, since this ruins the nonstick properties. If you absolutely must use detergent, you should wipe a thin layer of fresh vegetable oil onto it after drying. NEVER use any kind of abrasive cleanser or scrubbing pad on it, as this will ruin the coating.
Thanks but I confess skepticism. I’ve been washing my teflon with detergent and scrub brushes for years and they have retained their non-stick properties, as far as I can tell, without fault.
After a few years, there are scratches in the coating. But even this doesn’t seem to cause me any trouble w.r.t. non-stickiness. It’s not like I get little strips of stuck food along the cracks.
Well, this is how its seemed to me anyway.
-FrL-
Agreed. My cheap-ass teflon pans go in the dishwasher every few days with no ill effects. They do wear out after a few years, but that’s to be expected of any teflon no matter how you wash it.
Found this link from Dupont’s website.
(Apparently, Dupont makes teflon, though I’m not sure if they make all teflon.)
Under number 2, they say that the notion that teflon shouldn’t go in the dishwasher is a myth.
-FrL-
ALL my dishes go in the dishwasher, including my Teflon frying pan! I’m far too lazy a bachelor to lower myself to washing anything by hand. 
I’ve never noticed any problem.
Sorry - should have added this to my last message. Notice in your link that Teflon is a registered trademark. So, yes, Dupont makes all Teflon, but that doesn’t mean that they make all non-stick coatings.
Are you maybe mixing up Teflon with seasoned cast iron? Your washing instructions sound just like how you handle seasoned cast iron.
Frylock’s cite would tend to contridict your post.
Some non-stick coatings should not go into the dishwasher. You will ruin Calphalon pans that way, e.g.
However, the damage is to the pan not to the other objects in the dishwasher. Your mother may be an old wife repeating an old wife’s tale, but it’s not true and not one that I’ve ever heard before.
Not to pile on here, (Q.E.D is usually right), but my last purchased nonstick pan came with a sticker that said to “wash it with a mild detergent, or just put it in the dishwasher for cleaning.” It still had the warning about not using metal utensils with it.
It didn’t say anything about seasoning (the vegetable oil thing) at all, which is a change from previous ones I’ve owned.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve bought any new Teflon pans, so I may be out of touch with newer developments. All my older pans came with instructions as I outlined above. Certainly, it’s possible that technology has improved in recent years. However, one of the caveats I still hear concerning washing them in the dishwasher is the abrasive nature of many dishwashing detergents, which can damage the coating. Personally, I prefer to wash them by hand but if the instructions say you can put them in the dishwasher, then go for it.
Teflon is a trademark and is only made by DuPont. Other companies make other types of non-stick cooking surfaces which may be identical or nearly the same as Teflon.
Indeed. Teflon is PTFE, which is short for polytetrafluoroethylene. I have lots of PTFE-coated stirbars, septa, etc., in my lab. It doesn’t react with much*, so I don’t have to worry about shit leaching into my reactions.
I abuse the hell out of my many of these PTFE-coated items, and it stays on. Hell, I soak the stirbars in aqua regia after my metal-catalyzed reactions.
Just don’t drop it into a vial that has NaK* in it. Bad Things happen. Coat it in glass first.
**Sodium-Potassium amalgam (it’s liquid at most ratios at RT, which is kind of cool.) It wants to dump those electrons pretty bad.
Dishwasher detergent is corrosive, not abrasive. I’ve gotten commercial dishwasher detergent on my skin, and dear God, it burns!.
No, I said what I meant. We’re not discussing commercial detergents for the obvious reason that most people don’t have access to it in their homes. Consumer dishwasher detergent formulations often contain a mild abrasive material which helps scour off food deposits. Fine glassware manufacturers generally recommend against these types of detergents for this reason, since the abrasive action over time can cause the glass to become dull and cloudy.
The Calphalon rules may just be due to the anodized surface of their pans, rather than the non-stick coating.
I stand corrected. From HowStuffWorks.com:
Commercial detergent has the official hazardous materials "corrosive: placard on the packaging, and I mistakenly assumed home dishwasher detergent contained a similar, if milder, corrosive.