Proper care for long-lasting cooking enjoyment: If you value your tools, we recommend washing your knives with warm, soapy water after each use. Rinse carefully and dry with a towel.
Technically, WÜSTHOF knives are suitable for cleaning in the dishwasher (except knives with wooden handles), but there are a number of reasons why precious knives should not be cleaned in a dishwasher:
Many dishwashers have a cutlery basket into which knives, cutlery, and other utensils are placed. With both the loading and unloading of this basket, as well as the force of the water pressure, there is the danger that the blades will hit against one another or against other objects in the dishwasher and become damaged.
With dishwashers that have a cutlery drawer, the loading and unloading process may damage not only the knife blades, but also the covering of the cutlery drawer so that the coating can no longer provide the protection for which it was designed, causing rust to set in. This can lead to foreign rust deposits on the blade.
If the dishwasher is not used for a number of days, and the knives are not cleaned directly after use, the effect of caustic food particles such as pickles, spicy sauces, citrus fruits, and vegetables that remain on the blade can lead to unsightly spots and corrosion.
It is very important to use the correct amount of dishwasher detergent, otherwise foreign rust particles will adhere to the blade. In most cases these spots can be easily removed with a steel cleaner, which is available at most hardware stores.
