Fuente: pexels
Serving guests with beautifully-crafted meals in porcelain dinnerware creates elegant dining. Sin embargo, questions arise when preparing the meals since you are not sure whether porcelain is fine to be used in kitchen appliances, such as dishwashers, microwaves and ovens. Wrong moves may cause irreversible damage to precious porcelain dishes. Entonces, how to care for porcelain dinnerware? Don’t worry, pay attention to the following five questions you shall have the answer.
Is Porcelain Dishwasher Safe?
Fuente: pexels
Is porcelain dishwasher safe and can you wash china in a dishwasher?
Before we reveal the answer to these questions, it is worth mentioning how dishwashers work.
By shooting pressurized jets of hot water and adding detergent to dirty plates, dishwashers wash off remnants of food or drink. The temperature of hot water may reach 140°F or 60℃ to kill pathogens rapidly. Harsh detergents such as dishwasher salt are applied to help the dishwashing machine work efficiently. The washing process basically lasts 30 a 60 minutes to make sure dishes are hygienically clean.
To put it simply, dishwashers rely on high temperature, high pressure and harsh detergents to get dishes clean. However, all these factors do harm to highly decorated but fragile porcelain utensils because their detailed patterns are likely to get faded under the pressure of water. Consequently, putting painted porcelain plates into the dishwasher is not a good idea.
Por otro lado, glazed porcelain without decorative print is safe to put in a dishwasher. Modern porcelain is put into kilns that can reach a maximum temperature of 2000℃, making it resistant to heat. Además, some porcelain is covered with a surface layer called the glaze that prevents porcelain from being damaged, particularlycolor glazed porcelain plates which have the additional protective coating. Such products allow for greater details of designs while being prevented from damage.
These two benefits make such high-quality decorative porcelain utensils serve as hotel porcelain dinnerware as it is consumer-friendly with an attractive appearance.
¿Es apta la porcelana para microondas??
Fuente: pexels
Some porcelain plates are considered microwave safe but not for others. Porcelain tableware is fired at a high temperature between 2100°F and 2500°F (o 1,200 ~ 1,400°C). It goes without saying that porcelain withstands high-temperature levels in the microwave which reaches a maximum temperature of about 212°F (100ºC). Such a high temperature can melt plastic containers and cause wood items to warp and bend out of shape but not porcelain products.The durability and heat resistance of porcelain enables it to be used safely in the microwave without causing fire or releasing harmful chemicals into your food.
Sin embargo, be careful with porcelain decorated with metallic rims. Since metal doesn’t contain any water, instead of absorbing microwaves, it reflects light waves and causes damage, or worse, causes sparks that lead to explosions or fires. Por lo tanto, porcelain is oven safe but make sure there is no metal decoration on it.
Is Porcelain Oven Safe?
Fuente: pexels
Some of you may assume that putting porcelain into the oven is perfectly safe based on its heat resistance. Technically, this idea is not reliable. Again, whether it is oven safe depends on three factors – the produce date, the quality and the temperature of porcelain tableware. Modern porcelain plates that are produced by reliable dinnerware manufacturers such as ARRIBA or with an Oven-Safe symbol on their bottom are obviously high-quality enough to be used inside the oven.
Sin embargo, highly decorated porcelain dishes and vintage pieces may be not oven-friendly. Porcelain that was produced a long time ago may have hairline cracks on its surface after continued use. With these cracks, porcelain is heated unevenly inside the oven, which is prone to break or shatter. Además, do not put porcelain inside an oven right after it comes out of the refrigerator. It will crack due to the sudden temperature change.
Cómo limpiar & Remove Stains From Porcelain?
Fuente: pexels
Leftover foodstuffs or deep-colored drinks may leave ugly set-in stains on your beautiful porcelain dinnerware without rinsing them immediately, such as food stains, brown stains and hard water spots. How to clean stains off porcelain is a nagging question. Here are three effective methods to get rid of these stains and to restore your stained porcelain dishes to their original beauty!
Toothpaste
As a daily product, toothpaste can be easily bought from a nearby grocery store. Apart from being used to clean your tooth, it also serves as a potent solvent to dissolve brown stains caused by coffee or tea on porcelain. The following steps teach you how to remove those annoying blown blemishes. Soak stained porcelain with enough warm water for 10 minutos. The water should submerge the porcelain. Apply a bit of toothpaste to the stained area and let it stand for a few minutes. Then scrub it with a damp cloth (not hard scrubbers like a metal scouring pad or toothbrushes as they may leave scratches on the surface) and rinse it. Then you will find the porcelain is sparkly clean again. Plus, another advantage of using toothpaste lies in that it won’t leave any odor or cause additional scratches.
White Vinegar
This natural green ingredient is particularly useful to remove coffee and tea stains due to a chemical reaction. Vinegar, as an acidic liquid, can have a chemical reaction with coffee and tea stains. To remove the stains, just mix a tablespoon of white vinegar with a cup of water. Dampen a soft cloth into the mixture and wipe the porcelain. Rinse it thoroughly.
Lemon Juice
A veces, you may find stains still stick to the plate after cleaning it with a dishwasher or determined hand wish. Don’t be frustrated. Neither your powerful dishwashing machine nor your effort is useless. The key is using an effective solvent–lemon juice. Lemon Juice is a natural and green ingredient that is particularly effective when it comes to erasing remaining ground-in stains. The first step is to squeeze half a lemon vigorously to get lemon juice. Dampen a clean dish rag thoroughly with lemon juice and scrub the stains vigorously. The method requires a bit of elbow grease and time. Repeat several times and rinse it with clean water. Then you will find your porcelain tableware looks like new again.
How to Remove Scratches from Porcelain Dishes?
Fuente: pexels
After using porcelain for a while, you may notice there are ugly scratches that stick to dishes. These stubborn gray scuff marks seem impossible to be removed after using the dishwasher or hand washing. De hecho, they aren’t real scratches and there are two methods to make your dishes spotless again. First of all, these annoying scuff marks are actually metal deposits. It is cutlery and any metal objects that leave marks on the surfaces of porcelain dishes due to general wear and tear. Here are two approaches to easily remove scuff marksand restore the original shine of porcelain.
A Mild Cleaner
Before begin cleaning the scuffs off porcelain dishes, let us first produce a mild natural solvent. Add four teaspoons of baking soda and two teaspoons of warm water to make a paste. Apply the paste to the stained area. Use a soft cloth to scrub scratched porcelain utensils in a certain pattern then rinse them thoroughly to remove all of the cleaning paste. Repeat as necessary if the marks aren’t fading at all, which may take a bit of elbow grease. This method is both safe and effective because baking soda won’t leave a potentially dangerous substance. If there is no baking soda, try a whitening toothpaste. It is also an effective substitute for removing the marks.
A Potent Detergent
After trying all the above methods, some scuff marks seem etched in the porcelain plates since they are badly scratched by folks and knives. In this case, a detergent is also a good choice when you run out of patience. The effectiveness of a potent detergent allows you to remove 95% of the marks. When using the detergent, you should note the following points. Strictly follow the instructions of the detergent. Wear protective gloves to prevent your skin from chemical burns or other damage. As the detergent is primarily made of chemicals, do not let your children be exposed to it in case they eat it accidentally. También, remember to rinse the utensils several times to ensure there are no chemicals left on the plates.
Conclusión
Fuente: pexels
From the information above, we can reach the conclusion that porcelain can be used safely with kitchen appliances generally. If not, it’s not because of the porcelain itself. It’s either due to the additional decoration that may be damaged by heat or get faded such as metallic trims and designs or cracks which are prone to damage the porcelain dinnerware. Even though porcelain is durable and heat-resistant, we should be careful when using it. It will be better to rinse and dry porcelain immediately after use to prevent stains or scuffs. If unluckily it still gets stained or scratched, the effective methods mentioned above are at your disposal.
