My dishes had never been so spotless! If your dishwasher is as disappointing as mine, you’re going to need more than expensive detergent pods to get really clean dishes. And you may already be doing some of these things, but if you want your crummy dishwasher to perform like a slightly—or perhaps significantly—better one, you should really be doing all of them. First, clean your dishwasherIt seems counterintuitive that we should have to clean the appliances that are meant to clean things for us, but in order to maintain their performance, we absolutely do. This is especially true of vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and dishwashers—and the dishwasher should be cleaned about once a month, starting with the filter.