Is Handmade Pottery Dishwasher Safe?
Most handmade pottery can handle an occasional run through the dishwasher, but hand washing is always the safer choice — and with just a little care, your pieces will stay beautiful for decades.
Here's what we've learned after years at the wheel, and what we tell every customer who takes home a piece from MudWorks.
The Answer (And Why It's More Nuanced Than You Think)
Commercially produced ceramics are fired at extremely high, consistent temperatures in industrial kilns and often coated with durable, factory-applied glazes. Handmade pottery is different.
Each piece is thrown, trimmed, glazed, and fired by hand — which means small variations in glaze thickness, clay body, and firing temperature are part of what makes it yours. Those same variations also affect how a piece responds to the heat, steam, and harsh detergents inside a dishwasher.
The risk isn't usually catastrophic breakage. It's gradual: glaze crazing (tiny hairline cracks in the surface), color fading, or a matte finish turning dull over time. A piece that survives 50 dishwasher cycles might look noticeably different than one that's been hand washed those same 50 times.
Care by Piece Type
Mugs
Our mugs are among our most used pieces, and we know you're reaching for yours every morning. The good news: a well-fired, fully vitrified stoneware mug with a food-safe glaze can generally handle the dishwasher on a gentle cycle. If you do use the dishwasher, skip the heated dry setting — that prolonged heat blast is harder on glazed surfaces than the wash cycle itself.
That said, hand washing takes about 30 seconds. Warm water, a soft sponge, mild dish soap — done. Your mug will thank you for it.
Bowls
Bowls see a lot of action: soups, salads, pasta, cereal. Our stoneware bowls are built to be used, not just admired. Like mugs, they'll generally tolerate occasional dishwasher use, but repeated cycles will wear on the glaze over time.
One extra note for bowls with raw, unglazed foot rings (the ring on the bottom that sits on your table): dishwashers can cause these to absorb water more aggressively, which can lead to cracking in extreme cases. A quick hand wash keeps that from becoming an issue.
Vases and Decorative Pieces
Skip the dishwasher entirely for vases, bud vases, and anything primarily decorative. These pieces are often thinner-walled, more delicate, and may use specialty glazes — crystalline finishes, underglazes, layered effects — that are particularly sensitive to heat and harsh detergents. A gentle rinse and a soft cloth is all they need.
How to Care for Handmade Ceramics (The Right Way)
Here are our standing recommendations for every piece that leaves our studio:
Hand wash when possible. Warm water and mild soap. That's it.
Avoid sudden temperature changes. Don't pour boiling water into a cold mug straight from the cabinet. Let it warm up first.
Skip the microwave for decorated or metallic-glazed pieces. Most of our standard glazes are microwave safe, but anything with metallic accents is not — it'll arc. When in doubt, check with us.
Don't stack pieces without padding. Glaze chips most often at the rim, from pieces knocking together in a cabinet. A soft cloth or paper towel between stacked bowls goes a long way.
Dry upside-down on a rack. This lets moisture escape from the foot ring and keeps your piece from sitting in pooled water.
Shop Our Everyday Pottery
If you're looking for pieces that are made to be used — mugs you'll reach for every morning, bowls that earn their place on the table — browse our collection in the MudWorks shop. Everything is made to order in our studio, fired in our kiln, and shipped with care.
