O.K. not so much a 'dilemma' more something that leaves me asking why?

Mother-in-law up all week 'helping' with new addition and slowly, all the cups and glasses are being changed in the cupboard from up-right to up-side-down! Now I know others have this affliction but really wtf is the point?!

Send the MIL home is certainly a solution as is turning the cupboards upside down, some may even say that this problem I have with 'cups up-the-right way' is a form of Tourettes but seriously why bother

(Apologies – I'm in a 'pondering the meaning of' frame of mind at present')

It keeps the inside of the cup/glass dust free and clean. Why on earth would you put them away the right way up? 😉

stops you drinking dead flies dunnit.

FWIW I have mugs face down, some glasses face up and other glasses face down.

I'm confused.

gonefishing – putting them in upside down leads to chips around the edge?

putting them in upside down puts the rim on your dirty shelf…

I don't own anything delicate enough for that to be an issue. 🙂

putting them in upside down leads to chips around the edge

you're either cack-handed TJ or you drink your tea from fine bone china. The bourgeois these days eh?

I hope the upsidedowners clean their shelves daily. Otherwise you are putting the mouth edge of the glass onto a dirty shelf. Less of an issue if it's just the base of the glass

one way up they get dirty lips, the other they get dust in them.
at the end of the day, both ways are problematic if you really care about avoiding a bit of an immune system boost.

have you tried to pour your tea into the bottom of an upturned mug tankslapper?

I put all my glasses upside down too but them i have the clip mats they use in pubs for storing glasses, mainly because i prefer them like that and don't want dead flies/ dust etc in them!

Upside down to stop stuff ending up in them.
As for chipping them, what are your shelves made of?!?! Might worry if I used riven flags as shelves but the usual covered chipboard stuff seems fairly safe.

My real problem with this kind of thing is people "helping" full stop.
NO! The cups don't go there.
NO! That is not how the dishwasher is loaded.
YES! That is EXACTLY where I want it.
Usually pretty laid back, certainly not a neat freak by a huge margin but an a little "particular" about the strangest things

Upside down to stop stuff ending up in them.

And what, exactly, is going to 'end up in them' eh?

2-3 inches above the cup is another shelf. Or the top of the cupboard. Turn them upside down and the rim you drink from is in contact with the shelf. How often do you clean your shelves?
So ask yourself, what do I want to put in my mouth? The edge of a cup that's only had fresh air round it since I last used it, or one that's been dragged twice over a shelf that's been cleaned once this year…..

😈

Do you upside down lot not have doors on your cupboards? Just shutting the doors seems to do a pretty good job of keeping dust, flies etc out of things as far as I can see.

I lay all mine on their side within two hermetically sealed containers.

Ours hang on a mug tree! 😯

ours, on average spend less than 24 hours in the cupboard before coming back into circulation and being used/dishwashed.

We rarely clean our cupboard shelves and I'd notice a dead fly in a cup long before I dropped a tea bag in on or put it in the coffee machine…

Things get in them when they are upright???!!!

Where the hell do you people live? Chessington Zoo?!

See what I mean? As surfr and a number of people point out, cups upside down means the lip touches the shelf surface, so unless you clean your shelves on a daily basis then Euuuugggghhhhh!

What is going to get onto the rim of the cup? Either the same stuff that would be inside a right way up cup (but only a tiny amount on the rim rather than THE ENTIRE INSIDE SURFACE!) of the stuff on the shelf is also all over the outside of the cup (but not the inside at least.
So in summary, it is either
1. All clean and drinking vessel orientation is a matter of personal preference
or
2. There is lethal stuff everywhere and inverting drinking vessels cannot prevent ingestion, but can minimise it.
or possibly
3. something else…

Tracker1972 – my cupboard shelves tend to get cleaned when a) there's a spillage or b) we have a new kitchen installed.

Rubbing the rims of my mugs all over shelves that have had dust fallin on them for a long time is surely worse than the dust that may setlle in them in the 12 hours they are sat facing up?

LOL @ stoner – and this thread in total 🙂

But if the cupboard is full of mugs, then the dust will settle mostly on the mug bases, and not on the cupboard shelf anyway…

I out mine on their side, less dust and not a lot of shelf/rim contact.

funkynick-welcome to the clear thinking side of the world!
wwaswas-lift and place don't drag! That would need a whole new thread on it's own!

Surely the cup sits upside down on its saucer, rim of washed cup in contact with washed saucer & nothing comes into contact with the shelf surface except the base of the saucer……..

I just use disposable paper cups.

Worrying levels of dust in a cupboard! Who are you people? Howard Hughes!

Using this 'logic' we would all be better buying a dishwasher and living out of it until such times as you had enough plates and cups stacked on the side to start again – is this the end of cupboards as we know it?

hilldodger- a saucer is a medieval device used for exactly the purpose you describe but with lower incidences of plague and advances in cupboard door technology is sadly outdated.
Ian- how exactly do you store the paper cups, in a cupboard? are they individually sealed or in an open pack? A pack that is opened at the base of the cups may hold some promise but the waxy coating may harm the delicate flavour of my Earl Grey.

I have the same issue, my MIL is also short so anything that goes high up gets stuffed in to lower shelves …. the one that has the misses hopping is when the airing cupboard gets "re-organised" … still its free childcare so the pluses outweigh the minuses

Having two dishwashers is the way forward you just unload clean stuff, use it and then place in the other machine. Once the 'dirty' machine is full wash the stuff and reverse the process.

I use paper cups, sorted!!

The problem with this thread is that you're all consuming beverages that need to be taken in a mug.

Why? What is there nice about tea or coffee or hot bovril or any other hot drink? You're all weeeeeeird.

😆

tankslapper- that very innovation is most passionately argued by my brother but basically it involves 2 dishwashers and yes, no cupboards.
Use dishwasher A to store dirty "stuff" until full, then wash.
Only remove "stuff" as it is required and replace in dishwasher B until B is full, then wash.
No unnecessary unloading and even makes meal planning easier…
"whats for lunch?"
"only got bowls left"
"right, soup it is then!"
Think you will have to agree, genius (and coincidentally I was drinking Guinness at the time).

All this from a bunch of people who will probably ingest a lifetimes mug/cup rim contaminant in the first ten minutes of a muddy ride.

MrNuts – Member
I use paper cups, sorted!!

May I refer you to my earlier questioning of Ian Munro, specifically

Ian- how exactly do you store the paper cups, in a cupboard? are they individually sealed or in an open pack?

It has potential but is not foolproof, especially in regards to the Earl Grey issue.

Surely the whole point of the cupboard is to keep stuff from falling in your cups?

Tracker. wwaswas is your brother?! See above?

that you Adam?

Ian- how exactly do you store the paper cups, in a cupboard? are they individually sealed or in an open pack? A pack that is opened at the base of the cups may hold some promise but the waxy coating may harm the delicate flavour of my Earl Grey.

Sorry I forgot to expand on this, I take topmost cup from the pack, but they're stored upside down and in a plastic bag to keep dust free. To clarify, I take the one whose inside is not potentially exposed to dust – naturally the last cup gets thrown straight in the bin. It's true the waxyness taint the flavour of Earl Grey and Herbal teas, but that's the least of your worries if you're drinking such muck. However if you insist on quaffing such beverages an alternative is disposable plastic cups. I find them slightly down market, but they may help with the particular circumstances that you describe.

I drink from a crap-covered camelbak thingie when out riding or walking. The inside of the hose is covered in black mould.

I don't worry which way up my mugs go.

(However, fine glasses and stemware go base downwards to prevent chipping)