Should you use the heated dry setting on your dishwasher?

Heated dry runs an electric element to evaporate water after the wash, and it accounts for a substantial portion of a dishwasher cycle's total energy use. The alternative costs nothing: turn the setting off and open the door a few inches when the cycle finishes, and the residual heat in the dishes and the tub evaporates the water within a half hour or so. Many modern machines have a condensation drying system or an air-dry option that does this automatically, and some newer models pop the door open themselves for exactly this reason.

Two secondary benefits. Heated dry is hard on plastics, which is why containers warp and why manufacturers tell you to load them on the top rack away from the element, and skipping it lets plastics survive much longer. And the high heat can bake on any residue that survived the wash. The one thing worth adding regardless of drying method is rinse aid, which reduces surface tension so water sheets off rather than beading, dramatically improving drying and cutting spots, and this matters more now than it used to because dishwasher detergent reformulations removed phosphates. If dishes still come out wet, the more likely culprits are overloading, incorrect loading angles that pool water in cup bottoms, or a clogged filter rather than the absence of heat.