Do You Smell Plastic Burning?

This is what I remarked to the hubs this evening as we were sitting on the couch. He did, indeed, smell the same acrid ookiness that I did, and thus began the hunt about the house. Was it the tree? (Better not be the tree - that thing is brand new because the old one last year was doing that.) Was there something in the vents? It got stronger in the kitchen...was there something on the stove? Was the stove on? All of those were a solid no. But the dishwasher was running...

Opening up the dishwasher proved that yes, a cookie cutter had fallen onto the heating element and was melting merrily away, filling the house with smoke and other toxic things.

But, as the hubs pointed out, on the bright side it didn't catch fire.

The real question is: will I have to rewash those dishes to get rid of the smell or will airing them out overnight be enough?