The 5 Best Kitchen Towels (2023 Review)

Kitchen towels should dry dishes and glassware and clean counters quickly and efficiently. Between uses, you can hang them from a hook or handle in your kitchen or clean them in your washing machine. To help you choose a set, the This Old House Reviews Team researched the best overall kitchen towels available. Here are our top recommendations.

Compare Top Kitchen Towels

Most Customizable: KitchenAid Albany Kitchen Towel Set

Pros and Cons

✔ Comes with two striped and two solid towels
✔ Made from absorbent cotton
✔ Has a generous 16-by-26-inch size

✘ Made from a mix of polyester and cotton as opposed to pure soft cotton
✘ Is not made in the USA

What Customers Are Saying

Customers liked these kitchen towels because they didn’t wrinkle easily, were durable, and dried quickly. However, those who didn’t like these towels said that they were thin. Others were confused by the care instructions that said that they needed to be washed in cold water because they could be exposed to hot temperatures anyway in the kitchen.

Best For Cleaning: MR.SIGA Microfiber Cleaning Cloth Pack

Pros and Cons

✔ Doesn’t shed lint
✔ Can dedicate each of the four colors to a specific cleaning job
✔ Can last for hundreds of washes

✘ Must be washed separately from other linens and clothes
✘ Has a small 12.6-by-12.6-inch size

What Customers Are Saying

Positive reviews said that these towels were soft and absorbent. Customers also liked that they required minimal scrubbing to remove grime from surfaces. However, dissatisfied customers said that they started to shed lint or break down after multiple washes in the washing machine.

Best Reversible: All-Clad Textiles Dual Kitchen Towels

Pros and Cons

✔ Made from 100% Turkish cotton
✔ Treated with an agent to inhibit the growth of bacteria
✔ Has a large size of 30-by-17-inches

✘ Needs to be washed in cold water
✘ Comes with only three towels

What Customers Are Saying

Customers who gave this pack positive reviews said that the towels were soft, absorbent, and versatile with their dual-sided design. On the other hand, unhappy customers said that they deteriorated in the washer.

Best Material: Utopia Towels Kitchen Towels

Pros and Cons

✔ Has a checkered pattern on half of the towels
✔ Can wash them in your clothes washer
✔ Comes in a pack of 12

✘ Doesn’t have the pattern on all of the towels
✘ Can’t clean them with bleach

What Customers Are Saying

Customers found these towels to be durable, as they didn’t show wear after an extended period of use. Users also liked that they could hold a lot of liquid from large spills. However, other customers were disappointed when these towels shed.

Easiest To Store: Utopia Towels Kitchen Dish Towels

Pros and Cons

✔ Is available in multiple quantities
✔ Has a gentle weave that doesn’t scratch your dishes
✔ Has a decorative look that makes them suitable as dinner napkins

✘ Not as soft as most kitchen towels
✘ Available only with white as the primary color

What Customers Are Saying

Customers said that these towels were made from durable materials, easy to wash between uses, and absorbent enough to handle large spills. However, some users said that they shrunk in the wash. Others found them to be too thin.

Buyer’s Guide

From size to absorbency, kitchen towels vary from each other on a variety of factors. To help you choose the best dish towel for you, we created this guide that outlines important elements.

Design

Kitchen towels should not only be absorbent and durable—they also need to look nice in your kitchen. Kitchen towels come in dozens of colors and patterns. It’s up to you to choose which one best matches your personal taste and kitchen design.

Size

The size of your kitchen towels determines how big of a spill they can clean up. With small towels, you may need to use multiple to absorb a spill. However, while large towels may have more versatility and can clean a larger surface area, they also may be difficult to store.

Quantity

Most kitchen towels come in packs. Common pack sizes include six and 12 towels. You can dedicate each towel to a different purpose, such as drying dishes or wiping countertops. Even then, you will likely have extras that you can keep in a kitchen drawer or linen closet and pull out when the first ones are dirty.

Absorbency

Kitchen towels should be more absorbent than other cleaning items like paper towels, and should allow you to clean up spills quickly and efficiently. You don’t want your towel to get so soaked that you can’t dry the rest of the dishes from your meal.

Washability

Most kitchen towels can be machine-washed, but check the label to be sure. This label often has specifics on what products and cycles to use for cleaning. For example, many manufacturers recommend washing their towels on a cold, gentle cycle without bleach and drying them on a low setting.

Material

Kitchen towels are usually made from either cotton or microfiber. Cotton kitchen towels are soft and absorbent, working well for drying dishes. However, because they soak up so much water, they take longer to dry. Microfiber towels are usually made from woven polyester or nylon. They’re slightly more abrasive and less absorbent than cotton, so they’re better at scrubbing grime on pots, pans, or counters.

How To Limit Germs in Your Kitchen

Keeping your dishes clean and dry and wiping any messes immediately are two ways to keep your kitchen clean. However, there are several other steps home cooks can take to limit or get rid of germs. Here are our top tips.

Be Careful With Meat and Produce

Raw meat and fresh produce can bring in E. coli, salmonella, and other germs. To prevent these germs from spreading around your kitchen, bag these items separately from other foods. Wash the produce as soon as you get home. For meat, use a dedicated cutting board that’s separate from the one you use for other foods.

Disinfect Surfaces

Use bleach to disinfect the surfaces in your kitchen. You can use either a bleach-based wipe or a one-to-10 bleach and water solution.

Test Your Water

Getting your water tested for lead, microbes, and other contaminants can determine if your water is safe to drink and wash dishes with. You can use an at-home water test kit. If the test shows that you have high levels of any contaminate, look into installing a water filter.

Wash Your Hands

Washing your hands with warm, soapy water before you handle food or do the dishes is an easy but essential step in keeping your kitchen sanitary. Also wash your hands after touching raw eggs or meats.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I wash my kitchen towels?

Most kitchen towels are machine-washable. After cleaning them in the washer, either transfer them to the dryer or hang them to air-dry to avoid bacteria or mildew growth.

Where is the best spot to hang my kitchen towels?

If you used your towels to soak up water, you can reuse them after letting them air-dry. Hang them from a hook on the wall, a handle on the oven or dishwasher, or the edge of the sink. Some also have abuilt-in hanging loop that make them easy to hang up in your kitchen.

When should I wash my kitchen towels?

You don’t need to wash your towels after every small task, especially if you only used them to dry your hands or dishes. However, if you use a towel to clean a spill, put it in the wash. Even if the towel has only touched water, swap it out for a fresh one every few days.

Why Trust The This Old House Reviews Team

This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms. The This Old House Reviews Team focuses on creating in-depth product and service review content to help inform your purchasing decision for just about any item or resource that you might need for your home. The This Old House Reviews Team has written over 1,000 reviews on products in the home space, from cordless drills to kitchen trash cans, lawn mowers, and dining room decorations.

We recommend products in each review using an intensive research process, spending hours combing through the best available models on Amazon. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Once we conclude the research phase, we craft a well-rounded, user-friendly article that includes our recommended products and additional information to help homeowners like you make the right purchase.

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