Terry cloth, a weave made from thick, looped cotton, is often used in bath towels, thanks to its plush feeling and impressive capacity to “drink in” a lot of water. It’s understandable to assume they’d make great kitchen towels for these reasons. But our testing revealed they do only one thing—dry hands—very well. They’re not great at drying dishes, because the looped weave leaves behind a lot of fibers, especially on glassware. They’re also slow to dry when saturated: in our dry test, the All-Clad Reversible Towel, which has a terry cloth weave on one side, took six hours and 30 minutes (the longest of any towel) to feel dry to the touch. We also found their thickness to be a detractor in many tasks. These hefty towels struggled to slide in between narrow pot lid handles and felt clumsy when used in place of an oven mitt.
That said, terry cloth towels are stellar at drying hands quickly and completely. If you prefer to keep separate towels for dishes and hands, it’s worth considering a terry cloth towel or two for whenever your hands are wet.
Waffle Weave Towels Were a Great Choice, Depending on the Depth of the Weave
Serious Eats / Grace Kelly.
The towels that had fibers woven together in a waffle-like pattern were top performers in the absorbency, maneuverability, and general use tests. The waffle pattern makes these towels very flexible and malleable, which means they excel at protecting hands around hot cookware and drying dishes.
The waffle weave towels we tested were either 100% cotton or a cotton-linen blend, although you can also find 100% linen towels. Overwhelmingly, we preferred the 100% cotton towels, due to their lower price point. Linen fibers, while more durable and less prone to pilling over time, become crinkled and accordion-like around the edges, which reduces their usability—unless ironed.
A waffled towel can be deep or shallow, which is represented by how raised the edges of each individual weave is. Although deep, loose weaves feel luxurious and drink up a lot of moisture—and they tend to be more expensive, which made us hesitant to use them for messy kitchen jobs. These were also more prone to slight unraveling and fraying at the edges and within the exposed fibers. One of our favorites, from Coyuchi, had a short, tight weave that felt easy to control, and stood up well to two cycles of washing and drying.
Flour Sack-Style Towels Were Too Thin to Be Truly Useful
Flour sack towels—sometimes called tea towels—were once made from actual flour sacks. Now, they’re simply super thin, lightweight cotton. Although they dry quickly when wet, they’re too flimsy to be useful as a makeshift pot holder.
When are they nice to have around? Owing to their no-shed texture, they’re super at polishing glassware. Embroidered or pattern options can be a nice “just for decor” option, too.
It’s Not Worth Buying a Very Expensive Towel
It’s tempting to splurge on a gorgeous towel. After all, they’re decor-adjacent tools. But for most cooks, it’s a better investment to buy towels in a pack, spending less per towel. It’s worth noting too that a high price point doesn’t automatically translate to a better towel. The most expensive towel we tested, the Weston Table Laguna Towel, wasn’t as absorbent as our top picks, and didn’t stand up well to being laundered. Our overall favorite, from Zeppoli, come in a pack of 15 and cost just $1.73 per towel. Your budget will determine what defines an “expensive” towel, but, generally speaking, we’d recommend not spending more than $10 per towel.
The Criteria: What to Look for in a Kitchen Towel
Serious Eats / Grace Kelly.
The best dish towels are multipurpose towels that can be used for more than just drying dishes. Look for towels with a strong, tight weave that can stand up to hot cookware, as well as handle a wash/dry cycle without any fuss (although some shrinking is unavoidable in almost all towels). Cotton is favored over linen for its more affordable price point and resistance to rumpling around the edges. Low-pile threads are ideal because they leave behind minimal lint, and make for a more maneuverable towel. If aesthetics are important in your kitchen, choose colored and patterned towels that can hide stains. Finally, don’t spend a fortune on any dish towel: the pricier it is, the less likely you are to actually use it.
The Best Kitchen Towels
The Best Overall Kitchen Towels
Zeppoli Classic Kitchen Towels
Amazon
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$17
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$17
What we liked: Towels in this style are known as “side towels” in professional kitchens. They’re coveted (and sometimes hoarded) among chefs for good reason: they’re incredibly useful for multiple jobs. They’re a great choice for mopping spills in lieu of paper towels; in our absorbency test, they soaked up 141% of their weight in water. They didn’t leave any lint when used as a dish-drying towel. Best of all, we liked their relatively petite size, which wasn’t unwieldy and lent itself well to use as a makeshift potholder. These towels are among the least expensive we tested and come in a large pack.
What we didn’t like: These towels are surprisingly thirsty, and do become saturated easily. With drying times that can reach hours (during our test, it took five hours to feel fully dry), you’ll need to have a bunch on hand while cooking. They stain easily and have a thinner weave than our other top pick, which means they will have to be replaced with greater regularity.
Key Specs
Serious Eats / Grace Kelly.
What we liked: This towel hit all the marks. It is made with a low-profile waffle weave for maximum flexibility and maneuverability. It has a strong hem around all sides, which helps it resist warping and becoming misshapen when washed and dried. The generously sized hanging loop is affixed to the center of a side, which makes it easy to hang and keep out of the way when not in use. It dried relatively quickly when wet (three hours and 45 minutes), and hid stains well, thanks to its waffled pattern and neutral-ish color. It also looks nice and is made from organic cotton.
What we didn’t like: It’s on the expensive side, with each towel costing close to $10. There was considerable shrinking when washed (three and four inches from either side). We were slightly hesitant to use it for dirty or messy tasks, to keep the aesthetics intact.
Key Specs
Serious Eats / Grace Kelly.
The Best Flat-Weave Kitchen Towels
Williams Sonoma Classic Stripe Towels
Amazon
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$31
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$23
What we liked: These towels are simple and, as the name suggests, truly classic. They’ll seamlessly merge into just about any kitchen’s design style, and they’re hardworking towels we don’t feel we have to baby or protect from messes. Although some towels with a flatter weave tend to lag in the absorbency department, the crosshatch stitching here meant these towels could handle liquids, whether it was drying dishes or mopping up a spill. Choosing a color is fun, too—Williams Sonoma currently has a handful of springy hues on offer.
What we didn’t like: In our absorbency tests, it couldn’t compare to the impressive performance of the terry cloth varieties — but it did dry quicker. The texture is a little rough, and not quite as pliable as the Coyuchi. The hanging hook is attached to a corner of the towel.
Key Specs
Serious Eats / Grace Kelly.
The Best Kitchen Towels for Mopping Up Spills
Utopia Towels Kitchen Bar Mops Towels
Amazon
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$21
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$21
What we liked: These towels are incredibly absorbent (with an absorbency rate of 160%). They’re perfect for use instead of paper towels, and they’re made to be tossed around—no need to keep them in pristine condition. They come in a set of a dozen and are a basic, white color (unless you opt for a different hue), and have a “no fuss” vibe that can be brightened with bleach.
What we didn’t like: The looped fibers are relatively loose, and won’t last forever. When saturated, this towel is heavy and takes a long time to air-dry. If used to dry dishes, it will leave behind lint.
Key Specs
Serious Eats / Grace Kelly.
What we liked: These towels are fantastic for drying hands. They’re soft and thick and soak up a lot of water. They’re good stand-ins for pot holders when maneuvering sheet pans in and out of the oven. All-Clad’s towels were a strong competitor in our staining and cleaning tests, leading us to believe these sturdy towels will last for years.
What we didn’t like: They’re thick to a fault when confronted with certain tasks. We were hesitant to use them for drying the bowl and stem of delicate glassware, and they were a tight squeeze into narrow lid handles. At $10 a towel, they’re at the top range of expensive.
Key Specs
Serious Eats / Grace Kelly.
The Competition
FAQs
What’s the difference between dish towels and tea towels?
Tea towels are thin, flexible towels made from cotton or linen—they’re sometimes called flour sack towels, and often printed or embroidered with designs or patterns. Although you can use tea towels for dish towels, they’re less versatile, and often used as decoration. They are, we’ll add, pretty great at drying glassware, due to their lack of lint. (The phrase “tea towel” has its origins in high society; these towels were used to insulate teapots and keep baskets of scones warm).
What are bar mops?
Bar mops are plush, terry cloth-style towels made with high-pile looped cotton. They’re thirsty and absorbent, making them ideal for mopping up spills on wet surfaces. But they become quickly saturated, which makes them far from ideal for use as pot holders. They also leave behind a lot of lint when used as a dish drying towel.
What’s a side towel?
A side towel is restaurant lingo for a basic, low-cost dish towel that can be used for a variety of kitchen tasks. Our top pick in this review, the Zeppoli Classic Kitchen Towels, are considered a side towel.
What’s the best way to wash dish towels?
Beyond “according to manufacturer instructions,” you mean? Jokes aside, dish towels should be washed in cold water and tumble-dried on the lowest heat setting to avoid shrinking. All cotton and linen towels will shrink up to four inches after the first wash/dry cycle, although if you’re concerned about that, you can hang-dry them to minimize surface area loss. If your kitchen towels get stained, treat them immediately with a stain remover and wash on cold. If the stain remains, try treating and washing again before putting in the dryer; heat will “set” the stain. Most manufacturers note that if bleach is used, it should be the non-chlorine type.
Are kitchen towels and dish cloths the same?
Linguistically, yes. Although dish towels are often referred to as kitchen towels and vice-versa, there’s one instance where we wouldn’t swap them out. Terry cloth towels are best reserved for drying hands, because they leave behind lint when used for drying dishes (especially on glassware).
Which material is best for a dish towel?
Our tests revealed that cotton was preferable for dish towels, owing to its high absorbency rate, low cost, and flexibility. Linen is an excellent option as well, although it’s more expensive and prone to wrinkling and rumpling in the dryer. Although microfiber doesn’t leave behind lint, it’s not ideal for drying hands or swapping in as a pot holder.
Why We're the Experts
Keep your kitchen essentials clean and looking great with dish cloths from Kohl's! Our selection of kitchen towels and cloths features everything you need to refresh your space. Kitchen towels and coordinated sets help clean up big messes and spills while adding style to your decor. No matter what designs or colors you’re looking for, these kitchen essentials are sure to become the unsung heroes in everyone’s favorite room.
Kohl's features dish cloths for all occasions, including festive options like holiday kitchen towels. Our line of kitchen towels for dorms is perfect for moving with young adults to their very first place on their own. We also have plenty of brands of kitchen items to choose from, such as Food Network kitchen towels and The Big One towels.
The best dish towels and kitchen towels will come in solid-colored, patterned, and themed designs. This will ensure that no matter how your cooking space is decorated, you’re sure to find an option that brings an extra layer of personality and style to your kitchen. Be sure to look for soft, absorbent, and machine-washable materials that can cater to just about any job. Cotton is the most common material, but you can also find microfiber options as well.
Kitchen towels are great for prepping, serving, and cleaning up after a meal. When you think of regular towels, you likely think of bath towels. Or, you may be thinking of old towels that you now use to dry off your car. Dish rags can be used to clean and dry your hands as you go or to wash the dishes. They’re also ideal for wiping off knife blades, the kitchen counter, or a cutting board. You’ll likely use your towels for multiple functions so it may be best to opt for a kitchen towel set as this will give your space a cohesive look.
Whether you prefer traditional, modern, or contemporary style, you can find towels that match your decor and place them all around the kitchen. Try folding a few over your oven door handle. You could also keep at least one by your kitchen island and have one or two near the sink or dishwasher.
With so much use in a kitchen, towels are bound to hang onto tough stains. That’s why it’s important to care for your towels every week to remove bacteria and residue. You can place them in the washing machine with bathroom towels or other linens. If you are using a towel solely for decorative purposes, it may help to keep it out of the way while you cook and bake. This will help ensure that it maintains a clean appearance.
Shop our wide selection of other kitchen accessories, small appliances, dishes, as well as all other home decor essentials you need to create a look that's uniquely yours. Shop Kohl’s today!