I thought I had to have a salad spinner....never use it....I call it a space hogging lettuce bruiser....easier and more efficient to spread the lettuce out and pat it with a tea towel.
Linda C

Here's one vote for the OXO salad spinner. I have had the turn-the-crank style and have sold the pull-the-string style in a housewares store, but the OXO push-the-handle-down style has them all beat. It is so much easier to make go -- no sore shoulder!

I also have the OXO push the handle down type salad spinner. I got it for $1.99 at Goodwill, brand new, still had the price tag on it.

However, I don't like salad very much. Or, more appropriately, I don't like lettuce very much. I've found that I use it for collard greens and spinach and beet tops but seldom for salad.

Still, I think I got my $1.99 out of it, but it's a devil to find a place to keep, the darned thing is bulky and odd shaped.

Annie

I am with Linda. Tea towel is my friend. Space is precious.
Olga

I love-love -love a salad spinner. I asked for a new one for Christmas-Santa brought me a Zyliss to replace my other one that my 30+ year old used to play with as a toddler ~lol.
I also have a mini salad spinner I use for herbs.
I think plastic is fine - I never put them in the dishwasher.

Here is a link that might be useful: Salad spinner

I've had the same plastic, orange, salad spinner I bought for a quarter at a yard sale, for 20 years. It goes through the dishwasher every month or so and is hand washed otherwise.
I think we've gotten our moneys worth.
So I vote yes to a spinner, necessary to me, and plastic.

Another OXO user here. I am very happy with it, and use it all the time for my greens, and herbs. Mine lives in the dishwasher. No, I don't clean it out there, I store it there. My dishwasher doesn't get any other action... LOL, I live by myself, and really don't need one.

One day, I will take it out, and put shelves there.

Moni

I have the small oxo with the push button - I love it. I use it for salads and herbs all the time. I didn't realize how much I hated the lever kind until I used a friends oxo. In fact I just used it to dry some arugula about 3 minutes ago. But the towel thing works too if space is at a premium.

I have a Zyliss salad spinner, and I love it, couldn't live without it. We eat a lot of salads, though, and I grow most of my lettuce.

Ack, hit submit to soon. I should have said one thing I love about my plastic Zyliss is the bowl has a lid so it becomes a storage bowl also. Works great.

I have the small oxo with the push button - I love it. I use it for salads and herbs all the time. I didn't realize how much I hated the lever kind until I used a friends oxo. In fact I just used it to dry some arugula about 3 minutes ago. But the towel thing works too if space is at a premium.

Mine is an inexpensive brand bought 20(?) years ago when I worked at a retail gourmet store. It still works great, I store it in the pantry. Only cost me $9-10 at the time and has been worth every penny.

Teresa

OXO user here - love mine! I don't use it that frequently but when I do, I'm always glad I have it on hand.

Oxo.

And what do you know? DH just picked me up one at Ross. Very sweet of him but I think I will still hold out for the OXO. This one is by the brand "The Good Cook" and that company can't do anything right! I've had can openers, box graters, potato peelers by them- all junk. Just tried my new lettuce spinner and it's junk, too. Oh, well, that's what birthdays are for. Thanks for your input. Okla, I just loved your story about storing it in your dishwasher. Think I would do the same.

What a thoughtful husband. I have the smaller OXO and LOVE it. It has the push button in the middle and I store it inside a large mixing bowl in the cupboard. I considered the larger one but I only have needed it a coujple of times in all the years I've had this. I use it 1 to 2 times a week at least. I would be lost without it. I'm a big salad eater and I love that leftover salad is just as good the following day.

Another owner/lover of the big "push down on the top" OXO. DD has the older lever one and it is a pain!

I have an old plastic one with a crank handle, and it has worked so well in the past 20 or so years that I've had it that I never needed to replace, and I use it a lot. I probably use it for spinach more than for lettuce. I used it this week-end for eggplant that I had salted and was allowing to drain.

At my parents' house last Christmas, I used a pillowcase and swung it outside instead of in the washing machine. I would never consider using a washing machine for spinning lettuce. I think the pillowcase method works best, but I'm just not up to at when I'm at home.

Lars

I have the oxo push kind and I use it continually and store the lettuce in it in the refer. It really is the best way to keep it I've found. Bone dry and crisp/fresh for a week or longer. Besides greens, I do new potatoes in it and the spinning gets any dirt off them just great. I also put it in the dishwasher (everything here goes in the dishwasher) and have had no problems. I put the basket inside the bowl and turn them upside down together so they don't take up as much room. Gets clean just fine and hasn't melted yet.

OXO. Workhorse that's used for other vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries (gentle) etc.

It may just be that I want to justify spending an inordinate amount of time cleaning produce, but I get a tremendous thrill seeing the amount of water that's in the bottom of the bowl.

Simple minds - Simple pleasures:).

Cathy in SWPA

I have the bigger OXO too. I think I use it at least every other day. For iceberg lettuce heads, cherries, grape clusters, herbs, blueberries, bean sprouts, on & on... I like to use it to wash the produce first. I dump the vegetables in the colander section while still in the big plastic bowl, fill the bowl with running water, swish the produce in the bowl, and then lift the colander part several times in the water too. Remove the colander filled with produce and dump the water, watching all the dirt go down the drain. Continue until the water is clean and then spin.

I don't think I'd be as apt to buy produce from the farmers market (or grocery store) if I didn't have the salad spinner. It's a boon for quickly handling all the purchases I make. It's big, but I've got a special spot for it in a lower cabinet next to my sink.

Have had the large OXO plastic spinner for years. Use it every week for lettuces and herbs. Wouldn't be without one. So easy to use, take apart and put in the dishwasher to clean. NancyLouise

I had one of the plastic crank kind. Worked great. So great, my GF pestered me until I gave it to her. I found another at a garage sale. To me, pushing or cranking makes no difference although Oxo is good stuff generally. Never saw a stainless version. I imagine it'd be hideously expensive and only a "looks" purpose. It'd be heavier and I wonder how smoothly it'd work for how long. I doubt there's ball bearing drive in there!

I would not want one of the "lawn mower" recoil yank away types. I imagine I'd rip the cord out of it. Wouldn't know where to find the choke and be cussing at it why it doesn't start.

I generally dislike one-trick ponies but this does the job and does it well. Well enough that I'm keeping it around.

Interesting about being disappointed in Good Cook brand. I have a couple of the "safety" can openers and they're the best can opener I've ever owned, and I've had Swing Away too. Easiest to crank and so smooth I can't believe it's cutting until I get around it and the top pops off.

Plastic is just fine. Never seen a stainless one, it's not necessary and sounds like a marketing trick.

About the only thing I pull mine out of the lower cabinet for is defrosting shrimp.

I recently replaced my broken Pampered Chef one with an Oxo. It's my third salad spinner. My first was an Oxo, and I loved it until it fell on the floor one too many times. I was given the Pampered Chef one for Christmas, and it was okay, but I didn't like it as well. It has the lever rather than the plunger/button. The Pampered Chef one lasted a few years until the lever broke. I tried using it with the broken lever, but cut my wrist on the broken handle edge when my hand slipped. It happened twice. (I thought maybe I'd be able to be more careful, but those things are slippery when wet!)

What Bugged me was that I wanted to just replace the top, since the basket and bowel were still good, but no, the top wasn't available for separate purchase. What a waste of plastic. To replace the whole thing with another Pampered Chef would have been way too expensive and way over priced, so I went back to the Oxo, and like it so much better. Oh, I use it so much it rarely gets put away.

Sally

Sally, you make a good point. I am notorious for dropping things. We have a very small kitchen so it's easy to knock stuff over. It might be worth it to splurge on the stainless for that reason.

"I am notorious for dropping things. We have a very small kitchen so it's easy to knock stuff over. It might be worth it to splurge on the stainless for that reason."

You have the logic backwards. You'll dent and bang up anything that's thin stainless, the plastic will just bounce.

It's cheap item. Don't make it into anything more complicated.

And you will miss the visual of the water smashed against the side of the bowl in a stainless spinner!!! LOL
This has been a wonderful thread, full of great ways to use my salad spinner. I never would have thought to use it for grapes -- or shrimp! Thanks for the suggestions.

Mmmm... but denting seems preferable to cracks that grow and grow, I would think. I can't imagine too large of a dent from just dropping a few feet.

How many people report cracked salad spinners?

The reason I replaced my 30+ year old orange plastic spinner, was because the insert finally broke and it would not spin evenly at all - the wobbling made it very inefficient. It had been used and abused for a long time! I think any dent or ding would be very bad for a stainless spinner. I Googled them ~ they are pretty :~) I say, get a stainless spinner and let us know how you like it!

Love mine, use it multiple times a week for washing and drying vegetables and herbs--- have a plastic one, lightweight, works great

Actually, it was the basket and bowl that were fine! (turning pink at my spelling error!)

That being said, the bowls of my spinners have all held the test of time. It's the tops, the working parts, that have broken. Those tops tend to be awkward, and roll around when I put them down on the counter - sometimes rolling to the floor. I'm being more careful with my newest spinner.

Sally

This?

:-)

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful: Spinner

Oxo, the big one. I've had mine about 6 years and it has a crack in the bowl from one too many falls to the floor. It still works great, it just leaks a tad bit. I used it all the time to rinse and dry fruits and veggies as well as for lettuce and thawing shrimp.

LOl, Dcarch :) Yeah, I think plastic gives me a false sense of security. I made sure to get a glass blender for this reason, and I seem to be more careful with it (or maybe I just finally learned my lesson.)

Mine is plastic, only about 7" in diameter, crank style, Triumph brand made in France, and has seen service a few times a week for about 40 years.

Because of its smaller size, I need to do multiple loads for a big salad but to me, it's worth the tradeoff for taking up less storage space. Years ago, I coated the bottom and crank handle with that non-slip rubberized paint used on tool handles so it stays put on the counter during spinning.

When cooking frozen chopped spinach, after microwaving I give it a spin to remove the excess moisture.

Jenny, there's no evidence in this thread to justify the additional cost of a stainless salad spinner but if you've already made up your mind that you want one, just go ahead and buy it.

Moosemac - My OXO salad spinner bowl cracked after ten years of almost daily use. I contacted OXO and they sent me a new bowl FOR FREE!

I vote OXO for sure! Great company and a salad spinner is one kitchen gadget that I love!

I was just responding to other posters, but I can see how it seems I'm going around in circles so I will leave this thread alone now. Thanks for your suggestions.

I'm surprised at the cracks. Mine have been a rather soft, very pliable plastic, not hard and brittle. I imagine after 10 years or so maybe the plastic could get weak but if you replaced it even every 5 years it's probably still cheaper than SS and I personally think SS would be much more fragile and much more expensive. The only reason I replaced mine (with a used one yet!) was I gave the other away to get some peace. JM2âW

Otherwise, take a mesh bag and tie it to the ceiling fan. Would also act as a misting machine on hot days. To balance it, wash the dog and hang on an opposing blade.

I'm not sure if I'm more surprised at the cracks or how long this thread has gone on! Anyway, just so I'd have something productive to add, I just literally threw my OXO at the ceiling, let it fall to the ground and bounce around to a stop. Still no cracks.

I just followed the link above posted by dcarch and found myself looking at more videos about salad spinners that I could imagine would exist. But if I outlive my OXO I think my next one might be tupperware. Has a lid that lets you use the bowl in refer without the spinning mechanism, but the best feature to me was a little spout to pour the water off without having to remove the spinning lid.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tupperware spinner.