I have a vintage jadite butter dish lid that has been repurposed for my sponge/drain plug holder. I'd take pictures but my camera is on the fritz and besides the kitchen is a disaster right now. LOL

If you wanted to keep sponges off the counter they sell those stainless steel wire baskets with suction cups to stick on the inside side of your sink.

Here is a link that might be useful: sponge holders

I got a little plastic thing with suction cups that holds the sponge on the wall of the sink. It's out of sight, but doesn't get buried under the dishes we put in the sink.

Here is a link that might be useful: container store link

I rest mine on the sink grid in the bottom of my 10" deep sink--nobody sees it unless they're standing right over the sink. It air dries during the day, so no musty, sour sponge odor. I keep a small SS sponge holder in my pull-out under the sink in case I do want it out of the way for any reason.

Thanks for the suggestions. I had a similar suction holder for the side of my old sink & it was always falling off. Perhaps they stick better in a stainless steel sink than cast iron?

in my old kitchen, I kept both sponges and rubber gloves in my dishwasher. it worked well for me and may do so again in my still to be built kitchen

I keep all that stuff in a pretty flower pot (painted by me) behind my sink in the window. I'll probably do the same thing for my new kitchen. But maybe I'll paint a new pot.

Like cat mom, I leave mine on the sink grid. I love that it dries out completely between uses that way. When it sits on a solid surface, it never seems to dry completely, which grosses me out.

I do have a tilt-out, but I use it for my disposal plug, an extra dobie pad, a green scrubby thing, and several of those brown pampered chef scraper doo-hickies. I always leave the other scrubbies in the sink to dry before putting them away in the tilt-out.

Me too - on the sink grid. My sink is only 8-1/2" deep, but that's still plenty deep enough that you only see the sponge if you're standing at the sink.

I bought one of these metal cutlery caddies from Ikea, with a removable, washable, ventilated base, and had it screwed to the inside of my under-sink cabinet door. Be careful to use short screws, so that you don't damage the front of the door!

I have two sponges in there, and hang a microfibre cloth off the handle (which folds down)

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea cutlery basket

I used a small narrow plastic cutlery tray and two Command hooks:

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I use Bounty paper towels to wash most everything, sponges skeeve me out. :)

Thanks for some good ideas I hadn't thought of! Those who keep sponges attached to cabinet door- do they dry out in there? and does it ever drip onto the cabinet floor? I guess I'm asking how careful do you have to be about it?

Love the cutlery tray and the command hooks!!

I use a SS holder w/suction cups that I got from Target...one at each sink. But, I don't use sponges, I use it for scrubbies (scrubby @ prep sink is for washing veggies, etc.; scrubby at cleanup sink is for cleaning dishes)

Main Sink (see bottom left of big bowl...you can barely see it):

Prep Sink:

The suctions cup hold pretty well. Occasionally one of the cups will slip, but not often.

bb, I think I like your idea the best because it holds so much. Thanks bday for starting this thread.

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but with idrive's comment I thought I'd ask, do you put your sponges in the dishwasher to run through the wash cycle along with your dishes? I do, but I only do an air dry so I'm not sure this is even possible with a heat dry cycle.

I microwave mine.

But I'm very careful not to wipe the counters with them - sponges are for washing dishes, and I use one of those washable microfiber clothes instead of paper towels (trying to cut down on paper usage, that was one place to conserve.) I bought a ton of those cloths from Trader Joes, I use them a couple of days and then toss in the hamper and get a fresh one. :-)

kp, I go through at least one, if not more, of those microfibre cloths a day. Like you, I started using them and my paper towel consumption is very, very low. I literally go days without needing a paper towel for anything. I like that, it's much cheaper and helping with the extra waste.

Top rack of the dishwasher...it is right next to the sink...as I am saying this I am thinking, why am I going to pay extra for a tilt out tray??? The benefit of this arrangement, is that I remember to send the sponges through the dishwasher so they don't get yucky as fast..

I put my sponges through the dishwasher and then microwave them for 2 minutes. I also change out sponges often. However, I only use a sponge to scrub the sink. I use microfiber cloths for most other cleaning, including countertops. I have small microfiber dish cloths for hand washing, which is very seldom done.

As far as the sponge dripping inside the cabinet, it is wrung out before it is put in the tray. I have never had any trouble with it drying.

The tray holds a sponge, a brush, the disposer stopper, an SOS pad, and the wrench for the disposer (which I have never used, but you have to know where it is!)

I have a pretty, small hand painted tile and I keep my sponge on that. And I have a small, ceramic milk pourer and I keep handiwipe in that. I also put in dishwasher and toss when they look old. And I have that sponge drawer you want with stainless steel inside. I never use it. I have to cut everything up to smaller sizes to fit in there plus I like the look of the things I use now. go figure.