Get new dishtowels! I have mine hanging on an over-the-door holder on the cabinet door below my sink, and on my oven handles. I want my towles close at hand, and at multiple points of access, so hiding them was not an option. But, I have a thing for collecting cute and functional dishtowels :)

There are lovely little countertop freestanding towel racks. There are ones that clip over cabinet doors. There's the oven handle. There are permanently screwed in towel racks and rings.

I've always put the towel over the back of the kitchen stool (the kind with steps that was my grandmother's), or folded on the counter, so in my whole big redo I didn't put a place for the towels either. While my DW has been on the fritz and I hand dried everything I own, I was soaking towels through a lot quicker than they were getting dirty, and I needed to conserve because my clothes dryer was on the fritz too and I had to hang dry the towels. I found myself, without thinking about it, being like my great-aunt and draping the wet towel over the (arched) faucet! That's a lot tackier than the oven door! If you like it on your oven, you have my permission! People live there. People have towels. They toss them away when staging photos because photos are supposed to be about the house, not the people. But people have towels. Put it on the oven handle.

I understand the desire to not mess up the design with kitchen towels. I have usually hung mine under the sink on a towel bar that is on the door. I didn't love that option though because I wound up with a wad of towels and nothing dried. My family is notorious for getting out a new towel instead of checking to see if any are on the rack.

I think I might just get towels that coordinate and deal with them hooked on the oven door or the cabinet handles. It's better than a big wad of wet towels under the sink.

I saw once on GW someone who had an open space between cabinets...like a cabinet without a door that had pull-out rods. Seemed like a great idea...if only I had more space.

" i always just tucked the dishtowel in the handle of the o*ven - and now am thinking that looks tacky"

had to laugh at this! just the other day I saw a pic of a dish towel hung on a stove /oven handle and thought - how nice to have a place to hang the towel. maybe i should get a range... then laughed at myself! to think that a good reason to get a range is to have a place to hang the dish towel!

I am planning to get a magnetic one for the side of my fr*idge - which will be just to the right of the sink. just a 12-18" section of counter top between them.

My 80's kitchen has framed cabinets; I have just under 2" between the sink cabinet door and the next cabinet door. I put a "smallish" decorative hook between the 2, same finish as my cabinet pulls. More convenient for me to have the towel by the sink.

I hang one on the freezer drawer's handle and one on the warming drawer's handle...they're on opposite ends of the kitchen so there's a towel available at either the Prep Sink (freezer) or Main/Cleanup Sink (freezer or WD). I successfully trained my family not to use the oven handles or the DW handle. Our double ovens are front & center from the front door & I prefer not to have visitors see dish towels first-thing. Anything hung on the DW handle will hit the floor when the DW door is open...and I didn't want that.

Here are some previous threads on this and related topics:

Thread: Ew...wet rags on kitchen sink - Cleaning Tips Forum

Thread: Dish cloth or sponge? And where do you store it between uses?

Thread: where do you keep kitchen cloths? - Organizing the Home Forum

Thread: OT. Kitchen-towel-hanging-on-the-oven-door-survey...

Thread: Where do you hang your cloth hand towels?

Thread: What to do with the Dish Towel?!?!

Thread: narrow open cabinet to hang damp dish towels

Thread: Where to store that wet dishrag? - Cleaning Tips Forum

Thread: Those little dishtowel racks?

Thread: Towel bar on front of sink - talk me into it (or out of it ...

Thread: Where and how do you hang your cloth dishtowels?

Thread: Where do you put paper towels, wet dish towels, cutting boards,

LOL, Plllog--I always love your advice, always so down to earth and to the point. :-)

Actually, they're hammering away in my addition as we speak, and I've actually given some brain space to the question of where I want to hang my dishtowels. It amazes me, amidst this chaos, that I did that, but I'm sort of a slob by nature and in the new kitchen, I'd like to sort of clean up my act and be a little neater. That and I'm rather overwhelmed with everything at the moment, and dishtowels seem like a nice, safe thing to think about. :=)

Cj

Our DW handle, the appliance salesman told us, is called in the trade a "towel bar". I agree that it's better to have it handy. I previously had a swinging rack mounted to the side of a cabinet but we don't have uppers near the sink any more, so I plan to use the DW's "towel rack". Tacky or not, I'm more interested in function. But having a pretty set will help.

ok, OP here, i LOVE GW - i just knew I'd get all the right advice and "permission" -

what do people do when their kitchen is done? just lurk?

:)

L

I only use paper towels and have a stainless steel paper towel holder.

I have DW drawers, so dishtowel hangs on upper drawer's handle. The others that I'm not using have their own drawer to the left of the DW.

I'm with lynn2006 - only paper towels on a SS towel holder

Great thread...thanks for asking this question lauriec.

I have a space between my trash compactor and sink where I hang my towel. I have a cheap white plastic "V" towel holder to hang my towel now. I often wonder if I should put a handle there to match my knobs?

{{!gwi}}

Found a nice site that has several options. I had the old 3-arm style at my last home and loved it.

Here is a link that might be useful: towel holders

lauriec--in answer to your question, what do people do when their kitchen is done? just lurk? The answer for me is, "pretty much," although sometimes (like here), I still chime in! :-)

I think as I get further away from the remodel, I will be more comfortable about where I put the towel. I've been using the range handle except for company. When I have guests I move the towel to the drawer for the garbage. My pullout drawer includes a garbage pail along with a place to hold garbage bags. When I have company, I keep the towel with the garbage bags in my pullout drawer.

Bought extra long pulls that match my drawer'pulls and I am going to mount the 10" pulls to the false drawers on the side of the island directly behind my sink.

That space on the right is for my papertowels. The false fronted drawers on the left will have drawerpulls to hang cute (as yet unbought) dishtowels.

Lauriec - hang them where they are most useful!! My daughter is a caterer- she has them hanging on a bar on the end of the island so that when she is facing the stove- there is always a towel at hand right behind her. Have fun with your new kitchen!

I have a space between my trash compactor and sink where I hang my towel. I have a cheap white plastic "V" towel holder to hang my towel now. I often wonder if I should put a handle there to match my knobs?

I love that idea and the handle.

I purchased an appliance handle and had it installed on my trash pull out next to the sink. It makes a great towel rail and is hidden from the view from the table and from the family room. Also, it makes it easy to pull out the trash!

Excuse the mess, this was taken during construction.

hey threebees, thanks for posting the pix- that is what i was thinking of- looks great

what is the hardware??

Lauriec,

The hardware is Amerock Westerly series. The cabinet handles are 6 inch and the appliance handle is 14 inch.

I purchased them at Lee Valley (in Canada).

Even in the new kitchen I'm planning on hooking them on the range handle. When company comes, I just pull out the pretty new towels! Every day towels are the blah looking ones. Although once the kitchen gets done the current "pretty new towels" will get relegated to the everyday status, as the red and yellow won't match the new kitchen any more. I think.

Hey! Where's towel pigs picture? I just LOVE him...

For thirty years, when I had one too many wet dishtowels, I threw one over the top of the door to the hall, a veneered hollow core oak door that stands open most of the time. If anyone reading this is also a practitioner of this trick, be ready to see the veneer de-laminate right at the top middle of the door on both sides, unless you urethane the heck out of it.

But it's handy!

When we finished the kitchen, I bought new Wm Sonoma striped ones that match my dark green stained peninsula. 2 years later, we got a dog (after not having one for a while)...he ALWAYS takes the towels down, so now we keep them folded on the counter. I don't like it, but...

I just went through all those links above and came to one conclusion.

I MUST HAVE TOWEL PIG!

That is all.