Do you have a dishwasher?
I let things dry in there.

I put everything in the under cabinets.
I am currently building, installing & painting my cabinets. I don't have an available flat surface in my entire house right now and it is driving me crazy.

I try to put everything down and under!

Christine

1) metal sink grid in the bottom of large side of double sink. Air dries right in the sink. Out of sight for little ones.
2) upright wrought iron holder from Target. Next to sink by soap/lotion/dishsoap caddy.
3)keep folded on counter top. I have many. I get at least 1 new towel out every day. I keep used ones in a small basket under the sink until it gets full, and then carry the basket to the laundry
4) wired wall phone and also cordless with answering machine by kitchen desk. We have the wired phone as it will work if there is not any electricity.

HulaGalJ,

1) the drying rack for hand washables (in my case, sippy cups, cutting boards, knives)
I either use the metal grid on the bottom of a deep (10") sink or I place them on a dishtowel and hand dry them immediately

2) the paper towel roll
I rarely use paper towel, so I keep it stored in a cabinet

3) the kitchen towel
I have a drawer designated specifically for dishtowels.

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :)
I have a small desk area with phone jack - it is hidden and keeps the counters clutter free.

1) the drying rack for hand washables (in my case, sippy cups, cutting boards, knives)

Threw out that nasty dish drainer and never looked back!

2) the paper towel roll

Bought a cute paper towel holder at Bed Bath and Beyond, now the paper towels sit neatly at one corner of the countertop run

3) the kitchen towel

Hangs over the stove

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :)

Tucked into another corner of the countertop run, next to the phone jack

I discovered once I had my lovely new kitchen I didn't want to have a lot of detritus cluttering the bee-yoo-ti-ful granite countertops. Since I also had my lovely new storage including a large set of pantry shelves, I stashed some of it out of sight. Got rid of other things that really shouldn't have stayed out cluttering the counter.

Hope that helps and have fun!

1) the drying rack for hand washables (in my case, sippy cups, cutting boards, knives)

I keep a thick hand towel from the bathroom in a kitchen drawer, I get it out when I have to hand wash something.

2) the paper towel roll

On an upright paper towel holder. It's a red metal holder with a red rooster on top. :)

3) the kitchen towel

I put one of those sticky hooks on the DW to hold the towel, but most of the time it's folded next next to the sink.

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :)

Mine is in the corner where the peninsula meets the other coutertops. I LOVE regular land line phones, so much easier to use!

Here's an idea that I just love. Not sure if I created it myself but I had never seen it before. I also do the same in our bathroom.

I bought some inexpensive and pretty melamine trinket trays. I have one sitting next to the sink holding my dishsoap, hand lotion, hand soap, and liquid plant fertilizer, lol...not only are they pretty but they visually make things seem organized.

Glad you did this topic, I want to see pictures of what other's here keep on each counter next to the stove!

1. our new sink has a built in sideboard for draining. I like to air dry, but the old rack collected things as long term storsge. I will try to put things away shortly after washing (just after air drying or before bed at least).

2. vintage chrome wall unit

3. I have a stand up hand towel holder that was probably designed for bathrooms. Like a mini uneven bar set in gymnastics (in chrome). It works nicely for a kitchen towel (only used for drying hands after washing).

4. We bought a tall cab made for a dbl wall oven but only put 1 in there. Above the oven is a cubby for our chargers, answering machine, calendar, key rack, etc... We call it the command center

hi Hula..

1. drying rack...I just bought a plush, rubber-on one side, micro-fiber bath mat in a bright white from BB and Beyond...that's on my counter for drying delicate items or pots that don't fit in DW. Keeps my granite dry and dries quickly.

2. papertowels..bought a nice roll holder again from BB&Beyond that sits on the counter...one hand tear action.

3. kitchen towel...bought a nice hand towel rack from ..you guessed it...BB & Beyond that sits on the counter.

4. the phone...I love my new kitchen phone that hangs right near my stove so I can yak on it while stirring the pot.

land line near stove...

Here is a link that might be useful:

1. I shove the rack under the sink or I use a towel or I use a drying mat. Nothing satisfactory.
2. Stuck under the cabinet by the sink. In my wonderful cup shelf that nobody over 5'1" can see. I should hang a towel on the other side...
3. Oven door or dishwasher drawer handle (one of a few reasons I went with a paneled dish drawer was to be able to hang towels on it--they didn't have good hanging handles when I purchased it).
4. I have a phone hole in a cabinet. Electrician did an ugly job wiring it but oh well. I HOPE he uses me as a reference...

And to conclude, my disk rack full of knives obscured by cutting boards under the paper towel holder kept my mother in law from knitting for a few weeks after a messy accident...

drying rack is in sink.
paper towel roll under sink
kitchen towel on large pull at sink
phone plugged in at banquette, may move this.

much less cluttered!

fori, do you have a pic of your "phone hole"? I am having a hard time trying to figure out where our phone will live in our new kitchen. I'd love to see other creative homes for landline phones too, if anyone has them. Thanks!

Our land line is in the office.
Kitchen has the cordless with answering machine on the wall.

Dish drying happens in the DW (we have 2)

Paper towels are mounted under sink (up/down mount)

Kitchen towel lands on DW by sink (paneled and has appliance pull)

1) I use the rack in the sink.

2) It will go on the door under the sink.

3) So far, I'm using bars on the dishwasher and range. I don't like the way they go to the floor when the doors are opened though. Not sure long term...

4) No landline in the kitchen.

After hearing about using a tea towel on the countertop (thread some time ago) I decided not to buy a dishdrainer. 9 months later still haven't bought one.

Don't use paper towels. Towels dry on two towel racks and on range handle if it's needed also. Apron drying is still a questionmark. Might put a hook in utility closet.

For now phone is in desk area but I think I'm going to get it wall-mounted at junction of kitchen and dining room if DH comes around.

1) I threw the old dish drainer away. If I have several hand washables, I take a bathtowel folded in half and place it on the counter. As soon as those items are dry, they get put away. For just a few items, I will hand wash things as I can, dry, and put them away immediately.

2) I had hubby install a paper roll holder in a little niche underneath and behind an upper blind corner cabinet. The paper towels are not seen unless I want them to be seen, and only the bottom edge of the sheet at that.

3) Dish towels are either draped across the apron front sink or hung on the [paneled] dishwasher handle. I also hang a towel at our second sink on the cabinet handle, but that is for drying hands.

4) Our phone is in the hall, right off the kitchen.

When I hand wash, a kitchen towel on the counter top usually suffices for drying things. If I had small loose things that were drip dried frequently, I would hang my screen strainer with expandable handle in the sink and air dry things in it. It is easily picked up and carried to where things can be put away.

Towel is hanging on the DW handle or oven handle (both are raised up and the towels never hit the floor anymore (yeah!). If the towel is really wet or sloppy, I may lay it across the counter with part of it hanging down the front of the cupboard,

Paper towel is in a vertical stainless counter top holder on the island. In our previous house I purchased one of the wrought iron ones that has a long arm you slide the roll onto. Problem was, no wall space to hang it on! I ended up mounting the holder vertically and it held the roll very well in only about 5" of wall space.

Our phone is on the desk at the edge of the family room/kitchen divide. Another one lives across the aisle on the skinny buffet counter top, a third is on the counter down from the sink. We still can never find a phone.

What did you do with:

1) the drying rack for hand washables (in my case, sippy cups, cutting boards, knives)

I have a couple roll up drying mats, but I don't keep them out. They're great for doing stemware and stuff like that, but for the few day to day items I have, I use a towel or sometimes the sink grid.

2) the paper towel roll

Freestanding holder. I like to be able to move it around, and like the post to tear against.

3) the kitchen towel

On the counter. If it's wet enough to need to dry it's usually ready for the laundry. When I'm doing stemware, I'll hang the towel over the faucet like my old auntie did. :)

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :)

I have a table area that backs up to the island and the phone usually sits there. There's another jack inside a message center cabinet. A land line is important for safety. I have wireless handhelds elsewhere, but they're too hard to answer and hold with messy fingers, so use a desk phone in the kitchen.

1) the drying rack
I use the sink grid or a silicone drying mat from Oxo, linked below. I now see there is a larger one available that I might spring for. It hangs in the sink cab when not in use.

2) the paper towel roll
on the door in the sink cab

3) the kitchen towel
I bought an over the cabinet door towel bar. Not ideal, but better than the oven handle

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :)
Our cordless main phone/answering machine hangs just outside the entrance to the kitchen in my small desk area. The phone is always on the cradle or in use.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oxo drying mat

1)the drying rack
Got rid of it. I have a drying mat which I use for those hand wash things that need to drip dry(stemware,) but I have a towel handy to hand dry things like knives which get put away right away. The drying mat does not stay out all the time.

2)the paper towel roll
I have a Simple Human(easy tear) chrome under cab mount p.t. holder. It's unobtrusive in a less seen corner. I rarely use paper towels, mostly just microfiber cloths.

3)the kitchen towel
Towel Squirrel

4)the phone
We don't have a landline in the kitchen. People rarely call the landline - just my parents & in-laws. We do have a place for cell phones, though, in the command center.

Helpful thread. I'm enjoying everyone's solutions. One thing I wanted to add to the conversation is something a GE repairman told me the other day (Yes, our new GE Profile cooktop had an electronics malfunction after just a few weeks of use, but I hv no complaints. GE sent a guy the next day who replaced the electronics and then spent quite a bit of time walking me through all of the features on each of my new GE appliances!)

Anyway, when he saw I had a DISHTOWEL hanging from the dishwasher handle he said, "I'm so glad to see this. I always recommend it so that if any water gets on the controls you can dry it off easily and quickly. I hadn't thought about it that way, but now I feel better about having a dishtowel --albeit a very nice one-- hanging there. (Also, it may seem completely unnecessary to some of you more organized folk, but the towel actually hangs from a little rubber holder so it stays in one place and I don't have to re-hang after each use.)

The other thing I wanted to share is our PHONE solution: my husband purchased a new Panasonic digital cordless specifically because its base unit mounts directly onto the land line outlet on the wall. This lifts the entire unit about a foot off the counter. The toaster oven tucks neatly under it with plenty of room for air circulation above it.

In response to your other topics...

1) the drying rack for hand washables:
The jury is still out on this one for our family. I want to trade in the cumbersome dish drainer for a drying mat or towels, but DH is set on a drainer. I'm on a search for one I can live with.

2) the paper towel roll
The same as in kitchenaddict's pic, which moves around the from by the sink to by the cooktop to on the island.

3) the kitchen towel
In addition to the hanging towel, I also have a drawer to the right of the sink for dish towels, microfiber cloths and glass cloth. Love the idea someone else shared of keeping the used ones in a small basket under the sink.

#1 -- we've never had a drying rack. If I need to, I pull out a big towel and use that.

#2 -- I eliminated paper towels a year ago, inspired by GW. :) I just have a drawer of kitchen towels that I use instead and then throw in the washer, if they are messy.

#3 -- It goes anywhere.... I also put it over the faucet (if it's drippy) ... or.... on the double oven handle (if it's clean)... or on the DW handle..... etc. :) I don't think the sight of it is particularly bothersome.

#4 -- N/A

I've always liked firsthouse's island paper towel niche : ).

We use paper towels only in the microwave, and I am thinking of having a niche near the microwave when finalize our new kitchen plans.

Also under consideration for the new kitchen are towel bars on the island and along countertops. In the current kitchen, I have a stainless steel "hook rack" which attaches to the front of the fridge by magnet, so that's where we keep towels now. Not perfect, but definitely handy...

Becky, who has an embarrassing kitchen/tea towel fixation/collection...

Here is a link that might be useful: firsthouse's paper towel niche

1) the drying rack for hand washables (in my case, sippy cups, cutting boards, knives)

We put sippy cups in the dishwasher, and immediately dry cutting boards and knives after we wash them.

2) the paper towel roll

Sits on a bookcase shelf where our microwave lives. We don't really use them though.

3) the kitchen towel

I put a thin bar pull on the side of one of our cabinets. I also keep a basket of towels on the counter that we use instead of paper towels.

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :)

It's in the living room on our desk armoire, just out of the kitchen.

kitchen towel...hangs from a command hook that is mounted to the bottom of the upper cabinet and dries well this way
paper towels...one upright PT holder at the left of each sink. i don't like them but hubby insists. we only buy plain white towels though..
phone...it's one of the cordless units that go with the main phone but the main phone is in the family room. it has a small wall mounted cradle and sits there out of the way...actually behind a curtain.
drying dishes...stainless steel ikea trivet (large) which sits next to the sink.

1) the drying rack for hand washables (in my case, sippy cups, cutting boards, knives) - some things just can's change, this stays out and gets put up for company

2) the paper towel roll - ditto

3) the kitchen towel - hang over the sink and change frequently. I like having towels on the oven door, too, adds a spot of color

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :) - we had a space built in the cabinet and hid the phone.

1. the drying rack for hand washables: I've never liked them so I have always either put a towel on the counter and let things dry b/f putting them away or (now) use the sink with the items on the grid. The other option is to dry them as you wash them...that's what my DH usually does! (Not me, I hate doing dishes so every step I eliminate, the happier I am!)

the paper towel roll: I bought two counter paper towel holders from BB&B, one for each side of the kitchen. It's OXO and it's the one that has an arm that "holds" the roll so you can rip off one sheet with one hand (with a 20% off coupon...sign up for emails and you'll start getting them). It's portable, more convenient than having to open a cab to get it, and when I have wet or "yucky" hands, I don't get my cabinets & knobs dirty when I need a paper towel. [Oxo Good Grips(R) One-Handed Simply Tear Paper Towel Holder]
the kitchen towel: I hang it on the handle of the freezer door of my refrigerator. It's convenient to both the Cleanup Zone and Prep Zone, so it's an ideal location. I don't like those narrow towel cabinets...they get musty (at least my grandmother's used to). I prefer to have them air drying in the open. BTW...I successfully trained my family not to hang it on the oven doors b/c my ovens are front and center when coming in the front door! If I need a place for an extra towel, I will sometimes use the Warming Drawer handle. (Each night, the towel is tossed into the basement with the dirty clothes and clean one is brought out.)
the phone: In my Message Center Niche. It contains the phone + answering machine, calendar, key hooks, sticky notes, pens/pencils/markers, and phone charger. It's centrally located so it's across from the garage (family) entrance, b/w the FR and Kitchen, and easily seen/accessed from the front door. This way, no matter what door we come in/go out...

• We can immediately see if we have messages

• The calendar can be checked b/f leaving or any other time

• Keys go right to the hooks b/c it's so easy (no more putting them down somewhere else and not being able to find them later!)

• Notes can be seen immediately when coming home, coming downstairs, just b/f leaving, etc.

• I don't forget my phone! (I have to see my phone or I forget it. Everyone else uses the charging center b/c they rarely forget their phones & iPods...I'm the only one that forgets if I don't see my phone when leaving (no iPod, I'm also the only that has no iPod)!)

Here's a pic:

We have a new, black phone that's smaller. The cords go through a hole in the wall behind the phone and into the pantry where we have electrical outlets & a phone jack. The phone charger cord also goes through that hole and is connected to a toggle switch that I can turn off when not charging my phone (to help cut down on the "electricity vampire"...

I'm the OP. Lots of good ideas. Still reading through. Thank you so much!

My thoughts so far. Love the expandable strainer idea. I'll have to look into finding something that will fit my sink. (Not into drying things in the sink itself. I read somewhere that the dirtiest part of your kitchen is often your sink bottom. I know it would not technically be touching the bottom, but I'm a germaphobe so that won't work. ;-)

I will probably try mounting the paper towel holder on the inside of the sink door and see how that goes. (My sink is on my island).

I could hang my kitchen towel inside my walk-in pantry, but that's a bit inconvenient. Another idea is to hang it on the side of my island (on a bar) but that might be unsightly. I like the idea of using one each day and putting the dirties under the sink in a bin. That might work.

I have a cordless landline phone that is not super bulky. I may leave that in the corner of a counter outside of my main work zone.

I will try to come back later and post my plans so you can see what I'm thinking.

1) Thought about using a grid in the sink for drying but then wondered what happens when someone wants to run some water. never hear about that situation here on GW. Since I wash the dishes it's my call. I used to use a collapsible drying rack but have just started with a micro-fiber mat from Bed, Bath and ETC. We only use the DW about every 3 days so drying everything in there is not very useful.

2)Love paper towels. For most uses they work better than a dish towel plus you don't have that extra washing and folding to do. We have a nice marble upright holder that lets you use just one hand to rip a towel off.

3) We have one lint free dish towel that hangs from an over the cupboard door hanger from BB&B and another that hangs on the stove handle. I would like to use these strictly for wiping hands. Micro fiber towel for wiping down counter and stainless is either on the faucet or folded beside the sink.

4) Wireless base is in a wall hutch at one end of the kitchen. Main answering machine is upstairs. We had them cover up the wall outlet as it was in the way of the backsplash.

There is nothing wrong with having things set on your counter if its more practical to get at them that way.You will find on GW that the same people that will tweak your layout to eliminate one extra step are the same ones that see no problem with hiding everything you need to use constantly. Don't feel guilty about being practical.

What did you do with:

1) the drying rack for hand washables (in my case, sippy cups, cutting boards, knives)

We use the grids that fit in our sink to dry hand-washables. I'm a huge fan of sink grids, thanks to GW.

2) the paper towel roll

Have a wall-mount holder mounted inside the left door of the sink cabinet. It's similar to this: Umbra PT Holder (Pops to a new window)

3) the kitchen towel

I hang them from the stove or faucet. I have no shame :)

4) the phone (for those of you old enough to have land lines :)

We have a PB Bedford recharge station that we hooked the land-line phone up to (recharge station sits in front of a phone jack).

1) Dish drying rack; I don't use a DW, so it's out after every meal where I wash dishes, until dishes are air-dryed. In practice, I usually put it (and the dishes) away before beginning meal prep as a kind of centering "now I am ready to start cooking" mental exercise. I don't find anything ugly or vulgar about an on-the-counter dish drying rack. It's my kitchen, not my sitting room or parlor, after all.

2) Paper towels (not used so much in my kitch) are on a wall mounted device. In my new litchen, I think it will be hidden, but not sure.

3) Kitchen towels: I use many every day, usually a dozen or more daily. I have a hierarchy: every day the sink gets one fresh hand-drying one (terry cloth); for each meal prep, I set out a couple of clean food-handling ones for draining, drying and generally handling food (not meat), these are white cotton huck; over the course of a day I usually use a couple of linen towels for hand drying some items - either delicate items I want to put away immediately, or something that needs rewashing for immediate reuse in the middle of prep, or for my flatware after washing; and finally, I have an assortment of older, usually terminally stained, towels that I use for wiping down surfaces when cleaning up after meals or for spills. These get dirty (usually greasy) and are used for only one meal or day's cleanup. All towels are hung up (after use) on one of those old-fashioned, fold-down, wooden towel umbrellas until they are dry (usually by the next meal). Then they are snatched up and put in a basket (under sink in new plan) until the next wash day. I store my back stock for all these towels in baskets (now) and big, deep drawer (in new plan).

Landline phone (a must in my rural area with no cell phone reception), is on the wall.

As you might guess, I don't subscribe to the kitchen as fancy public room meme that's so common right now. To me it's a workroom, pure and simple. Its counters should be kept tidy and it should be pretty to ensure efficiency and raise my spirits, but not because it's my show-off space. I think sitting room style (both decorative treatments and ambitions) belongs in the sitting room, not where I'm doing my from-scratch meal prep.

I will be disappointed if my new kitch is not fun and charming (at least to my eyes!) but I will be appalled and truly disgusted with myself if it is not an efficient and comfortable place in which to make food. That's my number one priority for a kitchen.

L

1) the drying rack for hand washables - I've never had one. if we do wash by hand (rare) just dry on the counter
2) the paper towel roll - bar screwed into the sink door for paper towels and another for handiwipes.
3) the kitchen towel - on the stove handle
4) the phone - we just covered up the jack - we have phone jacks everywhere - no need for on on the kitchen counter.

good luck!

Dish drying rack - I use a tea towel on the counter until I finish washing, then I dry things and put them away - no rack for me

Paper towels - I have an upright holder under my sink, I get it out at a time when a lot of paper towels would be needed, but otherwise just reach in to grab a paper towel. Bonus is that we go through very few paper towels and instead dry our hands on a hand towel.

dish towel or tea towel - I have a towel bar (from a bathroom collection) cut down to fit inside my sink base door. There I keep the dish towel or towels I'm using for the day.

Hand towel - I like to have a towel to dry my hands after cleaning vegetables or washing my hands. If I wash my hands after touching something like raw meat, fish, chicken, I dry my hands with a paper towel. Otherwise I just use a hand towel that hangs under my upper cabinet next to my sink. I bought an oil rubbed bronze metal drapery pull back and mounted it up under my cabinet. You can't see it if I take down the towel if you don't like the look of a towel hanging by the sink, but it does a good job of holding my hand towel every day and I don't have to open a cabinet with wet hands to get a towel.

Phone - I have a small hole in my granite for the charger base for my cordless phone, the phone sits by my computer monitor but is mostly out of the way.

I posted a picture of my simple human paper towel holder mounted in the cabinet. Search: finished modern kitchen .

I use a dish towel to allow dishes to dry.

I leave a folded towel on the counter next to sinks, since this is where the kids leave it. This is what I chose in my kids bathrooms also instead of a towel holder.