I have a dish rack that is about 7" wide (best 50 cents I ever spent at a rummage sale!) and suspends over part of one side of my double sink. I really don't like my double sink, by the way. But the rack dries the few things I end up handwashing as well as things like the cup that held only water and the plasticeware where water pools in the rims in the DW and doesn't dry, so when I empty the DW I plop those in the rack for a bit. Since the rack suspends over the edges of the sink, the rest of the sink is still available for use.

I lay down a dishtowel to the left of the sink and leave hand washed items on it. Nothing stays there long. I have an irrational hatred of drying racks. I don't want one in my kitchen.

Have a drying mat that sits under the drainer. We have a peg that it hangs on to dry and I wash it once a week. I wash all my dishes by hand. In my 1700's home my kitchen is tiny, tiny so I'd rather the cabinet then a dishwasher.

Some here have really nice racks that hang over the sink. I have a small wood one on the counter for the few things I wash. However, I am a big recycler, and needed a place for rinsed plastic and cans, so I bought this dish drainer from Simplehuman that sits in my sink. It has sides which help protect from splashing. I set my pans in it too until they are not too wet and then I set them on the stove to dry completely. My pans are ceramic are not supposed to go in the dishwasher.

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Dish towel. I second the irrational hatred of racks. The wood ones like above aren't bad looking but I find them awkward for holding things so why bother.

I have runnels on one side of the sink, where I place the wet items, then if I have too many to fit, I move the partially drained dishes to a micro-fiber mat, to make room for more on the runnels. I kept my big ol' wire dish drainer, and pull it out occasionally, if I have a lot of hand washables. I can move the loaded drainer onto the mat, if necessary, and it also fits in my deep 33" single sink, so I can hide it from view.

When I first joined GW runnels were very popular, but I don't see them in many new kitchens. I love mine!

I saw this for the first time at a customer's home last week. It rolls up too.

When we moved in this house, the sink was a 70/30 split, large deep bowl and small shallow bowl. I was accustomed to using the small bowl as a location for drip drying handwashed items. so when I changed over to a large single bowl sink, I really missed the drying space. My answer turned out to be a stainless steel strainer that sits over the sink. https://www.houzz.com/products/studio-13-sink-strainer-prvw-vr~44831124

I got rid of my dish rack and now use those thick drying mats. I always have one out, and keep a second one folded under the sink, but often need to pull that one out, too. I also have one like Joseph Corlett posted above, for over my prep sink if we have a huge pot to try.

The mats that I have are dark like my counter. We regularly hand wash many things, so there's no way I can get rid of it. I hate hand-drying, so drying mats work for me.

We have the silicone roll up one that Joseph Corlett posted. It's the top reviewed drying rack on amazon and it really is fantastic. We have a white modern kitchen and just leave it out all the time. There's usually a small item or two on it but it's very unobtrusive.

We use a drying mat. I have 3 that I can rotate. I am home with kids all day so it never really gets put away. We usually run the dishwasher every day or every other day. It almost always has a cutting board, knives, measuring cups and a nonstick skillet because they are used frequently and I can't spare them until the next time the DW is run. I don't have a rack because I have very limited counter space, and when I'm cooking for a large group, I need to be able to stow it. And I don't have room to stow a rack.

I only run my dishwasher once a week (it's just me, here), and my pans all aren't supposed to go in the dishwasher anyway. I wash them and dry them immediately and put them away. The only thing on the counter next to the sink is a linen dish towel with the dog dishes on them, drying. It's just easy to keep them out. I hate drying racks - nothing ever fits and then kitchen always looks unkempt.

Hi,

This is a question for all Houzzers who use drying mats. When you wash plates, how do you make them stand on the mat when there is no support for them to stand?

Thank you,

Mindy

I don't wash that many plates by hand, but when I do, I just lean them up against the backsplash, or more likely, the cutting board that is already there. Doesn't work for more than a couple plates though.

I use a drying mat and one of these bottle drying racks. The rack stays out and the drying mat only comes out when I have more than an item or two. I can lean any pots or pans against it to drip dry if I don't hand dry them.

I love my stainless steel roll up drain rack like Joe posted . It is awesome , I just roll it up when not needed.

Thanks thanks for all the ideas. The drying rack is used for larger pots and frying pans, reusable water bottles and plastic items that don't dry in the dishwasher. I would like to not have a rack, but we will never dry things. There's always something in the rack drying.

We bought an Oliveri sink that's undermount with a built-in drain board.

I've been looking for a solution to replace the drying rack but looks like I'm stuck with it. I would like to have runnels but I've been told that would void the warranty. So I have to settle for the drying rack.