Your dish rack only has one job, but this underrated kitchen accessory is completely necessary. A good dish rack will have enough space to hold several plates, bowls, glasses, and utensils without taking up too much of your counter space.
We’ve scoped the internet to find the best dish racks that can accommodate any situation. Some can be rolled up and stored after each use, while others are a little larger, but are made out of sustainable materials. Any of our recommendations are preferable to letting dishes drip dry in the sink after they’ve been cleaned.
Oxo Fold-Away Dish Rack
Key Selling Point: Multiple segmented compartments to keep different dishes clean.
Oxo makes some of our favorite kitchen gadgets across the board, and its dish rack is the perfect choice for the average kitchen. It can easily hold a table setting for four, with dedicated spaces for different types of dishes. Drying your plate, bowls, and glasses will no longer require dexterity and a proficiency in Tetris.
We like that the water that collects at the bottom of this dish rack pools up near a little spout, which you can open and close easily. The water from your dishes will drain back into your sink, and you won’t have to worry about mold building up. This is one of the larger dish racks we’re recommending, but it can be folded up when it’s not in use, so you can keep it underneath your sink, or in another space in your kitchen between dishwashing sessions.
Zulay Kitchen Multipurpose Roll-Up Sink Drying Rack
Key Selling Point: This dish rack takes up virtually no space when it’s not needed.
Zulay designed a dish rack for people who have absolutely no counter space. The dish rack is actually a collection of thin, metal strips that are attached to one another and can be rolled up into a compact package and stored in a drawer when you don’t need them.
When you need to use this dish rack, you just unroll it over the top of your sink, and set your clean dishes on top of it. Water drips down into the sink, where it slides down the drain. You also have the option to set this dish rack on top of a large towel instead. This method will require you to temporarily sacrifice some of your counter, but is still a lot more space-efficient than using a typical dish rack.
Folding Bamboo Dish Rack
Key Selling Point: This dish rack is made from sustainable materials.
If you’re trying to create an eco-friendly kitchen, this two-story bamboo dish rack is the one to get. Bamboo grows very quickly, but is strong enough material to last a long, long time. Sustainability is the primary reason we’re recommending this dish rack, but it also has an impressive capacity. You can easily dry a dozen dishes and several glasses at the same time.
You will need to set this dish rack on top of a towel because it doesn’t have a space to store water that drips down, which is its only real downside. This dish rack can be folded for easy storage when you don’t need it, which is a great feature for a model that can hold this many dishes.
Madesmart Drying Stone Dish Rack
Key Selling Point: This dish rack may actually be one of the best-looking tools in your kitchen.
Most dish racks aren’t designed to look beautiful, but this one from Madesmart is the exception that proves the rule. This dish rack has enough space to hold eight plates, with a separate area in the front for glasses, bowls, or other dishes. The dish rack also features a small section for utensils. This is the only dish rack we’re recommending that can’t be folded up, but that’s kind of the point.
The black plastic and stone surface are designed to catch the eye. This dish rack would be perfect in a modern-looking kitchen, especially one with stone counters. Some good-looking kitchen accessories prioritize aesthetics over functionality, but this dish rack has both.
Stone Splash Drying Rack
Key Selling Point: This dish rack makes it easy to dry irregularly shaped items.
If your current dish rack gets overloaded with items like large tumblers or a blender, this Stone Splash Drying rack is a simple solution. The dish rack features four long rods pointed in different directions, each of which can hold one large item. The rods are attached to a stone, so you won’t have to worry about them tipping over.
This dish rack can also be used to hold dishcloths when it’s empty. This drying rack can’t be folded or easily stored, so you’ll have to commit some permanent counter space to it. That said, it solves a common problem most avid home cooks face, so it’s totally worth it. That’s especially true because this dish rack looks cool, so you won’t have to worry about keeping an eyesore in plain sight.
This post was created by a non-news editorial team at Recurrent Media, Futurism’s owner. Futurism may receive a portion of sales on products linked within this post.