The Best Reusable Paper Towels
Equipment Review
We ran a gamut of tests to find the most absorbent and durable dish towels.
Published Today.
The best dish towels are absorbent, durable, and easy to clean. They’re also thick without being bulky so that they can double as pot holders. We chose two cotton winners. The Williams Sonoma Classic Stripe Towels have a strong basket weave that easily soaks up big spills and effortlessly releases stains. The Now Designs Ripple Kitchen Towel, Set of 2 are supersoft and exceptionally absorbent. We also picked a favorite linen towel—the LINENVIBE Pure Linen Tea Towels for Kitchen, Set of 2. These rustic towels are quick-drying and great for shining glassware and other delicate tasks.
Dish towels work hard in our kitchens. They dry our hands and dishes, sop up spills, cover bowls of dough as they proof, act as makeshift pot holders, and much more. There are many styles, but most dish towels are made from cotton, linen, microfiber, or a blend of two or more materials. For this story, we narrowed down our lineup to include towels made from 100 percent cotton or 100 percent linen so we could note any key distinctions between the two materials
There is no one “best” material. Understanding the pros and cons of each makes it easier to pick a towel that suits your needs.
Regardless of material, we found that all the dish towels in our lineup had a couple of things in common. First, they all shrunk during testing. The fibers are stretched tight during manufacturing and then loosen and shrink back to their original state after washing. You can also buy preshrunk towels, where manufacturers preemptively shrink the material to reduce shrinkage when laundered at home. However, none of the towels shrunk an unacceptable amount.
Second, most towels undergo some form of finishing treatment at the factory to make them more durable, uniform, or lint resistant...
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
Sawyer is an assistant digital editor for ATK Reviews. She enjoys baking, collecting Prince records, and all things Toni Morrison.
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