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The best kitchen towels available today. Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

The Best Kitchen Towels of 2024

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The best kitchen towels available today. Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

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Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.

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Editor's Choice Product image of Williams Sonoma All-Purpose Pantry Towels
Best Overall

Williams Sonoma All-Purpose Pantry Towels

Check Price at Williams Sonoma

Made from ribbon cotton terry, the towel is a pro at drying irregular objects like wine glasses and vases while still feeling soft to the touch. Read More

Pros

  • Affordable
  • Terry cloth material

Cons

  • Stays damp longer than thinner towels
Editor's Choice Product image of Utopia Towels Bar Mops
Best Value

Utopia Towels Bar Mops

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The Utopia Towel Bar Mops are super absorbent and easy to use. Read More

Pros

  • Absorbent
  • Easy to use

Cons

  • Not the most attractive towel
Product image of Williams Sonoma Classic Striped Towels

Williams Sonoma Classic Striped Towels

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The striped design of these towels is a refreshing plus, but the alternating fabrics on the stripes make them hard to use. Read More

Pros

  • Stylish

Cons

  • Alternating fabrics
  • Too thick
Product image of Utopia Towels Dish Cloths

Utopia Towels Dish Cloths

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Utopia Towels Dish Cloths are thin, making them ideal for dishes with hard-to-reach areas. They shrink, but their price makes them disposable. Read More

Pros

  • Thin
  • Affordable

Cons

  • Not very absorbent
  • Shrink after washing
Product image of Now Designs Floursack Dishtowels

Now Designs Floursack Dishtowels

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The NowDesigns Flour Sack Towels are absorbent and don't leave any lint or fuzz behind on dishes. Read More

Pros

  • Attractive design
  • Absorbent

Cons

  • None we could find
  • Best Overall Williams Sonoma All-Purpose Pantry Towels
  • Best Value Utopia Towels Bar Mops
  • Williams Sonoma Classic Striped Towels
  • Utopia Towels Dish Cloths
  • Now Designs Floursack Dishtowels
  • Aunt Martha's Flour Sack Dish Towels
  • Crate & Barrel Waffle Terry Dish Towels
  • Made By Design Cotton Kitchen Towels
  • What You Should Know About Kitchen Towels
  • More Articles You Might Enjoy

From drying the dishes to wiping your hands, a kitchen towel is essential while you cook and clean. Although it’s an easy purchase that can be found in many stores and online retailers, if you want it to actually dry your dishes, you’ll want to find a kitchen towel that’s soft, durable, and lint-free. Not sure which to buy? That’s where we come in.

The Williams Sonoma All-Purpose Pantry Towel (available at Williams Sonoma) is supreme. It’s super absorbent, durable, and comes in a wide array of colors. And if you’re looking for a different type of towel, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. From flour sack towels to bar mops, we reviewed plenty of the best dish towel options online to choose from.

Editor's Note:

The recommendations in this guide are based on thorough product and market research by our team of expert product reviewers. The picks are based on examining user reviews, product specifications, and, in some limited cases, our experience with the specific products named.

These are the best kitchen towels available today.
Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

The Williams Sonoma All Purpose Pantry Towels are super absorbent and soft to the touch.

Best Overall
Williams Sonoma All-Purpose Pantry Towels

The Williams Sonoma All Purpose Pantry towel checks off almost every box. Not only does it come in many vibrant colors, it also gets dishes dry without any fuss. After drying each item in our testing list, the towel wasn’t too wet and could be used to dry off more objects. Plus, the Turkish cotton material is soft and durable. Although we had a good overall experience with this William Sonoma dish towel, it does take a bit longer to dry compared to some of the thinner towels. That said, it retained the most amount of water.

Pros

  • Affordable

  • Terry cloth material

Cons

  • Stays damp longer than thinner towels

Buy now at Williams Sonoma
These are the best kitchen towels available today.
Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

The Utopia Towels Bar Mops are ring spun and made of 100% cotton, which adds to their absorbency factor.

Best Value
Utopia Towels Bar Mops

The Utopia Towel Bar Mops are super absorbent and easy to use. Since they’re on the smaller side, it’s easy to get in and around the corners of wine and water glasses. Bar mops were originally used by bartenders to dry stem and glassware—hence the name—so it should come as no surprise that they are excellent at drying glasses! No streaks to speak of.

They’re made out of 100% cotton and are ring spun, which adds to their absorbency factor. They really work where it counts. These plain white towels may not be the most attractive or eye-catching, but they’re not ugly either. And at $13.99 for 12, they are a total steal.

Pros

  • Absorbent

  • Easy to use

Cons

  • Not the most attractive towel

Buy now at Amazon
Product image of Williams Sonoma Classic Striped Towels
Williams Sonoma Classic Striped Towels

Williams Sonoma does it again with their striped towels. Made of 100% Turkish cotton, it’s soft, durable, and gets the job done. It comes in 11 attractive colors, too. Although these towels feel great to the touch, they’re on the thicker side, so it’s a little difficult to dry smaller items like wine and water glasses.

Pros

  • Stylish

Cons

  • Alternating fabrics

  • Too thick

Buy now at Williams Sonoma
Product image of Utopia Towels Dish Cloths
Utopia Towels Dish Cloths

The standout factor of these kitchen towels is how inexpensive they are ($1 a towel for a set of 12). Since they're made of thinner cotton, it was easy to dry small and oddly shaped dishes, but it was less absorbent than some of the other towels we tested and harder to use by the end of the drying line. After their first wash, these kitchen towels also shrunk about an inch, making us concerned about their durability. But for their low price, they’re cheap enough to replace after a few uses.

Pros

  • Thin

  • Affordable

Cons

  • Not very absorbent

  • Shrink after washing

Buy now at Amazon
Product image of Now Designs Floursack Dishtowels
Now Designs Floursack Dishtowels

Flour sack towels are known for their absorption and quick-drying capabilities, and the NowDesigns Flour Sack towels live up to that reputation. They scored high in our tests for a number of reasons. First, they are very attractive. A pack of 3 comes with each of the following colors: turquoise blue, orange, and grass green. The second reason is performance, as they’re notably more absorbent than the other flour sack style towels we tested. They didn’t leave any lint or fuzz behind on the dishes, either.

Pros

  • Attractive design

  • Absorbent

Cons

  • None we could find

Buy now at Amazon

$10.95 from Walmart
Product image of Aunt Martha's Flour Sack Dish Towels
Aunt Martha's Flour Sack Dish Towels

These flour sack towels are thick and absorbent and easily dried both large and small dishes. But like most flour sack towels, they are frustratingly large (almost twice the size of the average kitchen towel). Aesthetically, this style is better suited for a kitchen drawer and not something to feature as part of your kitchen decor. Although they had a slight smell after being left in a Ziplock baggie overnight and smelled like bleach before washing them, they’re still good for basic dish drying.

Pros

  • Absorbent

Cons

  • Too large

  • Develops a smell

Buy now at Amazon
Product image of Crate & Barrel Waffle Terry Dish Towels
Crate & Barrel Waffle Terry Dish Towels

This kitchen towel from Crate and Barrel is large (20 x 30), made of 100% cotton, and features an attractive patterned waffle weave knit. Not only does it come in 5 attractive colors (we tested the blue one), it’s also pretty absorbent. That said, it’s not without a few flaws. The terry material left some streaks and fibers behind on both the wine and water glasses. Also, due to its very large size, it was difficult to dry smaller or irregularly shaped items.

Pros

  • Made of 100% cotton

  • Absorbent

Cons

  • Leaves some streaks behind

Buy now at Crate & Barrel
Product image of Made By Design Cotton Kitchen Towels
Made By Design Cotton Kitchen Towels

The Made By Design cotton kitchen towels from Target are affordable and a good size for drying bigger items, but the thin cotton material isn’t very absorbent. Plus, it took a long time to dry all of the items in our tests. The cotton was so thinly woven that it felt brittle and scratchy to the touch. It also left streaks on the wine glasses and some fibers on the water glasses we tested.

Pros

  • Good size for drying larger items

Cons

  • Feels brittle and scratchy

$5.00 from Target

What You Should Know About Kitchen Towels

Kitchen towels are a multi-functional item that everyone needs. Used primarily to dry dishes and wipe up spills, they are considered for both their practical use and for their aesthetics. There are several different styles of kitchen towels. This includes woven, waffle, terry, flour sack, and bar mop. We tested them all.

Types of Towels

Your standard dish towels, like the Williams Sonoma All-Purpose and the Crate and Barrel Striped, are made of woven cotton. The material is dense and because the cotton is woven tight there are few residual fibers left behind on glassware.

Terry cloth and waffle towels, like the Crate and Barrel Waffle Terry Towel, are softer to the touch and also highly absorbent. In our testing, we found that this type of towel tends to leave some fibers behind on your dishes.

Flour sack towels are large (often 36 x 36) and beloved by cooks and chefs for their versatility. They’re made of thin woven cotton and are styled after literal sacks that were used to store flour. They’re known for being absorbent and delicate, which is good for washing and drying vegetables and greens.

Bar mops were originally used by bartenders to dry glassware. Smaller in size and thicker than flour sacks and some kitchen towels, they are super absorbent but less dense, which leaves glasses and other dishes are steak-free.

Meet the testers

Courtney Campbell

Courtney Campbell

Contributing Writer

@courtcamps

Courtney is an editor and shopper with a passion for finding the best things on the internet. She's a foodie and will talk about the latest batch of kombucha she's brewing to anyone who will listen. She has previously worked for Country Living, Woman's Day, and Our State Magazine.

See all of Courtney Campbell's reviews
Georgia Kral

Georgia Kral

Contributor

@georgiakral

In her career as a journalist, Kral has reported on topics ranging from restaurants and food to parenting and education. She lives in Montclair, N.J., with her husband and two children.

See all of Georgia Kral's reviews

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