Boring one… do you have separate tea towels / hand towels in the kitchen?

[fulltimeparttime]

We need a better system in our house as we’re getting through too many tea towels and I’m sick of washing them so frequently.

What system do you have in your kitchen?

We don’t have a downstairs WC so use the kitchen sink often for hand washing. We use tea towels for all sorts, drying hands, wiping up spills, drying up the pots that don’t go in the dishwasher, taking dishes out the oven. I’m sick of them having so many uses and want to buy some separate hand towels but would like to know what other people do for all of the above.

Thank you!

I tried that and it's handy but they drive me nuts every time you want to open the doors. Or they get shut in with you close them.

Yep. Have a hand towel that is a Velcro loop so attaches to the door handle on our range cooker oven. Then tea towel separate and oven gloves also. Kitchen roll for mucky stuff.

Same as @CMOTDibbler, huge stack of tea towels, used for anything then into the laundry bin. Washed with Napisan.

Yes.Towel for hands,linen tea towel for dishes.

I live alone so it's only my hands and crockery etc
I use 2 tea towels different colours for hands and drying up
I generally air dry washing up
I also have microfibre cloths, and sponges which are zapped in the microwave
Kitchen roll for anything dirty

Yes, separate tea towels (for dishes) and hand towels (for hands).

Wiping up spills would be a cloth or kitchen towel. I'd carry hot things with the tea towel but if it got any food on it, then I'd get a fresh one for drying.

No and it horrifies my mother. I don’t want multiple towels on the go though like in her kitchen. There’s a tea towel out, use it however you desire, and when it’s dirty chuck it in the utility and while you’re in there, grab a replacement fresh one. Never found any issues with this system.

As for what we use - tea towels for drying (kitchenware, hands). The odd old baby muslin the same. Old cloth wipes to wipe the surfaces.

You never see all these various towels on hooks in the kitchen ads - where are they hiding them?

I fascinated by those that say we don't need hand towels in kitchen as we have a downstairs loo. If I've been handling meat and want to wash my hands, I'm not going to use the downstairs loo sink. I'll wash and dry my meaty hands in n the kitchen.
I'm a messy cook so I frequently need to wash my hands while cooking.

I have a son who grabs a clean one nearly eveytime he washes his hands so I've got around this by using flannels for everything (except when guests come when pretty tea towels will be draped over the oven handle🤣). At least three a day get thrown straight into the washer.

Oh we are slatterns. Tea towel hangs over the oven door, used for hands. Pans tend to air dry, everything else in the dishwasher. Sides are done with Method and kitchen roll.

This.

I buy guest towels, which are regular towels about the size of a tea towel and we use those in the kitchen for hands as I found hand towels were just too big in the kitchen.

Regular tea towels for drying kitchen things only, or for covering bowls with dough in (clean one to do that).

The kitchen towels/ cloths are used only for drying hands.

I use paper towels for spills, and microfiber cloths for wiping down countertops. These get rinsed out after use and live to fight a few times.

I have a dishwasher for all dishes, mugs, glassware, cutlery, etc. Nothing needs to be dried.

Nope, same tea towel. Generally get a new one each day(ish). Several decades on, no one’s ever become ill or died yet.

I use a sponge for wiping/ sanitizing the sink, and have a dish brush to do a quick scrub or scrape and rinse of plates, etc, before sticking in the dishwasher.

I have oven mitts for taking hot dishes from the oven - they're far better than cloths.

Tea towel for drying hands is hung over the oven handle and used for holding oven hot cookware bits. Separate tea towel for drying the odd dish is draped over drying dishes on the drainer.

I only have tea towels in the kitchen, I wash my hands in the bathroom.

I have separate tea towel and hand towel in the kitchen, both hung up on the wall near the sink. Use oven gloves to getting things out of the oven etc. Tea towel is only used on the rare occasion someone needs to dry something by hand (as we have a drying cupboard so everything handwashed goes in there, but sometimes need to wash something and dry it to use immediately). Hand towel gets used frequently because I often wash my hands in the kitchen sink.

Just tea towels

The one by the sink is for hands

The one by the hob is for kitchen stuff

I use kitchen towel to dry my hands and tea towels and cloths get changed and washed every day. I have about two on the go every day.

Tea towels are just for drying things unless there's a liquid emergency and it's the first thing to hand.

I have loads of material dish cloths I wash that get used for wiping and cleaning. They go straight into a bucket after one use and these all get washed on a hot wash.

no, but we put a sink in the toilet so that we can wash our hands there.

we have loads of kitchen towels though and change them at least daily. basically we get a clean one out for each 'clean' task, like wiping the puddels of the mug bottoms from the dishwasher.

I only use sponges for washing up non stick and cast iron or enamelled cook and bakeware

and I have certain branded sponges for certain items

I'd never use the same sponge I wash up with to clean any surfaces etc that's for my reusable material dishcloths which get one use then in the bucket.

It's weird writing all this down and realising I have my weird little system.