I just looked over at the counter and the towel is crumpled up. I try to slightly fold them. If you get attractive towels would they be ok on your appliance handles?

I don't have a dedicated space to hang a dishtowel either. Eventually I would like to put some sort of rack under the sink to hang one. For now, I fold it in half and lay it on the Franke shelf that is on the right half of my sink. It keeps the towel hidden behind the sink, and it allows air to flow around it so that it doesn't get musty. It's actually a pretty good solution, which is why I've not been in any hurry to rig up something under the sink.

The usual place is a pivoting rack mounted to the inside of cabinet door under the sink. I don't this this is optimal, just traditional. Ikea makes a pretty nice rack just for this purpose which, unlike most, actually lies flat when full of towels.

Still, even with this nice, dedicated towel rack "The Boss" usually just drapes them on the oven door handle.

I would be very interested in more creative solutions. There must be some.

The issue with hiding the towel under the sink is that when you need the towel usually your hands are dripping wet.

Here is a link that might be useful: one of several kitchen towel threads

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Tue, Sep 24, 13 at 14:47

Here is a good towel thread that has links to other good towel threads.

Here is a link that might be useful: good towel thread

I've considered installing a long pull or small towel bar underneath an upper cabinet next to a sink, or alternatively a hook so that the towel can be hung conveniently next to the sink. I would want to make it so the towel hung basically against the backsplash so it is out of the way. Anything in a cabinet or drawer would probably be ignored by everyone but me in the house and I'd still end up with a dish towel crumpled on the countertop.

I've considered installing a long pull or small towel bar underneath an upper cabinet next to a sink, or alternatively a hook so that the towel can be hung conveniently next to the sink

Actually, I saw a kitchen that had a filler space next to the sink and an attractive ceramic hook attached for the dish towel. That's how I'm leaning right now. I don't mind it out, I just want it to have it's own home!

I like my towels out and convenient for drying my hands, but not necessarily on the counter. The first is a wooden towel holder above the sink:

Leela - forget about the towels - I love that cutting board!!! Custom made?

Regarding towels - I have mine draped over the back of the counter stool in my kitchen - ha. I'm sure this will change with the reno...I hope it does anyway!

The designated spot...

....and where they usually end up

We're doing pegs for towels in our bathrooms - no matter how hard I try to hang the towels neatly on towel bars, they always wind up looking messy. Pegs make the messy look like it's intended. I'll do the same thing in our new kitchen.
One other option: have you seen the crotcheted towel toppers? They attach to your stove handle or whatever. Not good for drying dishes since they aren't very portable, but fine for drying your hands.

Here is a link that might be useful: Towel topper

I remember seeing a pull-out towel rack that goes under the sink, but I can't remember where. I like that idea because it means that wet towels won't be hanging directly on my wood doors. For those of you who have your towels hanging on racks on the outside of your cabinets, does the dampness of the towels create a problem there?

When does the towel pig get brought up?

ctycdm: a dutch door! How neat!

The towel pig is in the threads I attached if anyone wants to see him.

Once upon a time I bought a towel ring to attach to our island to hold a dish towel. It's not up yet. I don't know where it got put. My thinking at the time of purchase was that a ring be easier to use than a straight bar because it takes less effort to sling the towel through the ring than straightening it on a bar. Kind of the intentional messy look of a peg, but a bit more spread out so that the towel would dry out better than on a peg.

Now we're planning to move...so maybe next kitchen?

Here is a link that might be useful: Towel rings

Here's another possibility - I have between 6" and 9" of filler next to the sink. I'm thinking I might just get that space finished on the inside, no door at all, and install a telescoping towel bar in there --- towels out of the way, but no door to open. What do you think?

We put a long pull in the cabinet panel above my sink cab doors. I guess some people would find it annoying having to move the towels over to get to the stuff under the sink - I think it's convenient. I don't see dampness creating a problem to the front of the cabinets. The pull/bar is out far enough that the towel doesn't touch the cabinets at all. I think it depends on the type of pull/bar on how far out the towel will hang. Our pull is a fridge pull from the same style as the cabinet knobs/pulls.

We had a towel holder built in next to the sink...the rods slide in and out or you can just grab a towel.

We also use the handle on our oven which is under the island.

Mgoblue85- Thanks, and yes, the cutting board was custom made.

Mine is on the oven handle, a step from my sink. Okay, a very long step. I wish I could have a pull handle on my DW, but it's in a corner and would block a drawer.

No offense, but I don't see where a towel lying on the counter is any more attractive than one hanging from a pull or rack somewhere. When I'm working in the kitchen, I use the towel ALL the time. I'm always in water and rinsing my hands. My solution is to buy some nice looking towels and accept the fact that it's a working kitchen and towels are a humble, yet essential, part of how things work. But I am not of the school of let's hide all the things you need in a kitchen so when the neighbors come with their cameras it's perfect. :)

lol, linelle ... thanks for the dose of reality!

I put an appliance pull on my dw because I thought I needed the heft because of the tight seal on the dw. Well I was wrong, a six inch pull would have been fine but the big old honking appliance pull makes a great towel rack albeit a very expensive one.

I will post it on my final reveal as I am at my business right now.

So true Linelle. My kitchen is definitely a working kitchen even if it is used to heat or microwave frozen foods. I have a big collection of tea towels and stow them in a pull out drawer but once they are in use they go on the dw.

jellytoast, forgot one of your questions. Before my remodel, I had one of those plastic hooks I stuck on the cabinet frame between my sink and DW and parked my towel. They were never that wet, but over time there was a darkening on the golden oak, suggestive of mold. Can I just say that mold ranks right up there with rats in my book of loathing. I would imagine that the more or less constant presence of moisture would do a number on a painted surface, no matter how factory baked on.

Dishtowel? What's a dishtowel? I use paper towels exclusively. Much easier and more sanitary.

weissman! I'm not gonna get on your case about throw-away stuff, but doesn't your trash get really full, really fast? I do use paper towels when my hands are covered with crap that I don't want to transfer to my faucet handle.

But what's wrong with getting a bunch of towels and tossing them in the wash when they seem unsanitary? It's not like they're diapers.

Actually, I don't mind having them out, I just want want them to have their "place", and I've found plenty of "places" that I don't want them :-) (countertop, sink cabinet handles, appliance handles). My DH nixed the idea of an open cabinet like Annie's (I like it!), so I think it's going to be a filler next to the sink, or maybe a pull-out filler cabinet, with a hook on the outside. Have to decide by Saturday, when we finalize the layout.

weissman, I don't care if you use paper towels or disposable diapers or even plastic bags. :)

You assume I even use laundry detergent. :p Actually I do, but dish towels are the kinds of things that will fit in any load no matter how full it already is.

(Sort of OT but oh well: I recently made some really nice cloth napkins with MITERED corners. Love the fabric, took me all freaking day. I'm afraid to use them for fear I'll wipe beet juice from my lips and leave a big red stain. So they sit in their drawer and I continue to use Costco paper napkins.)

The man who is installing my cabinets chided me for hanging dish towels on door handles. He said the damp cloth, over time, would mar the finish on the wood. I asked about installing a hook on the side of a cabinet and he said to never, ever. Oh well, now I hang damp cloths on the oven door handle or the microwave door handle. Not ideal, but there's no room under the sink and even that would exposed the backside of the wooden door to dampness.

I wouldn't mind getting my thermofoil back--not as pretty as the maple, but it was far easier to live with it. Would never admit this to my husband!

Wow I have thermofoil...not loving it. I didn't realize it was so ....shiny and smooth....but it is here to stay.
Point being....I can hang a towel next it to and it won't ruin the finish?!

towel pig: that's me. Use em three times, throw em in the wash.
meaty transfers, single use then wash em.
Love pretty ones, but love bleach and hot water better. So white works.

I saw this somewhere and thought it was a good idea and looked nice.

For those of you that hang your towel on the oven or dishwasher handle, do you take the towel off when you open the door?

If you don't, then doesn't the towel hit the floor, which to me is not clean? I have wondered about this every time.

juliekcmo, I agree! Sometimes I hang the towel over the dishwasher handle to dry, but take it off if I open the DW. However hubby often lets the towel drop to the floor when he loads the DW. I'm on it in a second and throw it right in the laundry bag!

I have a double towel rack installed inside the door under the sink. Two years, no mold or other problems. The towels are not actually up against the wood. They seem to dry quickly.

Ginny, is it annoying to have to open the door to get the towel and to put it away - that's what I'm trying to avoid, sheer annoyance (in addition to the fact that my husband and daughter will probably never actually put away the towels they use :-) )

We have a range with oven plus a wall oven, which I know is a luxury. The wall oven is the primary one so towels on the range oven door handle only flirt with the floor on holidays and they're too busy to be drying then!
We have adopted the system my neighbor introduced me to - white terrycloth towels (buy in bulk at Costco) are hand towels. Flat-weave colored towels are for drying dishes, never hands. So the dish towels are still clean after drying the dishes because you never used them on your hands. Your system could be different, but this made sense to me.
At the end of the day they all migrate to the laundry room. Life is too short for musty towels and worrying about bacteria. Dish sponges too, washer and dryer.