# How many kitchen towels?



## Collinsky (Jul 7, 2004)

If you don't use paper towels (or use VERY rarely), how many kitchen/dish towels do you have for spills and clean-up? Tell me about the stash!!


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## possum (Nov 23, 2004)

I have probably 20 including a couple of nicer ones I try to keep for drying clean hands and dishes only. I also have rags from old t-shirts and such that I have under the sink for messes that I don't want to wash - seasoning the cast iron pans and the like.
We have about 10 kitchen wash rags.


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## ASusan (Jun 6, 2006)

We have at least a dozen. And we do use paper towels







: We have two paper towel holders in the kitchen. And yet, we probably go through 2-3 towels a day. DS is in a phase of pouring water on the floor and wiping it up.

I would not be averse to adding a few nicer towels to the collection. I have a couple of nice ones, but it's nice to have a pretty one out. (That can also be servicable.)

I like real linen and cotton.


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## cristeen (Jan 20, 2007)

I have regular towels for things like drying my hands, and then I have a different type of towel to replace paper towels - they're more the size of paper towels/napkins. Of the regular towels, I have about a dozen, and of the paper replacements, I have a dozen each in 2 different sizes - one paper towel sized and one napkin sized. The paper replacements get used throughout the house for cleaning purposes, and I rarely get through all 2 dozen before wash day.

I also have dish rags, which are dedicated to washing dishes, wiping down counters - and other things you might use a kitchen sponge for. I probably have half a dozen or so of those.


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## MyLittleWarrior (Dec 19, 2006)

I probably have at least 2 doz of various sizes and shapes. I need to have lots, because with 2 boys we make lots of messes, and I'm not always 100% on top of the laundry. I wash when the towel drawer starts looking empty. I'd love to have a few nicer ones for drying clean hands and dishes, but DH would never remember which ones weren't for grape juice spills, and they'd never stay nice so mine are all pretty utilitarian.


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## SleeplessMommy (Jul 16, 2005)

Our stack is about 12" high. Plus a dozen "good" table napkins in another color, and a small bin of rags for cleanup (these get tossed after use)


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## pinksprklybarefoot (Jan 18, 2007)

We probably have about 50. We have some white ones, some cute colored ones, and some washcloths for wiping faces,etc.

We also have at least 50 cloth napkins in rotation at any given time.


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## Robin926 (Jun 25, 2005)

I have probably about 30.


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## Delicateflower (Feb 1, 2009)

As many as fit in the drawer


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## pumpkin (Apr 8, 2003)

about 100


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## Coconut Chronicles (Aug 31, 2006)

I'm trying not to use paper towels as much as I have in the past. We have 20 or so... but I could easily use another 20.


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## 2cutiekitties (Dec 3, 2006)

I cant remember the last time I used a paper towel.

I would say I have 20-30 kitchen towels. Some ugly ones that do a really good job of drying, plus about a dozen nice ones that match my decor, but also dry well. And about 70 terry cloth towels I purchased at Costco that I use as rags.

I will say that the towels I have from Williams Sonoma are the worst ones for drying.







Most of my towels I got at Target


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## sunnysandiegan (Mar 5, 2008)

Oh my, I have no idea what the total quantity is in our house. I'll break it down for you...

~ I have too few dishwashing cloths right now. I think I have 4 or 5 and I use a fresh one each day. They are all blue microfiber, which I do not like, and only get washed in the "mediums" (with clothing) or with other rag type items (any color). After the holidays, I plan to knit or crochet some dish cloths for us.

~ I have a stack of paired towels that match our decor. One towel is for hands (terry cloth) and one towel is for dishes (smooth weave). I could pare these down to two of each since I wash them whenever I do a like-colored load and I wash one load of laundry nearly every day. I replace the ones in the wash immediately with clean ones.

~ I have a stack of white "bar mop" towels that I use for various tasks. I don't own a dish drainer, so I lay out one of the bar mop towels and let the dishes dry on that. (We have a dishwasher and use it.) When I dry lettuce or other clean food, I use the bar mop towels in place of paper towels. The idea is to keep these looking decent enough to be out even if company stops by. After 3 years now (I think), they could use replacing. I got a set of microfiber towels along with the microfiber dish cloths (had to replace the dish cloths sooner), but I am not liking them much. I much prefer cotton or linen.

~ I have a bin full of random rags that get used for spills, cleaning, and whatever. I wash these. If I am going to clean up something really gross, I'll choose the least attractive/most worn rag and toss it afterwards. We cut up old t-shirts, socks, undies, and really stained clothing to create our rag pile. I raid this stash for dishwashing cloths now. I also use this stash in place of paper towels when the task is not clean enough for the bar mop towels.

~ I also have a few stacks of cloth napkins (6-12 of each). One stack is really nice and matches our formal tablecloth (white damask). Another stack is off-white and are my favorite (I think they are a linen-cotton blend). Last stack is cobalt blue to match our decor (casual dishes and room accents). They are a bit too thick and faded too quickly.


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## mariyamer (Apr 11, 2008)

I've never used paper towels, seemed like a waste of money to me.

We have about two to three dozen terry towels which I use for cleaning up messes, drying cast iron and other jobs I'd usually use paper towels for. I wash these with bleach and they are the only things I wash with bleach. I got these at Sam's Club and they came in the car care aisle in a package of like 75. I replace them from my "stash" when they get too ragady for the kitchen. These then get sent to be used for really messy tasks like in the garden or when I need a "disposable" towel.

I have two dozen bar mop towels that I use for drying dishes and also for covering the kombucha jar and fresh baked bread as it cools (keeps the crust soft). These are also terry cloth but are bigger and have a blue stripe for easy identification. One of these days I hope to get flat weave towels for these tasks as I think they absorb better.

I have two old beach towels that are very thin from many washings that I use for major spills (which happen fairly often since I'm clumsy).

I have more dishrags than I can count. Some are for dirty jobs (like cleaning cast iron or the oven - I only clean with baking soda and vinegar, so no chemicals) and about half a dozen are very nice for days when I need a pretty dishcloth. I dry the dishcloth after I use it and stick it in a small hamper just for the dishcloths. I wash these about once a month because I have so many of them and I use only one or two each day. Never had a problem with smells because I make sure each one is completely dry before tossing it in the hamper.

About half a dozen of nice hand towels. Now, these aren't very nice because I don't like spending more than a dollar on a towel, but they do brighten up the kitchen and are seasonal. I change the hand towel every two to three days and the dish towel every day.

Two sets of cloth napkins, one for every day made up of mismatched napkins bought on clearance at Kroger for 25 cents/each and one really nice set in white linen with embroidery that I got at a yard sale for a couple of dollars. I tend to reuse the napkins for several meals at least, depending on what we are eating. On fried chicken or hot wing night we bypass the napkins and use the terry towels.

I also keep half a dozen baby washcloths that I wet and use to wipe up the baby after she eats.


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## greenmansions (Feb 16, 2005)

I have about 25 dishrags that we use for wiping counters, as wet napkins when needed, for spills etc. Mainly tho these are not used for grungy jobs. We probably go through 2 or 3 most days, sometimes more.

I have about 20 kitchen towels, also not used for anything grungy. Hands, tabletop spills, water on the floor, etc. I change these at least once a day, usually more often. About half the towels are terry cloth, half cotton or linen.

I have two rag boxes in the laundry room next to the kitchen - one for messy clean ups and housecleaning, and one for very dirty jobs where the rags get tossed out after.

I also have a stack of old bathtowels in the laundry room for major spills, or for putting under the kids' art projects etc. I cut these into smaller rags as needed too.

Then I have 6 sets of 4 each of cloth napkins that we use at the table. I change these daily.

I have a roll of paper towel under the sink that pretty much only gets used to drain bacon, to grease pans, or drain meat/fish on after rinsing it. We go through about 2 or 3 rolls a year. When I started keeping it under the sink, my visitors will look for the hand towel (hanging right below the sink on the cabinet front). When I kept the paper towels on the counter near the sink, visitors would just grab one to dry their hands which I found really annoying. DH also likes to grab a paper towel when they are visible, rather than open the drawer to grab a cloth towel. Under the sink for the paper towels seems to work best - out of sight, out of mind.


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## BetsyS (Nov 8, 2004)

I have probably 40 dish towels. They are really these thin, absorbent towels that I got from when I worked in a hospital, though, not technically dish towels. They work beautifully.

I have a basket of rags under the sink for really dirty jobs.

I keep a couple of old bath towels for cleaning up spills.

I have 30+ cloth napkins. I put the word out several years ago, and people are always giving them to me. Most of these are white or white-ish, so I can bleach them if they need it (once a year or so).

And I have 2 dozen washcloths that I use to clean up kids after each meal.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

I have about fifteen dishcloths. About 30 tea towels, and at least that many dish towels. Then I have my whole stash of prefold diapers, now that my kids are done with them. So that's about 48 diapers. So wow, I guess that's about 120, right? Dunno. We go through them very quickly, though. I probably have enough to get us through three days of normal use, although I wash them daily so they don't get smelly or moldy.


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