The best dish racks you can buy

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The best dish racks you can buy

best dish rack

Amazon/Business Insider

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  • A top-quality dish drying rack has a large capacity without taking up too much space, is designed for easy water run-off and efficient drying, and is easy to clean.
  • The Premium Racks Professional Dish Rack is our top pick because it is customizable and can hold all of your odds and ends.
  • See more: The best kitchen towels

Even if you have a dishwasher, there are some kitchen items you just don't want to trust in it. For instance, you should always wash your best knives by hand. And, you will extend the life of your cookware by cleaning it with old-fashioned elbow grease.

Dish drying racks are an indispensable tool when doing dishes by hand. They keep your dishes in a holding pattern until you are ready to dry them. Or, you can just leave them to air dry.

Aside from bamboo knife blocks and silicone mats, the most popular materials used to make dish racks are stainless steel and hard plastic. Both materials have their pluses and minuses. Though it generally isn't an issue, some cheaper brands use stainless steel that is sometimes susceptible to rusting. Plastic dish racks are more likely to break. For the most part, though, you are unlikely to experience these problems when you choose one of the top-rated racks.

When shopping for a dish drainer, pay special attention to its dimensions if you have a small kitchen. You don't want to end up with a behemoth that dominates your counter space. Yet, if you have the extra room and a large family, one of the bigger models might be preferable.

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Drying racks can be used for much more than just drying dishes. Some people like to use them as cooling racks for cookies, cake, bread, and other baked goods. If you decide to buy one of the dish racks we recommend, don't throw out your old one. Apartment Therapy offers a number of useful ways to repurpose dish drainers. You might use your old dish rack to organization mail or files, as a planter, or as a book caddy.

While researching the best dish drying racks, we looked at hundreds of rating and reviews of countless racks from both experts and buyers. The ones included in our guide are durable, well-designed, and they allow water to run off easily to ward off mold.

Here are the best dish racks to buy in 2019:

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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Picks team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at insiderpicks@businessinsider.com.

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The best dish rack overall

The best dish rack overall
The Premium Racks Professional Dish Rack can hold twice as many dishes as other racks and comes with several unique features.

What sets the Premium Racks Professional Dish Rack apart from other racks is its customizability. You can choose where to place the cutting board attachment, three cup holder attachments, microfiber mat, knife holder, wide utensil holder, and the two drainboards. Also, the top shelf is removable and can be positioned front to back or side to side.

The rack is made of 304 stainless steel, which typically resists rust and other corrosive elements. With a 17.5-inch long by 13.9-inch wide by 11-inch tall footprint, the Professional Dish Rack can hold a lot of dishes, but it may not be the best solution for smaller kitchens.

The Kitchen Professor recommends the Premium Racks Professional Dish Rack because it can be customized and configured to meet your needs. The reviewer liked that it kept water off the counter, but would have preferred it if there were rubber stoppers on the feet to prevent sliding and scratching their countertop.

The reviewer at The Wirecutter was impressed with how many dishes and extra features this rack had, but stopped short of recommending it because the testers had trouble putting it together. They did find that Premium Racks' customer service was responsive.

About 85% of the people who reviewed the Professional Dish Rack on Amazon gave it four or five stars. Buyer Big Sur Scott commented that the instructions for assembling the rack seemed like they were designed by "a small family of squirrels in Romania." Overall, though, he gave the rack five stars because of the knife drying attachment and other similar perks. Other buyers were impressed with the number of dishes that the rack can hold.

Pros: Holds a lot of dishes, several different configuration options

Cons: Hard to put together

Buy the Premium Racks Professional Dish Rack on Amazon for $59.99

The best roll-up dish drying rack

The best roll-up dish drying rack
If space is limited in your kitchen, consider using the Surpahs Over the Sink Roll-Up Dish Rack to turn your sink into a drainer.

The problem with most dish racks is they take up space. This is true of even the foldable ones. However, the Surpahs Over the Sink Roll-Up Dish Rack features a flexible design that rolls up like a mat to take up minimal room. This makes it ideal for RVs, tiny houses, boats, and other abodes with small kitchens.

The Surpahs rack is made of steel and coated entirely with silicone. The silicone keeps the unit slip-free and heat-resistant up to 400 degrees. The overall dimensions are 20.5 inches long by 13.1 inches wide by 0.25 inches high. Surpahs backs their roll-up dish drying rack with a lifetime warranty.

The Mom Maven recommends the Surpahs dish rack to anyone who has a small galley kitchen like hers. The reviewer observed that she can easily store the rack on the side of her sink when it's not in use. The reviewer at My Great Finds prefers to wash most of her dishes by hand and found the Over the Sink drying rack was ideal. She thought the rack was a bit heavy but appreciated the non-slip feel.

Kitchen Byte liked that the rack was easy to clean and resistant to slippage. However, the reviewer didn't like that it lacked additional compartments, and though the writer didn't have any accidents, they were concerned that the rack might cause dishes to break easily when stacked up.

More than 1,200 Amazon buyers have left five-star reviews of the Surpahs Over the Sink Multipurpose Roll-Up Dish Drying Rack. Babs, the most helpful reviewer, used the roll-up rack in conjunction with a more traditional dish drainer. She set it on top of the roll-up rack on the side of her massive sink, and it allowed the dishes to drain while she continued to wash.

There were a few complaints about the Surpahs drying rack, including that the single color does not work with all kitchen decor. Also, buyers should make a point of measuring their sink before purchasing this model to ensure it will fit.

Pros: Small storage footprint, non-slip silicone design, lifetime warranty

Cons: Small capacity, may not be able to use the sink while dishes are drying

Buy the Surpahs Over the Sink Multipurpose Roll-Up Dish Drying Rack on Amazon for $25 (originally $27.98)
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The best foldable dish drying rack

The best foldable dish drying rack
The OXO Good Grips Convertible Foldaway Dish Rack provides a great balance of size and dish-holding capacity.

The feature that sets the OXO Good Grips Convertible Foldaway Dish Rack apart from competitors is that the spout, legs, and side walls fold up for compact storage either vertically or horizontally. Also, the majority of this rack is made out of hard plastic, though there is a stainless steel frame. The overall dimensions are 19.4 by 15.5 by 5.1 inches when open.

The rack has two utensil holders that are divided into three compartments each, which keeps flatware separated for easy organization. There are six slots for standing plates and cutting boards. Finally, there is also an array of tines for cups and glassware. Water drains directly into your sink using the drainage spout.

The reviewer at Floflo Kitchen has been using the OXO Good Grips Convertible Foldaway Dish Rack long-term and strongly recommends it. The reviewer likes the versatile array of dishes it can dry and that it stores and cleans up easily. The only downfall the writer found was that the spout doesn't drain all of the water out.

Village Bakery recommended the Convertible Foldaway Dish Rack for people with limited kitchen storage space. The reviewer was impressed with the many compartments for a variety of kitchen utensils, which made it easier to put items away once they were dry.

Approximately 82% of the Amazon buyer reviews of the OXO dish rack are positive. The most helpful reviewer noted that it holds their cutting boards and doesn't rust. The buyer liked that one side had foldable legs to allow for better drainage. However, the reviewer gave it four stars instead of five because the drain hole location made it hard for all of the water to be diverted out of the spout.

Other buyers both liked the drain spout and were impressed with how much the rack holds.

There was one buyer who noted that her rack spontaneously busted taking a few plates with it after 15 months of use, but this does not appear to be a common occurrence.

Pros: Folds up for easy storage, holders for several different kitchen items, rust resistant

Cons: The drain spout could be in a better location

Buy the OXO Good Grips Convertible Foldaway Dish Rack on Amazon for $39.95

The best dish rack for small households

The best dish rack for small households
With its unique angled design and compact footprint, the Chef'n CleanGenuity Garden Dish Rack is ideal for smaller households.

What makes the Chef'n CleanGenuity Garden Dish Rack unique is its circular design and angled layout. The overall size is 13 inches in diameter and 6.25 inches tall. There are five legs: two front legs that are an inch high, two middle legs that are 1.5 inches, and a back leg that is two inches. This allows water to drain out of the spout.

The prongs are shorter in the back and longer in the front to give the illusion that the whole unit is flat. The rack is made of BPA-free plastic so you don't have to worry about rust or harmful chemicals coming into contact with your dishes.

Prior to stumbling upon the Chef'n CleanGenuity Garden Dish Rack, Masala Mommy was replacing wire dish racks every six months because they would start rusting. She has been using this rack for over six months now and appreciates that rust isn't an issue, it's small enough to fit in her sink, and there's a mild slant that helps water drain out.

The Wirecutter recommended the Chef'n dish drainer for two-person households due to its small stature. The reviewer appreciated the tall plastic prongs which could easily hold onto dishes. However, the testers do note that when you use the prongs along the circumference, water ends up dripping onto the counter. Fortunately, the rack is small enough to use in-sink.

Around 88% of the buyers who reviewed the Chef'n CleanGenuity Garden Dish Rack on Amazon gave it five stars. Buyers mentioned that it takes a bit of an adjustment to get used to the design of a circular dish rack, but once people got used it, they liked this style of drainer.

One buyer recommended either using a drying mat with this rack or keeping it near or in your sink when using the outer prongs to avoid getting water on your counter.

Pros: Angled design for easy draining, compact enough to fit in a sink

Cons: Tends to drip on the counter, limited capacity

Buy the Chef'n CleanGenuity Garden Dish Rack on Amazon for $27.95 (originally $25.28)
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The best dish rack for large households

The best dish rack for large households
If you have a large household that produces tons of dishes, it might be worth spending a little extra to buy the Simplehuman Kitchen Steel Frame Dish Rack.

What strikes you first about the Simplehuman Kitchen Steel Frame Dish Rack is its sheer size and the innovative drainage system. With an overall size of 22 by 20 by 15 inches, the rack has a ledge that holds four upside-down extra-large wine glasses, a seven-slot bamboo knife block, and two roomy utensil holders.

The drainage system features a 180-degree swivel spout which allows you to drain water directly into the sink no matter how you position it. The rack is made of stainless steel and plastic with a hydrophilic coating, which causes water to spread instead of allowing residue to build up.

Cook's Illustrated recommends the Steel Frame Dish Rack because it received high marks for capacity and design in their tests. The reviewer noted that the little raised feet kept it off the counter, and the swivel spout drained water efficiently.

The Wirecutter recommends the Simplehuman rack for households with several people or active chefs who require additional drying space. Reviewers were impressed with how this dish drainer can hold large pans and pots without tipping or wobbling. And, the water is efficiently funneled out of a spout. Although, they did note that this rack required more cleaning than the other models tested.

More than 750 people have left positive reviews of the Simplehuman Steel Frame on Amazon. Reviewer Dr. Beth has the most helpful review. She recommends this rack because the drainage system works incredibly well. After eight months of use, she found it stayed clean with minimal care, and there were no signs of rust.

Other buyers did complain about the difficulty of cleaning the dish rack's many nooks and crannies. The bamboo knife holder was especially troubling for some.

Pros: Superior water drainage swivel spout, large capacity

Cons: Expensive, takes up a lot of space, requires frequent cleaning

Buy the Simplehuman Kitchen Steel Frame Dish Rack on Amazon for $79.90 (originally $79.99)
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