Flour Sack, Waffle or Bar Mop? The Best Dish Towels by Job

A restaurant kitchen goes through towels faster than almost anything else. Cooks keep a folded one on the station to wipe a plate rim, another tucked into an apron string to grab a sizzling platter, and a damp one to wipe down the comal between batches of tortillas. At the end of the night they all go into the laundry bag and a fresh stack comes out in the morning.

Home kitchens need fewer, but the jobs are the same, and no single towel does all of them well. Thin flour sack cloth dries glasses without lint and wraps warm tortillas. Waffle weave and terry soak up more water. Bar mops are the small, thick workhorses for spills. This guide compares eight dish towels across those weaves and explains which to buy for drying, wiping and everything in between.

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Quick verdict: which dish towels to buy

The table below compares our five standout towels, one for each job. All eight are reviewed in full after it, followed by how to choose a weave, how to care for them and answers to common questions.

Five dish towels side by side

One pick for each kitchen job, with the weave and size each maker or listing states.

Product images from Amazon. Weaves, sizes and pack counts are as stated by each maker or listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best dish towels

These eight cover the jobs towels actually do in a kitchen: drying glasses and plates, wiping counters and spills, holding warm tortillas, covering dough and giving you something to grab between tasks. Each pick says what it is made of, what the maker claims and one honest reason to skip it.

Flour sack, waffle, terry or bar mop: which weave does what

Flour sack is a thin, tightly woven plain cotton. It dries glassware with little lint, drapes over bowls, wraps tortillas and dries fast on the handle. It holds less water than the thicker weaves.

Flat weave towels, like KAF Home’s, are similar but usually rectangular and a little heavier. They are good all-rounders.

Waffle weave has a grid of pockets that holds more water than a flat weave without the bulk of terry. It is the best choice if you want one towel to dry a full rack of dishes.

Terry is a looped weave and holds the most water, so it is good for hands, spills and pots. It leaves more lint on glass and takes longer to dry.

Bar mops are small, heavy cotton towels made for wiping and spills. They are the restaurant side towel, and the one to grab when something boils over.

How to choose dish towels

Buy for the job, not the look. Most kitchens do best with two kinds: a thin flour sack or flat weave for drying and food, and a thicker bar mop or terry for spills and wiping. Keep the two in separate stacks so the towel you wipe the floor with is not the one you wrap tortillas in.

Choose 100 percent cotton. Every towel in this guide is cotton. Cotton absorbs water, survives hot washes and is the usual fiber for kitchen linens. Microfiber has its place for cleaning but is a different tool.

Check the size. Bar mops are around 16 by 19 inches; standard dish towels run roughly 16 by 28 to 20 by 30; flour sack squares can reach 28 by 28. Bigger towels cover more and fold into more clean faces, but take longer to dry.

Think about how many you need. A fresh towel every day, plus spares for messy cooking, means a pack of ten or twelve goes further than a pretty set of two.

Pick colors you can live with. White can be bleached, where the maker allows it, but shows every chile and sauce stain. Colored and striped towels hide stains but often cannot be bleached.

Wash before first use. Utopia Kitchen, for one, says washing new flour sack towels before the first use improves absorbency and reduces lint. Skip fabric softener on any towel you want to stay absorbent, and dry towels fully before folding them away.

How we chose these eight towels

We started from the jobs towels do in a working kitchen: a stack of side towels for wiping, thin cloths for drying glasses and holding warm tortillas, and thicker towels for drying dishes and hands. We then looked for kitchen towels sold on Amazon in the United States from identifiable makers, across flour sack, flat, basket, waffle and terry weaves and bar mops, and checked each one’s stock with Amazon’s product data before writing. Materials, sizes, pack counts and care come from each listing; any absorbency claim is the maker’s, quoted as stated, not ours. Where a listing contradicts itself, as Zeppoli’s does on size and count, we say so. We left out the Williams Sonoma towels on Amazon because they were nearly sold out when we checked, and we avoided unbranded and printed decor towels. We did not use these towels for this guide, and we have not cited reviews from Wirecutter, America’s Test Kitchen, Serious Eats or the New York Times, because we did not read them for this page.

Dish towel questions, answered

What are the best dish towels for drying dishes?

For a full rack of dishes, a waffle weave or terry towel holds the most water. For glasses and stemware, a flour sack or flat weave towel leaves less lint.

Which dish towel brand is best?

No single brand wins every weave. Aunt Martha’s and Now Designs make well-known flour sack towels, Utopia Towels sells bar mops in bulk, Cotton Craft makes waffle weave towels, and All-Clad makes a two-sided towel. Choose the weave first.

Are flour sack towels good dish towels?

Yes, for drying glasses and plates, covering food and wrapping tortillas. They hold less water than terry, so keep a thicker towel for big washing-up sessions.

What are the best quality kitchen dish towels?

Look for 100 percent cotton, hemmed edges and a stated weight or thread count, such as Cotton Craft’s 420 GSM waffle weave or Aunt Martha’s 130 thread count flour sack. Pre-washed towels start out softer.

How often should you change kitchen towels?

A good habit is a fresh towel every day, and sooner after wiping up raw meat juices or a big spill. Hang towels open to dry between uses rather than leaving them bunched on the counter.

Our final pick for the kitchen

Buy Aunt Martha’s flour sack towels if you want one set that handles drying, covering and wrapping tortillas. Add Utopia Towels bar mops for spills and wiping down, choose the Cotton Craft waffle weave for thick drying towels, the All-Clad two-sided towels for one good-looking towel by the stove, and the Zeppoli 15-pack if you want a big stack in rotation.

Related guide: Best microfiber cloths.

Towels are only one part of the clean-up station. Our guide to the best dish drying mat covers where the clean dishes land, and the best comal for tortillas covers the pan most of those tortillas come off. The Mexican cooking tools guide shows the rest of the kit. And if you would rather skip the washing-up tonight, see the menu and call to order.