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What Side Towels do you Favor?


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A few years ago I reached into the oven with a new Walmart towel and when I grabbed the hot cast iron handle, the towel partially melted, which also explained why it was not much good at absorbing moisture. Since then I have paid much more attention to the towels I buy. I like linen towels, some heavy and others fine for wrapping rising bread in. Not too big or they hang into the gas flame on the stove. Many of mine carry the battle scars of such encounters on their corners.

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costco shop towels in the automotive section. thick terry, perfect size for side towels imho. they last quite a while. once they have (chocolate, red wine, etc.) unbleachable stains, we use them as drying towels. when they are stained+frayed, they finally make it to the garage for the use they were apparently intended for all along.

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"Laughter is brightest where food is best."

www.chezcherie.com

Author of The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook ,The I Love Trader Joe's Party Cookbook and The I Love Trader Joe's Around the World Cookbook

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I have a boatload of terry tea towels that I bought at Sam's Club. They are absorbent, can double as hot pads when folded, are large enough to drape over cooling cake layers (although I usually use flour sack towels for that) and are attractive enough to hang on the oven door. When they get too stained or singed, they become car washing towels.

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I like the Costco shop towels also but I make sure they are 100% cotton, some are not.

I like the "flour-sack" towels but you have to know what you are getting, some are thin and useless.

Smart & Final stores carry these in bundles of a dozen and they are thick and very absorbent, can be folded to use as hot pads but are large enough to cover a tray of rising rolls or a large bowl.

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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we have a large selection of terrycloth teatowels but ones I like the most for side towels are Gillett's Barmop Towels; the dish cloths are very good too.

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"Why is the rum always gone?"

Captain Jack Sparrow

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I like bar mops.

They're reasonably priced and hold up pretty well.

Lately I've been buying the 100% cotton bar mops at Sam's Club.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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My preferred towel is from Williams-Sonoma. Their All purpose Kitchen Towel Set of 4 for $19.95. Not cheap, if that's your first priority, but they will last forever. 20x30" and they don't shrink down. Thick. I have other crappy towels that I use for nasty, dirty work in the kitchen.

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I like bar mops.

They're reasonably priced and hold up pretty well.

Lately I've been buying the 100% cotton bar mops at Sam's Club.

DiggingDogFarm - I have never been to Sam's Club.. does the $12.88 price the website gave me sound right for that pack of 24 you linked too?

"Why is the rum always gone?"

Captain Jack Sparrow

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DDF has also got me on to Bar Towels as has Johnder

the issue for me is shipping charges for a small order, not being a member os Sam's and it being a ways from me

a 'similar' bar towel at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Bakers-Chefs-Bar-Mops-24pk/dp/B001UFB6G6/ref=sr_1_3/177-5969384-7813021?ie=UTF8&qid=1388523341&sr=8-3&keywords=bar+towels

that's 25 bucks. :blink:

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I like bar mops.

They're reasonably priced and hold up pretty well.

Lately I've been buying the 100% cotton bar mops at Sam's Club.

DiggingDogFarm - I have never been to Sam's Club.. does the $12.88 price the website gave me sound right for that pack of 24 you linked too?

Yep, $12.88 for 24.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Yeah....you have to be a member...or ride along with a member. :smile:

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Cotton shop towels for me.

50 red ones for dirty wipes, 50 white ones for clean wipes.

Once in a while I wet them and microwave them to sanitize them.

After they kind of got visibly dirty, they go into the laundry.

dcarch

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Not a fan of using towels to take hot things out of the oven - big fan of substantial oven mitts for that.

But I have a couple of hundred blue surgical towels around my house - they come in the disposable obstetrical kits - I ask the nurses to save me ones that are surplus to their needs.

I started bringing them home to put under the drooling rug rat's chin - but they have become my go to towel both in the kitchen and the chocolate room.

I have enough that I can do a whole washer load of them at a time and I send them off in piles to the child's school and they send back half a dozen wet ones I day - I suspect the whole class is using them and I'm the laundry service!

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Students in my chocolate room - towels get a little filthy but clean up well.

IMG_0919_2.jpg

Anna N has a few around her house as well.

IMG_0665_2.jpg

2 or 3 under a chin helps prevent wet shirts.

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  • 6 months later...

I really like these. They're too expensive, but for years I was getting w.s. gift certificates for christmas, and ran out of regular stuff that I needed. Now I have a lifetime supply.

 

The disadvantage (besides price) is that microfiber is synthetic, so you can't use them to grab hot pans. So I have a pile of these and a pile of assorted cotton terry towels (cheap). I use the latter for pans. It's helpful to have different looking ones for wet and hot, so you don't make the mistake of grabbing a 500° chunk of metal with a damp cloth. 

Notes from the underbelly

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For a while I have been using Fog Linen Chambray towels.  They are thin, and perhaps not as sensuous as cotton for drying hands, but linen sure is wonderful for drying glassware and such things.

 

I also am among those who would not assay towels for handling hot pans.

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Ikea is my friend , i have  30- 50 Näckten  terry towels  for  grabbing, clean and god knows what and they are cheap  , 49 cents per towel.  Then I have Ikea  kitchen towels, different ones , gotten or bought over the years,

Cheese is you friend, Cheese will take care of you, Cheese will never betray you, But blue mold will kill me.

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I also sometimes wash my kitchen towels, both cotton and linen.  Which invites the question:  can microfiber be washed?  I thought you weren't supposed to get it wet?

Oh, yeah, it's just polyester. Wash and dry it with impunity. I use the microfiber towels exclusively for wet stuff, because it works so nicely. But I use cotton for handling hot pans, because the microfiber scorches and melts at a much lower temperature. 

Notes from the underbelly

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