Cooking at home is great. Cleaning up is less great. And finding a place to put dishes while they dry can be really frustrating. Since I can remember, whether in tandem with a dishwasher or as the main attraction, I’ve used a combination of a simple drying rack and some kind of sheet underneath it. I thought I had it figured out, even though the racks I used left me wanting, silicone or washable mats underneath them got gooey, gross, and smelly, and I’d often have to spread out a kitchen towel to accommodate a few pans and pots. And then Sabatier sent me its Expandable Stainless Steel Dish Rack.

All within the one product (rather than a concert of two), I can toss washed dishes and let them air dry without worrying about where the water’s heading as it all collects into a draining spout that empties into my sink. It’s like an email auto-filter trigger but for water and residue. And it’s so easy to quickly expand, fitting a full night’s collection of dishes, glasses, pots, pans, spatulas, and silverware. A removable stemware rack lets you hang wine glasses to dry naturally (which is brilliant). And a three compartment flatware caddy lets you organize utensils*. Simply put, this drying rack actually gets me excited to do the dishes (which I’m sure is a feeling that will wane with time) and now the drying dishes footprint on our limited counter space is much more compact than it’s been as we never have to spread out towels to handle larger amounts of dishes.

I’ve always preferred washing dishes by hand to using a dishwasher, even when the house my friends and I leased in Washington, D.C., included the shiniest, newest, most advanced one I’d encountered to-date (it was stainless steel and sounded that new-age post-Millenium beep when done). It’s just that if you’re not filling the machine up each time and at the same time don’t have duplicates of your common kitchenware items — like cutting boards, Chef’s knives, pans, or citrus pressers — you’re going to be forced to pull those out of the dishwasher and wash them by hand anyway when the need arises. Whether you have a dishwasher or not, this drying rack is a great addition to any kitchen and will stick with you through many nights of delicious, home cooking.

*In case you’re wondering, my categories for each of the three buckets are knives with the sharp end facing down, forks and spoons, and then large stuff.

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