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socks12345

How do you drain your dishes?

socks
16 years ago

I have a dishwasher, but for years I have kept a narrow Rubbermaid dish drainer in one of my double sinks to drain the few dishes I do by hand.

I wish I could find one like I have (mine is cracking after many years). Its plastic and about half the size of a regular dish rack, and it's designed to rest on the edges of the sink and hang down in the sink a little. Hope this makes sense. (It doesn't sit in the bottom of the sink.)

I cannot find these anymore, so I was wondering what others do for the extra things you don't want to put in the dishwasher.

Comments (7)

  • marys1000
    16 years ago

    Oh Oh I had one of those for years too! I loved it. I had to just switch to a regular sized one that sits in the bottom of the 1 double sink.

  • piper101
    16 years ago

    What I do is just get a plastic coated wire grate for the bottom of the sink that fits. I just hand wash the item (I don't do the fill up the sink thing) I just wash with my soap and scubber and rinse. Then I just turn it over onto the wire thing and let it air dry. Doesn't take long and so what if it sits there and more clean things get piled in thru out the day,,they all dry eventually.
    I use the small side of the sink for doing this washing bit and disposal etc. and then when it's rinsed it goes on the "clean" side to dry. I'm not great at describing this, but I think you can get my drift. Would have like to have seen what you had. Sounds good.

  • ntt_hou
    16 years ago

    I don't use a dish drainer. I hand wash and let the dishes dry in the dishwasher. Once every 3-4 weeks, I let the dishwasher runs (with dishes in it) to cleanse it and keep the pump & seals from drying out.

  • velodoug
    16 years ago

    When our Rubermaid dish drainer like the one you describe expired we replaced it with a simplehuman compact dishrack. We have a single bowl sink so we keep it on the counter, but it would fit into one bowl of a double bowl sink too.

  • asolo
    16 years ago

    Ditto simplehuman. They make several sizes/configurations.

  • socks
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    I found one on e-bay pretty much like what I want, but it looks a little flimsy and I'm not sure of the dimensions.

    Seems a little overpriced too.

    I tried to fix my Rubbermaid with the glue gun, but it didn't hold. I emailed Rubbermaid to ask about it too.

    Here is a link that might be useful: dish drainer

  • gellchom
    16 years ago

    We leave a lot of things out to dry in a drainer -- things that are too delicate for the DW or that are too big to be worth wasting the space. They dry better in the air than with a towel. Sometimes I know I am going to need something again soon, so I don't want to wait for the dw to run again. I also drain greens and herbs in the drainer sometimes. I knew myself well enough that I wouldn't put the thing under the sink all the time, and after spending $$$ to remodel, I couldn't stand the idea of leaving an icky rubber drainer and mat out all the time!

    Our solution: I found a pretty drainer that looks nice enough that it is actually a plus, not a minus, on the counter. It was ridiculously expensive for a drainer -- about $51, I think -- so I asked for that as my Chanuka present that year. Actually, I think it was worth the money not to spoil the look of our kitchen. It came from Smith & Hawken.

    It doesn't have a tray under it, but thanks to Miracle Cloths, even that actually turned into a plus, because the water that drips onto the counter is usually just enough to wet the cloth to wipe the counters after I finish the dishes.

    I think that Lillian Vernon has a similar but smaller item, and I have seen several stainless steel ones.