Most of the time, mine hangs over the DW handle because it's next to the sink, but if I'm cooking something major another will be on the oven door. And if it's an entertaining event, the dish towels will be the 'show' variety from Sur la Table.

I''m not wild about the oven door handle because it always touches the floor when the door is used. However, if that happened or if I used the oven, I could always just move it. My range now has a bar across it that doesn't go down with a door, so it usable that way if I want (in the middle of cooking flurries eg).

I decided to use drawer pulls that were deep enough to allow towels close to the sink (trash compactor has a foot pedal, and drawers), but don't like the towels to hang over the next drawer down. So I bought some unobtrusive stick on towel holders in stainless that tuck up under the counter rim for the prep sink and range. They work for me, ymmv. The Trash handle is perfect for a towel, so I guess one out of three isn't too bad?!

In the last kitchen (same drawer pulls) I used a spare drawer pull next to the sink in the island, and on doors, to hold towels.

Range oven door.

Well, it looks like I'm not completely alone in this, in spite of my friends opinion to the contrary. My towels will continue to live on the rack inside the sink-cabinet. I do keep a holder with paper towels on the counter by the sink for quick vipeups and such. Thanks so much for your input!

Elisabeth

The dish towel and hand towel are on a rod at the end of the island. A thick all-cotton (bathroom) hand towel hangs on the oven (range) door; it is my hot pot handler. It doesn't touch the ground with the door open- it is in my hands to put in or pull out the dish.

I used to drape mine over the oven door, but with the reno, the double ovens have moved too far away from my sink. I don't mind seeing towels draped like that . . . if they're nice looking. Anyhoo, a while back there was "The Pig Towel" thread about this, either here or over on the Decorating forum and it gave me the idea to look for something to hold my towel. I found this Mexican bird pot locally and like using it on my new counters.
Lynn
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I don't like to see towels hanging from anything in the kitchen, it's like the fridge door covered with magnets and pictures, both really make the kitchen looked cluttered. I didn't realize this until I got a SS fridge (not magnetic) and no place to hang towels. My new kitchen looks so much better.

If I have a damp towel that's not going into the laundry I will hang it over the sink, otherwise, I fold them up and lay them on the counter near the sink. I keep clean ones in a basket by the sink.

One reason our range is where it is - with respect to the sink - is that we planned to use the handle for our kitchen towels right from the beginning. I do have to admit that DW has some very nice kitchen towels that she only puts out when we have company.

I have one on my oven door. I don't have a handle on my dishwater or fridge that would work. I don't love how it looks but it functions well. I pin it on so it stays neat and doesn't fall off.

If I was selling my house I would remove it.

I don't like them on the over or dishwasher door, because it seems like the handles are too close to the door, if that makes sense. I can't just drop half of the towel through the handle, because it gets stuck partway through, so I have to use both hands to kind of help push it. Maybe it's just my appliances.

At our current rental place the towels just sit out on the counter. Once our house is done, we will probably put a towel bar at the end of the island (across from the main sink). I hadn't even thought about drilling into the cabinets being a problem - you are all making me nervous, but I think I will probably do it anyway.

What about the refrigerator door? I've got one there most of the time.

Nope, no towels on oven doors here either. Sorry for those who have seen Towel Pig a gazillion times!

Robin

I was upset when I realized I'd given up the most convenient towel hanging spot by having panel covered dishwasher doors with pulls that matched our cabinets. In our last house the wide dw handle was great for towels, and it not being a wood front made it even better.

Even though it's too far from the sink, right now ours do hang on our oven door (when I put them there, since the kids are better at leaving them in wads on the counters), because it's the only way to hang them to dry at the moment. Eventually, I'll have towel rods tucked under the counter on the end of the island, handy to the main and prep sinks, right across from the rangetop. Mine certainly aren't always, or even usually, a matched set, but I think the hanging towels add to the homey feel of the kitchen...And they're just a functional fact of life.

I agree with Bluekit...mine will hang on the dishwasher too! They used to go on the oven...but now that our new dishwasher has a handle and it's SO close to the sink.

Either way, as soon as it's dry I tuck it away or throw it in the hamper if it's dirty. I like to tuck away everything in site...just me! People who walk in my home assume I don't have any stuff, because I'm such a minimalist. =)

Our old bungalow kitchen's below-sink doors had patterned punched-metal recessed panels instead of the wood in our other cabinets. For ventilation, of course. I meant to do that here and still will if I ever develop a need for it. With all the copies of old kitchens, I've been surprised for a long time that that detail is almost never seen.

Right now, I have one on the dishwasher door and one on the oven door. Once I get a handle on one of my cabs next to the sink, they will go in there. Then I won't have to worry about wet, messy hands on my nice cabinets.

Pot holders? I have a small pantry and they are on the wall of the pantry on cup hooks. Very handy because I know where they are at all times.

We usually have a towel hanging from the long handle on the top drawer in the island across from the sink. Not the best spot; it gets in the way of opening the middle drawer (where clean towels, potholders and trivets are stored). We also sometimes have a towel on the range handle. No logic or pattern to it; depends who's working in the kitchen.

Of course there's often a towel on the counter under the handwashed dishes and the still-wet dishes from the dishwasher. It almost makes me want to get a dish drainer and go back to all handwashing LOL!

Maybe I should just drape my towels on the counter cat:

LOVE the "counter cat"! I've got a couple of those, too...very handy! Even better, IMO, would be the "towel flemish giant", just look how great those ears would be for air drying your towels! :o)

I don't hang one on oven door since, as others have stated, it touches the floor when door is opened or falls if brushed against. My towel is thru an upper cabinet handle near the sink. Handy to wipe hands on and also to pull on to open that cabinet. After a long time the areas around cabinet handles get smudged from our hands. I am trying to come up with some attractive nonobtrusive little something to hang on cabinet handles to keep from dirtying that area. Seldom do we use towels to dry dishes--they dry in DW or hand washed dishes we let air dry on a towel on counter--ready to put away next morning--the towel then gets washed.

I tried putting a towel on the side-by-side SS refrigerator door (to keep hands off SS) but it kept getting stuck when the opposite door was opened.

I bought a moving towel (he's also a dust mop):
{{gwi:1088652}}

But if he moves too fast...I have these:
The steer will go on the side of the DW (end run)...his horns stick out a few inches and scream for something draped on them (they're deceptively small here...they span 14"):
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And the bunny head in the center here is quite large. He's going to go on a door blank next to the prep sink for towels:
{{!gwi}}

And I'm sure DH will hang one from the stove, but the handle that sticks way out of the front...it kind of calls for one. I DO NOT decorate with towels. They're working towels in our kitchen so it's more about where they'll function, and they're all white (maybe gold for the magazine shoot) but really...daily I use only white towels throughout the entire house. God made bleach for me to use it :oP

(the handle might be under the cardboad here, but it runs the entire legnth and is out 3" from everything else):

And I'm purchasing little hooks for the hot pads like on a pot rack to hang on the stove handle. They can be slid out of the way, or kept handy, whichever works.

I have always hung my towels from my fridge handle. It is the perfect spot for me!

Really hate the towel on the oven or DW doors. It just isn't sanitary.

A towel holder on the wall or cab beside the sink works better, looks better.

Oven door, but it's cute and clean (I have several and it's changed daily). Unfortunately, no place else to hang it.

I've never had an oven with a handlebar on it, so it wasn't even a choice. (One place i lived had a side-hinged oven door - IMO they all should be this way). Actually, I don't even keep a towel in the kitchen - i just use paper towels.

I'm an oven hanger, just because I don't have anywhere else, although there are some interesting ideas here... my oven is right next to my sink so it is handy. I have an over the door bar under my sink for the microfiber cloth I use on my counters. Don't like the idea of towels/cloths hanging on the sides of my sink. Maybe a hook on the side of the cabinets on either side of my sink?

Never on the oven door. I use the rack on the inside of the sink cabinet but it does get the door messy.

Good grief, it's a working kitchen, not a showroom. Mine goes on the oven door till it's dry and then it goes into the drawer till next time I use it. Cheesh! I also have my food processor and electric kettle out on the counter all of the time and I don't hide my toaster oven in a drawer.

The only time I hang a towel on the oven door is if the oven is ON and I have a damp towel that isn't dirty but I want it to dry. It works. Our oven is too far away from the sink to have hand towels there for using.

I started putting it on the handle of the dishwasher, but that didn't work. When I would load/unload the dishwasher, the towel was dragging on the floor. Unsanitary. Yes, I could remove the towel first - but I didn't want that much work for the 20 times I open the dishwasher to put in a single glass or fork.

I could hang them from a rack inside the cabinet under the sink, but I wouldn't remember to get it out everytime I wash my hands. I do however have a small rack hanging on the inside of one of those cabinet doors, and that is where I hang my dishrag when I am not using it. I was a little concerned that it would get musty and icky smelling there, but it hasn't. It dries amazingly well under there so that's where it lives.

As far as a good place for kitchen towels, I purchased 2 towel rack things from Bed Bath and Beyond that hang over a cabinet door. I have one on a cabinet door that is right under the sink, and another on a cabinet door on the island that is directly across from the sink. Each holds one folded dishtowel (folded in 3 section works best but I guess you could put is on there unfolded too).

Here's a link to the one I have, the bar style that I have to fold the towel before I put it on there. There's another style that is more like a post where you wouldn't have to fold the towel first. But I am a neat-nik.
So far so good as far as it not scratching my cabinet door. There are little rubber things on the inside of the hooks to prevent this.

They come in a brushed nickel as well - which we have for our cabinet pulls and it would match. But I got the ORB ones because I wanted it to blend in more with our brown cabinets, not stand out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen towel holder

In my last house, I had a wall oven, with a built-in microwave above it. The microwave had a vertical handle and I always hung my dishtowel through it ...

... until the day I caught my 3 year old with a fist full of towel in each hand swinging back and forth. He's 18 now, and we've moved, so it's not a problem anymore.

Rmlanza, it was your thread . . . now I remember! Thanks for the inspiration, BTW. My "towel bird" is working very nicely.
Lynn

RAYNA!!!!! Egads you could have posted that pic when I was in the planning stage...I'd never have put a sink in my island if I'd realized it was the perfect spot to lay out a quilt!! Sheesh!!!

You know, I'm trying to think back, but I don't think I ever saw a towel hanging on an oven handle, back in England. Mind you, most ovens were side opening and smaller. My mother has always had hers mounted on the back of the kitchen door, or hanging from a nearby hook, as I think most people seemed to.
I think the notion of a towel as decoration tends to be a North American one. Maybe because kitchens are larger, and more often open to the house perhaps? Same with those bathroom decorated towels - I had no idea what they were for, until my MIL told me "they're just for decoration, not for using". Still seems strange to me!

Mine hangs from a rail on the underside of my worktable (counter-height), but when I'm cooking, it's usually flung over my shoulder, or hangs off my apron pocket - anywhere I can grab it easily :)

I just fold mine neatly on the countertop next to the sink. It's usually just damp, but if it gets too wet I toss it and get a dry one. Works for me!

Another idea: I seem to recall on an earlier thread that someone had mounted hooks on the wall cabinets on either side of her sink and hung her towels there... I don't remember who it was, though.

Buehl, I've seen that a few times. Small towels with loops hang very nicely from decorative hooks right where they're needed.

(Sara the Brit, I can't say those Should-I-or-shouldn't-I-use-it bathroom towels seem strange to me because I've spent years wiping my hands on my clothes in default, but dingy yes, no many how many decades this has been going on.)

Cutest darn dust mop I've ever seen. And Igloo, MUST...HAVE...BUNNY...HEAD...KNOBS!!!! Can't remember where you said you got them but now that we have a rabbit (Abbott the rabbit!) in the house again, they'd be the perfect thing for my spice drawers that I've been looking to replace the knobs on for over a year now! Do tell (again!).

While towel pig is wonderful at what he does, I do have an ORB double robe hook that I picked up at my local fine housewares boutique (okay so I got it at Target for $10) and is mounted on the wall near my sink. Works great, even for the towels that don't have the built in loops.

Lynn, LOVE the towel chicken! And boxiebabe, those are very cool and would go so well in my kitchen. But do you have them mounted so they hang on the outside of your cabinet doors or the inside? Do you bump into them if they hang on the outside?

I can't imagine what would be unsanitary about hanging it on the oven door.

There's no other practical place to hang it in my kitchen. It must be in reach of children so they can dry their hands. It must be hung nice and flat so that it will dry most efficiently.

On a hook by the side of the oven.

Like Sammi2, I was wondering about why a clean, but maybe damp towel hanging on the oven is 'unsanitary.' And, Yay, Rayna! I completely agree that kitchens are to be work spaces with tools, not just pretty showplaces. No offense to those who do this, but I can't imagine hiding my towel away inside a cabinet...How do you grab it quickly when you need it? I want it handy to where I'll use it most, and preferably, at easy-grab height. I try to limit the use of paper towels around here, because I feel like it's buy, buy, buy, just to throw away. What I still need is a kitchen hamper, because with the laundry room upstairs, the soggy rags and towels just tend to pile up somewhere.

It's un-sanitary because no one removes the towel before opening the oven door.

It hits the ground where the shoes/feet have been, so it's basicly like drying your hands and dishes on a towel you just used to wipe up the sidewalk.

Oh, our ovens are wall ovens, so the towels can't reach the floor. When we had a range, I took the towels off to open the door.

Prior to a horrendous ant invasion this summer where they congregated at anything wet to quench their thirst after feasting on my filthy floors, I had been using less than one roll of paper towels a month for over a year. IÂm just now getting over that traumatic experience and back on track for not being wasteful and using things that work better anyway. :) My towels have a rotation of drying dishes and then hands or the microfibers first wash kids faces and then wipe counters and I go through 5+ most days.

So yeah, they hang on the oven at various times through the day and if (despite my non-use of the oven) they happen to droop on the floor, I use them to spot clean (the floor), throw them in the laundry and pull out a fresh one. I have 3 kids that are five and under plus a husband that doesnÂt follow my "clean" practices so none of them can be trusted not to wipe their mouth and my only defense is an arsenal of fresh towels. I donÂt have any fancy ones for guests but they get just as clean of an experience as my own family, along with the occasional stain.

To be honest, I canÂt wait for the new kitchen to be completed so that I can layout the towel draping areas and have just one for myself where I know itÂs full history. LOL So for me, it doesnÂt matter if thatÂs the oven, fridge handle or on the back of a confused animal, as long as they are relatively clean, I donÂt care how it looks.

I vote "No".....this is a pet peeve of mine when I look at pictures of homes for sale on the internet to see towels hanging on the stove handle.

I have a "cheap" little three prong folding hanger that I got from Walmart for about $6.00 that I mounted on the inside of the door of the sink....always handy and out of sight.

See the thing is...we have that under the sink thing, and I've discovered (it was in the rental when we moved in) that I HATE opening the door with wet hands to get a towel, so again, I have rabbit and moose :)

RM they're Anne at Home and I purchased them from Knob Gallery (I love them!!!) Knobgallery.com Always look in their clearance bin first (online) because you can get great deals an many of their knobs (the big bunny was clearance, the small was on sale). I think you'll find all the bunnies you can wish for :)

My under sink cabinets have child locks on them, so definitely not a good place to hang a towel.

My oven door gets opened about 3 times a month, so there's no real sanitation issue there. But I do love the analogies that people come up with. My favorite was from a thread that likened wearing shoes in your house to running naked in the NY subway station. Or something like that. Personally, I like the car analogies most of all, though. So, I guess people who hang their towels on the oven door are like people who drive a Honda Accord... nothing fancy, but it gets the job done remarkably well.

Why would anyone hang the kitchen towel on the oven door when it obviously belongs on the refrigerator door? But seriously, when we redid the kitchen, I wanted an convenient, out-in-the-open location for the towel without involving any appliances. I also wanted a bar that said 'kitchen' rather than 'bath.' Two years ago, I found an amazingly plain and substantial but inexpensive stainless steel bar (some kind of appliance handle, I think) on eBay that DH installed on the end of the island nearest the sink. I don't have a picture of that area of the kitchen, but here's a link to the bar. Still available from the same vendor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stainless towel bar

My towels live on the oven door handle till I find a critter or statue I like well enough to put on the counter. In the old kitchen they always lived on the oven door but I don't like them there now because the oven is stainless, and I can't stand seeing water drops on it!

BUT, even when they lived on the oven door they never hit the floor when I opened the oven door. I never open the door so that it's parallel to the floor...usually I only need to open it enough to grab the pan and get it out. I learned this "habit" when I had my first child. I never wanted to leave the oven open and unattended so I'd two-hand the pan that needed to come out and close the oven door with my knee. If it's fully open it makes it hard to close.

this thread looks like it needs and "i like them on the oven door" vote.
mine is a little askew in the photo, but i like one there to help carry through my accent color -- beyond the convenience.

It has nothing to do with style or opinion. It‘s 100% a fire hazard to hang a towel from your oven/stove. This should never be done by anyone.