Best Dish Drying Rack, After Testing 19 (2026)

Owning a dishwasher is a blessing, mostly, saving time and tedious scrubbing. But even us lucky dishwasher people must face a hard truth: Some things just have to be washed by hand. If you use nonstick pans, wood utensils, stainless steel, cast iron, high-end chef’s knives, or fine stemware — and you want that stuff to actually last — you gotta get to scrubbing. (Of course, if you don’t own a dishwasher, you’ll be scrubbing no matter what.)

Our top picks

• Best dish rack: Joseph Joseph Expandable Dish Rack
• Best folding dish rack: OXO Good Grips Aluminum Fold Flat Dish Rack
• Best dish pad: Dorai Dish Pad

And unless you have a consistent and enthusiastic assembly line helper to towel off every pot and utensil after you rinse it, you’ll need a place to place those carefully cleaned items to dry. If you’ve got space to spare, that can be a “permanent” standing dish rack that lives next to your sink full-time. If you don’t, then a folding dish rack, over-the-sink rack, or storable dish mat might make more sense for your drip-drying needs.

Below you’ll find our reviews of the best dish drying racks and dish mats. We picked a few favorites, but as it turns out there are a lot of good options out there, and much of what makes a good dish rack depends on your particular needs and space constraints, so we encourage you to check out the other dish racks we liked, too.

New in this update: I tested seven new racks ranging from simple drying pads to over-the-sink models and expanding dish drying racks. I included two storable dish racks from OXO and three different styles from IKEA, plus a silicone mat from Target brand Brightroom and an affordable, expandable option from homegoods brand Songmics.

Best dish rack: Joseph Joseph Expandable Dish Rack

What we love: The Joseph Joseph Expandable Dish Rack is versatile and adaptable to different spaces in a way that no other countertop dish racks are. While no dish rack is perfect, we appreciated this one’s modular design and found that it worked well, even with a wide array of space constraints.

The real standout feature of the Joseph Joseph is its ability to expand and contract, allowing you to adjust the dish rack to a size that suits you. You can orient the drain spout to any side, which gives you some additional flexibility in the ways you fill the rack.

In our test, we were able to fit dishes, utensils, pots, and glassware from a dinner for four without issue, and the rack is sturdy enough to withstand the weight of heavier things, like Dutch ovens.

Rather than having raised parallel ridges for holding dishes, this rack has taller, narrower, rubber-tipped arches that enable dish stacking in two different directions, more akin to the racks inside a dishwasher.

The whole thing comes apart quite easily for cleaning as well—the two main components slide apart, and the metal rack can be removed for a wipe down when needed.

This is a clever space-saving design that would be at home in a variety of kitchen setups, and it can stow more easily than any other caddy-style dish rack we tested.

What we’d leave: As is the case with any dish rack with a drainage spout, there’s potential for it to get a little funky, but the spout is easy enough to remove from the bottom to clean things out. We also wish it had a swivel spout instead of one that snapped into place, just for added flexibility.

Best folding dish rack: OXO Good Grips Aluminum Fold Flat Dish Rack

What we love: As opposed to expanding drying racks like the Joseph Joseph, OXO’s foldable dish rack offers flexibility by working as a drying tray or an upright, two-tiered dish rack. Made from rust-proof aluminum and plastic, it’s lightweight for its size and doesn’t take up much space even while it offers a surprising amount of room, including for pots and pans.

When unfolded, there’s a dedicated, clipped-in basket for silverware (which can be moved to either side of the top level) and plenty of slots at 90-degree angels for keep plates upright. The tray underneath features ridges that keep items elevated for airflow under glasses and pots, and can help bowls or pans lean rather than lay flat. When folded, it’s just two-inches high (however the removable silverware basket sits higher) and the slotted upper level design lays completely flat for use as a stable drying mat. While it doesn’t drain water away and out of the tray, the raised edges of the tray do allow for this rack to sit on the counter in whichever direction you wish. Overall, it’s a worthwhile upgrade to that classic wooden folding dish rack you might have gotten on the cheap in your first apartment.

What we’d leave: Fitting my family’s four place settings, including glassware, plus pots and pans was a tight squeeze but I could make it work. The tray portion does not drain out, but it does have a lip along one long end that can aid in pouring any residual water into the sink once the dishes are cleared off. My bowls didn’t fit securely into the slots on the top portion of the rack but they could be leaned on either level. Tall glasses, especially stemware, will have a hard time finding a place in upright mode. Despite the silverware basket snapping in securely when unfolded, when the rack is folded it just sits loosely in the rectangular slot. And, if you store it away, it’s an extra piece that will need to go somewhere. Finally, the orientation of the ridges on the drip tray work against the flow of water.

Best dish drying pad: Dorai Dish Pad

What we love: Several of us on staff are big fans of the Dorai Dish Pad, a foldable dish-drying mat made of diatomaceous earth and silicone. It’s a simple and effective design that is a far superior alternative to microfiber mats or plastic drip trays, which get gross, waterlogged, smelly, and require frequent cleaning.

If you aren’t familiar, diatomaceous earth is a naturally absorbent stone material made of fossilized microalgae. It’s extremely effective at evaporating moisture and preventing microbial growth, which makes it the perfect material for drying dishes.

The Dorai’s silicone mesh sets it apart from generic stone drying mats by protecting dishes and glassware from the abrasive stone surface.

For anybody who doesn’t have the space for a full dish rack, or simply wants something that is low-maintenance and easy to put away, a foldable stone dish pad is the way to go, and this one is the best you can find.

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What we’d leave: While miraculous in many ways, diatomaceous earth does have its drawbacks. It’s fragile and stains easily, and it can accumulate oils over time, which reduces its absorbency. While this can be remedied by a good buff with some sandpaper, it’s definitely worth keeping in mind. With good care, one of these mats can last you for several years or more.

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Wilder Davies

An inexpensive expandable dish rack: Songmics Expandable Dish Drying Rack

What we love: Even though it’s about half the price of the top pick from Joseph Joseph, the dish rack from ubiquitous-on-Amazon brand Songmics manages to deliver many of the same features, and even has a few more.

The design is well thought out: The rack can be positioned lengthwise or widthwise next to your sink and the undermounted drain spout pivots and extends to accommodate either orientation. While a deluge of water is unlikely in most dish drying situations, I poured a few cups of water into various parts of the tray and it cleanly went right down the spout and into the sink. The silverware basket and expansion tray both have drain slots that feed into the bottom of the main rack.

Speaking of silverware, there’s a generous, three-compartment basket for utensils, plus a snap-in height adapter with five slots for holding chef’s knives upright. Even without the extension opened up, I found plenty of room for four place settings (with bowls!) and pots and pans. Opening the extension tray offers more flexibility as a flat surface or with upright pegs to store more dishes or pans. Glassware hangs on four pegs slid onto one of the short sides of the rack.

Even though it’s not a two tier rack like the Oxo, the Songmics dish rack manages to offer ample space for a variety of dishes while closed and a ton of space and versatility when expanded.

What we’d leave: The quality of the materials is…fine, but not particularly “strong.” The silverware basket and glassware pegs don’t clip on, relying on gravity and some friction to stay in place. The expansion tray pulls out without any kind of slide or mechanism, it’s just slotted in. I don’t love that the expansion tray (and its stowed metal pegs) acts as the main tray under the dish rack when the rack is closed, meaning it’s catching all the water (and anything else — why does my dish rack collect so many crumbs?) before it makes its way down to the lower drainage tray and spout. And small-to-medium drops of water don’t actually drain, they just hang out on the plastic tray waiting to evaporate.

Also know that, when extended, it will take up almost all of a standard counter’s 25-inch depth.

A cheap, effective dish drying pad: Ikea Rinnig Dish Drainer

What we love: Ikea often keeps it simple in the best way, and this no-frills dish drying pad is a perfect example. Set flat on the counter, it has a gentle slope that directs water toward the sink via angular ridges. These channels are deep enough to (slightly) prop up bowls or pans and allow airflow under overturned plates, but shallow enough to clean easily. The lower end of the incline also has a notch underneath, so there’s a bit of clearance (a little over .25 inches) on drop-in sinks, like mine, which have a lip around the edge.

The Rinnig Drainer can also be flipped over and used as a drying tray (though without any kind of sloped draining). Paired with IKEA’s Rinnig Plate Holder, it can hold plates upright in either the sloped or tray orientation. Ultimately, what set this one apart from other plastic and silicone pads I tested is that simple slope.

What we’d leave: If you want to use it to effectively dry plates and bowls of any kind you really have to add the plate holder (they aren’t sold as a set). That only adds $6 to the price, but the main issue is that the plate holder doesn’t fold or store away as easily as the flatter pad.

When flipped over as a tray-style drying rack, the exposed underside looks unfinished (it has those embossed informational markings you see on many plastic products. And if your sink has a lip that sits above the counter, the Rinnig won’t drain into it. Finally, the one area where it really falls short is glassware—you’ll need to balance it carefully on the ridges.

How we tested dish-drying racks

The first test involved pouring water onto the racks and around the drainage area to see how well they held onto it or cleared it away. In some cases, I did this several times at different speeds and with different volumes of water to see if I could suss out any flaws or leaky areas. Most standing dish racks could clear a heavy flow fine, but lighter drips (which are much more likely from drying dishes) tended to stick around on all of them until they evaporated. The latter was especially true for drying pads and mats. If mats or trays didn’t drain automatically, I judged how difficult it was to tip and pour residual water into the sink.

The second test involved capacity and stability. I filled each rack with dishes — four large dinner plates, four drinking glasses, and four sets of flatware — plus a 5-quart Dutch oven and a 10-inch frying pan. If possible, I squeezed in some bowls, but also separately tested each rack out to see how well they handled bowls, specifically whether the design made it possible to rack bowls standing up or if I had to place them down flat, taking up much more space.

Finally, I assessed factors like ease of cleaning, the quality of the materials and any connection points, versatility in orientation options (does it only work one way or can you optimize space by turning it 90 degrees in either direction), and aesthetic appeal.

What makes a good drying rack?

We were most interested in a dish rack’s ability to function under a wide variety of space constraints. We liked the idea of a dish rack that could accommodate different spatial needs and could adapt itself to the given moment. Stationary dish racks can take up a lot of counter space, so a collapsible dish rack or one that could otherwise stow away or be easily moved was a strong contender in our eyes.

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Even if you do a good job of hand-drying, a dish rack is still a pretty wet environment, and it can get funky and gross, which is why having one that is easy to clean and disassemble is a huge must. You should expect that a dish rack is something you clean on a fairly regular basis, so the easier it is to do that, the better. We also gave positive marks to anything with rustproof or rust-resistant features.

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We were less concerned with how much stuff could fit in the dish rack than we were with how many ways things could fit in a dish rack. A design that lends itself to a variety of orientations and can support all kinds of dishes in the same space is better than a dish rack that has a bunch of separate, specifically designated sections for things at the cost of taking up more room.

Other dish racks I liked

Ikea Lillhavet Multifunction Dish Rack

If you’re super short on space, I really liked the versatility of this small, simple rack which can sit on your countertop or separate into two pieces and span your sink while giving you both a rack and a pad for drying. (Plus a dedicated silverware holder!) The base or drip tray has wavy grooves that are easy to clean, though note that there is no drainage. It’s not big, and would be better suited for one or two people’s-worth of dinner dishes. When both parts are used together, there isn’t much if any room for pots and pans. While the basket portion spanned the short end of my standard, drop-in style sink, it’s not adjustable in any way.

OXO Good Grips Over the Sink Aluminum Dish Rack

If counter space just isn’t happening for you right now, Oxo has another aluminum and plastic model that sits in or across your sink. Other than a dedicated silverware cup (which can hang inside or outside) it’s essentially just a basket. But unlike the Ikea model above, this one has expandable supports to span up to 19 inches or shrink down to 15 inches to fit inside your sink. The height and orientation of the plate pegs left things a little looser than I would have liked, with four plates taking up more room than some other countertop models. This left even less room for cups or pots and pans. But I won’t let its compact size, which is meant as a feature rather than a bug, detract from its overall score. It’s still a sturdy, simple way to utilize your sink as a drying rack. Just don’t expect it’ll fit all the dishes from Thanksgiving dinner.

This is a favorite dish rack among many review sites, and we liked it too. Just not as much as the Joseph Joseph. It has a sturdy stainless-steel build and a smart design with a simple slide-out drip tray, making it very easy to clean. Our only gripe with it is that you can’t control the direction of the drip tray angles. This means that it has to sit on your countertop at its widest orientation, making this an impractical choice for people short on counter space. When choosing a winner, we wanted to pick something that would provide greater adaptability (people move, kitchen setups change). However, if you have the space to accommodate this rack, it’s a great choice.

As to be expected with a Simple Human product, this dish rack is thoughtfully designed with unique features. It has a rack for hanging stemware and a hydrophilic coating on the basin that spreads water out for faster evaporation. This is the largest dish rack we tested, so if this is what you want, be sure you have plenty of room for it. We would have liked more pegs for supporting dishes upright. Also the drain was a bit difficult to clean compared to other dish racks. If you find yourself hand-washing a lot of wine glasses, this might be your model of choice, though. Overall, this is a high-quality stainless-steel dish rack that is worth it if you have the space.

This was one of the more affordable dish racks we found. It can function on the countertop, suspend over the kitchen sink, or sit inside it. It has a plastic drainage base and a wire metal construction that’s easy to clean, and it could hold all the dishes required in our test. The materials felt a little cheap, though, making us wonder about its longevity. Longer testing is needed for us to potentially rate it higher, but overall, this is a good, versatile choice.

Like the Kitsure, this is a versatile caddy designed to either go in the sink, suspend over it, or, theoretically, sit next to it (although it doesn’t have any base for that). It is pretty affordable and has a modest but workable capacity. Some buyers have complained about the feet rusting, which is worth noting. It would also be great if it came with an optional drain board like the Kitsure. But, alas…

Dish racks we don’t recommend