The 12 Very Best Dish Racks

Material: Steel, wood, resin | Design: Handles, removable utensil holder, removable drain board | Size: 7.87” x 18.5” x 13.19”

I’ve owned my Yamazaki for about five years, and it’s still in great shape. I’m lucky enough to have a dishwasher in my apartment, but I still hand-wash a lot: wooden utensils and cutting boards, knives, delicate glassware, and anything I’ll need more immediately (like the carafe for my coffee maker) than I run a dishwasher cycle. This dish rack handles it all. It’s incredibly sturdy with firm wires and high sides that comfortably fit taller and heavier items. There’s a curved row for plates, plus plenty of space for oddly shaped items and post-dinner-party crowding. The utensil holder is perforated on the bottom to let it drain — and if it ever does get grimy (this only happens once in a while), I just take it out and give it a light scrub. I actually don’t use my removable bottom tray (I have a countertop that can handle water, and I prefer to wipe it down a couple times a day rather than deal with that extra piece), but if you keep it, it’s lightweight to lift up and rinse off, with no tight corners that are difficult to clean. The dish rack has wood-wrapped handles that are comfortable to grip for maneuvering (and it’s just a touch of wood, so in my experience they haven’t been damaged at all over time).

It also needs to be said: This thing is prettier than any other dish rack on the market. For something that sits out on your counter at all times, that’s no small deal. “Just look at it!” says recipe developer and cookbook author Anna Stockwell, who owns one. “It’s the best-looking dish rack you’ve ever seen, isn’t it?”

Material: Steel, wood, resin | Design: Handles, removable utensil holder, removable drain board | Size: 16.5” x 12” x 5.5”

If you love the aesthetic of our best overall pick but find its steep price to be a barrier, consider this similar one from Tomorotec. It comes recommended by Alexandra Shytsman, recipe developer and founder of The New Baguette, who specifically searched for a Yamazaki dupe after her old Ikea model rusted. It’s a bit smaller overall, and though the utensil holder also has drain holes, it comes with two compartments instead of three. Other than that, Shytsman praises the not-too-tall plate slots — so you can dry off other tableware comfortably as well — and the easy-to-clean bottom tray.

Material: Steel | Design: Removable swivel spout and utensil holder, capped plate holders, glassware frame and hooks, fingerprint-proof finish | Size: 11.5” x 22.3” x 20.2”

While this Simplehuman is the most expensive model on this list, it comes with some truly standout features. Zaslow even dubbed it “the Rolls-Royce of dish racks.” It has a utensil holder with three compartments, hooks for drinking glasses, and a dedicated rack to hold wineglasses upside down. Perhaps most useful of all, though, is the swivel spout, which funnels excess water into your sink without making a mess so nothing pools and gets grimy. (This is also featured on the slightly cheaper, more compact version.)

Aside from the bells and whistles, it’s generally well made. Strategist writer Lauren Ro has owned hers for five years and says it still works and looks great. She loves how its box shape allows the rack to “accommodate a bunch of dishes, no matter how high you pile everything,” she says. Pardilla expresses the same sentiment, noting how the silicone-capped prongs keep large platters and sheet pans in place. And “though the hooks for drinkware on one side are small, I’ve never worried about bigger mugs falling off,” she says. Pardilla adds that items dry particularly quickly, thanks to the clearance underneath the frame. “It really feels like the brand thought of everything in making this rack,” she says.

Material: Aluminum | Design: Retractable swivel spout, drainboard, removable utensil holder | Size: 9.9” x 11.8” x 16.5”

For a cheaper dish rack with a drain spout, look no further than this Tomoretec model (same maker as the affordable Yamazaki dupe above). When cookbook author Hadley Su was fed up with water pooling underneath her basic metal version, her search for a replacement that featured a drain spout was nonnegotiable. She ended up with this, and has been pleased. The spout guides “large amounts of water into the sink,” she says. “A few smaller puddles sometimes escape the drainage system, but they stay contained within the tray instead of soaking our counter.” Though it’s compact, Su says it still “gets a lot done in a little space,” holding larger pans, along with multiple coffee cups, bowls, and silverware at a time. Plus, she notes, the metal is sturdy and rustproof, and the rack doesn’t get top-heavy.

Material: Steel, resin | Design: Removable rotating spout and utensil holder | Size: 6.69” x 16.54” x 9.06”

For those who don’t have much counter space, this super-compact Yamazaki model might be the answer. It’s as attractive as the larger one — just with much smaller dimensions. Still, recipe developer and writer Rebecca Firkser manages to fit everything she needs to in it, including a Dutch oven, plates, cups, and a coffee pot. It’s also just as sturdy; Firkser says hers has held up through regular washes (of the utensil holder, base, spout, and accompanying stopper) and wipes (of the wired rack). Plus it has the benefit of a swivel spout, though Firkser warns it needs to be propped up at a slight angle on one side in order for the water to drain fully. (She does this by slipping two deli-cup lids underneath the feet.)

Material: Steel | Design: Nonslip rubber arms, removable utensil holder, low-profile | Size: 4” x 15” x 12” (expands to 21”)

At its most compact, this dish rack is 12 inches long — but can be expanded all the way up to 21 inches. You simply pull the handles outwards, which at any length, act as a balancing mechanism to place the unit directly over the sink so dishes can dry without causing excess water to pool your countertop. The rack itself is decidedly minimalist — but Heidi Lee, founder of the home-organization service Prune + Pare, appreciates that. It’s “functional but not fussy,” she says. She likes that it doesn’t even come with a drip tray since previous models she has owned get moldy over the years. She notes, too, that there’s an option to upgrade the included plastic utensil holder to this matching steel one.

Material: Metal, silicone | Design: Removable drain board and two utensil holders, hooks to hold glasses | Size: 12.4” x 14.57” x 12.99”

While this rack takes up a fair amount of counter space when fully splayed out, none of it is wasted. “You get a good deal of storage,” Pardilla says. The top easily holds plates and glasses from a four-person dinner, plus hooks for wine glasses that are “strong enough to cradle the most delicate stems,” she says. And the two silverware canisters — which you can attach to each end of the top shelf — are cleverly situated outside the drying rack, ensuring that there’s enough ventilation for everything to air dry properly,

Then, when not in use, this dish rack can be disassembled, folded up, and stored away. And in contrast to other foldable options, professional organizer Caroline Solomon says, this one comes with its own drip tray, which doubles as a place to dry glassware and cookware and cleans easily because of its shallow, grill-like grooves. “This is the dish rack you wish you bought first before the other dinky versions,” she says.

Material: Steel with an acrylic lacquer coating | Design: Collapsible with two tiers | Size: 9” x 11.38” x 18.88”

If extras like a drip tray and silverware caddy are less important to you (or you’re simply on the hunt for a more budget-friendly foldable rack than the Brabantia and OXO above), consider the Kvot dish drainer from Ikea. While all you get is the steel-wire frame, it’s still plenty functional. Recipe developer, food stylist, and cookbook author Melina Hammer has had hers for more than a decade, and it’s still going strong — even given the massive amount of dishes she does in her line of work.

She considers the under-$15 rack a score for how much fits on its two tiers. “It’s not unusual for it to balance a tower sculpture: first a neat row of plates, followed by mixing bowls or a couple of saucepans, then sometimes — if I’ve been batch-making sauces or pastry doughs — food-processor pieces, along with a constant variety of Tupperware, a few jars, and silverware.” (She repurposed a utensil holder from another rack since the Kvot doesn’t come with one.) The hinged V-shape holds tableware in a tidy row, and there’s enough space to spread things out so that high-ticket items (like her Danish mid-century steak knives) don’t touch anything else. Plus it doesn’t look cumbersome on the counter.

Material: Polypropylene, microfiber | Design: Removable rack, drying mat, and utensil holder | Size: 2” 13.5” x 8”

If you don’t want to keep a dish rack out on your countertop permanently (and the over-the-sink models above don’t appeal), this mat lays out on the counter and then rolls neatly away when finished. (You secure it closed with an attached tie.) “It’s nice having something that isn’t too specific, meaning that only certain dishes fit in certain spots,” says food stylist Drew Aichele. With this, he can lay them out in whatever configuration works best — though there’s also a handy detachable plate frame with slots on the ends to slide over the edge of the mat and keep it in place. The mat itself is made from layers of microfiber, foam, and mesh that Pardilla says absorb water well and don’t leave dishes wet for very long. The only notable downside is that it doesn’t come with a utensil holder. “Forks, knives, and spoons can pile up,” she says. “But it’s a fair exchange for something so space-saving.”