Ways To Customize Your Kitchen Dish Rack For Organized Countertops

Even though most folks now have dishwashers, it's inevitable that you'll have a few dishes you need to hand wash. Whether that's because they're too large to fit in the dishwasher or it's already too full, have a special detail that is worn away during automatic wash cycles, or you happen to know that properly hand washing dishes can prevent damage to certain items, hand washing is still very much a part of the daily routine for many of us. Unfortunately, this means our countertops can quickly become cluttered with clean — but still wet — dishes. Dish racks help by giving you a designated spot to put your freshly scrubbed dishes, but they can also become overloaded easily, which might make it look just as messy as leaving the dishes directly on the counter. 

If you don't have the perfect souped-up dish rack or want to get more out of the space, you can build your own drying station with a few affordable accessories to hold more utensils, dish-cleaning tools, and large or awkward items. A good dish rack for your needs could be met with something like a tiered dish rack with multiple levels, so you can store more dishes without losing additional countertop space, and/or one with slots for plates and lids. To optimize your drying space, we first recommend getting a top-rated dish rack that is more than just a plastic tub or wire basket, allowing dishes to stack on top of each other, which, in addition to being unsightly, makes it more difficult for your dishes to dry fully.

When it comes to maximizing your dish rack, you want to buy accessories that do two things: allow you to efficiently dry more dishes at once and not eat up any more of your countertop space. One of the easiest solutions is to buy basic S-hooks, like these Lightique S-hooks available in a 30-pack, which you can throw onto the side of your dish rack to dangle any handled mugs or utensils with hanging holes. These work best on tall, tiered dish racks, so there's plenty of room for the item to actually hang, but you're not out of luck if your rack is little more than a basket. To create extra vertical drying space, you can easily and affordably install a self-adhesive towel rack or tension rod behind your sink and hang the hooks from that. 

You can also turn your basic dish drying station into a tiered system with a baking cooling rack by putting low-profile dishes and utensils in the drying basin or basket, then place the cooling rack on top — instantly giving yourself an extra shelf for stacking. For more structured storage, try the Y.Z.Bros metal pot lid organizer or the Worthyeah bamboo dish drying rack, which provides wide slots perfect for holding large, heavy serving ware and pot lids and will hold them stable. Finally, consider buying a draining utensil holder to pop on your dish rack — like the KESOl stainless steel utensil drying rack, which has hooks so it can hang from the outer edge of your rack or sit nestled inside. All of these accessories will help you to keep your countertops clutter-free.