Wash heavily-soiled dish towels separately.
According to Gagliardi, for germ-infested kitchen and bathroom items like mop heads, dish towels, and cleaning cloths, wash them as a separate load from regular laundry.
In order to avoid cross-contamination, it's optimum to wash bath and hand towels separately to kitchen towels. All towels should not be combined with clothes, bath mats or any other type of material for sanitary purposes.
Wash Towels With Detergent
Wash white towels using hot water, detergent, and a non-chlorine bleach or natural fabric brightener (like sodium percarbonate) according to package directions. White towels stay brighter when washed in hot water. Wash colorful towels in warm water, using detergent with color-safe bleach.
A dish (kitchen) towel is typically made from thick cotton or terry cloth, while a hand towel is made from cotton, polyester, bamboo, or linen. You use dish towels in the kitchen, while hand towels are primarily used in the bathroom. This infographic shows you the differences between hand towels vs. kitchen towels.
The easiest is to mount a towel bar to the back of a cabinet door. Most people choose to do this under the sink because it's conveniently located where you need towels most often. You can also use a towel bar pull-out to hang several towels. Companies like Rev-A-Shelf have units for both of these solutions.
Beyond that, dish towels get stained, colors fade, and whites get gray over time. And the fabric frays or gets holes. All those are signs that it's time. Cleaning pro and author of Clean My Space, Melissa Maker, recommends you change them out about once a year.
Hot water is the most hygienic option for towels. Washing in cold water is sometimes recommended to extend the life of towels, but to clean towels thoroughly, we'd advise using the maximum temperature shown on the label.
How often should I wash my bath towels? Dead skin cells, bacteria, and even sweat can accumulate quickly on your towels, so using a fresh one about every three days is a simple rule of thumb—for all kinds of towels. You can of course change them more often.
“We recommend washing your bath towels once a week at least,” Wu says. However, depending on the size of your bath linen collection, you may need to wash towels more often, as it is advised to use them no more than two to three times before laundering.
Avoid splotchy colors or dingy whites by washing similarly colored towels together. Too many towels washed at once won't get clean, but too few means greater agitation for quicker wear and tear. Most front-loading washing machines can fit seven standard-size bath towels; top-loading washers can fit around nine or ten.
Why Washing Towels with Sheets Isn't Worth the Time Saved. There are a few good reasons not to wash your towels and sheets (two vastly different materials) together: It can cause lint to stick to your sheets. Washing sheets with towels can cause the color of light-colored sheets to fade or yellow more quickly.
Once a Week: Ideal. Once Every Two Weeks: Totally Acceptable.
Soak them in a bucket of warm water and vinegar for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle in about 1 tablespoon baking soda. These are both proven odor busters! If your dish cloths/towels are white, add bleach into the load when you wash them.
Wash kitchen towels on the HOT cycle of the washer and make sure they dry completely on a high setting.
Use correctly
Your chef's towel should not get wet (unless you are using a humid towel to, for example, cover chopped greens). If it does, it will transmit heat when you grasp something hot. The towel should be clean and dry and at your side regardless of where you are in the kitchen or what you are doing.
“If you notice your towels consistently have lingering odors after laundering, and/or a decrease in absorbency, it's probably a good time for you to replace them,” Randall says. “If you want to repurpose your old dish towels, don't be afraid to get creative.
"If you or others are using a blanket every day, you may want to wash it once a week or once every other week," says Dr. Engelmen. "But blankets that aren't coming into contact with the skin's oils and bacteria may only need a wash every month or so to eliminate things like dust and pet dander."
1. Wash your towels with hot water and 1 cup of white vinegar, (don't use any detergents or fabric softeners). 2. Run the towels through a second wash with 1/2 cup baking soda and hot water, (again, no detergent or fabric softener).
If using re-usable cloths, make sure they are thoroughly washed, disinfected and dried properly between tasks (not just when they look dirty). Ideally, wash cloths in a washing machine on a very hot cycle. A suitably high temperature can be obtained using a hot cycle of 90°C.
White Towels Are Easy to Clean
They actually hold up better than color towels, over the long run. White towels can take the strongest laundering. If there is a stain, just use some peroxide or Oxiclean to get it out, both products are less harsh on fabrics.
The Ideal Number of Towels per Person
Our rule of three for stocking up on sheets also applies to towels. Keep three sets of towels for each individual who lives in your household—one in the wash, one in the closet, and one in use. This ensures there is always a towel in reserve for when you might need it.
In many restaurant kitchens, each cook works with two side towels or stacks of side towels: some for dry work (as a pot holder) and others for wet work (wiping up the station). Wet towels conduct heat quickly, so you don't want to cross over and use a wet towel as a pot holder.