Tea towels are indispensable utensils in the kitchen. Very often they are used to dry dishes, clean the table or dry hands while cooking. To make them dry faster, they are usually hung on the oven door. Is this a good or bad idea? Decryption. Wiping dishes with a clean cloth and then placing them on the oven door to dry faster seems like a practical gesture with no real danger. However, this choice would be anything but sensible and may even carry some risks.

Why should we stop hanging a dish towel on the oven door?

If you are used to hanging a dish towel on the oven door, stop it immediately! This gesture is anything but hygienic and would pose risks to your health and the health of those around you.

  • The tea towel on the oven door, an unhygienic gesture

In a kitchen, you will find different types of dish towels. While some are used to dry dishes, others can be used to clean the table or dry your hands while cooking. These different uses allow you to limit the proliferation of bacteria to avoid any risk of food poisoning.  Just like the refrigerator door or other household appliances, the oven door can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Before opening the oven door, few people bother to wash their hands first. Therefore, put a cloth used for drying dishes or wiping hands on the door of this device is not recommended. It is mainly a matter of hygiene and cleanliness!

Tips to keep dishtowels clean and bacteria free

Most bacteria thrive in moist, warm environments. This is especially true for kitchen towels, which often hang on the oven door or near the sink. So, it’s important to make the right gestures to keep them clean and free of bacteria.

  • Wash the tea towels in the washing machine at high temperature

Simple washing is not enough to eliminate the bacteria present on kitchen towels. In addition, it is difficult to absorb the grease stains that accumulate there. It is best to put them in the washing machine and run a program at 194 °F.  Do not hesitate to add baking soda to your usual detergent for best results. It not only softens your laundry, but also has a cleansing and brightening effect.

  • Soak your dish towels in a mixture of water and soda

To make your dish towels perfectly clean, you can soak them in a basin of hot water by adding soda crystals. Let them sit for an hour before putting them in the machine and starting a normal wash cycle. Then air dry or preferably in the sun. The soda crystals make it possible to soften the laundry and disinfect it naturally.

  • Store dish towels in suitable places

There are many solutions for storing kitchen towels. The first is to use a wall rack near the kitchen window. The goal is to keep them away from wet areas of the kitchen. In addition, it is a quick and effective drying solution. Nevertheless, the wall covering must be resistant to moisture. The other option is to hang them on dish towel holders, which can be placed on the inside of the cabinet doors for clean towels and on the outside for wet and already used towels. As you must have understood, a towel for wiping dishes should not be placed on the oven door. This unhygienic gesture must be avoided to limit the risk of reproduction of bacteria.