The Complete Handbook of Kitchen Towels

Chapter 1: Understanding Kitchen Towels

Before you spend another dollar on a product that is often treated as an afterthought, it is worth understanding exactly what you are buying. A kitchen towel, at its most basic, is an absorbent textile designed for drying, polishing, and cleaning within a food preparation or service environment. But that basic definition is about as useful as calling a supersonic jet a "flying vehicle." The term "kitchen towel" encompasses a wide range of materials, constructions, and performance characteristics, and the variance between a low-end cotton bar mop and a high-grade absorbent linen cloth is as vast as the price difference between a basic sedan and a luxury car.

The primary function of a kitchen towel is the transfer and removal of moisture. It accomplishes this through the physics of capillary action, wicking water away from a surface (a dish, a hand, a countertop) and into the spaces between its fibers. The efficacy of this wicking is determined by several measurable factors: the composition of the fiber (cotton, flax, bamboo, or synthetic), the surface energy of that fiber, the specific construction of the yarn (spun, filament, or textured), and the geometry of the weave or knit. A loosely woven, thick towel may hold a large volume of water overall (high total absorbency), but it might do so slowly and leave a surface feeling damp. Conversely, a tightly woven, thin towel with fine yarns will wick water rapidly (high absorbency rate) but may reach its saturation point