Don’t let those pretty tea towels and vintage kitchen towels just sit in the drawer.  These functional and beautiful kitchen towels can do everything a paper towel can do, and even more, plus reduce your household waste. Here is our list of 25 ways to use vintage tea towels and kitchen towels.

I love pretty embroidered kitchen towels (also called tea towels), and I’ve found them useful in so many ways.  I’ve found the best kitchen towels have an absorbent weave and fold into a neat stack without any ironing. My absolute favorites are old-fashioned woven cotton with embroidery or lace trim.

You can use a tea towel or a vintage kitchen towel anywhere you would use a paper towel (but I still use paper towels or rugged dish rags for BIG messes).  Kitchen towels are easy to use, and easy to wash and re-use, thereby cutting down on your household waste if you use them in place of plastic wrap, plastic or paper bags, and paper towels.

We have stack of kitchen towels near the kitchen sink for dying hands and dishes, setting washed produce onto, and twenty or so more uses listed below. We also keep a stack in a drawer close to the sink. If you’re looking for even more uses for kitchen towels, ways to reuse tea towels, and what to do with vintage tea towels, then read on.

Where to get them? Tea towels and kitchen towels are common household items, often handed down in families (particularly the ones thought of as “too pretty to use” but you definitely should).  If you don’t have a drawer full already, they are easily found at estate sales and of course, in kitchen supply stores.

1. Use a vintage kitchen towel to dry hands (and you will use fewer or no paper towels)

Keep a stack of tea towels near the sink in a bowl in place of paper towels or as guest towels in a folded stack in the bathroom.

2. Most traditional use for kitchen towels and vintage tea towels: drying dishes

Tea towels are traditionally used for drying special glassware and delicate platters and plates, tea cups and regular dishes. Also, lay dishes to dry on a kitchel towel or a tea towel when the dishwasher is full and there’s more dishes to wash in the sink than the drain rack will hold.

3. Separate delicate stored dishes or nonstick pans with pretty kitchen towels. Layers of vintage tea towels prevent scratches and chips.

4. Use a kitchen towel to spin washed greens dry.

Lay the towel flat. Place a line of greens down the middle. Roll into a log. Bend into a u-shape and hold both ends. Swing around your head (try this outside, because this sprays water!).

5. Drying shredded potatoes for potato pancakes or latkes is best done with a large tea towel. You can get the most moisture out of the shredded potatoes by twisting and wringing with a sturdy kitchen towel.

6. Storing greens and veggies in the crisper in kitchen towels instead of in plastic bags.

7. Use a tea towel in place of plastic wrap over a container of food in the fridge. Lightly dampening the tea towel will keep some foods fresher than a dry towel (sandwiches, pasta salads, mac and cheese).

8. Line drawers and shelves with tea towels or kitchen towels in place of shelf paper.

9. Cover and keep food warm with a tea towel or kitchen towel as well as line serving baskets or trays.

10. Use kitchen towels as picnic napkins in place of disposable paper napkins and to keep glassware and china from breaking on the trip.

11. Use a tea towel to dry freshly washed fruit or fresh eggs, also a great absorbent surface for garden produce.

12. Tie a kitchen towel on a tea pot as a cozy.

13. Use a tea towel to create a defined work space for a small project like replacing watch battery or to line up jars and catch spills in canning and preserving.

14. Use a kitchen towel as a place mat

15. Tuck the ends of a tea towel in your waist band or under a belt for an impromptu apron, and around your shoulders if you need a bib.

16. Dampened tea towels are great for light dusting.

17. Cover rising dough or a ferment with a tea towel.

18. Need crushed ice? Wrap some cubes in a dish towel and whack on a cutting board. Crushed ice!

19. Tie a kitchen towel into a Furoshiki lunch carrier or even around a single piece of fruit to protect it in a carry-all… or use as a Japanese-stylish gift wrap.

Video instructions on furoshiki here and here.

20. Use a tea towel as part of a table display under a vase or bowl.

21. Sew two tea towels together to make a produce bag for the farmer’s market or grocery shopping.  You can also turn tea towels into aprons, pillow covers, pot holders, bibs and bunting, bath poofs, quilts, and stuffed toys as other sewing projects.

Check out Craftsy for sewing tutorials here.

22. What about cafe-style curtains from tea towels with clip rings and a rod, or just draping one over?

23. Folded into quarters, a tea towel makes a quick and handy trivet and potholder.

24. A tea towel placed under a bowl or cutting board will keep it from slipping or what you’re working on from dripping onto the counter or table.

25. Frayed or holes and early worn out? Braid three worn towels together and knot the ends to make a rope-style dog toy.

Get your kitchen towels out of the drawer and show us how you put them to use!

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