The Truth About How Often You Should Wash Your Kitchen Dish Towels (Really)

Your kitchen towels see a lot of action, but you probably aren't cleaning them as frequently as you should. After all, those towels are essential for drying hands, drying produce after a wash, wiping up spills, and getting gunk off your fingers as you chop, mix, pour, and sauté. As a result, kitchen towels tend to hang onto a whole bunch of debris and dampness throughout each day — and an awful lot of bacteria, too. So, if you're washing your towels once a week or less, you're going to want to change your habits. According to research conducted by experts, you should wash your kitchen towels once they're damp — which could be as often as daily or every other day.

Just how dirty can kitchen towels get in the span of a few days? Well, bacteria thrives in damp conditions. If you've ever reached for a towel only to discover it's still damp from your last use, it might be time for a wash. Experts have discovered that humid, damp towels that aren't washed can cause bacteria to proliferate. A 2014 study discovered kitchen towels are covered in heterotrophic bacteria, coliform bacteria, and E. coli. The study found that infrequent washing had the biggest impact on just how much E. coli was hanging around. Similarly, a 2018 study reported that 49% of the kitchen towels tested contained bacterial growth, with coliform, E. coli, and S. aureus (the bacteria responsible for staph infections) all present.

While washing kitchen towels daily or every other day might seem like overkill, they really can begin developing bacteria in the span of a single day. Research points to two key factors that introduce bacteria and allow it to thrive: Cross-contamination (which happens when we touch potentially risky items like raw meat and then touch our towels) and damp towels that don't dry between uses. Our soft, absorbent towels provide the perfect home for bacteria, which thrive in moist, warm environments (like right between those towel fibers). According to a 2022 study, constant towel use is another problem. Each time we touch or use a towel, we're cross-contaminating surfaces in our home and bringing that bacteria onto our hands, kitchen surfaces, and back to the towels again.

So, it's best to wash those kitchen towels frequently or have a rotation of towels on hand so each has a chance to dry thoroughly. How do you know when it's time? If your kitchen towel is damp, it's time to toss it in the laundry basket and grab a clean one. Similarly, if you use your kitchen towel to mop up residue from raw meat, it'll need to be washed right after. When it's time to launder your kitchen towels, you'll want to handle them slightly differently than you would when you wash your bath towels. You should wash and dry them on high heat to thoroughly kill any lingering bacteria. For extra cleaning power, you can opt to use your machine's sanitize cycle.