Dish Rack or Towel?

I have a drying mat. It's thicker than a towel, and the material is a little different. I bought it at Walmart. I love it, because I can fold it up and place it under the sink when I'm done.

I wouldn't use a towel, because they tend to get very wet, very quickly and often leave a puddle on the counter and drip on the floor.

I have similar problem. I live in an apartment and the kitchen counter is very small. When I first moved in I was using the dish rack, but after awhile I couldn't take the clutter so I through it away and purchased a drying mat. I love it! Much more convenient I can just tuck it under the sink when I'm done using it.

Do you have a double sink? I use half of my sink as a landing spot for just-washed pots and pans and stray dishes - no rack in there, I just place the items in, let them dry and then put them away.

My mom gave me an extra-thick drying pad that goes on the counter instead of a towel. If you don't have a double sink and definitely need to use the counter, that might give you more protection than a towel.

I do a little of both.

I have a small dish rack that I use for my hand washed dishes. It is lightweight and small enough that I can put it in a cabinet when guests are over so it is out of sight.

I also use a large thick towel sometimes for large items. I don not leave the towel on the counter. When finished with the entire dishes and kitchen, I go back to the towel, dry the items, put them away and toss towel into the laundry bin.

What Gamma G said.
Completely more sanitary.
Use the dish rack!
The towel will get wet & not be good for your countertop.
The rack dries better.
Can you fashion something over the sink?
Also, see what else you can minimize (put away, get rid of) on your
countertops so there's a little less clutter in that way.

I have a small rack that sits over about half of one side of a double sink.
I keep small things there - usually a cup.
I put dishes through the dish washer and let them dry in there, then they get put away.
I don't use a dish towel.

A towel is unsanitary. You'll have to change it before putting dishes on it each time. Otherwise don't bother washing the dishes, putting them on a dirty towel makes them dirty.

A dish drainer allows air to circulate inside the dish, the moisture to drip off and drain, and it allows for the dishes to stand on their side for the moisture to run off. A towel will keep your dishes wet inside and the bacteria will start growing as soon as they sit down on the towel.

Drying wet dishes is also a very unsanitary way to do dishes too. It's actually the most unsanitary thing a person can do. It's strictly prohibited in food service and child care facilities. It's really nasty.

So keep the drainer, it's the cleanest and most sanitary way to allow your dishes to air dry.

If you own your home but don't have a dishwasher perhaps you can start a savings account for taking out a row of drawers or a cabinet section, the plumbing, and buying an inexpensive dish washer. They can be purchased for just a couple hundred dollars at places like Sears.

We've never had a dishwasher, just hand-wash and stack our dishes; usually husb washes and I rinse/stack. We use a bare minimum of hot water that way. We do use a towel on pans and big items.

We have very limited counter space, but we seldom feed more than 4 at a meal, and honestly, a clean, organized dish rack is so beautiful to me that I've considered painting a series on the theme of domestic bliss (along with sorted laundry/ironing, which I also find lovely to look at – all those colors and patterns in community).

Don't know anything about quartzite upkeep, though.