liz stevens
Lovin' The Homestead
Heavy duty commercial grade extra large stainless steel drain board. Built with a 2-1/2 slope to completely drain back into the sink. Spray off dishes, colanders filled with foods or drain vegetables after a through washing on these drain boards.
After acquiring one these stainless steel drain boards you may just wonder how you ever functioned without one for so long. I know that I sure have.
I personally use mine several times per day after almost every meal. I just never realized how much time I was wasting cleaning up after washing dishes. Now its just stack them up high and go.
I was also amazed at how much space Im now saving in the dishwasher. Since I now hand wash even the smaller pots, pans and casserole dishes and place them on the drain board, I dont run the dishwasher that often.
Because of all the e coli breakouts I also like to wash my vegetables extra careful and place them in a colander up on the drain board to dry before using them.
I can even spray off other foods in the colander on the drain board freeing up sink space.
During canning I can wash and air dry my Victorio food strainer, my processing pots and pans and even the water bath canner in no time.
Washing dishes is just one of those task that no one really enjoys and like many things without knowing of a better alternative we just muddle through and deal with it the best as we can.
Specifically when we have those large family gatherings or spend a day canning most of us are faced with the issue of hand washing all the large pots and pans in a traditional sized home kitchen sink and trying to find counter space to let them dry.
Like our mothers, most of us have just used a dish towel and put the dishes away the best that we could for years.
We now know that air drying is the best way to dry pots and pans. Dish towels can spread back germs and bacteria. Stacking dishes wet can allow the bacteria to grow.
Most dish drying racks come with a small drain board to sit next to the kitchen sink. Some call these dish mats, which probably better describes them because they are relative flat.
The manufactures attempt to provide some slope to them but because most kitchen sinks have a rim around the edge they never actually seem to drain very well.
Because drain boards are typically built to only fit a specific drain rack, any pan like a cookie sheet or dish like a serving platter that tilts to the side ultimately drips down on to the counter top and runs back in under the drain board or spills out on to the counter.
The result is wet counter tops under the drain board, and water spilling over on the edge down the cabinet faces and then on down on to the floor.
With the investment placed in kitchen counter tops and custom cabinets these days its amazing how one simple item can allow so much to go wrong.
Like us its not uncommon for a family to try several dish racks drain board combinations and never seem to be completely satisfied with the outcome.
The problem is not the dish rack, rather its the flat drain board that sits under the rack.
With one of these large stainless drain boards any standard dish rack can be used. They are extra large to catch the drips or have enough space on the side of the dish racks to dry long cooking spoons and spatulas.
This will likely be the last drain board that we will ever have to buy and I have a feeling it will stay in the family for years to come.
Cooking and canning utensils as well as large pots and pans can be dried on the drain board without a rack in place.
The Amish with their large families and gatherings have developed these extra large stainless drain boards to air dry dishes, pots, pans and kitchen utensils with less mess.
The drain boards have a good tilt to completely drain even if the kitchen sink has a raised rim.
The extra large drying surface allows for a traditional drying rack to sit in the middle catching any dripping off, while still allowing ample space to dry flat ware utensils.
Remove the rack and dry several pots and pans at a time, or use the drain board to spray off colanders of vegetables and such things as cooked noodles.
Drain boards are perfect for an empty nester couple who dont need to run a dishwasher as frequently to the large family or for holiday feast cleanup activities.
For the self-sufficient home like in the Amish communities, these drain boards come in extra handy during canning and butchering seasons.
Drain board measures 20-1/2 x 18-1/4 and tilts from 2-1/2 down to the sink. Features rolled over top edges.
The top half of the drain board provides a clear 16" X 18" for most size drain racks with room to place longer items on the side. A longer drain rack can still be centered between the taper down. The drain part tapers down to 10-3/4".
Custom sizes may also be ordered.
Unless you visit the Amish stores, you wont find these in stores. We have only seen these being made in one Amish community that we frequently visit and had to have one for our own use.
You can find them online at my sustainable living back-to-basics store at http://www.cottagecraftworks.com
At Cottage Craft Works we hand pick hard to find products like the drain boards to feature. We also feature many hard to find American made functional products for the home, garden, farm and ranch, in fact now more than 5000 back-to-basics products are featured in our unique online general store.
After acquiring one these stainless steel drain boards you may just wonder how you ever functioned without one for so long. I know that I sure have.
I personally use mine several times per day after almost every meal. I just never realized how much time I was wasting cleaning up after washing dishes. Now its just stack them up high and go.
I was also amazed at how much space Im now saving in the dishwasher. Since I now hand wash even the smaller pots, pans and casserole dishes and place them on the drain board, I dont run the dishwasher that often.
Because of all the e coli breakouts I also like to wash my vegetables extra careful and place them in a colander up on the drain board to dry before using them.
I can even spray off other foods in the colander on the drain board freeing up sink space.
During canning I can wash and air dry my Victorio food strainer, my processing pots and pans and even the water bath canner in no time.
Washing dishes is just one of those task that no one really enjoys and like many things without knowing of a better alternative we just muddle through and deal with it the best as we can.
Specifically when we have those large family gatherings or spend a day canning most of us are faced with the issue of hand washing all the large pots and pans in a traditional sized home kitchen sink and trying to find counter space to let them dry.
Like our mothers, most of us have just used a dish towel and put the dishes away the best that we could for years.
We now know that air drying is the best way to dry pots and pans. Dish towels can spread back germs and bacteria. Stacking dishes wet can allow the bacteria to grow.
Most dish drying racks come with a small drain board to sit next to the kitchen sink. Some call these dish mats, which probably better describes them because they are relative flat.
The manufactures attempt to provide some slope to them but because most kitchen sinks have a rim around the edge they never actually seem to drain very well.
Because drain boards are typically built to only fit a specific drain rack, any pan like a cookie sheet or dish like a serving platter that tilts to the side ultimately drips down on to the counter top and runs back in under the drain board or spills out on to the counter.
The result is wet counter tops under the drain board, and water spilling over on the edge down the cabinet faces and then on down on to the floor.
With the investment placed in kitchen counter tops and custom cabinets these days its amazing how one simple item can allow so much to go wrong.
Like us its not uncommon for a family to try several dish racks drain board combinations and never seem to be completely satisfied with the outcome.
The problem is not the dish rack, rather its the flat drain board that sits under the rack.
With one of these large stainless drain boards any standard dish rack can be used. They are extra large to catch the drips or have enough space on the side of the dish racks to dry long cooking spoons and spatulas.
This will likely be the last drain board that we will ever have to buy and I have a feeling it will stay in the family for years to come.
Cooking and canning utensils as well as large pots and pans can be dried on the drain board without a rack in place.
The Amish with their large families and gatherings have developed these extra large stainless drain boards to air dry dishes, pots, pans and kitchen utensils with less mess.
The drain boards have a good tilt to completely drain even if the kitchen sink has a raised rim.
The extra large drying surface allows for a traditional drying rack to sit in the middle catching any dripping off, while still allowing ample space to dry flat ware utensils.
Remove the rack and dry several pots and pans at a time, or use the drain board to spray off colanders of vegetables and such things as cooked noodles.
Drain boards are perfect for an empty nester couple who dont need to run a dishwasher as frequently to the large family or for holiday feast cleanup activities.
For the self-sufficient home like in the Amish communities, these drain boards come in extra handy during canning and butchering seasons.
Drain board measures 20-1/2 x 18-1/4 and tilts from 2-1/2 down to the sink. Features rolled over top edges.
The top half of the drain board provides a clear 16" X 18" for most size drain racks with room to place longer items on the side. A longer drain rack can still be centered between the taper down. The drain part tapers down to 10-3/4".
Custom sizes may also be ordered.
Unless you visit the Amish stores, you wont find these in stores. We have only seen these being made in one Amish community that we frequently visit and had to have one for our own use.
You can find them online at my sustainable living back-to-basics store at http://www.cottagecraftworks.com
At Cottage Craft Works we hand pick hard to find products like the drain boards to feature. We also feature many hard to find American made functional products for the home, garden, farm and ranch, in fact now more than 5000 back-to-basics products are featured in our unique online general store.
