Cabinet dish dryers designed to save counter space in small kitchens
Kitchen cabinets are widely regarded as places to store dishes.
In Finland, that typical over-thesink storage area can also serve as a dish-drying cabinet.
Finns refer to it as astiankuivauskaappi — Google Translated, it means a compound word for dish (astian), dry (kuivaus) and cabinet (kaappi), reports House Beautiful — a concept best suited for small kitchens, as it does away with the need for counter-space drying racks. And for homes and condos that have dishwashers, this organizer can also be used for drying pots and pans.
Cheryl Quinton, a Guelph, Ont., scientist now based in New Zealand, had spent three years in Finland and blogged about her beloved dish drying rack: “Why doesn’t the rest of the world have this?” Quinton posted on her site Outdance the Devil. “I love this thing. I have stuff in this that probably hasn’t been to a real cupboard in months … I can throw lots of stuff up there, then just close the doors and, whoo-hoo, clear counters.”
“The dishes drip a lot, of course,” Quinton added. “But that’s often not a problem in Finland, because it’s common there to have stainless steel counters and sinks. The trick is to put glassware on the top rack so it doesn’t get water spots.”
North American homes have yet to embrace this Finnish concept. But to appreciate the experience, Amazon offers a stainless steel storage unit from Nex that sits right over your sink ($136.78 through Amazon.ca) or, for anyone who wants the drying rack to go inside a cabinet, there’s the Probrico Stainless Steel Dish Drying Rack for the Cabinet ($107.99 through Amazon.ca).