besides the last one, wouldn't water drip all over the counter? i don't like this.

I had the same thought.

And unless it drips directly into the sink, you're not saving any counter space because what would you put under it, to get dripped all over?

I have the ikea asker dish drainer (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40110351) over my sink and it's wonderful. In my small kitchen I have two small countertops, so every little bit helps. However, cutasabutton is correct--I don't think this setup works unless you install it over the sink.

My guess is that they put a dishtowel underneath it while the dishes are dripping. Maybe they want to free up the counter space right next to the sink for food prep ... but who wants to trek every wet dish across the counter to the end once it's washed? The whole point of having it by the sink is to wash the dish and plop it in!

Definitely not a good idea- especially for me. I'm a tall girl and if there is anything over the sink I hit my head on it. We have an industrial style one over the giant sink at my work, and I hit my head waaay too often.

Just use a towel and dry them and then put them back. Voila! No cluttered or wet counter and no dish rack to keep clean.

I rather like this idea- purely because it would give my dishes somewhere to drip. Right now I have a large dishrack sitting on a pan that drains into my sink. I feel like it's always got sitting water in it, and it's hard to get the dishes to dry well with no ventilation.

Odd idea- but I think I'd like to mount this above a little pan of seedlings. I would never forget to water them again...

@bigwavejen: it isn't always practical or feasible to dry every dish while you're washing them.

does anyone actually do this?

In my kitchen I deliberately designed it so it had no permanent draining board so I could get more counterspace. I do have a dishwasher too (which helps!) but I find when I do handwash stuff (and I drain it on a teatowel on the countertop) I'm much less likely to just leave it there draining like I used to, I actually do dry it up and put it away.

My sister also uses the dishwasher as an out-of-sight drainer if it's empty and she's just washing a few things for just herself, which I think is a bit clever.

I finally gave up on dish racks. Who really needs a permanent object to take up so much room? I just lay a towel on the counter next to the sink, and let the dishes dry on that. When everything is dried and put away, voila! Empty counter space!

IDK...me thinks this would be quite messy. And much as I wash dishes...I know this would'nt work.

http:www.gettogethablog.com

Another vote for the Ikea Grundtal. In my last tiny kitchen, it hung right over the sink. No wet countertops!

another vote for the IKEA grundtal...
I have one also. and yes, the water drips onto the counter, so while there are dishes there, I just put a dish towel underneath. but when the dishes are gone, the Grundtal folds up against the wall, and the counter space is available, which I feel is a lot easier than wasting precious cabinet space on a counter-dwelling dish rack.

@madsarah, I dry mine on dish towels. My glasses fog up so I just dry the inside when I put them away.

I might have to try the Ikea drainer. I have counterspace next to my sink but I'd really like to use it for cooking sometimes, you know?

I like the dish drainers that are built into over-the-sink cabinets. I think these are common in Europe and India.

The over-the-sink dish drainer that my friend bought in England has a tray under it to catch the drips.

Drying dishes with a towel is not as sanitary as letting them air dry, I have been led to believe.

abigailbelle: I dry everything as I go. I only let them sit on a towel for a minute or so. But maybe I'm the exception because I'm rather (embarrassingly) obsessive about not having any water spots on my dishes.

We have the Ikea Grundtal (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70146749) under our wall cabinet to the right of our sink, sits about 3-4 inches above the counter and we use bar towels to absorb the water. They are perfect sized, and super absorbent... plus easy to swap them out and wash em.

Overall the system works well, but I do miss having a dishwasher.

Grundtal rack user, here. Another nice feature: it folds up if against the wall if you want more space.

It's healthier and more eco-friendly to let dishes drip-dry, and those are fine reasons but the truth is that I am lazy.

Another happy Grundtal rack user here!

This is a different approach, but I don't think it's a better approach. The only way you actually gain more space is if you can utilize the counter space where the drainer would be. Since you still need to catch the dripping water, you don't gain any useable space. One way around this would be to add a removable drip tray that slides in on a little track and is attached to the frame of the drainer. The other problem I see, which is most clearly illustrated in picture 1, is that you need the sink to be next to a wall. In picture 1, the person doing dishes would need to walk over with each dish because the distance from the sink to the wall is farther than 18". So not only would you not save space, you add extra work and a big, drippy path that needs cleaning up on your way to the drainer.

I liked the "dish-rack-off-the-counter-top" idea when I saw it in Susy's kitchen. My counter top is just as limited as her's and was interested in how she did that.

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/kitchen-spotlight/look-susys-perfectly-organized-kitchen-079151?image_id=63921

I wouldn't mind putting a towel under the rack when dishes are drying since I rarely do the dishes right before I need the counter space. It's much easier to remove the towel (once the dishes are dry) than to find a place to move the rack some place else when you need the space.

I think the resistance to this idea is so odd. You can add a removable drainer tray if you're concerned about dripping. You can raise it up higher if you're tall. You can ceiling mount it if you don't have a wall next to the sink.

We have a wall mounted dish rack with a removable drainer tray and I love it! Without it, we'd either have to sacrifice most of our very limited counter space to the dish rack or set things on a dish towel to dry. A lot of the temporary apartments we stayed in here in Paris before finding our long-term place had something like this for dish drying and storage b/c kitchens are small.

I live in a studio as well and though I own the smallest dish rack I've ever seen it's still a lot of counter precious counter space I could be using for food prep. My uncle has a dish rack above his sink in Europe and let me tell you it's the most wonderful thing I've ever seen. Sadly I don't have room to put one up as my cabinets hang low and I have a very small single sink but I find the hanging racks work very well so I wouldn't discourage it right away. :)

There are lots of them available too - just takes some snooping - although Ikea is always a great first place to start as in Europe this is not a new idea.

Cheers!

these are directly over the sink and used in Italy as well as other european countries. they are closed away..smart looking.

When I lived in my condo, I had a double bowl sink. I put my dish rack in the bowl without the garbage disposal. It worked great. I could leave it in there all the time.

Genius invention.

I have the Asker Ikea rack -- the younger and prettier cousin to the Grundtal.
Super minimal when folded up. Where would I store a big ugly rack and plastic tray? Really this is a no-brainer.

A towel underneath is perfect and even when open it saves SO much counter space.

When I moved into my apartment, the previous tenant had the Ikea KROKEN dish drainer already installed - perfect! Saves counter space AND has an aluminum tray underneath that catches all of the water. I just rinse it out with some cleaner every few days to keep it fresh.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30115740

When I first moved to my new apartment I didn't like that there was no dishwasher, but now I prefer it. Everything gets put away quickly and I'm not constantly looking for a utensil only to have to take it out of the dishwasher and wash it. Plus, unloading the thing is such a time commitment compared to putting things away a few at a time.

I have a drainer that moves from counter to sink, which is really handy. I like to use both sides of the sink when I'm doing dished so I wouldn't want my drainer to be permanently over it but I like to put it out the way after I finish.

It looks great. I love dish racks and i've bought mine at Ballard Designs. It's just lovely and makes my kitchen tidy.

Folks, I found a solution to all of the problems listed in the comments above.....an absolutely beautiful dish drainer that actually is the star of my kitchen, one that my friends drool over. It drains water automatically to the sink, has large capacity, utilizes the full depth of your counter and not much of your counter width. It is the Rohan dish drainer from
Zojila
I love it.

www.zojila.com

These two Canadian companies manufacture the stainless steel racks used in dish drying cabinets like the ones common in Italy and Finland. They distribute in the USA.
Richelieu Hardware http://www.richelieu.com
Quinko-tek http://www.quinkotek.com

Those two Canadian racks are great, and all the others mentioned have their proper place. One British manufacturer I really like is Delfinware (they have 2- and 3- tiered for hanging in various materials w/ a removable draining tray underneath) and I believe headcook.co.uk will ship to the States and Canada, etc.

I've lived in Spain for many years and most of their drain systems are over the sink. It works beautifully. I did the same thing in my own apartment in Spain, using the afore-mentioned the Ikea model. There are lots of more expensive set ups but if you don't have a lot of dishes and like the clean look, it's a very practical solution for using the counter space for something more useful.