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Cook's Illustrated recommends Now Designs Ripple Towel. It's 100% ribbed cotton and has 17% percent shrinkage.

dish towels that don't absorb are SO INFURIATING. A pet peeve of mine. Nice roundup.

For maximum absorbency, do not use fabric softener when washing towels (that goes for both the kitchen and bathroom). Fabric softener coats the fibres, which affects the fabric's ability to soak up water. If you want your towels to be nice and fluffy without using softeners, pop them in the dryer.

We use microfiber automotive towels around our house - cheap and effective, though not beautiful.

One thing I've learned about keeping your absorbent towels absorbent has to do with how you wash them. Bad laundering practice will turn a great towel useless in no time. This tip comes from advice my friends who cloth diaper (those also being also something you want to keep nice and absorbent). Detergent build-up will reduce absorption, and many detergents on the market contain "stain-blocking" additives that intentionally leave chemicals on fabrics for the purpose of reducing absorption. So, choose a lower-additive detergent, and don't use fabric softener! More info here with some recommendations for good detergents:
http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2009/09/detergent-no-nos.html

Just read the label... 100% cotton and no prints.... done....

I tried varies models from Bed Bath and Beyond and Crate and Barrel. What has worked best for me are the cheapest tea towels, from IKEA. The more I wash them, the softer and more absorbent they become.

Waffle weaves suck! They just move around the water without absorbing anything. It seems counter-intuitive, but go for the flat weave you find in the old-world, French bar towels; they're fabulous and no lint!

I love the 50 cent towels from IKEA. The ones with the single red stripe.

We use the "medical waste" towels. Absorbent sponges and towels used in the OR are packed in 5s or 10s...but most of a time, there are a couple of spares. They are no longer sterile and can't be used in the hospital, but they are perfectly clean and SUPER absorbent. They make great towels, cleaning rags, painting rags...I really don't know what we'd do without them!

Oh, god, yes. There's nothing worse than a crap dishtowel. I have one, really excellent dishtowel in my kitchen that's been in my family for ages. It's lightweight cotton, very lightly textured, and it's about half the size of a bath towel. I carry it around the kitchen, draped over my shoulder, like a reliable old friend. I should steal it when I leave home.

I've recently made some 100% linen tea towels (couldn't find any affordable ones in the store), and I find them highly absorbent. Are cotton towels more absorbent?

I got sick of purchasing non-absorbing 100% cotton tea towels.

the costco ones leave little fibery things when you use them.

i used them for dishes dusting etc.. left a bunch of fiber clumps on whatever i did. even after multiple washes. :'(

I prefer linen. It absorbs better than cotton and doesn't leave lint behind. I might use a couple towels to dry a larger load of dishes but they dry out quickly, a major plus in a consistently humid climate. They also fit inside glasses and smaller items when a cotton towel wouldn't work.

I have some Crate and Barrel waffle weave cotton towels similar to their Salsa Stripe. They are great for drying my hands when working around the kitchen or drying large platters or bowls.

Another vote for the cheap IKEA towels: they are super-absorbent and indestructible!

Been using Crate and Barrel dishtowels since I left home 20 years ago. Have tried others, but always went back. Now I don't waste my money. CB is it for me.

Just use OLD towels! A lot of your aunts/mums/mothers in law will buy new ones as soon as their old towels get a bit ragged. Give them a second life and they will give you the dryest, brightest dishes & glasses.

Bar towels like the ones from Cooking.com are nice and absorbent, but they are not big enough. 17x20 is just not large enough to use as a proper side towel when cooking. You want something that can fold over an apron tie and still have enough length so that you can use it to grab a pot with it (without removing it from the apron string). 20x30 is about right.

Let me put in my vote for only using white towels in the kitchen. If you can't use your kitchen towels to mop up colorful liquids, or charred foodstuffs, then they just aren't nearly as useful as they could be (and you're likely going through a lot of paper towels instead). Just get white towels, so that you can bleach them. It'll make you a lot more willing to use your towels instead of paper towels.

Old-fashioned white cloth baby diapers. They're still sold in packs of 8-10 in the baby aisle at Target and other places. Absolutely nothing more absorbent, doesn't leave fibers on anything, and they last forever. My mom still has the ones she bought when she was first married. I keep a deep drawer full of them in the kitchen and use them instead of paper towels.

The first thing I thought when I saw this thread was the cheap IKEA towels. Clearly I wasn't the only one.

@Mamacita - we use diapers for dust clothes. They work wonderfully. I hadn't thought to use them for dish towels.

Here's another vote for the indestructible & wonderfully cheap IKEA towels!! I always grab a few when I happen to be at the store. You can never have too many.

For me, the best dish towels have always been my grandmother's -- and the traditionally manufactured ones that are available in the museum shop of Textilmuseum Bocholt in Germany (Textile museum in the west of Germany, not far from the Ruhr Area). They are sturdy and work really well (this kind of towel has always been used by coal miners).

Unfortunately, there is no English version of the page available, but here is the link for those who can read German and for the rest to look at the pictures ;o)
http://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/wim/portal/S/bocholt/ort/shop/

Flour Sack Tea Towels! You can buy the simple white, in bulk for a minimal cost. Although, for a pinch more - you can get them in a variety of beautiful colours.

http://www.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=254796&BannerID=PD677&PartnerID=LINKSHARE&LinkshareID=jXot6eVeYJg-LSDChAUZm9Y2p7zGDvHgWw

if you know anyone who works in a hospital environment, surgical towels are fantastic! whenever there are unused leftovers from any sort of procedure, they have to be thrown out for sanitary reasons. such a waste!

I use the cheap IKEA towels, however they stain terribly! I can't ever seem to get a stain out of them. They all look so grungy. It's disappointing. They weren't absorbent when I first bought them, but washing a few times has definitely improved their absorbency.

I love the cloth diaper idea. I've never walked down the baby aisle at Target but I'll definitely try this.

My RN source switched jobs and I've worn out the few "medical waste" or surgical towels passed along to me. They were terrific.

Now I buy terry bar towels from Costco. A big pack lasts years. Around my house, one roll of paper towels will last a year since there's always a stack of bar rags handy.

Bad dishtowels are indeed a bane, but man...the stores sure get huge margins on them. There's no reason three little towels should cost $9-12 at Target. I'm gonna try the Ikea ones to see if they can penetrate my dishtowel curmudge.

As for staining, it might help to get the towel wet, wring it dry, then clean up the stain, rather than wiping with a dry towel. It seems to make a difference for me, and was the technique always used when I worked a pizza job all those years ago.

Seems to be a global problem these useless dish/teatowels! I've found sokaing them overnight in household vinegar has 2 advantages:
1. prevents the colours from running
2. removes the coating the manufacturers seem to soak everything in..
After this wash at a high temperature. This should improve the absorbancy quite a bit without ruining them.
Eva