A Finnish Dish Rack Might Be the Smartest Small-Space Find Ever

As a New Yorker, every kitchen I’ve lived in has been a different size or shape. Storage and counter space are always lacking. Dishwashers aren’t common. Even if you do have one, you still have to hand-wash items like pots, pans, and wooden spoons. A drying rack helps contain it all, but it sure can take up a lot of that precious counter space — unless you take a cue from the Finnish, that is. 

I just discovered what a Finnish drying rack is, otherwise known as a dish-drying cabinet, or dish-drying closet, and I wish I had one so, so badly.

Though it may seem like you never truly finish washing dishes (sorry, I had to), you can make the process easier with a Finnish drying rack, otherwise known as a dish-drying cabinet. Never heard of such a thing? That’s OK, I hadn’t either. 

Though it has a long name in Finnish — Astiankuivauskaappi — it’s basically just a drying rack that lives above your sink. Some of them are built into cabinets, where the shelf component is replaced with a metal rack that dries. Either way, it frees up space that would be taken up with a traditional dish rack, and lets wet dishes conveniently drip-dry into the sink instead of all over your counter.

The Shep Chateau, a home design content creator, sings the praises of her own Finnish drying rack in a recent video. “No bulky drying rack cluttering my beautiful countertops,” she says. She came across the design while traveling through the Nordic part of Europe, and DIY-ed her own by taking the bottom two shelves out of the cabinet above her sink and replacing them with wire metal racks. She also added lights, but that’s just a bonus.

Even though it’s not as common in America, you definitely don’t have to go to Finland or become a DIY expert to get yourself a Finnish drying rack.

If you have a large amount of available wall space above your sink, the IKEA KUNGFORS wall grid with storage is a very comprehensive option for dish storage. You get three tiers of stainless steel shelving (including a rack with slots for dishes and a wooden one at the top for any non-dish drying storage) and a section of metal rods to hang things on. 

If you need something more minimalist, the KUNGFORS stainless steel shelf is about 2 feet wide, extends out about 1 foot, and is barely an inch thick. It could easily fit above many sinks, especially if you decide to take out any cabinet storage that might exist above your sink, as seen in the Instagram above. 

If IKEA isn’t in the cards for you, there are several recommendations from the video, including a three-tier rack from Wayfair with compartments for storing utensils and even cutting boards, which I’m jealous of. I’ve actually had an above-the-sink drying rack from Amazon for years that was easy to assemble and doesn’t require any mounting, too. I can’t imagine life without it!