Space-Saving Kitchen Towel Storage: How To Pocket Fold For Easy Access & Organization

It's hard to resist buying every set of cute, seasonal hand and kitchen towels when you set foot into any home goods or department store. But finding space for your new acquisitions is a challenge that you may find yourself facing. Kitchen storage areas are limited as is, so adding even more items can be overwhelming. It's enough to force you to resist buying a new set of towels that are as cute as they are absorbent. For those who already own an abundant collection of kitchen towels, however, there are many DIY space-saving storage solutions that can keep them hidden, within reach, and organized. Alternatively, if you don't want to clutter your kitchen with more storage boxes or shelves, you can make the most out of the drawer space you already have by learning how to pocket fold your kitchen towels.

A pocket folding technique results in turning a full-size kitchen towel into a nice, compact square that stays in shape thanks to the excess fabric being folded into itself. With your towels neatly sized down, they can be easily stowed in a kitchen drawer or shelf that may be too narrow or too small to hold anything else. Storing your pocket folded towels side-by-side in a drawer allows you to see the colors and designs of the fabric, while making them easy to grab and use for cleaning up surprise messes or drying dishes. If you're using any clever type of kitchen towel system, this folding technique can help further organize and sort all those towels you already have, and maybe even make space for a few new ones.

Folding your dish towels into neat little rectangles is a lot easier than it may seem. For your single-colored, non-patterned towels, you can start folding with any side facing down. For decorative, printed towels, you'll want to lay the towel so the decorated side is face down on your surface. Tuck a small section of the towel underneath, then fold the towel into thirds hot dog-style, creating a thin sliver of cloth with a small pocket at the end. Now, fold the towel down hamburger-style so it's about the same size as the created pocket, and it sits neatly on top of it. Once that's established, fold the fabric into the pocket by flipping the pocket inside-out, making sure it has the folded end of the towel inside it securely.

Another way to pocket fold your kitchen towel is to lay it out flat on your folding surface. From here, fold the towel lengthwise into thirds, making sure the one end is folded underneath the other. Then fold the towel in half to form a smaller rectangle. Flatten and smooth it out to make it nice and neat. Fold the open-ended side to the middle of the rectangle. Bring the creased end of the towel up, and tuck it into the top "pocket" of the open-ended side. This will compact your kitchen towel into a small, tight rectangle, making it easy to store in baskets, drawers, or in a neat stack on your kitchen counters for easy access.