I met the kitchen towels of my dreams, the best kitchen towels I have ever used and ever will use, on the first day I ever stepped foot in a restaurant kitchen. White and one hundred percent cotton, with a distinctive herringbone weave and snappy blue stripe, they could not be more distinct from the awkwardly large, way too thick, and hopelessly linty decorative towels that people keep hanging on their oven doors at home. These bad boys are the apex of towel functionality: super absorbent without leaving any loose fibers behind, and a size that can be folded to suit any number of tasks, from mopping up spills and clearing counters to drying glassware and grabbing hot pan handles. They’re everything you want from a kitchen towel and more, and worth buying in bulk on those merits alone.

But even if you’ve never worked in a restaurant kitchen and had the distinct pleasure of starting your shift with a clean stack of towels like these on your station, you’ve probably encountered them before. You know how, after the 2008 financial meltdown, a certain kind of rustic-chic, no-tablecloths, fine-casual type of restaurant started cropping up everywhere? The kind with vintage bric-a-brac on the walls and bare Edison bulbs hanging from the ceiling? Yeah, you know the place. Can you picture what kind of napkins the tables were set with? That’s right: Some version of the same single-striped kitchen towels I’ve been describing. Which is to say: Not only do these bad boys represent the crème de la crème of kitchen towelry, but they are light and handsome enough to do double duty as the cloth napkins you have always thought about buying but never got around to.

Any way you fold them, they're still just the best.


You heard that correctly: The best kitchen towels make the best cloth napkins, too! TWO. FOR. ONE. BABY. Listen: You have a combination phone case and wallet, because you’ve only got so many pockets, and cargo shorts are not coming back, no matter what your cousin thinks. You buy combination shampoo and conditioner, because having two bottles in the shower when one will do is just silly. And you go to a combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell because eating a stuffed crust pizza and following it up with a Mexican pizza sounds like a pretty good idea, right? So why in the hell would you buy kitchen towels and cloth napkins separately when there exists a product that a) serves both functions extremely well, b) is reasonably chic, and c) costs less than a dollar? (Oh, sorry, I didn’t mention that part yet: A 30-pack of Royal Classic kitchen towels is going to run you about $29 on Amazon.com.) You wouldn’t—unless of course you were not aware that such a product existed. But now you are. And you have no excuse. So get out your MF credit card, place an order, and get ready to have all of your counter cleaning and mouth wiping needs met 30 times over. Because you’re worth it.

Just Buy It: Royal Classic White Kitchen Towels, 30-Pack, $29 on Amazon.

And then make yourself some pudding. Also because you're worth it.

The Best Kitchen Towels Cost Less Than 1 Each So Stock Up

Chocolate Nutella Pudding

While nothing beats the ultra-silky, ultra-smooth texture of classic Nutella, you can use any brand of chocolate hazelnut spread you like for this pudding recipe.
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