How to Keep Kitchen Towels Smelling Fresh

Welcome to Clean Enough, a new kind of cleaning column for busy home cooks who have better things to do than scrub and sanitize around the clock. Every few weeks, neurodivergent writer and mom Emily Farris shares tips, tools, and products that can help you stay on top of the dirtiest spots in the kitchen and cut down on clutter.

I used to replace my kitchen towels about twice a year—I just couldn’t stand the stale, rancid-oil smell they seemed to have no matter how many times I washed them. And then one day I went down a laundry rabbit hole and learned that the problem wasn’t the towels, it was the way I was handling them. I was tossing dirty towels into the hamper while they were still damp, using too much of the wrong detergent, and trying to mask the odors instead of removing them. Since modifying my towel maintenance routine, I haven’t noticed any smell. Here’s what I learned.

1. Always air dry

Whether you use them to dry your dishes or clean up a spill, kitchen towels are often damp, at best. And the absolute worst thing you can do is toss something wet into a hamper or basket, because it will become a breeding ground for mold and bacteria. So before you transfer your soiled kitchen towel to the hamper, let it dry fully by hanging it on the handle of your oven or even using a small countertop rack. If you only make one change, make it this one.

2. Rotate regularly

The longer you use any towel, the dirtier it will get, and this is especially true in the kitchen. It’s also true that the dirtier a towel is, the harder it will be to clean. So swap out your dish towel daily. It’s much easier to do this if you have at least eight to 10 towels to work through every week.

3. Wash often

Laundry is my housekeeping Achilles heel, but I try to wash my kitchen linens at least once a week so dirty towels don’t sit too long. Since I’ve started swapping out my towels daily—and I throw in my microfiber drying mat along with any oven mitts and potholders I’ve used—I don’t feel like I’m wasting water by running a small load in the washing machine. While you may be tempted to use a gentle detergent for this job, look for one with enzymes, which help to break down dirt and stains in the wash. And don’t overdo it with the detergent; using more than two tablespoons per load can actually do more harm than good in most machines.

4. Deodorize, don’t disguise

Yes, scent boosters and essential oils usually leave your laundry smelling fresh. For a while. But the pretty smells only last so long, and because these products mask bad odors (versus removing the odor-causing organisms) your clean towels are still going to smell less than fresh if they sit in a drawer for too long. There are a variety of ways to deodorize your linens, but easier methods include adding a cup of baking soda to the wash cycle or soaking your towels in vinegar for at least 30 minutes when you start to notice a smell.

5. Don’t cross contaminate

Okay, this one is more about the rest of your laundry but please, for the love of all things sanitary, don’t toss soiled kitchen towels into a basket with your other laundry. When you think about the fact that bacteria can transfer in the hamper and in the wash, you’ll never want your dirty kitchen towels anywhere near your dirty underwear. ‘Nuff said, right?

6. Clean your washing machine

If you’re already doing everything above and your laundry still stinks, you probably need to clean your washing machine. It might seem like a silly idea but after you do it once—and see all of the gunk that builds up—you’ll understand why it needs to be done every three to four months. In between deep cleans, you can keep the inside of the machine fresh with a washing machine cleaning solution like Affresh.

7. Start fresh

As Freddie Mercury tried to tell us, nothing lasts forever. This includes your kitchen towels. So if you don’t remember when you bought the ones you’re using—or if they were handed down from your mom when you moved into your first apartment—it’s probably time to retire them and start with a new set. Because keeping towels smelling fresh is a hell of a lot easier than trying to remove a decade of odors.