The Best Potholder of 2024

Buyer’s Guide to Potholders

The kitchen in every home represents the heart of the house where meals are lovingly made and families bond over them. But, it can also be a battleground with hand-searing fluids flying all about the place. You need the right arsenal to stand a chance in that battle, here’s where the potholder comes in.

Potholders are an essential tool and should be present in every kitchen. With them, you can safely move steaming pots, pans, and dishes about. They are made with materials that are heat resistant and have non-slip surfaces to firmly grip heavy pots.

Finding this kitchen gem is easy, as there are everywhere. However, finding the right one is where there’s rocket science. Exaggeration aside, if you go into the market blind without considering some important factors, you’re going to end up with a potholder that’ll throw you into disbelief for the rest of the potholders.

Why You Need Potholders

To carry hot dishes

Potholders are generally designed to protect your hands from heat. Moving hot pots and pans from the stove to the countertop, or the dining table without potholders is a recipe for disaster.

This kitchen accessory is usually made from a piece of heat-resistant cloth and comes in multiple shapes and sizes. The design of this accessory makes it easy to simply slip your hands into it when you need to move hot pots.

It is important to mention that potholders are not oven mitts. Do not mistake them for each other. While potholders protect your hand from hot pots, pans, and dishes, you should never try to take out a dish from an oven with them. This is because they are designed in a way that only covers your hand, and maybe a little of your wrist, leaving your forearm exposed. However, some potholders do come with protection for your wrist, allowing you to get the best of both items!

Potholders come in pairs, as you need two hands to lift a hot pot. If you have been using towels, it’s time to join the bandwagon and add potholders to your kitchen arsenal.

Countertop protection

Your countertops and dinner tables are made from materials that can easily get damaged when exposed to heat. If you’re the sort that cooks a lot, and you frequently place hot pots and dishes on your countertops, this could mean that your counters won’t be in the best shape for long.

To protect your countertops from getting heat damaged, here’s where potholders come in. Because of their design, they can be used in place of pot pads to protect your dinner tables and countertops against the heat from hot pots and pans. They are also way more affordable than refurbishing countertops, so you may want to invest in them.

Stand-in towel

While making large meals for the family, and the time slowly becoming your enemy, we sometimes find ourselves with oily or sticky fingers from the sauce. These small unavoidable messes happen quite often and we simply do not have the luxury of washing our hands every time it happens. A simple wipe on a stand-in towel is all you need.

Most potholders are made from pure cotton and feature a hanging loop design. Hence, they should be always within reach if you don’t want small messes such as tiny splatters to break your stride.

Brightens up the kitchen

Potholders come in many beautiful patterns and colors. Having it hang colorfully in a section of your kitchen would greatly brighten the room, leaving it cheery and homely. You can even match potholder colors to your cookware for a more sophisticated look.

How to Choose a Reliable Potholder

Material

This is a factor that should not be overlooked. Don’t go for a potholder because of its fancy design. The purpose of them is to protect your hands from heat when handling hot pots, pans, and dishes.

Thus, it is important that you get a potholder with a material that is heat resistant and has proper thermal insulation to protect your hands from getting burned.

Most potholders are made from silicone or terrycloth. Silicon is a better material for potholders because it usually features an anti-slip surface to give you a better grip on pots and pans. When buying potholders made from silicon, ensure that you buy one that is FDA-approved and BPA-free.

Terrycloth, on the other hand, is a type of cotton fabric that is thick, soft to the touch, and quite durable.

Heat protector

Believe us when we say that you don’t want to be caught holding a hot pan of casserole or pie for 15 seconds with a potholder that is thin and flimsy. At that juncture, you have two options; save your pie and scald your hands, or throw the pie away and save your hands. Either way, it’s a tough decision to make.

To avoid that, you should ensure that the potholder you choose is able to withstand high temperatures without warping or melting.

Size

There are different sizes of potholders, and each differs based on the brand models. When buying an ideal potholder, you want to make sure that you buy the right size for your hands.

In order to avoid buying the wrong size, you can try measuring the length of your hand or the pots that you intend to carry. The general rule of thumb when it comes to the sizes of potholders is that it should be up to 10″.

Small potholders are not ideal to be used to move or carry hot pots; they may not offer adequate protection to your hands. However, using larger potholders to carry small pots does not pose any burn threat!

Versatility

A potholder should be versatile enough to perform several functions in your kitchen. It should be able to serve as a jar opener, spoon rest, coaster, and even a hot pad. A versatile potholder maximizes your money’s worth, saves you money, and conveniently eases cooking stress!

Maintenance

Spills and splatters from pots and pans as you move them are inevitable and your potholder is bound to get dirty. You want to get one that is easy to be wiped clean, or better still, machine washable.

Ease of use

The ideal potholder should be ergonomic and convenient to store. So make sure to check for hanging hoops for easy storage.

Your ideal potholder should also have a foldable design and enable you to hold heating pots safely and properly, it should also have a non-slip and firm grip.

Aesthetics

Many potholders come in beautiful patterns, colors, and styles. Choose one that complements the décor of your kitchen. It is, however, important you prioritize the aforementioned factors over aesthetics.