simplehuman Kitchen Slim Wire Frame Dish Rack With Removable Spout, Stainless Steel

I have a dish washer that I use for all but a few things, and after I wash those items by hand, I want a dish rack down in the other half of the sink for them to drain and dry. It can be difficult to find a dish rack small enough to fit down in the sink, and this compact model does the trick. I had one of these when we lived in Minnesota, and enjoyed it tremendously for 8 years. When we moved to Texas I didn't know what the sink arrangement would be, so I did not move it down here. :-(I purchased my first Texas rack that was all wire. Worked nicely for a few months and then the rust set in, even rusted things sitting in it. It went into the trash. Rack number two work for a month before the rust appeared. Another model for the trash.I remembered how much I loved what I had in Minnesota, but couldn't remember the brand. I studied all sorts of possibilities on the internet and finally re-discovered the simplehuman compact dish rack. I'm happy to report that it's even better than the first one. The tray that goes underneath fits well, and the spout is now metal rather than plastic. I positioned the rack down in the sink with the spout right over the drain and my sink stays dry unless I happen to spray water into it, which happens!Having discarded two racks because of rust (the original Minnesota rack never rusted), I'm more conscious of design elements that may help deter that problem. The plastic bottom of this rack with it's bottom tray keeps the water off the metal support. The fact that the dishes fit into the plastic bottom means that they are not sitting on metal. That also means that less metal is needed - just enough to support the plastic tray and to provide sides for the thing.The one down side of the plastic is the mildew, but I found a solution to that quite by accident in Minnesota. I discovered that if I fill the sink with hot water and add a splash of bleach, the mildew soaks right off. I followed that process not more than monthly, perhaps much less - can't remember for sure, but it worked. I also wonder if the plastic tray could be put in the dish washer. I may try that down here in Texas.Obviously a compact dish rack won't hold the quantity of dishes that a full-size one will, but for applications such as mine, it couldn't be more perfect!

Bought this for the new place we moved into that didn't have a dishwasher, so this thing has gotten daily use for several months and had held up great. The look and design of this rack is great. It is sleek and still has a low profile even though it is still big enough to dry dishes for 2-3 people. I especially love that the drain spout is on the long side of the rack - allows you to set up the rack so it takes up much less counter space. The clear bottom makes it very easy to see if it is dirty. The best thing about it way the rack is designed is the way it drains. water collects in a central duct on the bottom and drains very efficiently and so mold and mildew do not accumulate, and there is no need for a drying mat underneath. It is also easy to clean when it does need it. The additional features are also really nice - there is a little side attachment which holds both a sponge and a wand brush. The bamboo knife rack accommodates all different sizes including the large chef knife - its great for our nice set of knives and is much safer than trying to lay them out in the rack. The silverware holder had the same draining system and doesn't get mildew, which to me is huge because all other racks I have owned got mildew there.The Con: If you have a porcelain sink with a high lip (the edge of the sink is taller than the countertop), the drain system will not function because the lip pushes the drain spout up and so it cannot use gravity to drain. However, this is easily fixed by placing something underneath the legs to make it taller. Ultimately this rack gets four stars for me because that seems like a pretty big design flaw that would be easy to fix by making it taller. However, it's also easy to solve for at home and overall the rack is still definitely worth it because of its overall functionality and design. Doing dishes sucks, but having a good rack that doesn't get nasty mildew or get water all over the counter makes it a lot more bearable.

My old Rubbermaid rack was getting a little funky so I decided to replace it. My, have dish racks changed.The counter on the side of my sink is fairly small. This fits perfectly. It has a very clean & open look. It's well laid out, with plenty of room to put things like bowls on either side of the plates. It is somewhat elevated which I think adds to the visual appeal.The bamboo top on the knife basket really limits the number of knives you can put in at one time. So far that's not a problem but I might decide to ditch the cover in the future.There is one big design flaw which most reviews have mentioned. There's not enough of a slope for the spout to work properly. On some of the more expensive simplehuman models, the spout can be moved to any side which would make it difficult to address this problem. On this model the spout can only be on the long side so the legs opposite it could be made higher. This would make the rack perfect. I'm not deducting a star because I knew about this before I bought it and had two 1" tall bottle caps from old medicine bottles ready to pop under the legs on one side. I stopped noticing they were there within a day or two.