*I was provided with an over-sink roll up strainer. All opinions are my own.

My Kitchen is truly tiny. It has less counter space than any other kitchen that I’ve seen. When we looked at our apartment prior to deciding to move in, we noticed the shelf against one wall. We thought it was there to hold a microwave, so we would have a small but do-able counter top. After signing the lease and bringing our microwave in – we realized the shelf is very shallow, so even a very small microwave would hang over the edge of the shelf so much that it wouldn’t be stable. So we had to put our microwave on our small counter space, making it truly tiny.

The remaining counter space measures just 14 inches long. So when we want to use a toaster, slow cooker, or electric grill it takes up so much space that there isn’t enough room left to make our plates after everything has finished cooking. The toaster can easily be moved off the counter, but my electric grill, slower cooker and deep fryer stay really hot for quite a while so moving them somewhere else right after cooking isn’t really an option. We had been setting our plates on the bridge of our double-sink while assembling our food, but it was incredibly wobbly and we lost a few plates full of food to the sink. So frustrating!

better houseware over sink strainerbetter houseware over sink strainer

I was thankful to come across the Better Houseware Over-Sink Roll-up Strainer. I thought this would be a great way to dry our dishes without taking up our precious counter space, but it’s proven to be helpful in so many other ways as well.

When I first laid the over-sink strainer across our sink I was immediately impressed with how sturdy the surface felt – much more so than I expected. We quickly realized that it basically converted our sink into extra counter space. We started using it to put our plates and cups on while we assembled our food or poured our drinks.

better houseware over sink strainer extra counter spacebetter houseware over sink strainer extra counter space

While I do use it as a strainer, it doesn’t have sides so items like plates can’t stay upright. If you were using this as your primary strainer, you could just hand dry plates as soon as you wash them and use the strainer for everything else. I personally have continued to use my regular strainer for plates and frying pans that I want to dry upright. My counter-top strainer is bigger than the counter space so it hangs over the sink, and it doesn’t have space to hang cups on the sides, so it doesn’t fit even 1/2 of a day worth of our dishes at once. I have used the over-sink strainer for cups, bowls and larger items like the crock from my slow cooker or my electric grill. This allows me to wash a lot more dishes at once.

Better Houseware Over-Sink Strainerbettertinykitchen

I also found it to be a great way to let fruits and veggies dry off after being washed. When I make meals with a lot of potatoes, I used to wash them and then put them all into a large bowl as I cut them. Now I can wash them, set them on the strainer and then cut them – this cuts out the bowl so I have less dishes to do.

I’ve even used the strainer to let meat thaw out. Any fluids that come out fall into the sink and go down the drain instead of pooling like would happen if I laid the meat container directly into the sink in the meat container.

I’ve always been funny about my dish rag and sponges. I hate how if you set them on the edge of the sink, the counter inevitably gets wet. Yet, if you leave them in the sink itself they don’t see as much air flow and take longer to dry out – building up bacteria. Now I set my sponge, dish scrubbies, and dish rags over the strainer after I am done doing dishes and they dry much faster while keeping my sinks dry.

The over-sink strainer has really made my little kitchen and tiny counter top more manageable. I usually just leave it up across the sink, because I have a double sink so we just use the other side as a sink and leave the left side as a “counter” space with the over-sink strainer. I no longer feel like I am constantly shuffling items around my kitchen just to use the toaster or prepare a plate.

You can connect with Better Houseware on Facebook. The Over-Sink Roll Up Strainer is available at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $24.99.

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