Compact Folding Dish Rack By Jennifer Regan on Jun 20, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

The dishwasher in our rental broke, so we've (ok, I have), been washing dishes by hand. My hubby thought he'd help out by getting a dish rack. He decided to buy this apparently convenient folding dish rack.

I say "apparently convenient" because the idea is fantastic, but the execution lacks greatly. The rack is a fairly sturdy plastic and folds neatly away into a compact square that you can tuc away under the sink. It's perfect for a kitchen without a lot of counter space, or for in an rv or camping.

But that's there the convenience ends. Our dishes aren't exceptionally heavy, but if you put more than 3 plates on the rack, the pressure of the plates on the rack spine makes one side of the rack tip, so that the plates will go rolling off. Fortunately, none of our plates have actually broken (yet). I have discovered that if you place ceramin coffee cups on either side of the rack, to hold down the sides, the rack works as it's supposed to.

Other than that small problem, the racks work fairly well, unless you have more than just a few dishes to dry. The rack holds about 6 cups, 7-8 plates, maybe a bowl, and some silverware. That's fine if you are single or maybe a couple, but for a larger family? I wouldn't recommend this rack unless you were camping.

The plastic has been very easy to clean. However, the rack doesn't come apart to clean, so if you don't rinse it after each use, it will get grimy. I usually rinse it with hot water, then turn it upside down to dry because there are no drainage holes in the base. Hmmm...I need a dish rack to dry my dish rack on!

Overall, it's not a horrible rack for the price. But if you get one, remember to put coffee cups on both sides of the rack BEFORE you put any plates there!