The Original Dish Drying Mat featuring a giveaway

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My dishwasher is lousy. Actually, I’m not sure if it’s the dishwasher or the soap we use or our extremely hard municipal water.

One of those things makes our dishes come out with a thick, white film that grosses me out. The only way to get rid of the film is to soak the dishes in vinegar, which stinks up the house. Blah.

I’ve resorted to doing a lot of hand washing. Mostly, I wash bottles, glasses, cups, and Grace’s melamine bowls and plates in hot water and then pile them up in the dish drainer in the sink.

That leads me to another problem because the dish drainer isn’t big enough. I end up with dripping wet dishes piled all over the counter surrounding the sink.

It’s not the best plan. There are usually pools of water on the counter, surprising me the next time I set something down. I often end up with a wet shirt because I’ve forgotten about the water and leaned into the counter.

Needless to say, I was excited when I had the opportunity to review The Original Dish Drying Mat by Envision Home.

The Dish Drying Mat is really cool. It combines a thick layer of foam laminated between two layers of microfiber. It’s so absorbent that it holds four times its weight in water.

I wondered what laminated fabric was, since the whole thing is soft and not coated in plastic. Here is Envision Home’s answer:

Laminated refers to our patented process for securing the layers for the dish mat together – mircofiber side 1, foam, microfiber side 2 are all flame laminated together. This process enables the dish mat to be machine washed and dried repeatedly without the layers separating.

Our competitors glue the layers together. BUT, during washing, the glue will lose its hold to the layers, causing the microfiber to easily separate from the foam inside. Depending on the amount of glue, this could happen after only one washing.

This mat is so good at holding water that I was able to take my dish drainer out of the sink and put it on top of the Dish Drying Mat on the counter. It soaks up all the water, leaving no puddles on the counter and no drips on the floor and, most importantly, no wet spots on my shirt.

The Dish Drying Mat is not just for drying dishes.

I never had anything like the Dish Drying Mat before, but I totally love it. I’ve found more uses for it than I ever imagined:

• Under my salad spinner, to catch the inevitable dribble when I open the lid
• Under my baking stones, to prevent them from scratching my counter or glass stove top (only when the stove top is cool, of course)
• I have been preparing bottles on top of the Dish Drying Mat. In order to run our fancy uv water filter less frequently, we keep filtered water for bottles in a Mason jar on the counter. Inevitably, some water gets spilled going from the Mason jar to the bottle. It gets soaked up by the mat.
• Under the bottles and sippy cups. I know this is technically part of the dishes, but we bought only 6 bottles (to be frugal), and we wash them twice a day. (Allie likes to drink smaller amounts more frequently.) I love being able to spread all of the seals and other parts out on the Dish Drying Mat to let them dry.
• Under apples or pears when they’ve just been washed (it would work for any fruit or veggie, really)
• Under cherry tomatoes and grapes when they’ve just been washed (because the foam inside is so thick, the tomatoes didn’t roll around or fall off the counter)
• Under my cutting board – When I sold Pampered Chef, our cutting boards came with this cool foamy thing to put underneath. The problem is that mine became disgusting and I threw it out. Ever since, my plastic-y cutting board has slid a little on the counter when I used it. Set atop my Dish Drying Mat, it stays put.
• This past week, Allie pooped on Grace’s Crocs. It’s a long story full of momma missteps, but I had to wash the Crocs thoroughly before Grace could wear them again. I turned the clean shoes upside down on the Dish Drying Mat to dry before she wore them.

Dish Drying Mat Use & Care

If you haven’t figured it out, the Dish Drying Mat has about three hundred and seven different uses. It will become one of your most-used kitchen helpers.

Daily, make sure it dries in between uses. You don’t want any mold or mildew to grow inside. I hang mine on the oven door when I take whatever I put on it off.

When your Dish Drying Mat gets dirty (or after drying your kid’s shoes), you can toss it in the washing machine with cold water and in the dryer on low.

Win a Dish Drying Mat!

Envision Home is providing me with red Dish Drying Mats to give away to three lucky Feels Like Home readers. All you have to do to enter is visit the Envision Home site and choose your favorite color. Please share in a comment.

For extra entries:

• Like Feels Like Home on Facebook and leave a comment about it
• Subscribe to Feels Like Home via RSS or email and leave a comment about it
• Follow Feels Like Home on Google Friend Connect and leave a comment about it
• Tweet the following (once per day):

Win one of 33 Original Dish Drying Mats from @TaraZiegmont at @FeelsLikeHome! http://bit.ly/oWbHcP #dishmat

Good luck! I’ll choose a winner randomly from the comments after noon on October 20.

Want to win a different color?

My blog friends are doing Dish Drying Mat giveaways now, too. You can enter any or all of them. Each of us is giving away 3 mats in the color listed. Mine are red.

• A Slob Comes Clean –Coastal Blue
• Spell Outloud — Coastal Blue
• Many Little Blessings –Sage Green
• Finding Joy — Sage Green
• Jimmie’s Collage — Gray
• Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers — Gray
• Raising Arrows –Red
• Somewhat Crunchy — Black
• An Oregon Cottage — Cream
• Mama’s Learning Corner — Black

RULES:  Prizes can be shipped only to continental US addresses. You will be contacted by email and must reply within 48 hours to claim your prize. If you do not claim your prize, another winner will be chosen.

This is a compensated review. I received dish mats and a stipend. All opinions are my own.

© 2011 – 2013, Tara Ziegmont. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: cleaning, dish washing, kitchen

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