Navy Blue Pocketed Pot Holders, Pair

Navy is the dark pot holder that still looks like a choice. It takes the same abuse black does — burner marks, grease, the dark ring a pan base leaves — without showing any of it, and it does not make the kitchen look like a workshop. Two squares, ten by seven inches, each usable as a glove or laid flat as a trivet.

A pot holder collects more damage than a mitt does, because it spends time flat on the counter under things that are dripping and gets used as an improvised heat pad for whatever needs setting down. A dark colour is the difference between a pair that stays in service and one that gets quietly replaced because it looks past it.

The pocket is split at the fingertips, which is what gives you the control to pinch a lid knob rather than clamp at it. The outer face is silicone with a raised non-slip pattern; the lining behind it is terrycloth. Looped cotton traps air and insulates, and the silicone keeps steam and liquid from ever reaching the cotton.

Care is worth checking colour by colour on these, because the listings do not agree with each other: this navy pair is given as machine wash, while the black, red and grey pairs are given as hand wash only. Warm water and dish soap on the silicone handles ordinary use either way, but on this colour there is a machine cycle in reserve when the terry lining needs more than a wipe.

The short version

• Navy hides burner marks and grease as well as black does
• Ten by seven inches; glove one way, counter trivet the other
• The pocket is divided at the tips, so you can pinch rather than clamp
• Non-slip silicone face over an insulating terrycloth lining
• Listed as machine wash — unlike the black, red and grey pairs

Who it suits

Specification