Red Pocketed Pot Holders, Pair

Ten inches by seven is a deliberate footprint. It is wide enough to sit under a saucepan as a trivet and long enough that your fingers are inside the pocket well clear of the edge when you use it as a glove. This is the red pair, which is the colour that survives what a kitchen actually throws at a pot holder.

The stains that finish off pale kitchen textiles are almost all red: tomato reducing, paprika, chilli oil, wine from a braise. On a red pot holder none of it registers. That matters more here than on a mitt, because a pot holder spends half its life lying flat on the counter directly under whatever is dripping.

The outer face is silicone with a raised non-slip pattern, and the pocket is split at the fingertips so you can pinch rather than grab. Behind the silicone is a terrycloth lining: looped cotton, which traps air and does the actual insulating. The silicone is the barrier, the terry is the padding, same division of labour as the mitts use.

The red pair is listed hand wash only, which is worth checking against whichever colour you are comparing it with: the navy and aqua turquoise pairs carry machine wash on their listings instead. Warm water and dish soap on the silicone face handles ordinary use here, and the terry lining stays out of it because the silicone is what meets the spill.

The short version

• Ten by seven inches: works as a glove and as a counter trivet
• Red hides the tomato, paprika and wine marks that ruin pale holders
• Split fingertip pocket for controlled grip on knobs and handles
• Silicone non-slip face over a terrycloth insulating lining
• Listed hand wash only — the care line differs by colour, so check it

Who it suits

Specification