The 7 Very Best Paper-Towel Holders (2024)

$26

Form: Freestanding | Material: Stainless steel | Features: Spring-activated arm | Size: 7” x 7” x 13”

It’s no secret that Oxo’s kitchenware is oft-recommended on our site. The brand makes all sorts of best-in-class products, from food-storage containers to compost bins to sheet pans.This (trademarked) SimplyTear earned endorsements from Lisa Zaslow, owner of Gotham Organizers, and Jessie Sheehan, author of Snackable Bakes. Its biggest selling point is the spring-powered tension arm that “keeps the roll rolled” so there’s “no loose end flopping around,” according to Zaslow. The “game changer” of a feature lets you rip off sheets one-handed, while the almost unshakable bottom adds balance. Sheehan has had hers for about five years — and the holder has remained stable, even through switches to jumbo-size rolls. Meanwhile, the steel hasn’t stopped shining, “If it gets splattered, it’s a cinch to wipe off,” she adds.

$36

Form: Freestanding | Material: Steel and wood | Features: Side slot for tearing sheets | Size: 4.53” x 6.1” x 12.2”

Strategist staffers are on-the-record Yamazaki-heads — and the Tosca paper-towel holder is the first of two products from the brand that we’ve included on this list. Professional organizer Britnee Tanner has used many paper-towel holders that slide around or topple over when she tries to grab a sheet — but the Tosca is an exception. “The entire thing is so sturdy,” she says. There’s a slot that you can feed paper towels through and tear from (it’s more minimal than OXO’s), and that white bar next to the wood pole in the center adds tension to prevent the roll from shuffling around, reinforcing it so it stays upright. (Note: Your best bet is a standard-size roll.) Since it’s so minimalist, the holder isn’t something she minds seeing on her counter day in, day out, either.

$22

Form: Magnetic mount | Material: Steel and wood | Features: Removable dowel | Size: 3.35” x 12.6” x 2.36”

Once creative and content strategist Carrie Carrollo stuck Yamazaki’s magnetic paper-towel holder on the side of her old fridge, she never had to think about it again. Her former roommate even kept the apartment and holder when Carrollo moved out. (“It’s still going strong with her.”) It’s “really just ‘there’ in the best way,” she says. The magic is in the magnet— though the holder is removable, Carrollo notes that “you need some actual force to move it around” because it’s “super-sturdy.” (And its fridge-side spot made it especially useful in the most messy circumstances, including an incident involving shattered bottles of soju and soy sauce.) One easy-to-miss detail is that the holder comes with a tiny rubber band, which Carrollo assumes many people might throw away. But she left hers on the end of the dowel “because it made the paper-towel roll feel more secure,” she explains.

$23

Form: Magnetic or screw mount | Material: Plastic, metal, wood | Features: Two-tiered shelves, removable dowel, movable hooks | Size: 13.2” x 11.6”

Caroline Mullen, a freelance writer and former editor at Food52, outfitted a free blank space she had next to the stove with this storage rack that includes a paper-towel holder. (She even penned an ode to the find for the Kitchn.) Mullen was sold from the moment she saw it, especially for the storage space. In addition to holding a roll of paper towels, the rack has room for olive oil, pepper, and salt on the topmost tier, and an apron and potholder on the hooks. It has a magnetic back, so you can slap it onto the side of the fridge like the Yamazaki, but there is also an option to screw it to the wall if that makes more sense in your kitchen — the necessary hardware comes in the box. Even in a small space full of multipurpose solutions, Mullen calls the rack “the most functional piece in the room.”

$8

Form: Screw mount | Material: Plastic | Features: Rolls slide in | Size: 11.25” x 2.3”

“This is the paper-towel holder for people who wish they didn’t ‘have’ to have a paper-towel holder clogging up counter space,” says recipe developer Rebecca Firkser. She inherited a version of the iDesign design from the previous tenants of her apartment, who installed it above the sink in the kitchen. “I’d probably prefer to hide it, but I don’t want to open a cabinet with wet hands for a towel,” Firkser says. Its appeal is the “mountability,” which she feels is more aesthetically pleasing than a paper-towel holder that sits on the countertop. The transparency is another draw, as she theorizes that metal pieces can “really weigh down a room.” In the two years of having it, “there are only a few scratches that I honestly only noticed when looking to answer this question,” Firkser says.

Or, if you’re plastic-averse, here’s an honorable mention made of stainless steel: Cookbook author Caroline Chambers has used this paper-towel hook in past rentals, unscrewing it and taking it with her when she moved — it’s currently installed under a cabinet in the home she now owns.

$85

Form: Freestanding | Material: Ceramic and wood | Features: Speckled glaze | Size: 7” x 13”

Moving into an apartment with a very “brown, in a classic Brooklyn way” kitchen influenced Strategist kitchen-and-dining writer Emma Wartzman to go with a “pops of blue” theme for her furnishings. One of those pops came courtesy of this paper-towel holder from Portuguese label Casafina, whichfeatures cobalt speckled-glazed stoneware on the base and at the top of the central wood rod. The “quite pretty” effect is practical, too: Because the bottom is ceramic “as opposed to wood, it doesn’t matter if it gets wet — mine is right next to the sink,” Wartzman says. It’s fairly lightweight despite its heavier materials — she mentions reading a review from someone who wished it was heavier — yet “never slides around or moves at all.”

$90

Form: Freestanding | Material: Stainless steel | Features: Tension arm, spray pump | Size: 7.1” x 8.1” x 15”

If you’re all for an all-in-one solution, consider Simplehuman’s new “pump” paper-towel holder. The can’t-miss feature is a spray bottle in the center, which you can fill with your cleaner of choice. A central tube houses the bottle and holds the paper-towel roll — a gentle push on the top of the bottle makes it pop up, while the roll stays in place. The brand sent me one for review, and I have it sitting beneath a shelf. Note that it’s on the taller side — at 15 inches, it’s the tallest freestanding paper-towel holder on this list — plus you’ll need some clearance to be able to pop up the bottle and remove it. The bottle sprays the finest of mists and stands on its own, too. It’s a clever design — especially with the addition of a tension arm to let you tear off sheets without the roll coming undone.