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See why.The Best Kitchen Sponges
Doing dishes is a dirty job. Is there a kitchen sponge that makes it easier?
Published May 28, 2019. Appears in America's Test Kitchen TV Season 20: Childhood Favorites, Grown Up
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See Everything We TestedWhat You Need To Know
We were in the test kitchen, making scrambled eggs without oil or butter in stainless-steel skillets over high heat. The eggs stuck to the pans and made terrible messes. The test cooks working around us kept shaking their heads, no doubt wondering why we hadn't switched to nonstick pans or tossed pats of butter into the skillets. We just smiled and ignored them.
We wanted those eggs to stick to the pans. We'd just started working on a review of kitchen sponges and needed to use them for some challenging cleaning tasks. As anyone who's ever goofed up their scrambled eggs knows, getting these skillets clean would be tough.
What We Tested
Several major brands had multiple options for all-purpose sponges, so we conducted a two-step preliminary test: cleaning onions and sticky, cooked-on barbecue sauce off skillets and washing delicate wine glasses. We eliminated the lowest performer from each brand. Our final 10 sponges varied considerably in price, from about $0.70 to about $6.00 per sponge, and came in a wide variety of designs and materials.
How We Tested
We expect a lot from a kitchen sponge and tested accordingly, using them to clean nonstick, traditional, and cast-iron skillets containing a variety of cooked-on foods; mixing bowls with sticky biscuit dough; stained carving boards; cheese-smeared box graters; dirty chef's knives; fragile wine glasses; and small measuring spoons. Throughout testing, we controlled both the water temperature and the amount of soap used. Finally, we purchased three additional copies of each sponge and sent them home with staffers for several weeks of use in their kitchens.
Some sponges were ineffective and sometimes downright unpleasant to use. But many performed well, and several really impressed us. Our favorites were more versatile, stayed cleaner longer, and made quicker work of tough messes, such as those pesky stuck-on scrambled eggs.
No Two Sponges Were the Same
When we think of a kitchen sponge, most of us picture a blue or yellow rectangle with slightly rough, textured material on one side. We had a sponge like that in our lineup, as well as a few others that were a similar size and shape, but many of the sponges were very different. We grouped them into three main styles.
First, there were those familiar sponges made of fairly soft, flexible material with an abrasive pad on one side. The gentle parts of these sponges were made from either foam or cellulose. The second category consisted of sponges with soft foam cores encased in semiabrasive fabrics. We also had two outliers. One sponge was made entirely of silicone and covered with tiny bristles on two sides. The other was made of a speci...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 3 stars out of 3.
Recommended
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 2.5 stars out of 3.
Instead of a plastic-based abrasive, this sponge's loofah scrubber is made from a dried plant. The loofah fibers trapped some food in our tests, but we found that we could remove it with a little effort. The white cellulose portion of the sponge remained impressively clean and fluffy even after weeks of use. This product is a bit bulky but quite absorbent.
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Comfort: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
We've all used this iconic blue sponge before, and it performed well enough until the sticky dough test. Its abrasive surface became dotted with little balls of dough that were nearly impossible to pick off, and when we did remove them, the sponge looked grubby. That said, it was absorbent and otherwise resisted stains. It's still a good sponge, but the scrubbing surfaces on the other sponges in our lineup were easier to rinse clean.
Recommended with reservations
- Comfort: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
Made famous by its appearance on the reality show Shark Tank, this bright-yellow smiley-face foam sponge stays rigid in cold water and softens in hot water. It scrubbed well at both temperatures, but in hot water, it compressed down so much that it wasn't as comfortable to use. This sponge was surprisingly absorbent but not very versatile; it had a hard time folding around chef's knives and getting into wine glasses. It tore during testing.
- Comfort: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
- Comfort: 2 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 1.5 stars out of 3.
Not Recommended
- Comfort: 1 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 1 stars out of 3.
The soft bristles on this silicone sponge tended to glide over food instead of scraping it off, so we had to work hard to clean kitchen equipment. The bristles also trapped food, and when we cleaned sharp equipment, they were sliced right off. The sponge wasn't absorbent either. Our one positive comment: Testers liked using it on glassware because its soft bristles felt very gentle.
- Comfort: 0.5 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 1 stars out of 3.
discontinued
- Comfort: 3 stars out of 3.
- Versatility: 2.5 stars out of 3.
- Cleaning Ability: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability and Cleanup: 2 stars out of 3.
This sponge varies from a traditional double-sided sponge in two ways: Its base is foam, not cellulose, and the abrasive side has ridges. We liked the ridges because they added a little extra force to each pass of the sponge. This sponge cleaned tough messes effectively and was maneuverable in small spaces. The foam became nicked during testing and had to be squeezed and rinsed repeatedly to get all the suds out. At the time of publication, this sponge was being rebranded as the Quickie Long Lasting Non-Scratch Scrub Sponge. The manufacturer told us there were no other changes being made to the sponge.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
Kate Shannon
Kate is a deputy editor for ATK Reviews. She's a culinary school graduate and former line cook and cheesemonger.