Best Kitchen Sink Drain Strainers
Garbage disposals are great for getting rid of excess food waste, but big chunks of organic material and overuse can take a toll. That’s why your first line of defense should be a kitchen sink strainer. This handy little doodad can save you a lot of headaches and keep your garbage disposal running like a well-oiled machine.
The kitchen sink strainer is simple enough in design. It fits over your sink drain but is perforated, so it lets water through. However, it does not let large objects like bones, food chunks, silverware or (heaven forbid) wedding rings past its guard. Preventing these things from falling down the drain will stop the garbage disposal from destroying something valuable or biting off more than it can chew.
When it gets full, you can simply pull it out of the drain, shake it out into the trash can and replace. Despite how simple they are, there are many factors that determine how effective and easy to use a kitchen sink strainer is. To that end, we have gathered some of the best strainers on the market and made our pick for which we think was the number one pick.
How We Came Up with the List
You’d be surprised how much variation there is in materials and design between different kitchen sink strainers. Even though they are more or less a metal grate that fits over a drain, there are large gulfs in functionality and quality. Here are some of the criteria we examined.
Durability
These trainers are going to see a lot of action. Water, food and dishes are all going to give this little tool a beating. So, it has to be tough. Not only does it have to be resistant to dents, nicks and bends but it also has to resist rusting as it will spend most of its life wet.
We found that stainless steel or brass are the best materials for sink strainers. They can take a beating and won’t stain or rust easily. Sturdy construction design is also important as many cheap models are not put together well and break down after only a few weeks of use.
Performance
Not all sink strainers perform the same way if you can believe it. While draining water and catching food seems simple enough, how well this tool performs that function comes down to design and most importantly the hole design.
Small holes trap more debris, but too small and the build-up will block water flow and clog your sink. Bigger holes allow for freer flows but may miss some particles. There are happy mediums, fortunately, that perform well in both of these areas, so they naturally ranked higher in our books.
Ease of Use
Again, simple doesn’t always mean easy. You are going to want to be able to remove this thing safely, quickly and easily so you can clean it off and put it right back in. You don’t want to have to dig it out with your nails or pry it free with a knife for obvious safety and durability reasons.
We looked more favorably on kitchen sink strainers that had built-in features for ease of use. Handles and ergonomic design go a long way to making for an easy to use sink strainer. To us they are must-haves.
The Overall Winner
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The kitchen sink strainer that had everything we wanted and more was the Master Plumber 548-872 MP Basket Sink Strainer. This strainer is solidly made from stainless steel with a high-quality rubber stopper underneath it. This stopper makes an airtight seal so that nothing gets by this strainer.
It has large enough holes to allow good water flow without letting too much by. Anything small enough to make it through these holes will likely be easily mulched by your garbage disposal anyway. Anything big enough to cause problems down there will fall harmlessly into this strainer.
When you want to clean the Master Plumber 548-872 MP, you can simply grab the center post and yank it out. Shake it off, rinse it down and plug it back in. Easy!
Rating: 5/5
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Best Value
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Kitchen sink strainers are generally pretty affordable already, but if you are really looking to shave off some nickels and dimes perhaps on a large number purchase or something, then you could go with the O’Malley Disposal Strainer. This strainer performs admirably well and is easy to remove and clean.
The problem is, however, that it is made of hard white plastic. This drops the price down a bit, but it also means that it is not as durable as its stainless steel cousins and is likely to stain. If that doesn’t bother you or you don’t foresee heavy use, this strainer will do the job.
Rating: 3/5
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Runner Ups
These kitchen sink strainers might cater to more specific needs and are good choices in their own rights.
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This strainer has a removable basket that fits into an included aperture. It also has a lid that you can use to cover up the drain when not in use to keep the smell down or prevent any insects from crawling up.
While effective, this strainer is a bit complicated to operate and clean. If you are doing some heavy duty work in your sink and need a high capacity strainer, though, this one’s for you.
Rating: 4/5
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This set of four kitchen sink strainers is great it you have multiple sink drains of different sizes. You can even use them in the bathroom or laundry room. They are quite affordable, but they are mesh which means not only are they not as durable as some other strainers, but also the holes are so small it might be prone to clogging. Still, more options are nice.
Rating: 3.5/5
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Not sure which one to buy? Check out our comparison table below:
Model
Our Rating
Price
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5 out of 5
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3 out of 5
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4 out of 5
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3.5 out of 5
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Model
Glisten Disposer Care Foaming Cleaner
Hose Length
6 ft
Our Rating
4.5 out of 5
Price
Model
Hose Length
6 ft
Our Rating
3 out of 5
Price
Model
Grab Green Natural Garbage Disposal Cleaner
Hose Length
6 ft
Our Rating
4 out of 5
Price
Model
Green Gobbler “Refresh” Garbage Disposal Deodorizer
Hose Length
6 ft
Our Rating
3.5 out of 5
Price
Last update on 2021-10-22 at 11:20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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