Kitchen

Stainless Steel Kitchen Mesh Strainer

Drain screens

These drain screens are a great way to avoid extra visits from the plumber and the use of noxious drain cleaners. I originally bought these stainless steel sink drain screens at an Asian grocery store. They seemed like a cheap solution to a recurring problem in our house: slow and clogged drains.

They perform only one task–prevent particles of stuff from going down the drain–but they’ve been doing a perfect job every day for the 10+ years I’ve been using them. I put these screens (which come in varying diameters) on the bathtub drain, bathroom sink drain, kitchen sink drains. We haven’t had to snake out our pipes in over a decade or even pour boiling water down them. My husband had been using an industrial-strength drain cleaner before we started using these screens but we no longer need to given their effectiveness. If you use these drain screens and avoid pouring meat grease down your drains they’ll function well or as well as can be reasonably expected given their age.

I throw mine in the dishwasher from time to time, or hand scour using baking soda and a toothbrush. These screens don’t rust, and have withstood over 10 years of occasional scrubbing. Much easier to clean than the strainer-stoppers with the rubber gasket commonly found with American kitchen sinks.

-- Jeanine Christensen 07/23/10

© 2022