The Best Stainless Steel Colanders and Strainers

The handles are the reason this one wins. They're elevated and non-slip, so they give you something to hold with wet hands, and they stay put while you shake the last water out. Bare stainless handles get slippery and hot. These don't. If you've ever set a full colander down faster than you meant to, you know how much that matters. It's a small design choice you'll appreciate every pasta night.

The perforations cover the entire bowl, not just the bottom. Water leaves from the sides as well as the base, so you don't have to tilt and jostle a heavy load to get the last of it out. Published reviews of this OXO have singled out the fine hole pattern for keeping short shapes like orzo and ditalini in the bowl instead of down the drain.

Three raised feet keep it steady in the sink. A colander that rocks is a colander that dumps. The feet spread the weight and hold the bowl above whatever's pooling in the basin, which also keeps drained pasta out of the dirty water. Owners rarely raise stability as a complaint here, and that's the failure mode that ruins dinner.

Five quarts is the right size for a normal household. A pound of dried pasta lands around three to three and a half quarts cooked, so you get real headroom instead of a bowl you have to fill carefully. It nests inside mixing bowls for storage, and there's a 3-quart version if you mostly cook for one or two.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It's not the lightest colander here, and the feet trap water. The ring of feet and the dense hole pattern add heft you'll feel when the bowl is full. Water also beads under the base, so if you stack it damp into a closed cabinet you'll find spots later. Rinse it, flip it, and let it dry in the open.

Dishwasher-safe doesn't mean dishwasher-proof. Run it through enough cycles and the finish dulls and spots, which is true of nearly every stainless colander. Nothing structural goes wrong, but it stops looking new sooner than hand-washing would allow. If the shine matters to you, wash it by hand.

The hole size is the whole point. Standard colanders use openings big enough for a grain of rice to slip through, which is fine for penne and infuriating for orzo. Bellemain's micro-perforations are tight enough to hold small pastas, most beans and grains, and rinsed berries. If you wash rice before dinner, this solves a daily annoyance.

It drains faster than a mesh strainer doing the same job. Mesh holds everything back, but it also clogs with starch and slows to a trickle. Packing many small holes across the bowl keeps the total open area high, so water leaves quickly without tilting. The stable draining ring base helps too, since it keeps your food out of the puddle underneath.

You get two sizes in one purchase. The 5-quart bowl takes a pound of dried pasta with room to spare. The 3-quart handles a side of green beans or a cup of quinoa without feeling cavernous. That's genuinely useful, because most of us reach for the smaller bowl more often than we expect. They nest together for storage, too.

The steel is 18/8 and rated dishwasher safe. That's the same grade most good consumer colanders use, and it resists rust well as long as you dry it. Bellemain builds it heavy, with riveted handles rather than thin spot welds. Owners generally describe it as sturdier than they expected from the pictures.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The handles are bare metal, and you'll feel it. There's no rubber coating, so a full, hot bowl gets slippery and uncomfortable fast. A folded towel fixes it, but that's one more thing to manage over a steaming sink. Next to the OXO, this is the clearest downgrade.

Riveted handles create seams that trap food. The rivet passes through the bowl wall, leaving small gaps where starchy water and bits of food settle. A dishwasher cycle usually clears them. Still, it's a spot worth a scrub now and then, especially after you drain anything oily.

The 18/10 steel is a real upgrade, not just marketing. The second number is nickel content, and more nickel means better corrosion resistance and a brighter finish. In a kitchen, that shows up as fewer pits and less discoloration after years of tomato sauce, lemon juice and salted pasta water. If your last colander rusted out on you, this is the spec that fixes it.

The graduated holes drain quickly and let air move. Water leaves fast, and the pedestal base lifts the bowl so nothing sits in a pool. The holes are sized for standard pasta and vegetables rather than orzo, so don't buy this one for rice. For spaghetti, broccoli and washed greens, it's quick and it stays put.

It's built to be kept, and the warranty says so. The riveted handles are large and easy to grab with two hands, the exterior is polished, and the interior is brushed to hide the scuffs that come with real use. All-Clad covers it for a lifetime. Spread over that kind of horizon, the premium looks different than it does on the shelf.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Three quarts is the problem. A pound of dried pasta comes out around three quarts cooked, so you're pouring right up to the rim and hoping. If you cook for four regularly, you'll want more room. For one or two people, or for rinsing produce and straining sauce, it's fine.

It costs far more than colanders that drain just as well. You're paying for the alloy, the finish and the warranty, not for faster draining. The holes are ordinary in size and the handles are ordinary in comfort. If you don't care about keeping one colander forever, the money saved elsewhere is hard to argue with.

All-Clad backs this colander with a lifetime warranty.

Fine mesh does things holes can't. Powdered sugar, cocoa, herb infusions, custard bases, cloudy stock — none of that separates in a perforated bowl. The woven wire here catches particles far too small for any colander to stop. If you bake or make sauces from scratch, this is the gap in your kitchen you've been working around.

Three sizes cover three different jobs. The 3-inch handles a squeeze of citrus juice or a dusting over one plate. The 6-inch is your everyday sauce strainer. The 8-inch takes a full batch of stock off a big pot. Buying them one at a time means guessing at sizes; this way you just grab the one that fits.

The wide rims let them sit on a bowl and work without you. You can pour, walk away and come back, which is useful for slow drips like clarified stock or thick fruit puree. The handles don't slip when they're wet, and each one has a hole for hanging. All three nest, so the set takes up about as much cabinet space as one.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Mesh clogs, and clearing it is a chore. Starchy pasta water and thick purees pack into the weave, and rinsing alone won't shift them — you'll need a brush and some patience. Fats like butter or a rich stock leave a film that wants hot water and soap. That's the trade you make for fine filtration.

Don't use these to drain pasta. Flow through fine mesh is much slower than through a perforated bowl, and the 8-inch strainer isn't sized for a full pound anyway. This set complements a colander, it doesn't replace one. Plan on owning both.