Hot pads are "Store-Boughten.: “Pot HOLDERS” are tediously weaved via a LOOM. and look as shitty as you’d expect.
Still superior to oven mitts. BAH!
A friend of mine, a former paramedic, has told me graphic stories about what happens if you spill hot fat on an oven mitt while wearing it. Even though I’m rarely around hot fat, this has led to me using pot holders only, with one exception. If I’ve got something on the top rack under the broiler, I’ll use the oven mitts. Otherwise they sit unloved at the back of the drawer.
I voted hot pads, but I use regular ol’ kitchen towels much more often. I hate the mitts.
Mitts. But yeah, don’t let your guard down. A worn spot or a wet spot on a cloth mitt, and you got a problem. And you can tend to dip the thumb into the hot stuff by accident.
But a spill, ie. a slosh over the side of the pan, I would think would be worse with a pot holder than with a mitt. With a mitt you’ve maybe got a second to put the pan down before you whip off the mitt. With a pot holder, everything’s going to the floor pretty much instantly.
I welded for years mostly using Kevlar Gloves (like the Ove-Gloves but without the silicone dots) for TiG welding. Because I would sweat in the Lamb Skin Gloves and get shocked from the conductivity from the moisture, and heavier gloves were too restrictive.
Anyway…
The only time I ever burned my self was on the OVEN INTERIOR on my forearm using a hot pad/pot holder…
I’ve used **Oven Mitts **in the *oven area *ever since.
Just Sayin’ 
-I still have the scar-