In answer to my own question, when it’s a dish drainer from simplehuman.com. Now, I didn’t pay $50.00 for mine (I got the System dishrack), I paid right around $30.00 at Costco. Still, when I bought it (two years ago), I wondered if a dish drainer could really be worth that much. After all, you can get a plastic one from Wal Mart for $5.00. Could this one really be that much better? The answer is a resounding yes! It can! For one thing, it’s deep. I can really pile stuff up in there. Pots, pans, whatever. It doesn’t tip over, and stuff doesn’t fall out. It has a special place for sharp knives, to protect my knives, and to protect my hands from the knives; the glass holders are stainless steel, not plastic, so the heavy glasses we like to use don’t bend all the way backwards and drop the glasses onto the floor.
But best of all. . .customer service. I’ve had mine for just under two years now, and the plastic that holds the glass holders on is cracking. So I emailed them, asking how I could obtain new ones. They are sending me two new ones, completely free of charge. I love good customer service, and like to spread the word when I get it.
Now, I don’t know if it would be worth having such a fancy-schmancy dish drainer if I had a dishwasher, and only had the occasional hand-wash item to dry. But I don’t have a dishwasher. I wash dishes by hand about three times a day. My SimpleHuman dish drainer is attractive, easy to use, intuitive (you can position the glass holders anywhere on the rack you want to; there’s a separate, removable rack that hangs over the sink, perfect for keeping sponges and the sink stopper on). And you get great customer service. Knowing all that, I’m glad I got the price break at Costco, but I would gladly pay full price.
Hey, which one do you have? I have an ugly ancient Walmart dish drainer and sure would like to find something more attractive.
Hmm, I guess the focus of your OP is what ordinary objects are worth splurging for a extremely good version, right? The past couple of years or so, I’ve decided that in most cases, it’s worth saving up for the really nice version rather than buying the cheapo. A big one is organizers: instead of buying some crappy plastic drawers system for my closet, I invested in a genuine Elfa drawer system. Still loks sharps, is easily customizable, and holds way more than the cheapo systems.
I have the one listed on the website as the “system” dishrack. I’ll say it again, I love it.
But yes, in general, some things are worth paying more for. We’ve found this to be true with really good linens (once you try 600 thread count and higher, you’ll never look back). In order to accommodate this, sometimes you go with the generic (the store-brand of trash bags are fine). But customer service is really the key for me. This is why we have a Costco membership, as opposed to Sam’s Club or BJ’s. Costco’s customer service and return policies are head and shoulders above their competitors. It’s also why we don’t like KitchenAid any more; I had a set of KitchenAid dish scrubbers, and the handle to one of the scrubby sponges fell apart. I looked up their website, hoping to find a replacement (I’d have been willing to pay for it), and found nothing. So I emailed their customer service department. Twice. Not even a response. I realize that the dish scrubbers, compared to the price of, say, their stand mixers, are nothing. But hey, why sell a product you’re not willing to stand behind? It soured us on KitchenAid.
So funny that you mention this. I just read about this very dish rack last night in an issue of Real Simple magazine, and made a mental note to look into reviews on it, with the intent to possibly buy it. Great to know that it works as well as they said it does.
I can’t seem to find it at costco.com, though, so I may have to pay full price. Oh well, if it’s worth it, I’ll buy it.
We were just in Costco yesterday, and I didn’t see it there. As I think I mentioned, I’ve had mine for almost two years, so chances are good that Costco doesn’t have them any more. You might try searching eBay for them, or you might go to Froogle.com to see if you can find a deal. But if not, I’d say it’s worth full price!
Oh well, if it’s worth it, I’ll buy it.