The best salad spinners

With its easy-to-use push-button, non-slip silicone bottom, and large colander, the OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner cleans and dries your greens with ease.

When it comes to salad spinners, the OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner is the best you can buy for your kitchen. It is incredibly easy to use, thanks to its handy push-down button that whips your greens dry.

I loaded in spinach and romaine, and in just two or three pushes, they were completely dry. The press-down has a lever on the side that allows you to adjust the torque, which is great if you're spinning a smaller amount of greens. Since you don't need as much torque for smaller batches, you keep your greens from plastering against the sides of the colander at higher speeds.

I also love how the OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner has a brake button. With so many other spinners, you have to wait until the spinner slows down to pull the top off. The break not only stops the spinning, but that hard stop kicks off the last bit of moisture and dirt off your greens.

This spinner is sturdy, too. Both the bowl and the colander are made out of BPA-free plastic and can be washed on the top rack of your dishwasher. Plus, the lid comes apart for easy deep cleaning. The bottom also has a no-slip strip, so the spinner doesn't slip around on your counter. It's truly a one-handed ordeal.

The one drawback to this spinner is that it's super bulky. It doesn't exactly slip into your cabinet undetected, so if you're in a smaller space, it might be a bit cumbersome.

Pros: One-handed pump is easy to use, it's dishwasher-safe, gets greens super clean

Cons: It's super bulky, so it's hard to store

If you're someone who typically makes smaller salads, reach for the Chef'n Spin Cycle Salad Spinner with its more compact design and sturdy bowl.

The Chef'n Spin Cycle Salad Spinner uses a push-down lever to spin your greens around, making it slightly different than a push-down button. But this does allow for the bowl to be a little more shallow, which is great for smaller batches of greens and for storing. The spinner arm lays flat, so you can stack things on top of it and maximize the pantry or counter space.

Like the OXO Good Grips spinner, this bowl has a silicone base so it won't slip and slide around your counter. It does, however, take a couple more pushes to get it going, which can be a little bit of a pain.

The spinner is very intuitive. The same button that pops the arm up for spinning is also the brake, so you're not dealing with a bunch of different buttons. I also loved how the colander was slightly smaller than the others I'd tested. This gives the water somewhere to go so my greens weren't sitting in dirty water after they were done spinning.

My greens came out dry, but they needed a little pat with a paper towel before I was able to use them — especially the more tender spinach greens. They were, however, incredibly clean, making this the perfect option for those who prefer smaller salads.

On top of all of that, the Chef'n Spin Cycle Salad Spinner is dishwasher safe and free of BPA plastic.

Pros: Intuitive to use, easy to store, dishwasher safe, silicone base, stackable

Cons: Needs a few extra spins to get totally dry

The OXO Steel Salad Spinner is made with stainless steel and doubles as a serving bowl, giving you one less bowl to wash.

Minimalists out there will love the OXO Steel Salad Spinner for its sleek design. It doubles as a serving bowl, allowing you to drain the dirty water out and then dump your greens in for quick serving.

The steel bowl serves another purpose too. If I put greens straight from the fridge into the bowl and then filled it with cold water, the bowl kept my greens cool and crisp, which made for a much more refreshing salad.

Like the OXO Good Grips, the OXO Steel Salad Spinner has a push-top lever as well as a brake, so it's incredibly easy to use. Its silicone strip on the bottom also ensures that it won't slip everywhere.

And if you don't want to handwash your spinner, you can drop this into the dishwasher is safe — as long as you put it on the top rack.

There is a drawback to the stainless steel though. I like to see my greens as they're spinning, so I can get an idea of how much dirt and water is coming off. You can't do that with the stainless steel — you have to lift the colander out of the bowl to ensure your greens are dry. Not a huge deal, but a slight annoyance.

Pros: Keeps your greens cool, can double as a serving bowl

Cons: Opaque so you can't see the greens unless you pull the colander out

With its collapsible design, the Progressive Collapsible Salad Spinner is perfect for storing in tight cabinets and pantries.

The biggest issue with many salad spinners — including the ones we've liked in this guide — is that they're bulky and take up space in your pantry. But the Progressive Collapsible Salad Spinner is the antidote to that. The bowl and colander fold up into a quarter of their size, so you can squeeze it in the tiniest spots of your pantry.

The outer bowl can be used as a serving bowl in a pinch, though it's not as sleek as the OXO Steel Salad Spinner. The silicone makes it great for outdoor barbecues where you don't want to worry about anything breaking.

The Progressive Salad Spinner does successfully rinse your greens, but it doesn't have as many holes as other colanders, so it takes a few extra spins to fully dry.

The spin top doesn't have a button or lever so it collapses flat and can be stacked, making it a good option for those with limited storage. But the spin top might also be cumbersome to some. Since you have to spin the crank around the bowl manually, it takes a little more of an arm workout and can be a hindrance to those with limited mobility.

All of the parts are dishwasher safe too, making this super convenient.

Pros: Collapsable, great for small batches of greens

Cons: Takes a bit longer to dry your greens, has a crank design, very manual