Kitchen Rolls

Kitchen Paper Towels & Kitchen Rolls

As Europe's leading supplier of office accessories and facilities, we can offer a wide variety of commercial kitchen roll at the best prices. With various delivery options available, you can have just what you need in as little as 24 hours.

When were kitchen paper towels invented?

The history of the kitchen paper towel goes right back to the beginning of the 20^th Century. By then, the Scott Paper Company had been up and running for 26 years as toilet paper manufacturers. The story goes that a railroad car full of paper ready to be transformed into toilet tissue was unloaded at the company's factory. However, as the head of the company, Arthur Scott, discovered, they had been rolled at a thickness that was too dense for their intended purpose.

While this could have spelt disaster, Arthur remembered reading about a teacher in nearby Philadelphia who had developed a what-was-then innovative approach to stopping the spread of colds and bacteria. Her policy was to issue students with cold symptoms a piece of disposable tissue paper for use after washing their hands. This was done to reduce the possibility of contaminating the unperforated kitchen paper rolls that had found their way into school bathroom facilities.

Turning a potential calamity to his advantage, Arthur realised that there was a burgeoning market for perforated and thick rolls of tissue paper. His first mission was to sell these innovations to the school he had read about. By the 1930s, his marketplace had expanded to include restaurants, train stations, hotels, and anywhere where public toilet facilities were offered. However, they were also snapped up for use in the kitchen by homeowners and restaurateurs. Today, the kitchen paper roll is present in almost every domestic and professional kitchen in the world. Used to mop up spills and splashes and wipe down surfaces, it's become an indispensable accessory.

How is commercial kitchen roll made?

Absorbent and easy to use, commercial kitchen roll is made from wood and pulp. These raw materials are taken from hardwood and softwood trees before being bleached and cleaned. The resulting material is then dried out on a vast cylinder, and the resulting paper is collected into the appropriate thickness for kitchen paper roll.

The next stage in the process is to layer the sheets with protein-based and plant-derived adhesives. This increases the material's capacity to absorb moisture and retain it. Some kitchen paper towel manufacturers choose to emboss their kitchen roll with diamonds or circles. In addition to adding a pleasing aesthetic to the product, these also help to improve their capacity to absorb liquid. These are food-grade adhesives that are non-toxic. On top of that, harmless conditioners are added to the sheets to ensure their consistency and strength. As a result, a kitchen paper towel is just as suitable for wrapping up dry food products, such as bread and cakes, as they are for tackling the grime that can accumulate in a professional kitchen.

Other manufacturers choose to use water-based inks to set their kitchen towels apart from the crown or brand them. However, you’ll find that most commercial kitchen roll is white. This is so that you can see when it’s been used and how much is left of the sheet before it becomes too dirty.

Disposing of kitchen paper roll

The majority of kitchen paper towels aren't suitable for recycling. While some can be disposed of with food waste and can be composted, standard kitchen paper roll will need to be disposed of with your regular waste. However, some commercial kitchen roll brands are made from recycled paper. Although these are also unsuitable for recycling, the materials used in their manufacture have been repurposed. If reducing your carbon footprint is important to you and your customers, recycled kitchen paper roll is the way forward.

Alternative uses for kitchen paper towels

It's no secret that kitchen paper roll was developed to clean up in busy kitchens and stop the spread of germs. However, as one of the most versatile additions to your home or office, it also serves a variety of other purposes. If you were in any doubt as to why you need commercial kitchen roll to hand, check out these handy hacks:

• • Keep your salad and herbs fresh. If you've ever tried to keep salad or herbs in your fridge, you'll know how quickly they can wilt. Popping a damp kitchen paper towel into the bag they're in can help to extend their lifespan and keep them fresher for longer.

• • Testing old seeds. Most of us have a packet of seeds lurking in a drawer somewhere that's well past its expiration date. If you want to check whether the seeds can still be used, sandwich them between a couple of moist sheets of commercial kitchen roll and store them somewhere warm. If, after 14 days, they haven't sprouted, then throw them out. However, if shoots are starting to appear, you can transplant them to the appropriate pots.

• • Cleaning wax stains. If you have children in your home, the chances are that you've got wax crayons. If you've got wax crayons in your home, the chances are that their use won't be restricted to paper. A top trick that can help to get rid of wax stains is to lay a sheet of kitchen paper towel over the offending area and give it a once-over with an iron. The paper should absorb the melted wax while preventing it from spreading over the soleplate.

• • An ad-hoc coffee filter. If it’s time for your morning cuppa, but you’ve run out of filters, a sheet of kitchen paper towel roll will do as a last resort. While it might not be as porous as a traditional coffee filter, your brew will still drip through while leaving most of the sediment behind.