I thought that I wanted a really beefy dish cloth until I got one. They feel like they WILL last a long time and they do a good job on plates and bowls and really most things where the bulk doesn't hurt. Things like some wine glasses, shot glasses or anything with a small opening are a little more difficult to get the cloths into to clean. Also, because they are thicker, they hold onto the moisture longer. This seems to cause them to get a little funky and we have to swap them out more often than the thinner cloths. I'll likely go back to the thinner variety when these are worn out 10 years from now...:-) Recieved these today. Washed according to label and this is what I have before first use. Not impressed so far These dish towels claim to be absorbent. However, after wiping off wet dishes all they did was smear the water around and leave streaks (without absorbing the water). The material is subpar. We now use them as stovetop cleaning rags. I rec'd these a few days ago and ran them through the wash before using. Mind turned a dark green color, the solid ones, to which I really have no problems with as stains won't show as easy. So warning, if you have all blue in kitchen, be aware, mind turned dark green. I use Tide pods and no softener at all, just don't understand how this happened. I do love the size and have a feeling with extended use of dryer, they will shrink slightly, so this size will be prefect for my small hands. I really do like them.Update: I still love these very much and the white with blue, the blue does turn the same shade of green as the solid blue ones did, but it isn't a bad shade of green, like a dark hunter green that has faded slightly. They wash and dry great and unless you absolutely have to have the blue, go for these. They look great when you get them. Wrapped in bow they hide their quality issues. First after a couple washes some of the gems fell apart. Worse the that even after several washes they still aren’t very absobant. I’d say look else where. Loved the colors, fit my kitchen color scheme perfectly, have 1 very serious draw back, they really shrunk when I washed them, even in cold water, dried warm cycle. Now they don't look at all like what I expected before I ever got to use or display them with the towels I had planned to use with them .1 tip, don't add clothes softening agent or they leave a film on your glasses when you hand wash them, plus they had strange odor to them when I opened the bag, my daughter said they smelled sort of like mildew. I still can't get the smell out & I washed them 3 times. They really were pretty though. Giving the benefit of the doubt could be a bad shelf life in storage facility. We have a stainless steel sink and well water. After finishing work at our sink we have to do a final rinse and then towel wipe it dry so it won't leave water spots. I purchased these towels because I keep a "dedicated" towel by the sink for this purpose. I always wash new clothes, etc. before their first use. Since these towels are 100% cotton I expected them to shrink. For this review, after one wash I measured one against a measuring tape, the shrinkage has been minimal and they look very good. It measured out at about 12".On the down side, they have proven to not be as absorbent as our other kitchen towels. I'm hoping that will improve after a few more washes. These were NOT as shown!!! I measured the towels that I was replacing and the description said that these were the same size. Until I washed them and they shrunk down to about 8 x 8 inches and the are Not Terry Cloth!!.