Kitchen roll is a household staple that most of us use everyday, whether it’s mopping up spills, wiping surfaces or storing food.
But knowing whether you are getting the most for your money can be tricky.
Over the past week we’ve tried 19 rolls, putting the big name brands up against the supermarket basics to see how they performed.
Our testers spilled 1/4 cup of a black coffee on a kitchen worktop and measured how many sheets it took to get it squeaky clean.
The headline
While the premium brands performed significantly better in the test, you get better value for money from the cheapest supermarket essentials rolls. These require significantly more sheets, but it’s offset by the lower price. Of course, if you see the more expensive brands on offer, this might change the equation.
Best kitchen roll (least sheets needed)
Easily the most efficient roll was Regina, with only three sheets required (and two did an adequate job).
This is among the most expensive options at £4.74 for two rolls of “supersized sheets”, or 3.4p a sheet.
The total cost of cleaning up was a significant 10.2p.
Worst kitchen roll (most sheets needed)
At the bottom of the table was Morrisons Savers roll, with seven of its 240 sheets needed to clean it up.
This costs 0.49p a sheet, making the total cost of cleaning up 3.43p – much less than the test winner, but not the cheapest.
Most expensive to clean up the mess
It cost us 13.1p to clean up the mess with arguably the best-known brand in this experiment, Plenty. We needed five sheets at 2.62p a sheet.
Cheapest to clean up the mess
The cheapest rolls to clean up the spillage were Lidl, Asda and Sainsbury’s essential ranges – as well as Buffalo – which all cost 2.94p to soak up the coffee.
One other thing to note
Check our full results to decide which offers the best value – but the test threw up some other interesting results.
For example, the coffee test showed little difference between the budget and own-brand rolls at both Tesco and Sainsbury’s – so you’re better off saving money with the budget version in these supermarkets.
All of the prices below are based on packs of two kitchen rolls or the nearest equivalent, as some don’t come in packs of two but have a similar number of sheets.
We hunted around for the cheapest price for each brand, excluding any supermarket promotions.
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Here are more detailed notes on each one…
1. Regina – £4.74 (Asda)
Price per sheet – 3.38p
While three sheets were needed, the third was only to get rid of the final residue, and there was easily more capacity to clean up further mess.
The sheets were also much bigger than their rivals, measuring 32.0cm x 26.5cm, and felt thicker.
2. Nicky – £2.95 (Ocado)
Price per sheet – 1.96p
To get a clean finish, we needed to use four sheets of the Nicky kitchen roll – but only just.
While it tore off the roll easily, our testers noted it was tough and difficult to tear in half.
A sheet measured 21cm x 22.1cm, making it smaller than our leader, but cheaper.
3. Flash – £3.50 (Morrisons)
Price per sheet – 1.75p
These sheets were slightly bigger than the standard supermarket 22.5cm x 22.5cm and felt a lot heavier and more robust than some of their competitors, but four sheets were needed to soak up the coffee.
The price above was for a pack of two 100-sheet rolls, making it the cheapest in our top three.
4. Plenty – £4.98 (Asda)
Price per sheet – 2.62p
This one was hard to open and our testers found they had to waste some of the first sheets by tearing them to get the roll started.
They needed five sheets to fully clear up the mess, with some residue left after using four.
The sheets were pretty standard in size, measuring 22.5cm x 22.5cm.
5. M&S – £2.50
Price per sheet: 1.25p
The squares of kitchen roll were a bit smaller than some of the other leading brands, and they were noticeably thinner than a few of their competitors.
Despite this, it performed better than average, with our testers requiring five sheets to clean up the mess – but with room left to keep wiping up another spillage.
6. Asda Shades – £2.48
Price per sheet – 1.24p
Five sheets were needed almost in their entirety for this one, but there was a tiny bit spare in the final sheet.
It didn’t fall apart like some of the other supermarket versions we tried.
While it was slightly smaller than the standard size, 22.5cm x 20.8cm, it was cheaper than M&S.
7. Waitrose Essential – £2.70
Price per sheet – 1.35p
Like a lot of the supermarket options, this one felt rather thin.
Five sheets were needed to mop up the coffee.
8. Aldi Power Force – £1.75
Price per sheet – 0.88p
The size of these sheets was slightly bigger than rival Lidl, and the roll was thicker.
Six sheets were needed to get rid of the final residue, but only just.
Costing less than a penny a sheet, it was the cheapest option in our top 10.
9. Lidl Essential – £1.19
Price per sheet – 0.49p
Similar to Aldi, six sheets were just about needed, but they felt slightly thinner and were a tiny bit more expensive.
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10. Morrisons – £2.50
Price per sheet – 0.8p
We needed about three-quarters of the final sixth sheet to get rid of the mess.
The sheets were smaller than some of its competitors at 20.8cm x 22.5cm.
11. Lidl – £2.09
Price per sheet – 0.87p
This was Lidl’s more upmarket option but they felt like the thinnest and smallest rolls in our test.
We could only find them sold as a pack of four, giving you 240 sheets.
We really needed all six sheets to get rid of the mess, which was surprising given the performance of their cheaper counterpart.
12. Who Gives a Crap – £4 (Tesco)
Price per sheet – 2p
The sheets were bigger than some supermarket own-brands, but still pretty standard at 22.5cm x 20cm.
While it mopped up the mess in a total of six pieces, our testers said it reminded them of old paper towels they used at school.
13. Asda essential – £1.19
Price per sheet – 0.49p
All six sheets were needed completely to clean our kitchen surface, but our testers did note it was a nice, thick kitchen roll.
This brand only sells individual rolls, but each has 240 sheets measuring 20.2cm x 20.8cm, which is more than most of the twin packs we found.
14. Buffalo – 99p
Price per sheet – 0.49p
This one was a nightmare to tear off, with quite a bit of wastage at the beginning as a result.
A good six sheets were needed, but we couldn’t find the exact measurements for this one.
We could only find this Buffalo kitchen roll as an individual roll of 200 sheets.
15. Sainsbury’s – £2.59
Price per sheet – 0.77p
The thing we noticed about this one was it was slightly more patterned than Sainsbury’s more basic version and a bit thicker.
We still needed six sheets to absorb the spill, with each one measuring 22.5cm x 20.8cm.
16. Sainsbury’s Stamford Street – £1.19
Price per sheet – 0.49p
This was one of the smaller rolls we tested and was definitely the no-frills option.
Six sheets, measuring 21.2cm x 20.8cm, were needed, and really needed, to get rid of the coffee spill.
Again, like Asda’s essential option, this is only available as an individual roll, but with 240 sheets – more than double some of the twin packs.
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17. Tesco – £2.50
Price per sheet – 1.25p
This was one of the more expensive options in the bottom half of our table.
Seven sheets were needed, with the final one used to clear up the last residue smears.
18. Tesco Springforce – £1.19
Price per sheet – 0.49p
This was one of the cheapest in the test, which might mean its lower rank is unsurprising.
It was a thick roll made up of 240 thin-feeling sheets, much like the other supermarket basic options.
We needed seven sheets, with a lot of space left to keep mopping up messes.
19. Morrison’s Savers – £1.19
Price per sheet – 0.49p
Costing the same price as Tesco’s Springforce roll, this one was slightly worse, with our testers needing almost all of the final sheet, which measured 20.8cm x 20cm.
