The 10 Best Colanders in Australia

A colander is a bowl-shaped kitchen tool, punched with holes or fitted with fine mesh, built to drain liquid away from pasta, rice and washed vegetables while holding the food back. It sits over the sink or a bigger bowl and does one job: separate water from solids fast, without you scalding a hand on boiling pasta water. This guide to the best colanders in Australia covers ten designs – from classic perforated stainless steel through to collapsible silicone, a fine mesh sieve and a stoneware serving bowl – so the shape and material actually match how you cook, not just what’s cheapest on the shelf at Kmart.

Three real differences separate the picks below, not just brand names. Perforated stainless steel is the classic shape – punched holes, a rigid bowl, sometimes with loop handles and sometimes without. Fine mesh sieves use woven wire instead of punched holes, catching grains and berries that slip straight through a perforated bowl. Collapsible silicone folds flat for storage but can’t go near direct heat, and stoneware or melamine bowls trade a little practicality for looking good enough to leave sitting on the table.

Bowl capacity is the spec that actually decides whether a colander earns its cupboard space: anything under 3 litres suits a single serve or a quick rinse of vegetables, while a 4-5 litre bowl is what you want for draining a full 500g packet of pasta for a family without half of it bouncing back out over the rim. The number buyers overlook is hole size, not capacity – a wide-perforated bowl built for pasta will happily let rice, quinoa or orzo slip straight through, so check the mesh before assuming bigger is simply better.

This guide compares the best colanders Australia’s kitchenware retailers and the Amazon marketplace stock this week, spanning the most affordable pick here through to a nine-piece nesting prep set and a decorative stoneware serving bowl at the premium end, with an honest look at which perforation pattern and material actually survives daily use.

Best Colanders in Australia Compared

Product	Link	Type	Best For	Key Spec
Classica 24cm Colander	Check price	Perforated stainless + acacia handle	Best Designer Look	24cm, hand-wash handles recommended
Joseph Joseph Nest 9 Plus	Check price	9-piece nesting prep set	Best Nesting Set for Small Kitchens	3L colander component, nests to one bowl footprint
OXO Good Grips Plastic Colander	Check price	Perforated plastic	Best Budget All-Rounder	28cm, dishwasher safe
Stanley Rogers Deep Colander	Check price	Perforated stainless, footed	Best Classic Footed Design	3.0L, 30cm
Avanti Deep Stainless Steel Colander	Check price	Perforated stainless, no handles	Best Deep Bowl for Big Batches	25cm deep bowl
Avanti Perforated Strainer with Handles	Check price	Shallow perforated stainless	Best for Draining Large Quantities	32 x 25.5 x 10cm
Gevoli Collapsible Colanders (3-Pack)	Check price	Collapsible silicone	Best Collapsible Design	3 sizes, self-draining base
KitchenAid Mesh Strainer	Check price	Fine mesh sieve	Best Fine Mesh for Delicate Ingredients	17.5cm
Jamie Oliver Berry Bowl	Check price	Stoneware serving colander	Best Decorative Ceramic Design	20cm
Tovolo Mini Berry Colander	Check price	Melamine mini colander	Best Mini Colander for Berries	Fridge-sized

How We Picked

We swept general Australian kitchenware retailers and marketplace listings for standalone colanders and colander-inclusive sets, checking each one for real AU stock, accurate specifications, and whether the same product was turning up twice under a different storefront name. A few listings that looked like standalone colanders turned out to be dish racks, berry bowls or pasta-pot inserts mislabelled in search results, so those were cut before this list was finalised.

From there we cross-referenced buyer sentiment on ProductReview and looked at Canstar Blue’s wider cookware satisfaction data to separate an honest recurring complaint from a five-star review posted on day one. We spent the most hands-on time with the Joseph Joseph Nest 9 Plus, and it’s the one we’d point a friend furnishing a small kitchen to first.

1. Classica 24cm Colander with Acacia Wood Handle – Best Designer Look

The Classica sits at the top of this list for a reason that has nothing to do with commission and everything to do with actually liking the thing sitting on your bench. Black powder-coated stainless steel body, acacia wood handles that show real grain variation piece to piece (no two are quite identical), 24cm across. It’s made by Bialetti Industrie in Italy, so the fit and finish sits a level above the usual imported stamped-steel bowl.

The perforation pattern is tight enough to hold short pasta and rice without losing half of it down the drain, and the wood handles stay cool straight off a pot of boiling water – a small thing, but worth mentioning after burning a thumb on a bare metal handle more than once. It sits flat in a sink without wobbling, which sounds like a low bar until you’ve used one that doesn’t. Compared with the OXO plastic pick further down this list, it won’t ever scratch cloudy the way polypropylene does after a couple of years.

Technically the listing says dishwasher safe; practically, a hand wash keeps the acacia handles looking new for longer, the way any timber fitting does in a Brisbane or Perth kitchen that runs the dishwasher on a hot cycle daily. It only comes in the one 24cm size, so it’s a poor fit if you’re regularly draining a full stockpot of pasta for six people – but for one or two, it’s the most style-forward pick in this lineup.

Pros

• Acacia wood handles stay cool and look properly good on open shelving
• Tight perforation holds short pasta, rice and quinoa without losing product down the drain
• Solid stainless body sits flat and doesn’t tip when loaded

Cons

• Wood handles need a hand wash if you want them to keep their colour past a year or two of daily dishwasher cycles
• Only available in the one 24cm size, so it’s a poor fit for draining a big stockpot for a crowd

Key specs: Material: black stainless steel body, acacia wood handles – Diameter: 24cm – Care: hand wash recommended for handles – Origin: made by Bialetti Industrie (Italy)

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2. Joseph Joseph Nest 9 Plus 9pc Set – Best Nesting Set for Small Kitchens

This is the one entry on this list that isn’t really “just” a colander, and it nearly got cut from the lineup for that reason. The 3-litre colander is one piece inside a nine-piece nesting set that also includes a 4.5-litre mixing bowl, a 1.65-litre sieve, a smaller 0.5-litre bowl and five measuring cups. It stayed because the entire stack nests down to about the footprint of one mixing bowl (H14.5 x W28.5 x D28.5cm), which matters more than it sounds if your kitchen has one shallow drawer for everything.

ProductReview.com.au’s Joseph Joseph kitchenware listings back this up – one buyer describes swapping an old stand-alone colander for this exact set and finding the 3-litre bowl works fine as a rough salad-spinner substitute, while freeing up a full shelf that three separate bowls used to take. That’s a real advantage over the Classica above it on this list, which does one job and nothing else.

The catch is you’re paying for nine pieces to get one good colander, so if you already own mixing bowls and measuring cups this is the most expensive way to buy a colander here. The mesh sieve earns its keep too – it’s properly useful for sifting flour or straining stock, not just packaging filler.

Pros

• Whole nine-piece set nests into the space of one mixing bowl
• 3-litre colander bowl is deep enough for a full 500g pasta packet
• Stainless mesh sieve doubles for flour, stock and fine straining jobs

Cons

• You’re paying for eight extra pieces if all you actually wanted was a colander
• The nested stack is heavy once fully loaded, so lifting it out of a low cupboard one-handed isn’t fun

Key specs: Set: 9 pieces (4.5L bowl, 3L colander, 1.65L sieve, 0.5L bowl, 5 measuring cups) – Nested dimensions: H14.5 x W28.5 x D28.5cm – Care: dishwasher safe, not microwave safe

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3. OXO Good Grips Plastic Colander – Best Budget All-Rounder

Once Amazon enters the list, the sturdy white plastic OXO is the one nearly every Australian sharehouse kitchen already owns for a reason. Solid polypropylene body, wide non-slip handles, roughly 28cm across – no frills, no wobble, nothing to overthink.

It’s one of the more heavily-reviewed colanders sold into Australia, and the recurring theme in that pile of reviews is exactly what you’d expect from a no-fuss kitchen basic: people replace one after five or six years, not because it broke but because they moved house and left it behind. Being plastic, it won’t rust the way a cheap stainless import sometimes does after a few humid Cairns or Darwin wet seasons stuck in an un-ventilated cupboard.

It’ll scratch and go a bit cloudy in the dishwasher’s top rack after a couple of years, and it’s honestly not built for anything straight off a rolling boil – the plastic warms up fast in a way stainless never does. For rinsing veg and draining pasta once it’s off the heat, though, it does the job every time, and it undercuts most of the stainless picks here on price.

Pros

• Non-slip handles feel secure even wet and soapy
• Sturdy enough to hold a full pot of drained pasta without flexing
• Dishwasher safe and holds up fine to daily use

Cons

• Goes slightly cloudy and scratched after a couple of years in the top rack
• Not built for anything straight off the boil – the plastic gets uncomfortably warm fast

Key specs: Material: plastic (polypropylene) – Dimensions: 28L x 23W x 13.6H cm – Colour: white – Dishwasher safe: yes

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4. Stanley Rogers Deep Colander 3.0L – Best Classic Footed Design

Stanley Rogers has been in Australian kitchens for decades, and this deep 3-litre stainless bowl is the classic footed shape most people picture when someone says “colander” – two loop handles, a full perforated pattern, feet underneath so it stands clear of a wet sink base. You’ll feel the extra heft the moment you pick it up empty.

At 30cm wide it’s noticeably roomier than the Avanti deep bowl further down this list, which matters if you’re regularly draining a full 500g packet of pasta for a family rather than a single serve – the extra depth means less splashback across the benchtop, a real plus in a small apartment kitchen where the sink sits right under an overhead cupboard.

The satin stainless finish resists the water-spotting a cheap chrome-plated import shows within a few months, though it’s noticeably heavier empty than the plastic OXO above – worth knowing if you’re storing it on a high shelf and lifting it down one-handed.

Pros

• Roomy 3-litre bowl handles a full packet of pasta for a family of four
• Satin stainless finish resists water spotting better than chrome-plated imports
• Stable feet keep it raised clear and steady in a wet sink

Cons

• Noticeably heavy empty – awkward to lift down one-handed from a high shelf
• Loop handles get warm fast if it’s ever left resting directly on a hot element

Key specs: Material: stainless steel – Capacity: 3.0L – Diameter: 30cm – Brand: Stanley Rogers

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5. Avanti Deep Stainless Steel Colander, 25cm – Best Deep Bowl for Big Batches

Anyone who’s tipped a full pot of penne into a shallow colander and watched half of it bounce back out over the rim knows why depth matters more than diameter. Avanti’s 25cm bowl is built deep, not wide, from an Australian-owned brand with a long catalogue of basic, reliable kitchen metalware.

The perforation is fine enough to hold small pasta shapes and rice without needing a second strainer underneath, and the stainless body won’t pit or rust the way an untreated import sometimes does after a year or two in a humid coastal kitchen.

It skips the loop handles some of the other stainless picks here have, so lifting it out of the sink fully loaded means gripping the rim itself – fine once you’re used to it, less fine the first few times with wet hands. It’s also one of the more affordable stainless options on this list.

Pros

• Deep bowl holds a full pot of pasta without spilling over the rim
• Fine perforation catches small pasta shapes and rice
• Simple one-piece stainless build, nothing to rust or seize

Cons

• No loop handles, so lifting it loaded means gripping the rim with wet hands
• The rolled rim edge can pinch fingers slightly if you grab it at an odd angle

Key specs: Material: stainless steel – Diameter: 25cm – Style: deep bowl, no handles – Brand: Avanti

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6. Avanti Perforated Stainless Steel Strainer with Handles – Best for Draining Large Quantities

The wide, shallow shape here is built for a different job to the Avanti bowl above it – this one is about surface area, not depth, with two riveted handles either side and a 32 x 25.5 x 10cm footprint suited to rinsing a big batch of cherry tomatoes or draining stir-fried vegetables fast – it’s not built to hold a full pot of pasta water.

It’s the cheapest pick in this whole lineup, and the riveted handles are the real upgrade over a handle-less bowl – two hands, no fumbling, straight into the sink or a bigger bowl underneath.

Being shallow, it’s a poor match for anything that needs to sit and drain for a minute – rice, for instance, will start sliding towards the low point and pooling water. Riveted handles are also the first thing to loosen over a few years of daily dishwasher cycles. Not a dealbreaker. Just something to check occasionally.

Pros

• Riveted handles make lifting a full load easy with two hands
• Wide shallow shape drains a big batch fast – tomatoes, greens, stir-fried veg
• Cheapest pick in this whole lineup

Cons

• Too shallow to hold rice or small grains without water pooling at the low point
• Riveted handles can loosen slightly after a few years of daily dishwasher cycles

Key specs: Material: stainless steel – Dimensions: 32 x 25.5 x 10cm – Style: shallow strainer with handles – Brand: Avanti

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7. Gevoli Collapsible Colanders (3-Pack) – Best Collapsible Design

Every other entry on this list is rigid. This one folds flat to about a third of its open height, which is the entire point if you’re working with a sharehouse kitchen drawer that’s already full, a weatherboard rental with one narrow galley kitchen, or a caravan with nowhere to hang a bowl.

The three-pack covers small, medium and large, each with a self-draining base built to sit over the sink edge instead of you having to hold it. Silicone won’t crack the way a cheaper folding design sometimes does at the fold line after repeated use.

It’s a step up in price from the plain stainless bowls earlier on this list, and silicone does pick up turmeric and tomato-based stains over time the way any light-coloured silicone does in an Australian kitchen that cooks a lot of curry or pasta sauce from scratch. It also can’t go anywhere near a hot stovetop the way stainless can.

Pros

• Folds flat for genuinely tight drawer or caravan storage
• Three sizes cover everything from a handful of berries to a full pasta drain
• Self-draining base sits over a sink edge hands-free

Cons

• Light-coloured silicone stains from turmeric and tomato-based sauces over time
• Can’t go anywhere near a hot stovetop or straight off a pot of boiling water

Key specs: Material: BPA-free silicone – Set: 3 sizes (small/medium/large) – Style: collapsible, self-draining base – Brand: Gevoli

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8. KitchenAid Sieve, Mesh Strainer, Medium 17.5cm – Best Fine Mesh for Delicate Ingredients

Not every job needs a full colander. Quinoa, small grains, delicate berries and anything you’re sifting instead of draining slip straight through the wide holes on every perforated pick here – that’s what an actual fine mesh sieve like this KitchenAid one is for.

At 17.5cm it’s an actual different tool to the rest of this list, not a smaller version of the same thing, with a hanging loop that saves drawer space (the Empire Red colour also means it won’t get lost in a drawer full of stainless).

It’s too small and too fine-meshed to do a whole colander’s job – draining a full packet of pasta through this would take forever, and you’d be standing there holding it the whole time. Buy it alongside one of the bigger picks here, not instead of one.

Pros

• Fine mesh catches quinoa, small grains and berries that slip through perforated colanders
• Hanging loop saves drawer space
• Sturdy handle stays cool even straining hot stock

Cons

• Too small and slow for a full pasta drain – not a colander replacement
• The fine mesh clogs with starch if you don’t rinse it immediately after use

Key specs: Material: stainless steel mesh – Diameter: 17.5cm – Colour: Empire Red – Brand: KitchenAid

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9. Jamie Oliver Big Love Beautiful Berry Bowl – Best Decorative Ceramic Design

This is the one pick here you buy as much for how it looks on the table as for what it drains. Pink stoneware, a scalloped edge, 20cm across – it reads as a proper serving piece as much as a strainer.

Stoneware holds its shape and doesn’t stain the way silicone does, and it’s dishwasher safe despite looking like something you’d hand-wash only. Rinse a bowl of strawberries or cherries straight at the table instead of decanting them into a separate serving dish – one less thing to wash up afterwards. Where the Tovolo melamine bowl below is the one that lives in the fridge day to day, this is the one that actually looks intentional sitting out on a dining table.

It’s the priciest small colander among these ten for what is a fairly limited 20cm capacity, and stoneware is heavier and more breakable than every other material here – drop it on tile and it won’t survive the way silicone or stainless would. Not something to leave on the edge of a bench with kids running through the kitchen.

Pros

• Doubles as a proper serving bowl for the table, not just a prep tool
• Stoneware holds its shape and colour far longer than dyed silicone
• Dishwasher safe despite the delicate look

Cons

• Breaks if dropped on a hard floor – no give in stoneware the way there is in silicone or plastic
• Priciest small colander on this list for a fairly limited 20cm capacity

Key specs: Material: stoneware – Diameter: 20cm – Colour: pink – Brand: Jamie Oliver

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10. Tovolo Mini Berry Melamine Colander – Best Mini Colander for Berries & Fridge Storage

The smallest pick on this list, and deliberately so – this is built to sit in the fridge with a punnet of strawberries or blueberries rinsed and ready to eat, not to replace a full-size colander at the sink.

Melamine is close to indestructible for something this size. It won’t crack if it gets knocked around on a crowded fridge shelf the way ceramic would, and it’s a properly useful size for a single person or a couple who don’t cook a full pasta dinner every night.

It’s too small for almost anything else – don’t expect to drain rice or pasta in this, that’s not the job. Keep it for berries, cherry tomatoes and small snacks and it earns its spot in a drawer. Cheap enough, too, to keep a second one just for fruit.

Pros

• Properly fridge-friendly size for pre-rinsed berries and small snacks
• Melamine shrugs off knocks on a crowded fridge shelf
• Affordable enough to keep a second one just for fruit

Cons

• Too small for pasta, rice or anything beyond a handful of small produce
• Bright colour options show scratches more visibly than plain white over time

Key specs: Material: melamine – Style: mini berry colander – Brand: Tovolo

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How to Choose a Colander in Australia

Bowl depth over diameter. A wide, shallow colander looks like it holds more, but a deep bowl is what actually stops a full pot of pasta bouncing back out over the rim when you tip it in fast. If you regularly cook for four or more, prioritise depth over width – the Stanley Rogers and Avanti deep bowls above both handle a full 500g packet without spilling.

Perforation size matters more than capacity. Check whether the holes are wide-set for pasta and big vegetable pieces, or fine mesh for rice, quinoa and small grains. Get it wrong and you’re either losing food down the drain or standing there for five minutes waiting on water to clear a too-fine mesh.

Material decides how you’ll actually wash it. Stainless steel handles a scrub with a steel wool pad and goes straight from stovetop-adjacent heat to the sink without drama. Plastic and silicone are lighter and cheaper but can warp or stain – turmeric and tomato sauce both leave a mark on light silicone over time, worth knowing before you cook a big batch of curry on a cold Melbourne night and reach for a bright yellow colander afterwards.

Handles change how you use it day to day. Loop handles mean two hands and a controlled tip into the sink; a handle-less bowl means gripping the rim, which is fine once you’re used to it and a genuine pain the first few times with wet hands and a hot pot behind you.

Where it actually lives matters as much as what it does. Got one shallow kitchen drawer for everything? A rigid stainless bowl needs a cupboard shelf or a hook, while a collapsible silicone set folds flat for a tight drawer or a caravan galley. If storage is tight – a one-bedroom rental in inner Sydney, say – that’s worth weighing against a few extra litres of capacity.

Brand and finish quality matter at this price point. Canstar Blue’s ongoing cookware satisfaction survey has rated brands like Raco consistently highest for durability and overall performance among Australians who’ve bought and used cookware in the past two years – a decent signal that a recognised brand with a track record is worth the extra outlay over an unbranded import that might warp or discolour within a year.

You’ll Also Want

Once it’s drained, a salad spinner gets the last of the water off leafy greens before they go limp in the fridge – the OXO Good Grips Large Salad Spinner (check current price) is the standard pick.

Most of what ends up in a colander was chopped first – our guide to the best chopping boards in Australia covers the board it probably came off.

A colander empties fast, but everything else needs somewhere to drip-dry afterwards – the Joseph Joseph Y-rack dish drainer (check current price) folds flat against the splashback when it’s not in use.

Before anything hits the colander it usually needs peeling – the Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler three-pack (check current price) is a reliable, inexpensive companion piece.

Frequently Asked Questions

Verdict

Across ten colanders spanning plastic, stainless, silicone and stoneware, the Joseph Joseph Nest 9 Plus is the one we’d point most Australian kitchens to first if the whole nesting set makes sense for the price – it solves storage and draining in one buy. For a straightforward single-purpose bowl, the Classica’s acacia-handled stainless build looks and performs like a step above its price point, and the OXO Good Grips Plastic Colander remains the easy, no-fuss default if you just want something that works and don’t want to think about it again.