I know just what you mean, thin and not very absorbent unless you want to spend a fortune at the high end stores. I needed a new ones but the budget didn't allow for them at the time, so went to the dollar store and got a bath towel, cut it into even sized pieces and did an overlock stitch around the raw edges (I don't have a serger). They may not be the prettiest but I made six nice, thick and thirsty dish towels for $3.50.