Paper towels VS Napkins?

[Thipu1]

We use paper napkins at the table.  Paper towels are for small spills.  Dishes and hands are dried with a tea towel and the towel is changed daily.

[Yvaine]

We use paper towels rather than paper napkins. They are called "fancy eatin' napkins" (said ironically) in my family.

I do this too. I call it my "fancy roll of napkins." 

[Redsoil]

An aside:

Just wanted to mention, Clio917, how nice your jewellery is!  I just had a quick look at you etsy shop and was very impressed. 

[Specky]

Paper towels, since they work better and don't shred like napkins.  I like utility.

[Hmmmmm]

We use the luncheon size paper napkins for weeknight family dinners at the breakfast table. There's a holder on the table with them.  If we are eating something really messy like crawfish, ribs or hot wings, we'll switch to paper towels because they are more durable.

Paper towels are on a holder in the kitchen and are used for hand drying and cleaning spills.

After my housekeeper trained me to start using rags for more cleaning or spills I'm trying to train my family, but they go for the kitchen paper towels every time.

She also got all of us to adopt using cheap paper towels that leave less lint by storing the cheap one with the glass cleaner.

[clio917]

An aside:

Just wanted to mention, Clio917, how nice your jewellery is!  I just had a quick look at you etsy shop and was very impressed. 

Thank you!

[TaurusGirl]

If it's just The Hawk and I, we use tea towels (one each) for a couple of days; we both grew up not having/using napkins at home, so we don't really *need* them daily.
For informal guests, we have paper towels, and for formal dinners, we use proper cloth serviettes.

[Ms_Cellany]

As I was growing up, we used embroidered terrycloth hand towels. Each had a different design, so we could tell whose was which. They got laundered regularly.

These days, we're still using the paper napkins that we waaaaaaay overbought for our wedding three years ago.

[Lynn2000]

I have no paper napkins. I use washable dishtowels as "napkins" with meals, and paper towels are mostly for messes, both food and general cleaning (like cleaning the bathroom). I find that most paper napkins are just too thin and wimpy for anything but the most minor clean-up/protection jobs, or maybe I'm just too violent with them.

My parents primarily use paper napkins at meal; they keep some in a holder on the table. They use paper towels for cleaning purposes (though occasionally my dad prefers to use a paper towel with a really messy finger food, like barbecue). And they use dishtowels for drying dishes.