Court Caddy Pickleball Bag

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I wish companies would give people what they want," or "It would be great if companies actually listened to their customer base to create the perfect product"?

Well... KTCHN Pickleball accomplished exactly that with the Court Caddy. Not only is it the best-looking pickleball bag ever created, but it's also one of the most stylish bags overall! I use this bag for both pickleball and work. It's convenient to transition from the courts to the office with the same sleek bag. Everywhere I go, I receive compliments on the bag's appearance and functionality. The only issue I have with the bag is that now I want it in all the colorways. If you're considering getting the bag, go for it; you won't regret it!

This is part 4/4 of an in depth review. If you'd like to read the rest, please browse through the list of the other reviews.

---- Glasses Case & Shoe Box ----

​ For those of you who use protective eyewear - and I recommend everyone use it - the eyewear case is a nice attachment. You've likely seen pictures of it already on the marketing material, so I won't spend too much time describing it. The main thing to note is that when you're removing the case, be sure to slide it instead of trying to pull it directly off. The latter is fairly difficult and the former is super easy. Another thing to note is that the eyewear case only has one compartment - it doesn't have any small pockets for things like a cleaning cloth or replacement lenses.

​ The shoe box is a nice to have, but not necessary addon. Unless you attach it to the outside, it doesn't add any extra room to the bag, so its main functionality is to store something dirty, or something you want kept clean (for example, a change of clothes). Attaching it to the outside of the bag does add a significant amount of bulk, which can make the bag difficult to use if you're for example carrying it on public transit. Because of said bulk, I think there are limited situations where you'd want to actually attach it to the outside; the only one I can think of is when you're walking a significant distance but in a non-crowded space. Otherwise, it's more convenient to just store it on the inside of the bag or carry it by hand (it has a handle). At that point, a regular plastic bag will do the job just fine. So if you're unsure whether you need it, you probably don't. It's well made and is certainly nice to have, but I'd personally recommend it only for people who are really enthusiastic about the bag and want the extra premium thing.

---- Overall Thoughts ----

​ It seems like the designers thought about what most people would want to bring to the court, and added 50-100% margin on top of that when making this bag. There's space for two large waterbottles, four paddles, eight balls, two inner accessories pockets for pickleball gear, two outer accessories pockets for phones/wallet/keys/etc, as well as a main compartment for miscellaneous things. This bag has more than enough space for everyday pickleball play. So, who shouldn't buy this bag, and who should buy this bag?

If you're the kind of person who only ever brings one paddle, a ball or two, and a waterbottle, and you have no desire for any space beyond that, this bag is overkill. I'd look into the (upcoming as of writing this review) sling bag from Ktchn instead. The quality of this bag and the clear attention to detail in the design makes me confident the sling will also be great. This is also not a bag that's meant to double as an everyday carry bag, or one large enough to hold everything you'd need for a three day away tournament. Rather, it's made for the pickleball enthusiast who wants something that has enough space for the stuff they bring to everyday pickleball play, plus a comfortable amount of margin on top, possibly for longer sessions or local tournaments. I think that fits a pretty large demographic of people; some carry a lot of gear regularly, and some will want one bag that's good for most possible situations.

​ Overall, this is a fantastic bag. If you're on the fence about it (pun intended), this is probably a bag you'll really like. There are some minor gripes I have with it, but nothing that feels especially significant. The quality here is a step above every other pickleball bag I've seen.

This is part 3/4 of an in depth review. If you'd like to read the rest, please browse through the list of the other reviews.

---- Interior accessory pockets -----

​ There are two interior accessory pockets. One is a waterproof compartment that's right next to where the magnetic glasses case attaches and faces you when you unzip the bag. The other is a mesh compartment that sits on the inside of the bag. Both are similarly sized. They're great for storing small items like paddle erasers, weighted tape, or overgrips. Larger items like a full sized bottle of sunscreen might not fit - you're better off placing those in the main bag compartment. The waterproof compartment is nicer to use than the mesh compartment for two reasons. First, you can immediately see what's in it when you open the bag, whereas the mesh compartment sits on the inside so you can't easily see what's inside of it. Secondly, when the bag is full and you're trying to use the main interior compartment, if you have something thick inside the mesh compartment things can get caught on it as you're putting them in. As such, I'd recommend using the waterproof compartment as much as possible and only using the mesh for smaller items or things you won't access as frequently. I wouldn't call the mesh compartment bad, but it's not as well designed as the rest of the bag in my opinion. The waterproof compartment should be enough for most people though if you're only bringing pickleball accessories.

---- Interior ----

​ Okay, let's finally talk about bag part of this bag. Ignoring the ball pockets and interior accessory pockets that I've already discussed above, the interior is divided into six different "slots." I say slots because these aren't really pockets, they're spaces created by dividers that are at the bottom of the bag and span most of the width. They're also not removable, so you won't be able to take them out and turn this into a normal backpack. There's one laptop sleeve in the back (which can also be used as an additional paddle compartment), four paddle sleeves created by the dividers, and then one larger compartment towards the front (that I'll call the main compartment). The paddle slots are great if you're the kind of person who brings multiple paddles to the court - which if you're interested in this bag, is likely for you. They keep your paddles protected without the need to use a cover. Another important thing to note here is that you're going to want to store your paddles in alternating directions - one with handle angled to the left, the next with handle angled to the right, then left, then right again. This saves room in the bag; having all the handles aligned in the same direction makes it noticeably more difficult to use. Further, you need to do this to get the bag to close if you're using the magnetic eyewear case attachment, because the case hangs from the roof of the bag when closed.

​ The paddle sleeves are certainly great for paddle storage. However, they're less practical to use for most other things, because they're not very wide. They'd be great spots to slot things like laptops or ipads, but not much else. This is a good segue to talk about the main compartment and the laptop compartment as well. Since all of them share the same space, filling up the paddle compartments has the side effect of squeezing the main and laptop compartment. With all four slots occupied and a paddle or laptop in the laptop compartment, the main compartment becomes noticeably less roomy. Putting in even the empty shoe cube attachment at this point requires a lot of wiggling. As I mentioned above, if you're using the interior mesh compartment, things there will also jut out into the main compartment (as do the balls in the ball pockets). Things that can squish or otherwise change shape should still be fine to use (eg clothes, plastic waterbottles) but larger or more rigid things might no longer fit in the main compartment once you've really filled the bag up. The main compartment doesn't become unusable - the front of the bag can flex outwards a bit which helps add a bit more space - but things will certainly be squished at that point. If you do want to carry larger or more bulky items in the main compartment and you're having trouble, taking out a paddle or two will add noticeable space. I wouldn't necessarily call this a negative; the tradeoff is that the bag stays relatively small and still fits just about everything an avid pickleball player will want to bring for a play session. However, if you're going on a longer trip, the main compartment will likely be too small for all your extras. To get a sense of how big the main compartment is, with four paddles in the sleeves and full ball pockets, I can comfortably fit in two 1 liter plastic waterbottles, but I wouldn't want to put much else besides that.

This is part 2/4 of an in depth review. If you'd like to read the rest, please browse through the list of the other reviews.

---- Water Bottle Pockets & Ball Pockets ----

​ My previous bag had interior ball pockets right next to the exterior water bottle pockets, just like this bag. This created an issue where the balls pushed the sides of the bag outwards, which meant you couldn't put a water bottle on the same side you had balls. The fact that this bag is more structured/rigid, where my other bag was more floppy, solves that issue. The balls do push the wall of the bag out, and you will have to use one hand to pull the pocket out and wiggle the bottle in if your bottle is large, but it works fine. I've tested up a four inch diameter bottle on the same side as a full ball pocket and it works.

​ The ball pockets are pretty slick. There's enough width to reach your arm and hand in to grab balls even at the very bottom of the pocket. When the bag's full, there will be less room because your hand will be pushing against the paddles in the bag, but I suspect this will only be a gripe for people with very large hands, and even then only if you're reaching in to grab balls at the very bottom instead of taking them off the top. I was initially worried that with a tall waterbottle in, you wouldn't be able to use the magnetic ball pockets. But, testing with a bottle that comes up to around 1/3 to 1/2 of the height of the ball pocket (for reference, 12.7 inches) it still works fine because the pocket is flexible and it will bend around the waterbottle when you open it. Because you're reaching in at a downward angle to grab balls, doing so doesn't really affect comfort much. However, if you're doing that, be aware that the pocket won't be able to hang open with the bottle in the way. You'll either have to one hand to open the pocket and the other hand to grab the ball, or you can pull the pocket out and reach in with the same hand (which is actually very easy). Also, be aware that if your bottle is much taller than mine, you might not be able to use the ball pockets with the waterbottle in. I'm guessing your bottle probably needs to be around 15 inches or so for that to happen. Lastly, these are advertised as accommodating three balls, but they can fit four balls comfortably. In fact, if you didn't tell me otherwise, I'd guess they were designed to fit four balls, not three.

---- Magnetic Towel Attachment ----

​ This is a small thing, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's one of my favorite things about the bag. One of the sides of the bag has a magnet icon right above the ball pocket. If you have a magnetic hand towel, you can hang it from that spot. This is really nice to use. Dealing with a sweaty hand towel is always an annoyance because there's often not a good spot to put it and you end up having to drape it over the top of your bag or find somewhere else to drop it. With this, you can just place the magnetic part against that spot and the towel hangs there - it feels very slick and several people have commented on it when they've seen me do it. If you want to use your existing hand towels for this, there are some golf companies that sell magnetic clips that you can put a regular towel in (which is what I use). Otherwise, you'll have to buy a magnetic towel. Do note that this feature doesn't work with full size towels, as they're too big and will drag on the ground. I highly recommend getting a magnetic towel or the clips I mentioned previously to use if you already use hand towels during play. It'll probably become one of your favorite things about the bag.

---- Secret Pockets ----

​ This is one of the few things I dislike about the bag. There are two secret compartments on the back. There's not much room in either, so a thick item like a fat wallet likely won't fit. It's also not super comfortable to reach your hand in all the way if you place something at the very back of it. My main gripe about these though is the back panel of the bag is actually a separate piece that you can pull back from the rest of the bag, via the same place you put your hand in to access the secret compartment. This is likely for airflow reasons. What this means however is that it's easy to mistakenly think you've placed your hand in the secret compartment and release whatever you're holding, only for it to fall down the back compartment of the bag and become annoying to have to dig out. Because of both of these things, I'd personally only recommend storing things here that you want to put long term, such as an airtag. As a sidenote, if you actually want to store something you don't want found (as the secret pockets will likely be found pretty quickly - there's cutouts to access them in the back) the unintended consequence of this design is dropping it down the back panel is really good for that.

​ This review ended up much longer than planned, so I needed to break it into parts to fit within the character limit. As such, this is part 1/4. If you'd like to read the rest, please browse through the list of the other reviews.

​ I was lucky enough to get an early production model of the Court Caddy. I'm writing a review to help anyone undecided make their decision. When I'm looking for reviews of products, I like to really get into the fine details, so that's what I'll write up here. If you're just looking for the short version, I think this is a 9/10 bag and the best pickleball bag on the market (at least, of all the ones I've seen). For those of you who want more detailed thoughts, read on.

---- Overall Build Quality ----

​ The first thing you'll notice about the bag is the build quality. It feels noticeably premium. The artificial leather feels and looks nice, the stitching is done very well, and the zippers are high quality (something those who have used bad zippers will appreciate). From the exterior, it could easily be mistaken for a nice office or camera bag. It's also overall pretty structured, where a lot of other bags are more "floppy" and tend to sag or deform based on what's in them. The nice thing about this is it allows the bag to stand upright very well. You won't be tipping this thing over accidentally. It's super stable side to side, although it can fall over more easily in the forward and back direction. That's something you only have to consider though if you do something like put it on the floor during a bumpy van ride. For regular use, you won't have any issues with it falling over. The only downside I've noticed here is that because it's more structured, when you have a heavy waterbottle just in one pocket (I use a 40oz one), the weight does shift over noticeably to that side. A less structured bag would sag more and allow the weight to be more evenly distributed across both shoulders. This is a minor annoyance, but not a huge deal to me. With two waterbottles everything balances out again, and one waterbottle isn't enough weight to cause any aching or pain. Overall, I don't have any significant gripes about the build quality. It's probably going to be a big step up from what you're currently using. I'm aware they offer a lifetime warranty, but I wouldn't worry about anything breaking in this bag unless you deliberately try to destroy it.

---- Exterior Accessory Pockets ----

​ One of my favorite things about this bag is the accessory pockets. These are located at the top of the bag, one on the front side and one on the rear side just above the handle. These are lined with a soft material that feels really nice to the touch, and they're quite spacious in terms of width/length/depth so putting eg a fat wallet in either pocket will be no problem. The only downside with these is when you have a laptop or paddle in the laptop compartment (and when the other four paddle compartments are occupied), it can push into the rear pocket a bit and reduce the space that you have to work with. It's still completely usable, but if you have to store something thick you might have to make do with the front accessory pocket in that case. These compartments are where you'll be storing your everyday things, like phone/wallet/keys. To get a sense of the size, if it fits in your pants pockets, it should fit in these accessory pockets without issue.

---- Straps/Fence Hooks ----

​ The straps are built well. At first, they're rather firm, but they've been getting a little more mushy and comfortable as they've been breaking in. As you probably already know (given you decided to read this excessively long review), this bag has fence hooks that are attached to the straps directly, instead of on the top of the bag like most other bags. When I first heard this choice, I thought it was a design mistake. My previous favorite bag had one fence hook at the top, and I thought dealing with just one hook would be easier than having to clip and unclip two different ones. I have to say though, this is a much better design and possibly the cleverest thing about this entire bag. For whatever reason, putting the fence hooks on the straps makes it pretty effortless to clip and unclip from the fence. With other bags I used, I was used to having to "haul" the bag up in order to get it on and off the fence - probably because with those designs, the fence hook is being pulled directly downwards. One minor note: the bag has little sleeve-things on the straps where you can store the fence hooks when not in use. When taking the fence hooks in and out of the sleeves, use your other hand to bend the strap back to make it easier, otherwise it will feel pretty difficult. Lastly, the chest strap uses the same "Molly Web" system that the front of the bag has to attach to the straps, so you can take the chest strap on and off the bag very easily.