As parents of two boys, we* get through a lot of washing. But this week, we finally did it. We bought a heated clothes airer.
In fact, we bought three, to see which heated clothes airer was the best. I bought the following heated clothes airers, which were the bestsellers on Amazon.
Please note: this article contains affiliate links.
Lakeland Dry:Soon 3 Tier Heated Clothes Airer
Black and Decker 3 Tier Heated Clothes Airer
Highlands Electric Heated Clothes Airer
They have thousands of reviews. You're probably going to buy one of them. But which one?
Spoiler: it's this one.
*I have been instructed to caveat this by saying 'we' don't actually do the laundry. My wife, Clem, does. She is the reviewer here. She really wanted a heated clothes airer. She also pointed out that if I write this article we can put it as a business expense, so here we are.
How did we test?
By washing A LOT of clothes.
Firstly we did a 'full load' test. Imagine an entire family has spent a week playing in a sandpit, then jumping in puddles, then wetting themselves (mainly just the toddlers). We washed everything, then loaded up the airers for 24 hours.
(We tried them with and without a cover. You can buy a cover for about £30 extra - we didn't find it made much difference. I'd leave it, personally.)
Second, we did a 'speed test'. This imagines another situation, where you've just washed a t-shirt you want to wear that day. Which one could dry it faster, if you drape it lavishly over all the bars?
We then ranked the heated clothes airers on the following criteria:
- Speed: how quickly could it dry the clothes
- Area: how many metres of usable rung each airer had
- Design & features: how well they fold, and an extras they come with
- Price: they ranged from £40 to £130 Please note: all prices were correct at time of writing on 1st November 2025
Best heated clothes airers in the UK
Black & Decker 3 Tier Clothes Airer
| Speed | 4/5 |
| Area | 4/5 |
| Design & Features | 4/5 |
| Price | £93.94 |
The Black & Decker 3 tier Clothes Airer is the best heated clothes airer - for one simple reason. It dries a lot of clothes, it's fast, and it's a great price.
It's solidly built and took a full load of washing. It folds down neatly for storage. And it was as fast to dry as any other airer.
In fact, in our speed tests, we found very little difference between the three. It took about 36 hours to dry a full load (admittedly I was a scaredy cat and turned them off overnight, but they really aren't a fire risk). It took about 2-3 hours to dry one tshirt.
That is still a huge, huge improvement over an old-school airer, especially in winter.
So speed really isn't the differentiating factor. And on space, the Lakeland is actually slightly better. So why would I recommend this one instead?
One word: price.
There is so little to separate the Black & Decker and the Lakeland, but at time of writing you could get the Black & Decker for £36 less*. Personally I'd save the money.
*one thing I have noticed is that there are continual price wars for both models, so keep an eye on both and swoop for the cheapest!
Lakeland Dry:Soon 3 Tier Clothes Airer
| Speed | 4/5 |
| Area | 5/5 |
| Design & Features | 4/5 |
| Price | £129.99 |
The Lakeland Dry:Soon is a brilliant clothes airer and you'd certainly not be making a mistake by buying it. It's fast, well built, and economical.
Lots of other online lists have the Lakeland at #1, and I can see why. It is technically the best of the three, if you don't consider the price.
So if you're not price sensitive at all, go for this one. It has 20.9m of usable rung space, versus 17.5m on the Black & Decker. That isn't going to change your life, but who's going to say no to 3.4m of usable rung?
Then again, if it's rung you're after, Lakeland also do a Deluxe versus, which is a MONSTER. It has more space, and a timer function. But it does cost £159.99. You can find it on Amazon here.
Highlands Electric Heated Clothes Dryer
| Speed | 4/5 |
| Area | 2/5 |
| Design & Features | 2/5 |
| Price | £38.90 |
The Highlands clothes airer is clearly in a different bracket. It's much smaller, designed for smaller washes or smaller households.
It's not for us, basically. But for what it is... it's good.
It dried clothes just as quickly as the big airers. It had 11m of usable rung space, which is half the Lakeland, and not enough for a full wash. But then it is one third the price.
In fact, it's a very very good price, and you'd definitely not be wasting money buying this one. You could even buy 3. But you wouldn't want to.
That's because it takes up tons of space when drying. It spreads right out, like Jacob Rees-Mogg on a bench. It takes probably double the floor space of the others. It's also quite rickety. It lived in our kitchen for a day and I developed an intense hatred of it, even though it dried my pants quite diligently.
So in summary: yes, it's good, and it's well worth it. But if you have the money, get one of the bigger ones.
P.s. I picked the Highlands clothes airer because it was the bestseller in this style. But to be honest there are dozens of similar airers on Amazon. I imagine they're all made in the same factory. But, whatever - fair play to Highlands for winning the airer turf wars.
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Summary? Buy the Black & Decker.
Unless you don't care about price, in which case buy the Lakeland, or the Lakeland Deluxe. If you're a student, or a bit cash-strapped, buy the Highlands.
Jack, Founder of Ruler of London