Please recommend a clothes airer!

[dottyaboutstripes]

Mine has just collapsed. I want something decent, robust and it has to be quite large (I have 6 children). The Sheila Maid is no good, so it has to be a floor standing (or maybe in-the-bath-standing???) one. Thought I'd ask if anyone has one they love before ordering.....

[Seona1973]

I have one like this and a huge one like this

[thereinmadnesslies]

I have the ikea one - sorry on phone so can't do links. It's got enough space to hang two large loads but it does take up lots of floor space

[thereinmadnesslies]

The ikea one is called 'frost' and is £12.99

[Wurg]

don't get the lakeland heated one. blardy useless.

[CMOTdibbler]

I have two - one like this and a Hangaway which is great as anything large goes on a hanger and you don't need to iron nearly as much

[dottyaboutstripes]

I don't live near Ikea so that's not really an option, but thanks. And have a dryer so don't need heated, good job if it's crappola!

Seona is the Minky one sturdy? And does it take up a lot of space? I'm thinking of getting one that kind of shape but DH is banging on about this as it will be out of the way in the bath but it doesn't have a lot of drying space for the price. He's fed up of having an airer in the study (can't say I blame him and it's true that we don't have much spare space in our house )

[dottyaboutstripes]

CMOT I really need something kind of HUGE but compact if that makes any sense at all?? Maybe we should build an extension so we dry all the feckin washing

[Mammonite]

I think the square tower sort are best, remember using them on holiday in France. You might have to shop around/check reviews to find a sturdy one but they are a good design IMO.
eg this sort

We did have one of this style that was a good one for years (the IKEA version). Are you hanging large or small things generally?

[AMumInScotland]

I have this one - it has extra foldout bits on the corners where you can put things on hangers

[PersonalClown]

I have the Minky one.
It's about 4 square foot in total. About 5ft tall. The arms are a bit thin but that means you can actually peg things to it and stick it outside!!
Very versatile with the all the shelve bits.
With 3 of us in the house, I rarely use both sides in one go.

It folds down flat when not in use too.

[Seona1973]

the tower airer looks a bit flimsy and you do have to leave a rung between each row of washing or it is too close together to dry properly but I havent had a problem with it - nothing has broken/fallen off, etc. You can also hang things down the sides e.g. I hang lightweight towels, sheets, etc at the side using clothes pegs and that creates more drying space. I also use hangers for shirts/kids polo shirts and hang them from the airers too. I wouldnt use the tower one for heavy items like jeans/heavy jumpers which is why I have the other airer as well.

[Seona1973]

p.s. the tower one is very tall and is square shaped but you can have sides up or down if you are not using them all at once (mine is in constant use and all sides are always up!)

[dottyaboutstripes]

I use it for pretty much anything which won't go in the dryer, so school sweatshirts, DH's shirts, some jeans. like I said, anything which I can't tumble dry (usually the expensive stuff and the cheapo rubbish the dds keep buying in Primark!)

I've had ones like AMum linked to and they've all broken. Who'd have thought it could be such a headache choosing! Might just let dh order one and then I can moan at him when it turns out to be useless (or praise his wise decision if it's spectacular )

[RachelHRD]

I have the Lakeland heated airer and have to disagree Wurg I find it really good and I rarely use my tumble dryer now and it is less than 5p an hour to run. The key is how you use it - layer the clothes over the bars and then use a sheet/duvet over the top to speed up the drying time. Great reviews

[dexter73]

I have the Lakeland heated airer and it is bloody brilliant! I find things dry quicker if I don't put a sheet over the top though and just hang them over the bars like a normal airer without layering, so completely different to RachelHRD!

[jalopy]

Another one for the heated airer. I 'layer' rather than hang. I don't use a sheet over it either. I find the heated air needs to circulate freely to get the clothes dry.

[dottyaboutstripes]

I looked at the heated one but it was no good for clothes which can't be tumble dried - and it's those very clothes which I need to dry on an airer! But thanks for the recommendation, might be worth looking into anyway as I do a LOT of laundry

[parttimedomesticgoddess]

I also LOVE my lakeland heated airer, and have never had a problem drying anything on it that I wouldn't put in a tumble dryer (like swimsuits etc). What does it say you can't dry on there?

[Himalaya]

I've got one of these Minky X wing slimline X thingy. I love it, but I don't have 6 children... I think they have one in a larger size too.

[Ponders]

I have a 3-tier one like seona's first link - it's excellent on the floor, in a warm place, but has scratched the bath to buggery from me putting it in there out of the way

(is a plastic-ish bath but still)

I also have 2 on-bath racks now \link{http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8570288/Trail/searchtext%3EDRYING+RACK.htm\along these lines} - ignore the mad price shown for this one, they're usually around £15 & Aldi have a neat one in atm which you can lock in position