The best dehumidifiers can make battling dampness, mould, mildew, and condensation a breeze. I've tested and reviewed every model from Meaco through to ProBreeze to find dehumidifiers that will get perfect results without sending your energy bills sky high.
The first time that I invested in a dehumidifier, I didn't know my refrigerant from my desiccant. In case that's you too, the former uses condensation to take moisture from the air (better for rooms with high humidity) and the latter uses absorption (better for quick results in colder rooms). Now, after years of using my MeacoDry Arete One, I've become a bit of a geek.
I'm never one to gatekeep, so I share all my dehumidifier secrets with you. From how to use a dehumidifier in the winter right through to what I wish I knew before I bought a dehumidifier and dehumidifier mistakes that lots of people make. Most importantly, I've been working on reviews for every dehumidifier that you could possibly consider buying.
I've been testing all of the best dehumidifiers on the market, throwing every model in mildewy bathrooms, humid laundry rooms, and dripping basements to test how effective they are in all rooms around the home. My aim is always to keep the humidity of any room in our house between 40-60%, which is the target range for healthy, clean air. The only dehumidifiers that passed my tests are right here, in this guide. So, whether you're looking for a quiet dehumidifier for your bedroom or an industrial piece of kit for an older home, these are the ones you can trust.
The quick list
I've tested over 15 dehumidifiers and narrowed them down to this list of nine. If you want the headlines, here are six of my favourite models. I'll go into more detail further down the page – including my best budget option.
The best dehumidifier overall
The MeacoDry Arete One is an all-around great dehumidifier. It's simple, easy to use, great for families with little ones, and quiet. It even has a laundry mode, that I got a lot of use from.
The best dehumidifier for bedrooms
There's fierce competition to sit in this spot, but the De'Longhi claims it effortlessly. It's so quiet, I wasn't even sure it was working the first time I tried it overnight. Trust me, it was.
The best for drying laundry
A laundry room is the perfect place for a dehumidifier, especially if you want to dry clothes quickly. This had a whole large load cupboard dry in a matter of hours.
The best dehumidifier for bathrooms
This is exceptionally high quality, super reliable, and it works really well in cold, humid environments (probably because the brand is Scandinavian). Lots of models claim to be the best dehumidifier for bathrooms, but this is the one I'd choose.
The best compact dehumidifier
Whether you're looking for a budget dehumidifier, a portable dehumidifier, or simply one for small spaces, this ticks a lot of boxes. It's no bigger than a speaker, but it's a proper powerhouse. I've used it in my flat to dry laundry as well as in my bedroom overnight. It's seriously impressive.
The best dehumidifier for dampness
A wet, damp room is the worst, but thanks to this Pro Breeze model being able to hold a large capacity of 5.5L of water, removing 20L per day, your room will be left clean and moisture-free. This comes with lots of cool extra functions that you'll love too.
The best dehumidifiers: tried & tested by our experts
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The best dehumidifier overall
The MeacoDry Arete One is probably one of the most famous dehumidifiers around. Having used it in my home for months, I can promise that it's reputation for robustness, speed, and a reasonable price tag is well founded.
You can pick up the Arete One in two sizes, 10L or 20L. Most homes will only need the 10L model, which Homes & Interiors expert Amy Cutmore tested in her home. It's smaller, of course, and Amy found it easy to move around and use. "I love how it looks," she says, "the matte off-white and charcoal finish give the Meaco a Scandi-style that is about as handsome and unobtrusive as a dehumidifier is going to get."
It's not just a pretty face though. This boasts some impressive extraction timings and capacity. Amy managed to maximise the 24-hour extraction rate of her model, removing nearly 10L of water from the air in her home. I managed to reduce the humidity in my (dripping) basement by a full 20% overnight. And, even better, it works almost silently. Both Amy and I found that the night mode (which turns the fan to low, kills the lights, and stops the buttons from bleeping) was quiet enough to let us enjoy some deep sleep.
It's not just the fact that this can extract moisture from space as big as 42m², it has lots of other, subtle, but useful features integrated too. There's a hidden handle that pops up from the control panel and a handy cord tidy which keeps the two-metre-long cable in check when the unit is not in use.
This worked incredibly well when it was drying clothes, in my cellar, and in the bedroom. However, it's a refrigerant model, so if you're going to put your dehumidifier in a garage or colder space, you might want to shop around a little more.
See Amy's full MeacoDry Arete One 10L dehumidifier review and my review for the MeacoDry 20L if you need more capacity.
The best dehumidifier for bedrooms
There isn't any other dehumidifer that comes close to the noise levels (or absence, as it were) of the De'Longhi. It's so quiet that I wasn't even sure it was running. You could sleep with this on, you could watch TV with this on. I reckon you could even meditate with this on. It's certainly the best dehumidifier for a bedroom, by a mile.
The Italian-made dehumidifier is everything you would expect aesthetically. It's slim, sleek, and beautiful, as far as these appliances go. You can use the handle and castor wheels to move the main body around, which very much needed. The De'Longhi is heavy.
At first, I thought it was going to be complex, since there are a fair few more buttons than most dehumidifiers have, but it's really straightforward. there's essentially one laundry mode and three dehumidifying settings, and a night mode. You get to set a target humidity and once this chosen level has been reached, the machine will stand down until it’s needed again. It'll save money and energy.
Whenever the humidity was reached or the 2.1-litre tank was full, I could empty this really easily. The water is completely contained, avoiding any chances of spilling water on your way to the sink.
There’s even frost protection functionality here too, making it safe to use in colder environments, such as my cellar in the winter. which was handy when we had no heating on during a particularly bitingly cold day.
It’s not all about controlling humidity though: hygiene is another of its concerns, and it has filters for dust and allergens as well as the capacity to neutralize undesirable bacteria to improve air quality in your home.
Read my full De'Longhi DEX212F Tasciugo AriaDry Dehumidifier review for more details.
The best dehumidifier for drying clothes
The EcoAir DD128 is a versatile desiccant dehumidifier – while great for colder spaces, it’s also efficient in the home (and especially around laundry). Amy used this for a month in her home and said "it's incredibly powerful. In fact, I noticed it collecting moisture much more quickly than most other models that I've tested." She also added that the long cord made it really convenient to position around her homes.
The mode that really stands out to Amy is the laundry setting. "It's a really special feature," she says, "as well as capturing the moisture it also blew out warm air, meaning my load of washing was dry in a matter of hours as opposed to days. The timer function meant I didn’t have to leave it running all night to get those clothes dry either – it can be set to power down in two, four, or eight hours."
There’s a decent 2.2-litre tank on this model, which is easily removable from the side of the unit for emptying and even has a built-in handle for ease. But also, if you want to leave it for long periods of time, it comes with a handy hose for continuous drainage.
Amy's few criticisms are that this is not the most intuitive to use, although that’s to be expected with a model that offers lots of different settings. She got the hang of it after going over the instructions a couple of times, but that's two more times than she had to look at the instructions for her Meaco and Pro Breeze dehumidifiers.
It's also worth noting that the fan is quite loud on all but the economy setting (which is designed for maintaining air quality once optimal dryness has been reached), meaning Amy felt this wasn’t one for the living room. But there’s no denying it’s a real workhorse and has serious speed and power. Plus, it has an anti-bacterial filter and Ioniser to purify the air.
Read Amy's full EcoAir Desiccant 8L Dehumidifier review for more details.
The best dehumidifier for bathrooms
Woods makes some seriously impressive dehumidifiers, some are even close to industrial. In spite of its smaller stature, this is one of my favourites. It cleared condensation in my bathroom in record time and didn't generate much noise or demand much power in the meantime. What else would you expect from the revered Scandi brand?
The reason that I would use this in my bathroom isn't just for its power and speed though. The Woods is also super slim, making it easy to slot into smaller spaces and nooks nearby the bathroom. Even though it's relatively heavy, I found this really easy to move around thanks to its in-built carry handle. Although, it's worth noting that this doesn't have wheels as some other models do, so this might suit homes with more carpet than solid floors
With just a handful of touch buttons, the interface is straightforward to use, allowing for quick programming and slick switching between functions when needed. You simply set the humidity to your preferred level and make use of the timer if you like, and away you go.
It emits a low hum, but nothing that would disturb you during the day. Come the evening there isn't a night mode which means you’ll be falling asleep to the light buzzing of an electronic device which I could personally do without. It's better company in the daytime when you're not looking for some peace and quiet, a bit like me.
Read my full Wood's MDK26 Dehumidifier review for more details.
The best compact dehumidifier
This stylish dehumidifier is one of the least imposing models I've tested. It’s sleek and contemporary and blended into the background of my home without me even noticing it. It could be mistaken for a speaker, which makes staying and storing this dehumidifier easy. Another boon of its tiny stature is that you can move it around the house easily. I have lots of stairs at home and taking this to each different test (laundry, overnight, the cellar) was by far the nicest. The only downside of the size is that it limits the capacity of the water tank. I think it's a reasonable payoff anyway.
Its control panel is kept simple with three fan speeds – I’d barely glanced at the instructions before it was happily whirring away. As you’d imagine, the more powerful settings are noisier, but the lowest is still efficient and quiet enough to have running in living spaces where you're having conversations or watching TV.
I found the Russell Hobbs worked best in the small and medium-sized rooms of our house where there was general winter dampness, although the cable struggled to reach some higher sockets in my kitchen – it is modest, though not disastrous, at 1.5 metres long. If you have larger rooms, a more severe damp issue, or masses of laundry to get dry, you might need something just a little heftier.
See my full Russell Hobbs Fresh Air Pro Dehumidifier review for more details.
