One of my favourite heated airers is only £40 at Dunelm - get it before it's gone

The Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings is one of my favourite ways to dry clothes at home. Not only is it incredible value, compact, and speedy, it feels really robust too.

The best heated clothes airers come in all shapes and sizes — and sometimes, you can find them in the most surprising places. I know that Dunelm is a reliable place to shop for affordable home accessories, but what I didn’t know was that they make the best winged airer on the market. after using it for weeks, I feel it’s my duty to tell you all about it.

I’m a big fan of winged airers in general, because they give you great capacity for drying sheets and big loads of laundry without demanding a huge amount of space in your home (they're also an effective way to save money). However, some can be fiddly, others are wobbly, and a few are both. Dunelm’s is nothing short of perfection — and I don't say that lightly. 

Specifications

Unboxing

This comes in a wide box, reflective of the span that the Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings boasts. It’s not too heavy, but it’s not the kind of box that I would want to carry around for a long time. I got it up two flights of stairs without needing a helping hand (or a sweat towel to mop my brow), so it's manageable.

Once this was in place, I opened up the cardboard box. This comes in two parts. There are the legs and then the frame. Both of these are pre-assembled, so they just need to click into place. Some winged airers are quite rigid and tricky to slot together, but this was simple. Even better, it was stable too. 

Once I had the base on, I flipped the Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings around and it was ready to go. The cord was long enough to reach the plug. Although, in an ideal world, I think it could have a little more length. I'm being picky though. I hadn't even turned the Dunelm Heated Airer on and it was making an impressive impression.

Who would it suit?

Winged airers are generally a great option if you're short on space but you need some reasonable capacity for clothes drying. The Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings can fit up to a medium load of clothes washing on it (8-10kgs) or, you can drape a king-size sheet over the top of it. For me, in a two-bed flat (home of four), it's perfect. The reason I can keep it in my flat is that it folds down into a very slim couple of frames that I can tuck at the back of my wardrobe. It's a dream come true.

Another thing you might be short on is time. This warms up in under five minutes, which is the kind of performance that I really only see in the most premium models on the market. Then, I had clothes ready to go in the cupboard within three hours, even in the most damp parts of my home. 

You'd expect this to be one of the most premium models on the market with credentials like that, but it's actually one of the cheapest. It’s actually the same price as Aldi's famous heated airer, except that it doesn't come with a cover. If you add the cost of the cover in, the Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings is still one of the most affordable, and yet also one of the most robust, heated airers out there.

How easy is it to use?

After setting this up and plugging it in, I switched the Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings on. There’s no automatic shut-off or different temperature settings, which certainly puts this in the ‘basic’ category, but it warms up quickly; within a couple of minutes, the bars were hot. I could still safely wrap my hand around them, but they were ready for clothes drying. 

I like to test our heated airers in a range of tasks, so I started simple. I draped my cotton, kingsized duvet cover over the top of the airer. This was tall enough to keep it from dragging on the floor, lifting all corners of the sheet up, whilst letting plenty of air flow around it. Within an hour, it felt dry. Some of the corners had some slight dampness that I wanted to shake, so I left it for another five minutes, by which time, the sheet was confidently cupboard dry. 

The next test was on a classic weekly load of washing which consisted of four hand towels, a hoodie, some gym clothes, socks, and t-shirts. The wash in total weighed nearly 6kg, so it was on the light side of a medium load. I left gaps between each rung so that the clothes could aerate and, sure enough, even the hoodie was dry in three hours. If you want to halve the drying time, Dunelm sells a cover for the winged heated airer separately for £16. Most brands include these, so it's a bit cheeky to separate this from the clothes airer. However, I can see that some people might not want to store the extra material.

What is it like to store?

The legs pop off the Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings and then it can all fold down. Eventually, you’ll have two pieces of heated airer to store around your home. It can be really tricky to detach the legs on some winged heated clothes airers — I’ve really had to use my full body weight to get some heated airers into storage positions, but this unclipped neatly. The two parts fold flat enough to flip into the back of a cupboard, wardrobe, or behind something in your home. Whilst there are more compact options that offer more drying space, as far as winged airers go, this is a dream to pack down and stowaway. 

How does it compare?

Any brand that takes clothes drying seriously makes a winged heated airer and I can say, hand on heart, the Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings is the best winged heated clothes airer on the market. It’s the easiest to assemble and disassemble, it feels really stable when it’s stood up, and it warms up and dries clothes quickly.

You’ll probably wonder where the famous Aldi Heated Winged Airer sits in comparison to this. Aside from the points that I mentioned above, the Dunelm feels more robust, without charging you a penny more than Aldi does. The Aldi airer's lead gives you more freedom for where to position your airer and it does come with a cover, significantly improving your drying time. However, Dunelm sells their cover for another £16. It’s a bit cheeky to separate them, but I guess some people don’t want the cover, because it’s another extra thing to store. 

I've always liked Beldray's Winged Heated Airer, because it feels like a real upgrade from the Aldi model. Compared to the Dunelm, the Beldray is actually more expensive, but harder to assemble and disassemble. I'd choose the Dunelm model over it almost every time (although the Beldray has its own merits too).

Should you buy it?

The Dunelm Heated Airer With Wings is easily one of my favourite heated clothes airers, especially for drying sheets. It flat-packs to almost nothing, but can offer a reasonable amount of capacity for a family. I'd choose it over the internet-sensation Aldi model as well as the more expensive Beldray for its quality, price, and ability to quickly dry clothes. For £40, you can't go wrong.

How we test

I'm responsible for how we test heated clothes airers at woman&home, which means that I know all the details of the process. It starts well before a load of laundry, that's for sure.

I spend my days researching the latest releases on the heated clothes airer market. You'd be surprised at just how much innovation there is in this space. From ultra-compact designs to the way that they transfer heat and the different settings too, it's a surprisingly rich space.

If I see a new release that I think you'll like, I call it in to test. Once it's in my home, I make notes on the packaging, how it looks, what it's like to test, and then I get to bring out the big guns. I throw all my laundry at these: bed sheets, jeans, heavy jumpers, hand washed clothes, cotton, wool. You name it, I wash and dry it. If an airer can take it, I try to do a light load (XXX kg), a medium load, (XXX kg), and a large load (XXX kg) to see how it can handle not only different fabrics, but also different quantities of clothing. I make notes on the time, how nice it is to hand clothes, how spacious, and how stable it is. Some clothes airers can make noise too, so I'll record that and let you know how it scores.

Finally, I'll pack it down and test out the storage options, because you're unlikely to want to leave it on display. I'll let you know how easy it is to pack down as well as how heavy it is to manoeuvre too. 

Whilst I'm doing all this, I'll be comparing the heated airer to all the other models that I've put through exactly the same tests. It's a great time for me to tell you about the value of the product and to place it on the market. I like to choose comparisons that offer either a little more or a little less, for similar prices. That way, you can see what your money is getting you.

I'll come to a conclusion on whether you should buy it and who I think it would suit. Some heated airers are great, but if they don't suit your washing needs, it won't be money well spent.