This iron glides smoothly over fabric, ridding wrinkled clothing from deep creases. This is a heavy-duty iron with extra features worth the splurge.
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This iron has a durable design that smooths fabrics without creating new wrinkles but it falls short on steam performance power compared to our No. 1.
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Written bySamantha Mangino, home appliance and furniture tester with over two years of experience.
Updated December 3, 2024
While a dryer can help with wrinkles, nothing gets you crisp, fresh clothing like a steam iron. This compact laundry room appliance brings the reviving power of steam to refresh clothing and remove even the most deep-set wrinkles. Steam irons are great tools for lovers of linen (a notoriously wrinkly fabric) and business people who desire a wrinkle-free look.
After weeks of testing and ironing work, the PurSteam Professional Grade 1700W Steam Iron
(available at Amazon)
emerged as the best iron. This wrinkle-busting steam iron is easy to use, with a large water tank to handle all your laundry needs. For a steam iron with all the bells and whistles, the Rowenta Steamforce DW9280 is a luxurious way to remove deep creases with powerful steam. But there are plenty of great steam irons to choose from.
Best Steam Iron
PurSteam Professional Grade 1700W Steam Iron
Weight: 2.2 pounds
Auto Shut-off: Yes
The PurSteam Professional Grade 1700W Steam Iron is the best steam iron you can buy. Like a pair of skates on ice, our top pick smoothly slides across fabrics. With a large, easy-to-fill water tank, this iron will tackle your family's wardrobe in one fell swoop. The iron excels at removing wrinkles, giving your clothes a fresh look and feel.
The 14-ounce water tank is one of the biggest of any iron we tested, making the PurSteam one of the easiest steam irons to fill with water. It comes with a small plastic cup to help fill the iron, but it is easy to fill without it. Despite the large water tank, the steam function didn’t leak, a common issue with other clothing irons we tested.
It quickly removes fine wrinkles with little to no effort. The water and steam buttons are near the handle for easy adjustment while ironing, and the anti-drip feature keeps water from leaking out of the stainless steel soleplate.
We love how easy the controls are to read; we quickly found the right temperature settings for our fabrics. Note that while some temperature dials have an arrow to mark where to set the temperature, this iron has a raised bump.
For the best steam iron that removes wrinkles easily and quickly, the PurSteam is the one you want.
The Rowenta Steamforce heats up quickly, is easy to use, and removes wrinkles fast.
Best Steam Iron Upgrade
Rowenta Steamforce DW9280
Weight: 3.85 pounds
Auto Shut-off: Yes
While more expensive than most steam irons, the Rowenta Steamforce heats up quickly, is easy to use, and removes wrinkles fast, earning our vote as the Best Upgrade pick.
The iron glides over clothing, removing deep wrinkles and creases with powerful steam. It doesn’t snag on fabrics, so we feel comfortable using it on delicate materials.
This is one of the heaviest steam irons in our guide. The dense design helps the iron glide smoothly and easily, but it can be quite the workout if you're doing anything more than a handful of dress shirts.
The Rowenta DW9280 can also be awkward to fill in the sink because the water tank must be at the right angle to avoid making a big wet mess. Additionally, it’s hard to see the water line to know when to stop. Despite these minor grievances, the Rowenta Steamforce DW9280 is a worthy investment, offering a luxurious ironing experience for many fabrics.
The touch sensors on the Oliso steam iron prevent your ironing board and clothes from any burns.
Best Smart Steam Iron
Oliso TG1600 Pro+
Weight: 4.37 pounds
Auto Shut-off: Yes
The Oliso smart steam iron has the most advanced design of any steam iron in our guide. Using touch sensors on the handle, the steam iron automatically lowers and raises itself off the ironing board based when you touch and lift your hand from the handle. This is a useful feature because it means you don’t have to set the iron on its heel when you’re not using it, and it keeps it from toppling over—a concern for many steam irons.
Instead, you just take your hand off the iron and it raises up on legs that protract and retract from within the iron plate—no more burns on your ironing board or clothes.
The Oliso iron does a great job at ironing. During testing, it removed all wrinkles from both linen and cotton. It has easy to read settings that clearly describe the heat level and fabrics its best used for.
Generally, it tracks smoothly across fabrics. However, we did notice some occasional creasing. As the steam function warms up, there is some water spray released before the steam is ready, so we recommend testing the steam button away from clothes the first time you press it.
This is a fantastic choice if you’re looking for one of the best steam irons with smart technology. Not only do you get an iron that performs well, but the smart touch feature makes it especially handy.
This dual clothes steamer and steam iron refreshes clothes quickly.
Most Versatile Steamer
Steamery Cirrus 3
Weight: 1.89 pounds
Auto Shut-off: Yes
Steamery’s Cirrus 3 is a clothes steamer first, but unlike most steamers, it features a ceramic plated head. This lets you use it like a steam iron, too. Out of all the irons we tested, the Cirrus 3 tracked the smoothest across fabrics with no creasing. Despite the Cirrus having a smaller ironing surface than others we tested, it got the job done just as quickly.
It only has one temperature setting that heats up to 210°F and isn’t adjustable for different fabrics. The steam button is well placed on the machine and easy to reach. Since it is a steamer first, it releases a lot more steam than other irons we tested, which helped loosen up fabrics for wrinkle releasing. It has a very small water compartment that is removable and easy to fill.
The iron is shaped similar to a hammerhead shark, far different from the standard steam iron. Because of its design, we found that it strained our arm after ironing just two items. Plus, beware that it is quite tippy. While it features a flat base, the steamer iron is top heavy and falls over easily.
Despite its few downfalls, this steam iron is a versatile tool, pulling double duty as a clothing steamer and steam iron that blasts wrinkles away.
Despite being a well-made iron that didn’t wobble on the ironing board, the DW5280 only got out 50% of the wrinkles in our tests. Its heavy-duty design tracks smoothly across fabric and its setting buttons are easy to reach while in use.
However, its steam isn’t nearly as powerful as our top pick’s. The plumes of steam this iron released were on the smaller side, and we had to press the steam button more often than with other irons to get sufficient steam for ironing out wrinkles.
This iron was also difficult to angle under the sink faucet, and the tint of the water tank made it tough to see when it was full.
Reliable Maven’s steam iron is one of the bulkiest we tested. Instead of a built-in water tank, this iron is tethered to a base that doubles as a 54-ounce tank. Even with its large design, the station fits on our ironing board, and it feels sturdy sitting there during use. While other irons rest on their back heel, the dedicated base means there’s less risk of burning your ironing board or clothes when the iron isn’t in use.
There’s no water spray feature, though we didn’t miss that feature during testing. The amount of steam power alone thoroughly removed the wrinkles in the cotton shirt and linen tablecloth.
If you’re doing a lot of ironing, this iron will help you run through your whole closet quickly and efficiently. You can position it on an ironing board, but it will take up a lot of space, so we recommend placing it on a table nearby.
We love the look of this iron’s bright turquoise color and vintage design. The 12-foot power cord is one of the longest of any iron we tested, making it easy to move the iron freely around the ironing board without pulling the cord taut.
Unfortunately, the Singer Steam Iron fell short at removing wrinkles during our fabric tests. After seven minutes of ironing with our top-performing irons, they had already removed most of the wrinkles, but the Singer had only removed about half.
Additional concerns: The settings button is awkwardly positioned on the handle and is easy to bump. The hole to the water tank is narrow and requires a specific angle to be filled, which is burdensome to fill up.
The Chi Steam Iron has one of the longest cords, making it a great choice if you live in a home with fewer electrical outlets. It’s also one of the easiest to fill and the controls are clear and easy to use.
Unfortunately, the iron fell over quickly during topple tests, causing the water tank lid to pop open and creating a wet mess to clean up. Using the steam function also caused water droplets to leak from the plate, soaking the fabric. The ceramic-coated soleplate didn’t travel as smoothly as stainless-steel-plated irons did. It stumbled on the fabric, creating creases that needed another pass to smooth out.
The Black and Decker D3030 steam iron stood out for its innovative water tank design. It has the best opening, creating a little pocket so water easily pours into the tank without any spillage. Unfortunately, its controls lack clear markers and are difficult to read.
The plates are made from stainless steel, which should last you plenty of years. The smooth steel plate superbly pressed out the creases in a wrinkled dress shirt. However, the iron caught on the fabric several times, and required a bit of skill to avoid making more wrinkles.
The D3030 is steadier than other irons when resting on its heel, so it can withstand a few accidental bumps of the ironing board without tipping over right away.
The Sunbeam Classic steam iron has some of the most clear controls out of all the irons we tested. You can select your temperature by choosing the fabric you’re working with. It heats up 25 degrees higher than most other steam irons, leaving fabrics like cotton dress shirts flat and crisp.
On the downside, the iron's auto shut-off feature takes 60 seconds before it kicks on—almost double the time of most others we tested. Between the very high heat settings and the extra-long shut-off time, the iron left prominent scorch marks after only 30 seconds in our burn tests. You can expect freshly pressed laundry from this extra-hot iron, just make sure to use it with care.
The Nori Steam Iron's sleek design resembles a hair straightener than a steam iron. This unique iron has two aluminum panels that clamp around fabric to smooth out wrinkles in pant legs or shirt collars.
It sits lower down on our list because the water tank is small (1 ounce). You'll need to refill the tank more frequently than others in our guide, which can be difficult as the tank is narrow. (A funnel can help.)
It isn't ideal to use as an everyday iron, but it is a nice supplement to your ironing routine as it can tackle smaller sections and areas that a larger steam iron can't. The Nori is a great compact option for a travel iron that easily stores in your luggage or carry-on bag. It's also a handy alternative to a full-size iron for storing in small spaces like under bathroom counters or in dorm rooms.
Pros
Compact design
Easy to ready settings
Cons
Hard to fill
Difficult to maneuver
Weak steam flow
How We Test Steam Irons
The Tests
We put these steam irons through multiple rounds of testing, including ironing our own clothing and linens. We tested the minimum and maximum temperatures of each steam iron, and how quickly each heats up. We also looked at usability features like the ease of filling the water tank and how smoothly it glides across fabric. We also considered other features like electrical cord length, stability, and tank size.
For the third round of testing, we brought in two wrinkly culprits: a cotton dress shirt and a linen tablecloth. After washing, we let each item air dry to help them become as wrinkly as possible.
What You Should Know About Buying Steam Irons
Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
Most steam irons have a triangular shape that includes a water tank that when filled creates steam.
Most steam irons have a triangular shape and a water tank for creating steam. Most also feature a water spray feature which squirts water on fabric to help release wrinkles. Factors to consider when purchasing include weight, the amount of water they can hold, and their effectiveness at removing wrinkles.
Most irons also feature an automatic shut-off safety feature that will kick in after about 30 seconds facedown with no movement, or in a matter of minutes while resting on its heel untouched.
Use the Right Heat Setting for Your Fabric
Steam irons feature different heat settings, often named by the fabric type they’re suited for. Polyester and nylon blends will be a low setting, around 250°F, while cotton and linen are often the hottest temperature, around 450°F. The controls are typically set through a dial, while digital versions usually have buttons.
There are some slight differences in the designs you’ll encounter. The flat, heated surface of the iron is called the soleplate. You’ll usually find either stainless steel or ceramic soleplates. During testing, our top two performers had stainless steel plates.
How to Use a Steamer on an Iron
The controls for most steam irons sit near the handle, making it easy to adjust the settings while you’re using it. This is also where you can control the iron’s steam distribution to flow continuously (or not at all).
Using the steam button will dampen and heat clothes without requiring pressure from the iron. You can use this feature over an ironing board, or you can hold your iron vertically to steam delicate fabrics while they’re hanging up.
Is a Steamer Better Than a Steam Iron?
A clothes steamer is another popular option for releasing wrinkles from your wardrobe. Clothes steamers are often gentler on fabrics, as they don’t apply direct heat. Instead, the hot steam gets into textiles to release wrinkles. This makes it a better choice for delicate fabrics like silk and polyester, which can burn easily.
However, the direct heat of a steam iron can achieve a sleek, ironed press, especially on fabrics like cotton and linen. The pressure of a steam iron is also essential if you want sharp creases on your garments.
Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
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Samantha Mangino is a self-proclaimed homebody. Conveniently she is a home staff writer at Reviewed, covering cleaning, appliances, furniture, and home furnishings and décor. She knows her way around a house and has tested everything from furniture, sponges, steam irons, to Legos. She’s always on the hunt for the latest internet trends and wants to help make your home cleaner and cozier.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.