Tips on how to find the best steam iron for your needs

Steam removes wrinkles quickly and effectively from fabric, so professional reviewers tend to focus on how well irons can steam. In addition to steam settings, many irons have a burst-of-steam feature, which lets you shoot a quick puff of extra steam into fabric. Most steam irons also have a mist/spray nozzle so you can dampen fabric, which sometimes helps smooth set-in wrinkles.

According to About.com guide to laundry Mary Marlowe Leverette, the best irons also have adjustable settings to handle everything from delicate silks to synthetics and natural cotton fabrics, an auto shutoff and option for steam or heat only. Many irons offer a self-cleaning feature to clear clogs and residue on the soleplate, which also helps prevent those pesky droplets that sometimes show up on fabrics after ironing.

Leverette says a nonstick soleplate is like a nonstick surface in cookware -- it's decidedly the easiest to clean. Stainless steel and aluminum transfer heat quickly, but need more cleaning to remove built-up starch and residue. Also, be aware that sometimes the best steam-producing irons are also the heaviest. Leverette says heavier irons are better for heavy-duty pressing, or for ironers who need meticulously set creases and folds in their fabrics, but lightweight irons are fine if you don't need to press clothes that often. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

Here are more things to consider when looking for the iron that will best suit your needs:

  • Choose a soleplate material based on your ironing style. Experts say a ceramic or stainless-steel soleplate glides more smoothly. If you iron with starch, however, a nonstick coating may be easier to clean.
  • Variable steam automatically adjusts the amount of steam and ensures you don't get high steam on delicate fabrics.
  • Auto shutoff is a must for most. A three-way shutoff works when the iron falls forward onto the soleplate, tips onto its side or is left unattended after a certain number of minutes. However, quilters and others who constantly go back and forth to the iron may prefer one without an auto-shutoff feature.
  • A self-cleaning setting allows you to expel boiling water through the steam vents to clear mineral buildup.
  • If you're concerned about the cord dragging across the fabric and causing wrinkles, get an iron with a pivoting or retractable cord or try a cordless model.
  • Unless you live in an area with very hard water, tap water works fine for most irons. This is because most of today's steam irons also have an anti-calcium valve or resin filter. Likewise, distilled water may cause some irons to malfunction, so check the owner's manual.
  • If you use starch, clean the soleplate periodically to get rid of residue.
  • To minimize dribbles and leaking, press fabrics requiring a low temperature first, before adding water. Later, after using the steam feature, empty the water chamber -- this reduces droplets as well as residue and deposits on the soleplate.
  • If you iron a lot of natural fibers or heavy fabrics such as denim, get an iron with burst-of-steam and spray features to better permeate the fabric.

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