The Hamilton Beach Garment Drying Station is the underdog that you root for. It faces a seemingly insurmountable challenge and it tries and tries, but just falls short. Still, you appreciate its effort and reward it by trotting it out for a use every now and then.
The problem of drying delicates and shrinkable knits is hardly a new one. Since clotheslines are so out of fashion now, most people resort to drip-drying these items on hangers. But this is hardly a solution, either.
Enter the Garment Drying Station, which promises to drastically cut drying times while protecting your clothes. The biggest problem is that it fails on the first count in order to succeed on the second. I've found that drying times often stretch into the hours, especially for knits. I tried drying a few medium-weight cotton sweaters on it and they were still damp after running all night. A heavier-weight hoodie sweatshirt? Pfft forget about it. Lightweight materials such as silks and synthetics can be finished in two to three hours.
Fortunately, while it's running, the Station isn't very loud its fan is roughly as loud as that of a microwave. So assuming that it's in an adjacent room, you'll barely notice it. And it does blow the pleasant smell of clean laundry throughout the house.
But maybe the worst drawback to the System is the size conundrum. It takes up a large footprint when its set up approximately 2.5 feet square. However, this still isn't large enough to completely spread out most garments. One of the problems that I faced with the knit sweaters is that I had to fold the sleeves over the body in order to fit them on to the drying rack. The wet-on-wet portions of the sweaters were obviously much slower to dry. Sure, I could have stopped by every now and then to rearrange the sleeves, but suddenly the convenience factor is gone. Also, the size of the racks can be a problem for thinner fabrics as you have no choice but to either fold the garment up or else leave it hanging off the edge, either of which can produce unwanted creases. There is an optional attachment that lets you hang hangers over the unit, but then suddenly I'm out $25 more dollars and back to hang-drying clothes anyway.
Setup and takedown are both very easy and operation is a simple on/off switch. The Station is constructed of plastic that feels durable and high-quality mesh that shouldn't snag any of your clothing.
So the Garment-Drying Station attempts to solve a likely unsolvable situation and falls somewhat short. Still, if you have a big wardrobe of delicate light-weight clothes, a lot of spare space to operate the unit, and a pretty hefty amount of patience, it's a worthwhile investment.
PROS
* Gentle drying of your delicate and/or shrinkable garments
* Does fill a good amount of the house with a pleasant "fresh laundry" smell
* Surprisingly quiet during operation
* Quality construction
CONS
* Lengthy drying times
* Takes up considerable space, both when in use and when stored
* Drying racks are nevertheless too small to flatten out most items
This sweater dryer was the answer to my prayers. Living in Florida, I don't own many sweaters or sweatshirts; so I keep them in a tight rotation. This dries even heavy sweaters in about 24 hours. I've even started using it for delicates, to dry them quicker.
The initial set up is a bit of a nightmare, so I wouldn't recommend this if you don't plan on setting it up and leaving it for at least the winter months. If it weren't for the set up, I would give it 5 stars!
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This dryer does use electricity for the fan, and I plan on leaving the clothes on it for a day. Obviously, the amount of time necessary for drying depends on the humidity in the house. Another advantage is if your air is dry, the water drying from the clothes adds to the humidity. I find that unless you want to take the dryer apart to lay out your clothes, the shelves are too close together. It would benefit from the addition of screen trays so that you can put your clothes on them and then slide them into the shelves. I dry most of my clothes on the top shelf and on the sides, and I find this works very well.
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My reason for purchasing this drying rack was that I wear a lot of "lay flat to dry" sweaters, and having sweaters laying all over my house on laundry day was really getting to me. I bought this mostly because of its 4 shelves, and the fact that it claimed to dry things quicker was just an added bonus. Based on prior reviews I was a bit skeptical of its claim to shorten drying time, however I was pleasantly surprised. Sweaters that previously took at least a day (12+ hours) to dry were dry in about 4-6 hours.
the noise from the fan is not much worse than an older style humidifier. It does have a decent size foot print, however it does come apart easily for more compact storage when not in use. The only thing I would change is that I would make the shelves slightly longer, as many of my sweaters have a couple of inches that hang over the end.
overall I have been really pleased with this item so far.
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I bought two of these dryers one for my friend and both of us are fiber dyers. The wool dried overnight, it is terrific, The racks are about the size of a regular dryer but it has so many racks you can use some or one. I would buy this in a heartbeat. Works very well, better than a fan I used to use.
To beginI would expect to pay more for just the slab of glass that makes up the top portion of this table. I have been putting together A LOT of furniture as I just moved and THIS piece was a breeze to assemble. Everything was in tactthe instructions were pretty straight forward and the table was constructed in about 15-20 minutes. The box is quite heavy so that is a consideration if you need to carry it far once it makes it to your doorstep.
