Ideal Home Approved: Buying Guides

This section of Ideal Home brings you in-depth reviews of all the latest technology, appliances and key pieces of furniture, enabling you to buy your next food blender, steam iron or mattress with complete confidence. Technology is always moving forward so it’s no wonder lots of us feel daunted – or even scared – of being left behind.

That’s where these guides come to the rescue. Bookmark them, and you’ll always know your UHD from your DAB, which fridge freezer is really the coolest, and the best cordless vacuum to clear up your family’s mess. So what qualifies us as experts? Let’s start with the fact that Ideal Home has been advising homeowners on the best buys for their kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and more since 1920. That’s close to 100 years of knowledge, right there.

And then there is our carefully chosen reviews panel. A group of geeks, parents, bakers, eco warriors, sleep obsessives, gardeners, DIYers, and – most importantly – houseproud experts in their fields. Between them, they have decades of testing experience working for the most prestigious titles in the land – not least, Ideal Home.

How we test

We believe that any product should be super-simple to use, look good and work brilliantly, stand the test of time and make your life easier in some small (or big) way.

And these are exactly the criteria that our testing team has in mind as they put each product through its paces. They do so at home, over several weeks, pitting them against the everyday situations we all encounter. Our vacuum cleaner tester, for example, is a dog owner, while our mattress tester is a new mum, who knows all about the power of a good night’s sleep!

Lots of products won’t make the cut, but those that make the mark will be awarded a star rating. And the very, very best are awarded our ‘Ideal Home Approved’ recommendation.

Our shopping links

We work hard to give an honest, independent view of whether a product is worth having, rooted in the expertise of our writers.

We feature a wide range of products on our pages, and we select them because you want to know about them, or because our experts believe they are worth reading about.

Some of the products we write about are shoppable, which means you can buy them straight after reading about them. We do this either by offering a comparison of various prices from a range of retailers – most often in reviews articles – or by providing a single link alongside a product.

When you buy from one of these affiliate links, we sometimes get paid a small amount of money via the company you bought from. This isn’t an extra fee and is included in the normal purchase price that everyone sees. Nor does the pricing information we show depend on the fees we get.

Often we produce round-ups of deals and discounted products, which might be themed around specific retailers or product categories. We base these on the likelihood that someone is searching for them, and is looking for information on how to save money. We don’t generally promote specific deals based on the fees we get, but if we do, we label them as ‘Promoted’ so you can tell.

Our editorial integrity is important to us – please write to our digital editor, amy.cutmore@timeinc.com and let us know how we are doing.