Customer Reviews

Hamilton Beach 11510 4-Shelf Garment Drying Station, White

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

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.

I use this rack to dry delicate items, undergarments, sweaters and various light to medium weight garments that cannot or should not be dried in a household dryer. I do not use this dryer to dry very large or heavy items such as sweatshirts, hoodies, jeans, coats, etc. I mention this because I don't believe and didn't expect that this drying rack was designed or even meant to replace a standard clothes dryer.

I have purchased two of these drying racks, the oldest of which has been in frequent use for a few years now. This is probably one of the more underrated products that I've come across on or offline. The drying racks are sturdy, the fan offers plenty of power and air circulation, and all this in a footprint that isn't very much larger than the typical nonelectric drying rack.

Surface drying area is the biggest benefit of this product because having four racks allows the user to dry many more items than would be possible with an ordinary single drying rack. The capacity of this unit makes for an efficient use of my time and I love that. The fan is vented in such a way that air flows evenly over, under and around each of the four drying racks evenly. This is important as good design like this reduces drying time. If I fill all four racks in the evening with the kinds of clothing that I mentioned above, everything is always dry by morning.

The mesh used on the racks is thick, good quality material and not the typical thin, flimsy material used on some nonelectric drying racks that I've owned and it should easily last through the life of the product.

Initial assembly is just slightly time consuming but easy. After they are assembled each of the racks are removable for storage. You will need some space in a closet in order to tuck the fan and racks away until the next use. As one reviewer here has noted, the racks do not store flat but in order to accomplish that the manufacturer would have had to change the design of each rack from a practical (and sensible) one-piece design to a more cumbersome three-piece design. That would mean that the user would have to keep track of and install eight little feet on the racks prior to use, then remove the feet after each use in order to store the unit. I don't know about you but I don't need to add more hassle to a chore that I already don't enjoy. When I want to use this rack, I want to reach into the closet, grab the pieces, drop each rack into place, hit the "on" button and go. I don't want to have to sit on the floor mounting feet on each rack before I can use it, so I am very happy with the fact that the racks don't store completely flat because the alternative sounds like a hassle.

Each of the racks are large and I have no problems drying sweaters and various other items like that.

Be aware that since this drying unit is powered with a fan it does sound like a fan. It isn't overly loud and I have zero complaints about noise but if you intend to run this while you are sleeping or watching television, you may want to place it in another room.

I liked mine so much that I bought another for my daughter who was leaving home and moving into her first apartment. She's been using hers for several months and loves it.

Now that I have this wonderful product, I find myself setting more of my clothing aside to be flat air dried than I did before, prolonging the life of the clothes. I use it to air dry my sweaters, of course, but also bathing suits and other clothing. I hand wash more clothes too, like the dark blue work shirt that usually fades in the regular wash/dry cycle. This is small and portable enough that I have it set up in our bedroom! I love it! It's one of those purchases my husband wasn't too sure about but has conceded that it has come in handy!

Living in a high humidity area (Florida), it can be really tough to dry delicates and other clothes, like sweaters, that require flat drying. Worse yet, they can get a musty smell during the process. This dryer fits on top of my front-load washer and dries 3-4 items within 1/2 a day. The fan is quiet - just a whisper of a sound in the room adjacent to the laundry room. It is a bit large, but I don't know how it could be smaller and have the same capacity. I plan to leave it out all of the time, because we flat dry year-round. I love it!

I have used the Hamilton Beach Garmet Drying Station for 2 years and I absolutely love it. I have a lot of nice shirt that I don't want to put in the dryer. I also don't like using a regular drying rack because it is impossible to lay shirts out without getting lines from the structure.

With this dryer, I get to lay my shirts, bras, delicate underwear, and skirts. No lines, no creases. Lighter shirts dry in 1-2 hours; heavier sweaters take longer.

I cannot recommend this product enough. It keeps my clothes in excellent condition, and allows me to dry larger amounts of clothes at one time.

I needed something to help with the drying process of my wet-felting projects. This is perfect for sweaters and anything else that requires blocking. The unit circulates air (not heated) and I'm very happy with the results.