Rowenta Valet Steam

I don’t iron.

I suspect in my thirty-eight-and-a-half years of life I have ironed seven times. It’s not that I don’t know how, I just don’t like to. And the clothes I tend to buy that require ironing also normally require dry cleaning, so the ironing part is taken care of.

But my husband’s shirts won’t iron themselves and they don’t need to be dry cleaned, so for years I’ve washed them delicately in the washing machine and once I’ve amassed at least half a dozen, I cart them off to the dry cleaner. Just to be ironed. It’s $1 a shirt and worth every damn penny.

So, honestly, when Rowenta asked if I wanted to try out any of its products, I wasn’t too keen on the irons. I mean, I like you a lot, dear reader, but not enough to take up ironing. Sorry.

A steamer, however, could come in handy for those days I realize at the last minute that the dress I planned to wear to work is crumpled up on the floor somehow slipped off the hanger, and needs a quick refresh to make it look like I’m no longer a careless university student.

I’ve been known to hang garments in my shower to pull wrinkles out of them at the eleventh hour, so – yes – a steamer would do and Rowenta generously sent me the Valet Steam full-size steamer to review.

THE GOOD

Super-duper easy to assemble out of the box. As Big B describes it: “Bang, bang. Out of the box. And there you go.” Now if that doesn’t scream easy, I don’t know what does.

It heats up really, really fast. For sure it was less than a minute. It takes the hot water in my bathroom taps longer to heat up.

You can steam clothes; that’s a given. But you can even steam curtains with the Valet Steam! This is kind of huge for me because the thought of taking down all of the curtains in my house (particularly the ones in my bedroom, which are two panels of 108-inch wide fabric each) to refresh and de-wrinkle them is nothing short of mommy-brain terrorism.

It’s unbelievably easy to use and really, really effective. You really only need to hover the brush over your garment once (maybe twice) and the wrinkles just fall right out.

We love being able to hang a shirt or dress right on the Rowenta Valet Steam, so you don’t have to hold both your garment and steamer at the same time. Effortless. So effortless that we haven’t sent one of Big B’s shirts to the dry cleaner since it arrived.

The company claims that the Valet Steam the only commercially rated steamer of its kind in Canada. I don’t really know what that means, but please don’t start dropping your husband’s shirts off at my house.

THE GAFFE

This sucker is big. If you have limited closet or storage space, you need to see it in person before buying it to be sure your home can accommodate the Valet Steam. We have a second-floor laundry room with a double closet and we managed to slide it in there so it’s tucked away yet still accessible. If we didn’t have it on the same floor as our bedroom, I think we’d find it pretty inconvenient to lug up and down stairs.

I’m not sure $170 is a reality for the average family for something like a steamer. But for a family spending upwards of $100 a year on ironing services at the dry cleaner, it’s a smart investment.

THE GEARS

4.5/5

So…where can you get it?

• Amazon.ca
• And check Rowenta’s “where to buy” link