Expert Reviews Product of the Year Awards: Home

In so many ways, a house isn’t a home without the myriad products, gadgets and devices we pack into it. It always seems a little silly to give value to innocuous items such as toasters or blenders, but without their ceaseless efforts, we’d be lost – or at least, hungry and grumpy. The stakes are higher elsewhere: sleep on the wrong mattress, for example, and you’re at risk of creating or exacerbating all kinds of neck and back issues.

And of course, with so many of us now spending more time than ever working remotely, our home appliances are seeing a lot more action. This makes it absolutely essential that the appliances in question can withstand the strain – be that endless cups of coffee, slices of toast or anything else.

That’s where we come in. At Expert Reviews, we’ve been busier than ever putting hundreds of home products across a huge range of categories. Our intention? To provide you with sensible, practical and unbiased buying advice and expertise, so that when the time comes to purchase a new coffee machine, mattress or rice cooker, you know exactly which model is right for you.

The result of this ceaseless hard work is the second annual Expert Reviews Home Product of the Year Awards. This year, we’ve selected one winner and one highly commended product across 27 home-related categories, and crowned an overall winner that we feel changes the game for the industry as a whole.

This is our way of applauding the most extraordinary products of the past year, and it’s also an opportunity for us to point you in the direction of the masterpieces that deserve a place in your home.

Welcome to the Expert Reviews Home Product of the Year awards.

Home Product of the Year | Winner

Ninja Foodi SmartLid 11-in-1 Multi Cooker | £279

Ninja has an excellent track record of creating hugely versatile, high-performance products, so it’s no wonder the Foodi SmartLid 11-in-1 has bagged our overall Home Product of the Year Award. The do-it-all machine can not only pressure cook, air fry, slow cook, bake, sauté and steam, it’s also large enough to roast an entire chicken in as little as 40 minutes.

We were particularly impressed with the Foodi’s new combi-steam modes, which allow you to roast and air fry with steam for juicer results when cooking joints of meat. Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, has been the introduction of a single lid for all settings, meaning you can jump between air-frying, combi-steam and pressure-cooking modes without having to switch lids.

Home Products of the Year

Food Processor of the Year

Winner | Ninja 3-in-1 Food Processor with Auto-IQ BN800UK | £170

The 3-in-1 with Auto-IQ is the perfect example of a great-value product. It produces excellent results without being overly complicated and showy, making it Ninja’s best food processor to date. There are three interchangeable bowls, from a personal 700ml cup to a family-sized jug, as well as a handful of accessories for slicing, dicing, grating and mixing. Add to this five automatic processing settings combined with three manual chopping speeds and you’ve got a versatile processor that’s ideal for pretty much everyone.

Highly commended | Kenwood FDM312SS Multipro Compact+ | £106

Kenwood’s Multipro Compact+ processor also hugely impressed in our tests thanks to its hugely useful built-in weighing function and plethora of accessories. From classic food processing to blending, there’s not much it can’t tackle, and it excels at all the most important tasks. While it might look unassuming, this little powerhouse outperforms many models in the same price range and is surprisingly spacious, too. A great little appliance worth shouting about.

Blender of the Year

Winner | NutriBullet 900 Series | £90

For a fuss-free blending experience, you really don’t need to look any further than NutriBullet. The brand is well known for its high-performance blenders and smoothie makers, and we think the 900 series is the best of the bunch. Pairing affordability with performance, it’s a simple blender that makes light work of everything from fruit and vegetables to nuts and ice. Combine that with two blending cups and an on-the-go lid for sipping and you’ve got everything you need for smoothies, sauces, plant milk and more.

Highly commended | Cuisinart Cordless hand blender | £79

We’ve seen a huge influx in cordless kitchen appliances over the past year, and Cusinart’s hand blender is one of the best. Not only does it have a reasonable price compared to other cordless kitchen gadgets, it also proved itself in our tests. Despite not packing the powerful punch of its corded counterparts, it tackles everyday blending tasks with ease and has the added bonus that it lasts an impressively long time on a single charge. The perfect hand blender for cord haters.

Multi Cooker of the Year

Winner | Ninja Foodi SmartLid 11-in-1 Multi Cooker | £279

As well as being delightfully simple to use, the Ninja Foodi 11-in-1 has bundles of functions that make it more than worthy of this award. Combining pretty much every cooking appliance you could ever need into one package, this multi cooker delivers in the most important areas: convenience, style, performance and value. The addition of the new combi-steam functions and the move from a dual lid to single lid elevate this above not only Ninja’s own previous models but competitor multi cookers in this price range.

Highly commended | Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 | £90

Instant Pot has become a bit of a cult favourite over the years, and for good reason: the digital multi cookers are well known for their versatility and ease of use. However, it’s the classic Instant Pot 7-in-1 that we recommend, striking the perfect balance between price and features. While it’s predominantly a pressure cooker, the 7-in-1 can also slow cook, sauté, stream and more. Add to that consistent cooking results and a slick design and you’ve got a multi cooker that delivers where it counts.

Pizza Oven of the Year

Winner | Ooni Karu 16 | £699

This multi-fuel pizza oven can be powered using hardwood, gas, and charcoal, allowing it to  reach its maximum temperature of 500ºC in just 15 minutes, which will cook a whopping 16in pizza in just 60 seconds. Controlling the temperature couldn’t be easier as it comes with a built-in digital thermometer, hinged door and chimney, and because it’s super quick and easy to set up, you’ll be a pizza-baking legend in no time. The pizzas we baked turned out really well, especially when we used the wood-fired option; that’s not just down to our cooking skills, as the oven had a wide opening that made it super easy to insert and remove the pizzas.

Highly commended | Gozney Roccbox | £399

Coming in at a close second we have the stylish and portable Gozney Roccbox pizza oven. We were impressed by its effortless setup process and dual-fuel capability, which heated the oven to 500ºC in under 45 minutes. That’s hot enough to cook a 12in pizza to perfection in one minute. For those hoping to take their pizza oven camping with them, this one is hands-down the best you’ll find, and when you can make pizzas this good on the go, you’re guaranteed to be happy campers.

Kettle of the Year

Winner | KitchenAid Artisan 5KEK1522 | £179

Sometimes it’s not efficient to boil a kettle to full temperature when you only want water warmed; thankfully the KitchenAid Artisan kettle comes with an adjustable temperature scale that ranges from 50ºC to 100ºC, allowing you to decide how hot you want your water to be. When we tested it, we found that it was accurate to within a few degrees and fully boiled a cup of water in 56 seconds. The handy temperature dial on the body allows you to easily see the current water temperature so you don’t unnecessarily reboil the kettle; that would be an easy mistake to make as it boils quietly enough that you won’t hear it boiling from another room.

Highly commended | Russell Hobbs Quiet Boil 20460 | £35

Our runner-up kettle this year, the Russell Hobbs Quiet Boil, can’t be beaten in terms of value. It strikes a great balance between performance, price and aesthetics by having a large 1.7-litre capacity, fast 45-second one-cup boil time and whisper-quiet operation. Better still, its brushed stainless steel finish will fit into a wide range of kitchens, and you can buy a matching coffee maker and toaster without breaking the bank.

Rice Cooker of the Year

Winner | Yum Asia Bamboo | £200

Even connoisseurs of rice cooking will be blown away by the capabilities of the Yum Asia Bamboo induction rice cooker, which has sprinted ahead of its competition to take the top spot. Operated via the touchscreen, its ten preset functions include standard white, brown and short-grain rice options, as well as the Yumani setting, which creates a sweeter-tasting grain. There’s also the unique GABA setting, which supposedly germinates the grain to release more nutrients from brown rice. It’s also multifunctional, allowing you to steam, clow cook and bake cakes, further justifying the counter space it takes up.

Highly commended | Russell Hobbs Rice Cooker and Steamer | £30

With this family-sized cooker, you get two products for the price of one. Used as a rice cooker, it can cook up to ten cups of rice, making it perfect for big family meals or batch cooking. There’s also a special basket insert that conveniently turns the cooker into a steamer for fish, potatoes and vegetables. The stainless steel finish looks neat and tidy on any counter, meaning it’s perfect for everyday use. With its fuss-free controls and effective keep-warm function, it’s a thoroughly deserving runner-up.

Toaster of the Year

Winner | De’Longhi Distinta X 4-Slice Toaster | £139

If you’ve never been stunned by a toaster before, make way for our toaster of the year: the De’Longhi Distinta X 4-Slice Toaster. When we tested how well each “toastiness” setting worked, we ended up with an even gradient of brownness every time, so you’ll never have to suffer eating unevenly toasted or, God forbid, burnt toast again. Other star features include a dedicated bagel setting, a reheat function and a defrost option. Also, De’Longhi hasn’t compromised on style for substance, as its chrome and black finish looks sleek, too.

Highly commended | Smeg 2 Slice Toaster | £134

While there’s space for only two slices in the Smeg 2 slice toaster, its super-speedy toasting puts it firmly in the runner-up spot. As well as evenly toasted toast, defrost and bagel settings, it’s the most power-efficient toaster we’ve seen at this price, helping you save some money on energy bills. Better still, it’s available in a range of colours to fit your kitchen aesthetic.

Fan of the Year

Winner | John Lewis Tower Fan, 42 inch | £95

With a stylish design and oodles of power, the John Lewis Tower Fan topples more established competition to earn its place as our fan of the year. This is an unusually tall fan that performed exceptionally well in tests, with a clear touch display and sleek remote helping to make operation a breeze. It’s solidly built and can pump out air at an impressive 2.8 metres per second when the need is dire; switch it into Sleep mode, meanwhile, and it will slowly decrease in power (and noise) to help you nod off. A worthy champion.

Highly commended | Duux Globe | £80

Our runner-up in this category is perfect for home office work. The Duux Globe is a good-looking desk fan with a spherical design, which allows for vertical and horizontal oscillation (90 degrees along each axis). It has three speed settings – engaged using the bundled remote control – and operates with virtually no noise whatsoever, so you can comfortably keep it on during a Zoom call.

Air Purifier of the Year

Winner | Blueair DustMagnet 5240i | £330

Excellent performance notwithstanding, the most attractive feature of the Blueair DustMagnet 5240i is its understated design – it’s intentionally flat-topped so as to resemble a side table, allowing it to blend effortlessly into your living room. But performance is the name of the game here, and in this regard the DustMagnet delivers. Acting rapidly and near-silently in our aerosol-filtration tests, this is a supremely powerful air purifier perfect for bigger rooms, and it’s smart, too: using the companion app you can remotely control the DustMagnet, as well as set schedules and view air quality reports. This is a formidable all-rounder and a worthy winner.

Highly commended | Blueair Blue 3210 | £179

It’s a perfect score for Blueair this year, as the Blue 3210 picks up the highly commended award in our air purifier category. Every bit as stylish as its sibling above, the Blue is compact and effortlessly straightforward to use, with a bundled remote that lets you cycle through its four modes in turn. It’s practically silent and surprisingly effective for such a small, discreet purifier.

Robot Vacuum Cleaner of the Year

Winner | iRobot Roomba j7 | £700

A smart navigator, the iRobot Roomba j7 gets around exceptionally well, using a front-mounted camera and sensors to avoid obstacles such as tangled cables and pet mess where other robot vacuums would get tripped up. The vacuum also keeps a constantly updated and evolving map of its surroundings, viewable in the handy companion app from which you can also control the j7. Of course, top-tier navigation and controls wouldn’t mean much if the vacuum didn’t clean well. Thankfully, this smart mover is also a proficient cleaner of carpets and hard floors, agitating dirt with its twin rubber rollers before removing it cleanly.

Highly commended | Airrobo T10+ | £399

The Airrobo T10+ has solid navigation and cleaning abilities, but where it really shines is the breadth of features it offers at its price point. The machine boasts LiDAR navigation, an attachment and separate abilities for mopping and a self-emptying charging base station, all at a price that is several hundred pounds below other robot vacuums.

Vacuum Cleaner of the Year

Winner | Dyson V12 Detect Slim | £530

Last year, our vacuum cleaner of the year was the Dyson V15 Detect, to which the V12 Slim bears a lot of similarity. It has the same Detect line features: a green laser for picking out dust, a particle detection system and a screen that displays information from said system. It also comes with similar peripherals: a hair screw tool, a crevice tool and a low-reach adapter, to name a few. And while built on technically less powerful hardware, it performed just as well in cleaning tests. So what gives it an edge? Taking into account the fact that it’s smaller, lighter and cheaper than the V15, the Dyson V12 Detect Slim reveals itself as both a clever buy and a more efficient and easy-to-use vacuum than its rivals.

Highly commended | Shark ICZ300UKT | £330

A versatile vacuum, the Shark ICZ300UKT offers abundant convenience with very little compromise. While not as light and nippy as a cordless stick, this cordless upright can stand on its own, moves well and is highly powerful, with the superbly designed DuoClean floor head doing an excellent job on both carpets and hard floors without the need to swap out heads. Any high areas, tricky corners or tough cleans can be taken care of via the vacuum’s Lift-Away detachable design and quality peripheral tools.

Handheld Vacuum of the Year

Winner | Gtech Multi MK2 K9 | £165

A slightly chunky handheld vacuum, the Gtech Multi MK2 K9 is well balanced and is supremely easy to use thanks to its sizable 400ml collection bin. Designed with pets in mind, this vacuum does a great job tackling shed hair and pet mess, although its strengths aren’t pet exclusive, as it also performed excellently in all our standard cleaning tests, picking up flour and Cheerios from carpets and hard floors with ease. A unique feature of the MK2 K9 is its scented cartridges, which left the air smelling fresh and pleasant as it cleaned our various surfaces.

Highly commended | Shark Cordless HandVac Pet | £69

A neatly sized model that rests somewhere between a wand-shaped cleaner and a standard full-size hand-vac, the Shark Cordless HandVac Pet is a peerless budget pick. While it doesn’t have the suction power to match more powerful and more expensive handhelds, Shark’s clever interior design means the device resists clogging, allowing it to match stronger vacuums spill for spill. It also comes with an easy-to-empty bin and a solid selection of attachments.

Hard Floor Cleaner of the Year

Winner | Dyson Omni-glide | £350

Aiming to create a hard-floor cleaner for use in small apartments, the design wizards at Dyson knocked it out of the park with the Omni-glide. Light, compact and cordless, the Omni-glide resists becoming just another piece of clutter around your home. Most important is its excellent cleaning power: in testing its contradirectional twin-rollers tackled large debris and fine dust particles with aplomb. Its easily rotated handle and the manoeuvrable coasters on its cleaning head, whose smooth, omni-directional movement give the device its name, also help make sure that no nook or cranny will be safe from the device’s solid suction capabilities. Tack all these fine qualities onto a very reasonable price and it’s easy to see why the Omni-glide is our top hard floor cleaner of the year.

Highly commended | Roidmi RS70 | £499

Another versatile runner-up, the Roidmi RS70 offers multiple cleaning methods in one device. Bearing a brush head well designed for hard floors, with agitating bristles that allow it to give a solid try at rugs and mats, the device can also turn its motor power to its rotating cleaning pads and give floors a solid mop. Another standout area is its battery life, which lasts over an hour in Eco mode, giving you plenty of time to get your hard floors spotless.

Air Fryer of the Year

Winner | Tefal Actifry Genius+ | £219

When nothing but the best will do, look to Tefal’s Genius+ air fryer. One-touch functions, as well as manual time and temperature settings, make this a wonderfully versatile air fryer that delivers consistently excellent results whether you’re heating oven food or making your own chips. The most impressive feature of this air fryer, though, is its self-stirring paddle, which makes using the Genius+ incredibly simple. A truly top-of-the-range fryer that will take pride of place in any kitchen and a worthy winner of our Air Fryer of the Year award.

Highly commended | Tower Xpress Pro Combo 10-in-1 | £180

We couldn’t talk about air fryers without also giving a nod to the fantastic Tower Xpress Pro Combo 10-in-1. An oven-style air fryer with an army of accessories, this fryer is capable of cooking everything from skewer kebabs and chips to a whole rotisserie chicken in 45 minutes. Its whopping 11-litre capacity is also well worth a mention, making it an ideal choice for families. It might look and cook like a mini oven, but it’s also so much more.

Capsule Coffee Machine of the Year

Winner | Philips L’OR Barista Sublime | £105

This compact little gem is compatible with a wide range of coffee pods, from Nespresso, Lavazza and Dualit – not to mention L’OR’s own coffee pods, including the brand’s XXL capsules, which deliver two servings of espresso from one pod. You get a choice of ristretto, espresso and lungo drink sizes, plus customisable options between 25ml and 270ml. The key feature that really makes the Sublime stand out from other coffee pod machines, though, is its dual spout, meaning you can make two drinks at the same time. All this from one of the smallest coffee pod machines we’ve tested is pretty impressive indeed.

Highly commended | Nespresso Vertuo Next | £124

The Vertuo Next is our favourite Nespresso machine. It couldn’t be easier to use, and there’s no need to fuss about with dosage options if you can’t be bothered: the machine will read the barcode attached to each capsule and work out how much water to dispense accordingly. From rich espresso to big mugs, the Vertuo Next pours an excellent cup of coffee. And with a wide range of Vertuo pods available, there’s plenty of choice.

Portable BBQ of the Year

Winner | Weber Smokey Joe Premium | £100

For top-notch on-the-go grilling there’s nothing better than Weber’s Smokey Joe Premium. A smaller, portable version of the iconic Kettle BBQ, this compact offering is the ideal purchase for campers and beach bums alike. We love it because not only is it easy to transport, use and clean, it’s also incredibly robust – so much so that our head of reviews has had one for over two decades. With plenty of premium features and a generous grill space, this is the only portable BBQ you need.

Highly commended | CharBroil Grill2Go | £149

Robust, rugged and powerful: the three words that sum up CharBroil’s impressive Grill2Go gas BBQ. If you’re an avid outdoor enthusiast, a lightweight gas BBQ is a must, and this one seriously impresses. With a killer heat-up time thanks to its infrared grill, excellent fuel efficiency and good portability, it ticks plenty of boxes and looks the part, too.

Stand Mixer of the Year

Winner | Kenwood KMix | £499

If there’s one stand mixer we’re constantly going back to it’s the Kenwood KMix. It’s excellent value and comes with all the accessories a person needs to get started on a baking journey. In tests, we were impressed with its performance across a range of baking tasks, from bread to batter, and praised its consistent results. Importantly, the Kmix is very easy to use, meaning that whether you’re a seasoned baker or a first-time user, it’s easy to make the most of this impressive appliance.

Highly commended | KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175PS 4.8L | £499

With bundles of top-quality accessories and a robust design, this stand mixer from veteran appliance brand KitchenAid comes highly recommended. Here, beauty meets functionality with a classic design and robust, top-quality accessories for dough making and cake mixing. Add to this consistent results in our tests and you have a well-rounded mixer that looks as good as it performs.

Electric Toothbrush of the Year

Winner | Oral-B iO 6 | £130

Oral-B is a brand that needs little introduction, but the iO 6 isn’t quite so ubiquitous. This year’s winner contains much of the same excellent technology found inside its big sibling, the iO 9, but it manages to remain eminently affordable, which makes it a no-brainer purchase in our books. The iO 6 has a travel case and uses the Oral-B app to deliver information on every aspect of your brushing performance, from speed to pressure. Powerful, quiet and packed with five different brush modes, this is every bit the high-end electric toothbrush you’d expect from Oral-B – without the price tag.

Highly commended | Oclean X Pro Elite | £80

Oclean’s X Pro Elite is a top-drawer electric toothbrush that fights off tough competition by delivering a perfect balance of price, performance and features. With a useful companion app and a stellar battery life (this toothbrush is fully wireless-charger-compatible), the X Pro Elite is hardy and intelligent, and it performs exceptionally well (and exceptionally quietly) thanks to its brushless magnetic motor.

Manual Espresso Machine of the Year

Winner | Gaggia Classic Pro | £429

It might be a little bigger than some of the sleeker espresso machines out there, but the Gaggia Classic Pro nails the important thing, which is being able to make a great espresso. At £450, it’s a decent step up from the cheap entry-level machines but won’t cost you as much as its closest rivals. It’s also brilliantly easy to use, with three large clunk-click buttons on the front of the machine and a dial on the side for steam control.

Highly commended | Sage Bambino | £330

Bambino by name, bambino by nature. Leagues above some of the more affordable machines such as the De’Longhi Dedica Style, the Sage Bambino is a compact espresso machine that will fit neatly into small kitchens, and produces consistently good coffee.

Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine of the Year

Winner | De’Longhi Magnifica Evo One Touch | £550

The De’Longhi Magnifica Evo One Touch does exactly what you want a bean-to-cup coffee espresso to do: it grinds, brews coffee and froths milk with ease. The Evo is simple to use thanks to a bright touchscreen panel that allows you to make espressos, macchiatos, cappuccinos and lattes with just… well, one touch. And we were very impressed with how the coffee tastes too, whether that was espresso, water-based or milk-based drinks. If you’re after a bean-to-cup machine, there’s nothing better at this price point.

Highly commended | De’Longhi Primadonna Soul | £1,299

The Primadonna Soul is a great high-end bean-to-cup machine, able to produce a wide range of drinks – 21 in total – at the touch of a button. Its bright touchscreen design is stylish, and very little effort is required to get great coffee from the machine. The standout feature is De’Longhi’s Bean Adapt: input the information about the coffee beans you’re using, and the machine will adjust itself accordingly.

Dehumidifier of the Year

Winner | MeacoDry Arete One 10L | £160

We’re long-standing admirers of Meaco’s Arete One, and this 10-litre version is our favourite iteration yet, doing a great job of banishing moisture in small and medium-sized rooms. The unit is very compact, which ensures it remains unobtrusive, and its fans run extremely quietly, particularly in night mode. There’s a laundry mode to dry washing, and the device also doubles as an air purifier if you insert the included HEPA filter. That functionality, combined with effective humidity reduction, intuitive controls and an easily removable water tank, help elevate the Arete One 10L above all other dehumidifiers we’ve tested this year.

Highly commended | Princess Smart Dehumidifier 20L | £279

This dehumidifier is powerful enough to extract up to 20 litres a day. It’s well designed and easy to manoeuvre despite its size, and the six-litre tank is a breeze to remove even when full. The potency of the fan makes the Princess an effective laundry dryer, and it’s intuitive to control using either the built-in interface or companion app. That app provides access to basic scheduling features and also lets you control the dehumidifier while away from home, which is extremely handy.

Steam Cleaner of the Year

Winner | Kärcher SC4 EasyFix | £225

The Kärcher SC4 EasyFix is all about power, performance and versatility. Its 2,000W heater is capable of producing steam pressure that cleans large, grimy surfaces extremely effectively, while two extension tubes and a range of nozzles ensure it’s equipped for any cleaning task you throw at it. But perhaps its most useful feature is its removable tank, which can be pulled out and refilled in an instant. This means you never have to pause for too long while steaming, so the only limitation on how much you get cleaned is your own energy level!

Highly commended | Polti Vaporetto Smart 100_B | £180

If you’re after a steam cleaner with unbeatable stamina, this is the option for you. The Polti Vaporetto Smart 100_B’s two-litre tank means it can keep going while its rivals run out of steam, and the tank can be removed and refilled while the cleaner is on, which is a big plus. The Vaporetto Smart 100_B also scores very highly on the versatility front thanks to an impressive range of accessories, which include brushes designed for mopping and cleaning rugs and a rubber blade for cleaning up glass. It’s relatively big and heavy, but this cleaner gets all sorts of cleaning jobs done in a supremely efficient manner.

Carpet Cleaner of the Year

Winner | Bissell HydroWave | £215

The Bissell HydroWave is overflowing with useful features, all of which combine to make this our carpet cleaner of the year. From the collapsible handle and rinse tray to the bristle-heavy roller that works wonders on even the most heavily ingrained carpet stains, this is a do-it-all cleaner and then some. It has two cleaning modes: Deep Clean for those ultra-tough messes, and Express Clean for when you need the carpet dry as soon as possible. Notably strong on test and simple to operate, the HydroWave is a clear winner.

Highly commended | Bissell PowerClean | £159

At the other end of Bissell’s expansive carpet cleaning range sits the PowerClean, an exceptionally straightforward cleaner with fewer frills but the same commitment to great performance. The basics are covered and covered well: two tanks for clean and dirty water, one rotating, bristly roller and a single setting that proved more than enough for all manner of stains.

Pillow of the Year

Winner | Otty Deluxe Pure Pillow | £70

Put simply, the Otty Deluxe Pure Pillow is one of the most comfortable memory foam pillows we’ve ever tested. Infused with bamboo and charcoal (often lauded for their antibacterial and moisture-wicking qualities) and with a machine-washable cover, it feels a lot plusher than you’d expect such a boxy-looking pillow to feel. And while the Otty Deluxe Pure doesn’t compromise on support, it’s the perfect choice if you find other foam pillows too firm. You get a 14-day free trial to test it out, during which you can return it for a full refund if you’re not happy.

Highly commended | Simba Firm Hybrid | £159

As its name suggests, the Simba Firm Hybrid is on the firmer side, but we found it to be a very comfy and versatile pillow. It contains slab-like foam layers that can be rearranged or removed in order to adjust the pillow’s loft and comfort level. Another unique feature of Simba’s Firm Hybrid pillow is its layer of titanium “Aerocoils” to provide a level of support.

Mattress Topper of the Year

Winner | Panda Topper | £160 (king size)

Made from the brand’s “Hydro-foam” alongside a machine-washable bamboo cover, the 5cm Panda mattress topper does a fantastic job of adding a layer of comfort on top of a tired mattress. We also found that it didn’t cause us to get too hot during the night, though it’s worth mentioning that any memory foam product will get warmer and soften up and it reacts to your body heat. Another perk we loved about the Panda topper is its corner straps that hold it in place on the mattress. Panda’s topper is also very competitively priced. What’s more, it comes with a 30-night trial so you can test it out before making the commitment.

Highly commended | Dormeo Octasmart Deluxe | £600 (king size)

Dormeo’s 7cm Octasmart Deluxe mattress topper has a unique design: part of its construction is a layer of memory foam springs, which the brand refers to as its “Octaspring technology”. This is designed to promote airflow and breathability while providing pressure point relief. We found the Octasmart Deluxe to be comfortable and less dense than some other foam rivals, and it did a good job at preventing overheating.

Mattress of the Year

Winner | Brook and Wilde Ultima | £2,400 (king size)

The Brook and Wilde Ultima is one of the best mattresses we’ve ever tested. The medium firmness model we reviewed offers just the right combination of comfort and support, accommodating those who sleep on their back, side, front, or indeed any combination of the above positions. Despite having two synthetic top layers, the Ultima does a fantastic job of keeping you cool in hot weather and, although it can soften a little as the bed warms up, it remains supportive throughout the night. After an extended testing period, we were still very impressed with the Brook and Wilde Ultima, making it a shoo-in for the mattress of the year award.

Highly commended | Otty Pure Hybrid Bamboo & Charcoal Mattress | £1,200 (king size)

Delivering an excellent balance of comfort and support across all sleeping positions, the Otty Pure Hybrid Bamboo & Charcoal Mattress is a truly excellent all-rounder. Shaking off memory foam’s reputation for overheating, the Pure Hybrid is one of the coolest-sleeping bed-in-a-box mattresses we’ve tested yet, remaining comfortable through the hottest nights of the year. For those seeking a cool-sleeping memory foam mattress, the Pure Hybrid should certainly be on your shortlist.