For this year’s Healthy Home Awards, we assembled a panel of health pros (meet our experts at the bottom of this article) who shared the most important criteria for each type of home product. Then, we hunted for goods that not only checked off every box but also met our requirements for value and quality. We also considered third-party ratings, such as the product-safety grades from the Environmental Working Group. Here, our top healthy home product picks for every room in your house.
Best healthy home products for your living room
Score more ahh (and less argh!) in the space where you and your family love to chill.
• Hook & Loom Flatweave Eco Cotton Rug: Rugs with high piles are havens for all sorts of allergens—from pet hair to dead skin to dust mites. A flatweave harbors less—and is easier to vacuum. ($24 to $345; hookandloom.com)
• iRobot Roomba i7: Ideally, you’d run a vacuum over your floors every few days. The Roomba makes that lofty goal a reality, and the latest generations are smart enough to adapt to different floor surfaces for effective cleaning. ($800; amazon.com)
• Cree 60W Equivalent Soft White A19 Dimmable LED: An LED bulb uses less than one-fifth of the energy of an old incandescent. Flip the switch for about three hours a day, and that LED may last 50 years! This Cree bulb is also an affordable option. ($8 for a 2-pack; homedepot.com)
• Urpower 300ml Essential Oil Diffuser: Want your home to smell spa-like, but don’t want to deal with the potentially irritating soot of a candle? An oil diffuser is your answer. Urpower’s model has a simple design and easy-to-clean tank that holds enough water for seven hours. Follow your nose to a favorite scent: Lavender has been shown to lower blood pressure and heart rate, while sage oil makes people feel calmer. ($21; amazon.com)
• My Calm Weighted Blanket: Replace your standard throw with this weighted blanket. When you use it, light pressure is applied all over your body, feeling like a calming hug. (From $170; mycalmblanket.com)
Best healthy home products for your kitchen
Make prepping and cooking healthy meals simple with these cool tools.
• Nutribullet Pro 900: If you’ve ever skipped a smoothie because it’s a chore to get out your full-size blender, consider this alternative: It’s small enough to store on the counter and powerful enough to blast through fibrous veggies. ($80; amazon.com)
• Oxo Good Grips Tabletop Spiralizer: You want oodles of zoodles—but don’t want to slice your finger in the process. This model features a superstrong suction cup, so it stays put, and three different blades. ($40; amazon.com)
• Kitchen Essentials Herb Planter: Herbs are a low-cal way to add flavor. This kit is our fave because the jars of basil, cilantro, or parsley have a wick and a basin of water, meaning the roots will stay perfectly hydrated. ($18 to $25 each; uncommongoods.com)
• Pyrex Simply Store Set: With the right set of containers, you can prep your produce as soon as you’re back from the store, which makes healthy eating both easier and more efficient. Plus, glass is free of any of those BPA concerns, dishwasher-safe, and makes food easy to identify in the fridge. (From $10; macys.com)
• Breville Smart Oven: Baked sweet potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, baked chicken breasts—all without turning on the oven? Count us in. Ideal for cooking for one or two people, this appliance gets rave reviews for its even heating. ($250; amazon.com)
Best healthy home products for your bedroom
Catch some z’s with products specifically designed to encourage a restful night.
• Nest Learning Thermostat: Your body temp naturally drops at night, so a cooler room can help you get to that sleepy state faster. Adjusting Nest’s thermostat is a snap, and it learns your preferences over time. ($249; amazon.com)
• Blueair Blue Pure 211: This sleek air purifier pulls pollen, dust, and other particulates from the air, so you can breathe peacefully as you snooze. Plus, the filters (both the mechanical fan and fabric pre-filter) are a cinch to clean. ($300; amazon.com)
• Brooklinen Classic Sheets: Breathable cotton keeps you comfy at night. But the fiber is a pesticide- intensive crop, so look for third-party pesticide-free certifications (like Oeko-Tex), which is what these sheets have. (From $99; brooklinen.com)
• Honeywell HCM-350: Many homes are too dry (the EPA recommends between 30 and 60% humidity, which you can test with an inexpensive hydrometer). A humidifier can right that wrong. This Honeywell is easy to clean and runs quietly. ($65; amazon.com)
• Bose Sleepbuds: These tiny, flexible earbuds are specifically designed for sleeping: They play soothing sounds—like rustling leaves, crackling campfires, or ocean waves—on a loop all night long. And a clever storage device with built-in charger means you’ll never reach for them and realize they’re dead. ($250; amazon.com)
• Philips Somneo Sleep and Wake-Up Light HF3650: While a traditional alarm clock kick-starts your adrenaline with a loud noise, a sunrise alarm increases in brightness—a more natural way to rise. The Philips Somneo is the standout in this category. ($200; amazon.com)
Best healthy home products for your bathroom
When it comes to cleaning this small, stuffy room, it’s all about greener options to keep you breathing easy.
• Puracy Natural Multi-Surface Cleaner: This cleaning spray packs a punch—on everything from vanity stains to mirror streaks—even without the usual sulfates, phosphates, and caustic chemicals many cleaners contain. ($8; amazon.com)
• Oxo Good Grips Extendable Tub & Tile Scrubber: Grime, mildew, and mold can accumulate anywhere. Get up high and into other hard-to-reach spots with this extendable scrubber. ($13; amazon.com)
• Pumie Toilet Bowl Ring Remover: There are all kinds of chemicals available to get your toilet bowl clean, but this pumice stone does the trick just as well. The gentle stone lifts rust and buildup, yet it won’t scratch the porcelain. ($9; amazon.com)
• Mrs. Meyer’s clean Day Surface Scrub: Most scrubs contain harsh ingredients that can irritate you and be hazardous to aquatic life when washed down the drain. But Mrs. Meyer’s relies on mineral salts and oxygen bleach to cut through grime. ($5; amazon.com)
• Quip Toothbrush: Every time you flush the toilet, microscopic matter can travel in the air and land up to six feet away. If your toothbrush is resting nearby—well, gross. Store it in the medicine cabinet, and you’ll keep that airborne nastiness away. We love this for its sleek design that has an adhesive back to stick inside your cabinet. (from $25, then $5 for refills; getquip.com)
Our expert panel: Wendy Bazilian, DrPh, RDN, author of the Eat Clean, Stay Lean series and founder of San Diego-based Bazilian’s Health Clinic; Dawn Jackson Blatner, RDN, nutritionist and author of The Superfood Swap; Rubin Naiman, PhD, clinical assistant professor of medicine and sleep and dream specialist at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine; Neeta Ogden, MD, allergist and Medical Scientific Council member of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America; Leslie Reichert, green-cleaning coach and author of The Joy of Cleaning; Kelly Reynolds, MSPH, PhD, professor and environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona; and W. Chris Winter, MD, medical director of Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Center and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It.
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