I’m a senior staff writer covering bedding and decor at Wirecutter, where I’ve been writing about irons and ironing boards since 2015. I’ve been making and designing quilts for almost 20 years and have spent literally hundreds of hours ironing.

For this guide:

• I combed hundreds of ironing board customer reviews and talked to other experienced quilters, most notably at the New York City Metro Modern Quilters Guild (I used to be a member).
• I spent dozens of hours over several years researching and testing boards. Since 2015, I’ve tested 26 ironing boards and mats.

After many years of testing ironing boards, I’ve found that the best have these things in common:

• Stability: It’s physically harder to iron on a wobbly ironing board because you have to work to keep everything still, but it’s also a safety risk: You don’t want a hot iron bouncing off an unstable board.
• Noiseless opening: Few household noises are more unpleasant than that nails-on-a-chalkboard screech when you release the legs on a poorly made ironing board. The best boards I’ve tested don’t even wake up my sleeping dog, who is hypersensitive to the smallest odd noise.
• Just enough surface area: A standard ironing board surface is about 48 by 14 inches, which is plenty of space for most ironing jobs. Bigger boards are helpful for some tasks and certain people—such as quilters—but they can be tough to store.
• Height adjustments: A floor-standing board’s height should be easy to adjust, and it should accommodate both sitting and standing positions.
• Padding that lasts: On most modern ironing boards, the padding is separate from the board’s cover. An ironing board’s padding should never be so thin that you can feel the metal of the board underneath it. Too little padding can make it hard to effectively flatten wrinkles—and can even leave an imprint of the metal’s pattern on your fabrics. The padding should keep its shape over time. Bonus points to companies who sell replacement padding that fits the board.
• Sturdy iron rests: Iron racks, or rests, attach to the end of the board so you can set down a hot iron and save some space on the work surface. They’ve become increasingly standard on modern ironing boards. Since they’re often permanently attached, they should keep an iron steady, not get in the way of cords, and work for both left- and right-handed people.
• Other practical details: The board’s cover (which goes over the padding) should have a taut surface so an iron can glide across it, and it should be easy to replace if it gets stained or damaged. The holes on the board’s metal skeleton should be wide enough that they let steam pass through easily, so water doesn’t build up.

I’ve followed the same basic test plan for all ironing boards since 2015:

• I check how much a board wobbles on carpet and hard floors, and I see if the board’s surface is level (or close to it).
• I note the quality of the padding, materials, and construction, how noisy the board is to open, how easy it is to store, and, if it has an iron rack, I note if it’s sturdy.
• I measure the board and check how many height adjustments it has.
• I use each one for several ironing sessions to see how the padding holds up, and I check underneath each board as I iron with steam to see if it has good ventilation.

The Brabantia Ironing Board B is such a joy to use that it’s become one of my favorite household items. It’s been our top pick since 2017, and I recommend this board to everyone I know—even my mom bought one.

It’s super stable. Of the two dozen or so ironing boards I’ve tested, the Brabantia B is the steadiest for every kind of ironing job I’ve tried. I’ve used it for everything from ironing cloth napkins to working on fiddly craft projects to pressing the seams on huge king-size quilts. The legs stay firmly planted in place, on hard floors or carpet, and the surface is level (I’ve tested many freestanding ironing boards that are not).

It’s perfectly sized. The Brabantia B model is the best all-around size. The board’s surface is 14.5 inches wide by 49 inches long—big enough for most jobs, but still easy to store in a closet. I’ve also tested the Brabantia C and D boards, which are great but larger and pricier.

It opens quietly and adjusts easily. The Brabantia B opens noiselessly using a bar with seven grooved notches to adjust the height. Some older or cheaper boards I’ve tried use a metal rod that scrapes loudly as you open and close it. And I love that the leg locks keep it from accidentally opening when folded up. It’s a feature I appreciate as someone who has taken out potted plants, my own toes, and, occasionally, the family dog while moving ironing boards.

It has a great iron rest. The Brabantia B is available with three different iron rest designs, but the one I’ve tested (and recommend) has a permanently attached tray that’s narrower than the width of the board, so iron cords don’t get caught between the tray and the board. I’ve upended many ironing boards (while holding a hot iron) trying to tug a cord free, and that narrow iron rest design is the smartest and safest I’ve seen. The two other versions of the Brabantia B, the Solid Steam and Steam Generator, have wider iron rests that can make it easier for cords to get caught (both of them are also permanently attached).

The iron rest comes with a U-shaped metal stand to lean the iron against, keeping it perfectly still and upright; the stand can tilt in either direction, so it works whether you’re left- or right-handed. (The other two versions don’t keep an iron upright, which can trigger its safety shutoff feature.)

It has cute colors and prints. Brabantia has several rotating cover designs you can choose from, like printed ombres and tropical leaves, which are more fun than the utilitarian stripes and solids on most boards. Brabantia also sells replacement covers and padding designed to fit its boards perfectly. To top it off, Brabantia offers a 10-year warranty, the best of all of our picks.

How the Brabantia Ironing Board B has held up

I’m still using the Brabantia B ironing board from our 2017 testing, which has been subjected to the weight of king-size quilts and blankets, several bumps into walls, a cross-country trip in a moving crate, and countless openings and closings.

The cover has seen its fair share of scorched polyesters (Halloween costumes), iron-on transfers (more Halloween costumes), spray starch, and a couple of melted sewing pins. When I tested a new board in 2019 with the same cover design, I could not tell the difference, and today my original board still looks like new.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The adjustable iron rest on the Brabantia B is not removable, which may be annoying for those who like to use the square end of the ironing board. It’s also our heaviest ironing board pick—it weighs just over 14 pounds.
• Although you can often find it on sale, the Brabantia B can cost between $100 to $140, which is not cheap. But the quality and design is worth the price if you iron a lot (or you never want to buy another board again).

If you don’t use an ironing board often, but you still want one that’s full size, the Amazon Basics Full-Size Ironing Board is fine, and it will save you a good amount of money.

It’s sturdy for the price. The cheaper ironing boards I’ve tried all wobble, but this board wobbles less than most. I used it for the majority of our clothing iron testing in 2024, putting more than a dozen irons through their paces. I never had any issues with the board sliding across a hardwood floor or getting easily knocked over.

It has lots of height settings. At its tallest setting, the Amazon Basics board is about the same height as the Brabantia Ironing Board B, but it has 10 notches for height adjustments (the Brabantia B has seven), which makes it a little more flexible for people of different heights or for people who sit to iron. (It also adjusts 2 inches lower than the Brabantia B, down to 24.5 inches.)

It’s quiet and lightweight. It opens without a sound, and it weighs almost 5 pounds less than the Brabantia B. The board’s surface is also about 5 inches longer than the Brabantia board, which is helpful if you need more space to work.

It’s reliably in stock. We’ve seen the Amazon Basics board more readily available than our former budget pick, the Minky Hot Spot Scorch Resist Ironing Board.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The cover and padding are cheap, and Amazon doesn’t sell replacements. In my testing the padding wore down quickly, which is why I only recommend it for occasional ironing.
• It definitely still wobbles.
• Some customer reviews complain the board breaks easily. I haven’t had this problem, but I’ll keep an eye on this as our staff continue to use it.
• This board has a retractable iron rest, but it’s flimsy and not very useful. It also can’t hold an iron upright to prevent it from turning off after a few seconds, and it bends under the weight of heavier irons.

We’ve been recommending the Honey-Can-Do Small Tabletop Ironing Board since 2016, and it’s still the best tabletop board I’ve tested.

It’s reliably steady. I’ve tested two Honey-Can-Do boards (in 2015 and in 2019), and while it’s not completely wobble-free, it is better than any of the other tabletop boards I tried, and even steadier than several full-size boards I’ve tested.

It’s well made. A lot of tabletop boards are poorly made and have terrible customer reviews, but this is the least-frustrating-to-use option I’ve found. The legs are thick and well constructed, which gives it more stability. On some tabletop boards I’ve tried, the legs bow when you apply pressure, but the Honey-Can-Do board remains solid. It comes with a 60-day warranty.

It’s lightweight and compact. The Honey-Can-Do board weighs just under 6 pounds and folds flat, making it easy to store. The iron rest is a little flimsy but we like that you can slide it underneath the board when not in use (which is also nice if you like to use the square end of the board).

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The Honey-Can-Do ironing board is fine for things like pillowcases or button-up shirts, but longer items such as pants and dresses are trickier and you’ll likely have to work in sections. This is true of any tabletop ironing board, though.
• The iron rest is flimsy, but since this is a tabletop board, it was easy to just rest the iron on the countertop next to it.
• One staffer who used this board said it was too big for most of the tables and counters in their small apartment, but that it was still much better than trying to use or store a full-size ironing board.

The Above Edge Magnetic Ironing Mat is a handy, heatproof pad that folds up to about the size of a towel and makes any flat surface safe for an iron. We’ve been recommending it since 2016.

It’s cheap and useful. The Above Edge mat costs less than $20. It’s made of a quilted, heatproof metallic fabric, with a layer of padding inside to give it some cushion, and it grips fabrics a little to prevent slippage.

It has magnets in each corner to secure it to a metal surface such as the top of a washer or dryer. The 32.5-by-17.5-inch work surface is about average in size for mats I’ve tested, but it’s bigger than the surface of the Honey-Can-Do Small Tabletop Ironing Board if you want more work surface. It’s handy to keep near a sewing table or to use on very simple jobs, but it’s not ideal for anything more than very occasional ironing. It doesn’t come with a warranty.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The Above Edge mat isn’t ideal for very thin fabrics because the quilted design of the mat can transfer.
• The mat tends to slide around on nonmagnetic surfaces, but it’s easy enough to keep still with one hand while ironing.
• One tester noted that the mat attracts pet hair.

Ironing boards

If our budget pick is unavailable: The Minky Hot Spot Scorch Resist Ironing Board is our former budget pick. It’s a decent, more affordable ironing board than our top pick, with a thicker cover and a sturdier pad than our current budget pick, the Amazon Basics Full-Size Ironing Board, but it still wobbles (like all of the cheaper ironing boards I’ve tested). It doesn’t have an attached iron rest, but it has a so-called scorch-resistant zone on the square end of the board. The main reason it’s no longer a pick is because it can be hard to find. But if the Amazon Basics board is unavailable, this is a good budget alternative.

If you need a big ironing board: The Brabantia Ironing Board C and Ironing Board D are sturdy, steady, excellent choices if you’re looking for an ironing board with a bigger surface area than our top pick. The Brabantia C is 49 by 18 inches and the Brabantia D is 53 by 18 inches. Not surprisingly, they’re also pricier and harder to store. Plus, Brabantia D has a heat-resistant zone on the padded area instead of an iron rest.

Ironing mats

If our ironing mat pick is unavailable: The Yqmajim Ironing Blanket and the Housables Ironing Blanket are fine and really not much different from our ironing mat pick the Above Edge Magnetic Ironing Mat. The Above Edge mat’s size and magnet placement made it a little easier to use on top of a washing machine, so it ranked slightly higher. Both of these are smooth on one side and quilted on the other (the Above Edge mat is quilted on both sides); the smooth side is helpful for ironing thin materials that are susceptible to picking up the quilted pattern.

The Joseph Joseph Pocket Folding Ironing Board is steady and better looking than any other tabletop board I’ve tested, but because it folds up in the middle, it leaves an awkward bump to iron over.

The Happhom Compact Ironing Board (with a 43-by-13-inch surface) was the steadier of the two compact boards I tested in 2024, but it still wobbles. At its tallest height setting, it was still about 5 inches shorter than both of our full-size ironing board picks. You can adjust the Happhom board’s height to be almost as short as a countertop board, but for that purpose our tabletop pick from Honey-Can-Do is smaller and more practical.

The Bartnelli Ironing Board (which has a 43-by-14-inch surface and stands) has strong customer reviews on Amazon, but it was so wobbly in testing that it seemed dangerous to use with a hot iron, especially while in a seated position where the iron could fall on your lap. It’s also 3 inches shorter than our full-size picks at its tallest height, which made it feel less flexible than our full-size and tabletop picks or even the Happhom board.

The Laurastar Plusboard was very steady in tests, with a spacious, 49-by-16.5-inch work surface. But it’s very expensive and didn’t stand out enough to justify its price.

The Minky Ergo Ironing Board was nowhere near as good as its cousin, the Minky Hot Spot Scorch Resist Ironing Board. It felt very unsteady.

The Whitmor Tabletop Ironing Board was a piece of junk. Its thin, flimsy legs felt like they were breaking as soon as I used it.

The Rowenta IB9100 Pro Compact Ironing Board has a handy rack for storing clothes or projects underneath, but it’s expensive, big, and a magnet for stubbed toes.

This article was edited by Daniela Gorny and Christine Cyr Clisset.