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The Insider Pick:
Comforters keep you extra warm and cozy at night and they can also add a fun splash of color or pattern to your bedroom. Of all the comforters we researched, our top pick is the cozy, comfy, and well-made Topsleepy Luxurious All Size Goose Down Comforter.
When you’re shopping for a bed, salespeople will tell you not to skimp on the quality of the bed. After all, you spend eight hours per day in bed – maybe more if you’re lucky. That’s equal to one-third of your life.
With so much of your time spent in bed, you might as well be warm while you’re there. For those times when your significant other won’t let you steal body heat, you’ll want to make sure you have the best comforter on hand. Comforters provide a great finishing touch on a bed, while also giving you plenty of softness and warmth.
A wide variety of comforters are available for a wide range of prices, depending on the type of fill they use, the colors available, the insulation level, the size, and the construction quality.
Understanding terms for comforters
When shopping for a comforter, you will encounter a few different pieces of terminology, according to The Sweethome. Understanding the purpose of each of these terms will help you find a comforter to meet your needs.
Baffle box vs. sewn-through: A baffle box comforter is sewn with flexible boxes into the comforter that create pockets. The fill inside the comforter cannot shift out of its box, ensuring the fill remains properly spread throughout the entire area of the comforter. The fill sometimes does shift within its box, though. Meanwhile, Pacific Coast says a sewn-through comforter has sewing through both the top and bottom layers of the comforter, creating patterns such as diamonds, channels or curved rectangles. The fill does not shift at all with a sewn-through comforter, performing slightly better than a baffle box comforter in terms of keeping the fill spread throughout the comforter.
Duvet vs. comforter: For most comforters and duvets sold in North America, the terms are used interchangeably, as Crane & Canopy explains. Technically, a duvet is very similar to a comforter but doesn’t have an outer shell, meaning it’s usually placed inside a duvet cover. Duvets often are not used with other types of bed linen, such as sheets or blankets, while a comforter is used with those types of bed linen. Some of our picks can also be used with duvet covers. You can check out the best duvet covers on Insider Picks for some ideas.
Fill power: This measures the amount of volume that one ounce of down occupies. A larger fill power number equals a comforter that provides a greater level of insulation. In other words, the comforter with the higher fill power number offers greater warmth without being heavier. Fill powers of around 600 provide average warmth and durability, according to Good Housekeeping. Higher numbers for fill power have greater durability and insulation; lower numbers won’t provide as much warmth, which may be desirable in warmer climates or in summer.
Thread count: Similar to a bedsheet, the thread count in a comforter indicates the number of yarns within an inch of the fabric. Higher thread counts equal finer yarns, which are more comfortable and softer than larger yarns. Because a comforter probably won’t be touching your skin, thread count for softness isn’t quite as important as with a bed sheet. More importantly for a comforter though, a higher thread count ensures the fill will remain inside the comforter, rather than leaking out through bigger gaps between yarns in a smaller thread count comforter.
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Types of fills for comforters
The fill used inside the comforter plays a key role in your enjoyment of it, as explained in Sleepedia, Good Housekeeping, The Sweethome, and Pacific Coast.
Down alternative: If the comforter doesn’t use goose down or duck down as a filler, you may see down alternative listed in the specifications. This can include cotton fibers, cotton-polyester blend fibers, and gel fibers. Gel fiber is the most expensive type of down alternative, as it provides the most softness.
Down cluster: The down cluster is the fluffiest portion of a duck feather or goose feather, existing under the main part of the feather. When used in a comforter, it provides greater warmth than the main part of the feather. A comforter manufacturer may list the percentage of down cluster used in the fill in the blanket’s specifications. A higher percentage of down cluster equals a higher quality comforter and a higher fill power number.
Duck down: Duck down is a more common fill material used in comforters made in North America than goose down. As a general rule, duck down is not as fluffy as goose down, so it’s not found in the highest end comforters as often as goose down.
Goose down: For comforters made in Europe, goose down is the most common fill material. It provides a little more fluff versus duck down on average, although exceptions do occur.
Look at the specification list for a particular comforter, and you should see the percentages of the types of fill it contains. Now on to our top picks for the best comforters.
If you’re outfitting your new home or apartment, check out more of our great buying guides like the best memory foam pillows, the best mattress toppers, the best sheets, the best mattresses, the best pillows, the best bar stools, the best light bulbs, the best coffee tables, the best area rugs, the best clothes hangers, the best cordless vacuum cleaners, the best laundry baskets and hampers, and more on Insider Picks.
Although the Topsleepy Luxurious All Size Goose Down Comforter is our top comforter pick, for various reasons laid out in the slides below, you should also consider The Company Store LaCrosse Down Comforter, the LinenSpa All-Season Down Alternative Quilted Comforter, the Highland Feather Carmel Hutterite Goose Down Comforter, and the Pinzon Hypoallergenic Down Alternative Comforter.
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