The Best Heated Blankets, According to Interior Designers
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“I’ll say what nobody wants to say about heated blankets: They’re not the most attractive,” saidHallie Malitsky, founder and principal designer ofHallie Rose Design. Poll 50-plus designers (which we did) and you’ll mostly get dismissals. Some will point to the plastic controller worming its way out the side or the long cord snaking toward an outlet. Most will bemoan the polyester, its sheen and texture more reminiscent of hospital linens than high-end bedding.
But vibes don’t keep you warm. That’s why the best heated blankets achieve two things: provide genuinely useful warmth when temperatures drop, and look good enough that you won’t want to hide them when company is over. And those are the ones that caught the discerning eyes of ten of the designers we talked to and even earned a spot on their own couches and beds.Eric Goranson, certified kitchen designer and host ofAround the House, calls his heated throw “genuinely one of my favorite things in the house,” whereasNiki McNeill Brown, founder and principal designer ofMcNeill Brown Interior Design, sleeps with one every night.Sarah Mushenheim, creator ofLife With Lil Red, hasn’t hidden hers away since she got it two years ago.
So we’ve had our experts pick out a range of electric blankets that don’t hint that they’re packing wires and heating coils. Not only do they look good, these have enough fabric to give some body, feature controls you can work half-asleep, and, most important, give you the added heat that make them so useful. And there’s sure to be one that fits your space.
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Materials
Words like “flannel,” “sherpa,” “microfleece,” “berber,” and “faux fur” describe a blanket’s finish (and can give you some sense of the feel), but in all of these cases the fiber tends to be primarily polyester. And that’s not necessarily bad. Polyester is durable and washable, and the type of fiber you’d want when there’s a heating grid stitched inside it. But unless that grid is padded thoroughly, the whole thing can feel more like a glorified heating pad.
The weight of the fabric, given in GSM (grams per square meter) is more useful than a promise of “luxurious plushnessm” as it gives a sense of fabric density. Bedsure, for instance, uses 240-GSM flannel over 200-GSM sherpa. Bigger numbers usually mean denser, weightier fabric.
“Thin and papery is the tell every time,” saysMarie Cloud, founder and creative director ofIndigo Pruitt Design Studio. That’s why she recommended looking for enough weight that the fabric falls into soft folds. Similarly,Susan Petrie-Badertscher, principal ofPetrie Interior Designs, says that if she can “see or feel the wiring,” the blanket reads more appliance than bedding, and those ridges under the surface don’t become less noticeable after three hours on your lap. But there’s such a thing as too much, where additional padding causes stiffness, and the blanket will refuse to drape.Stephanie Parisi, founder and principal designer ofStephanie Parisi Studio, advises asking a simple question: “Would I want to leave it out if it weren’t plugged in?”
And anOeko-Tex Standard 100label means the textile itself has been tested and is certified free of a list of specified harmful substances.
Heat settings and timer
A blanket with 20 heat settings is not going to be five times hotter than one with four. It just offers more incremental control, giving users who always find themselves just a little too hot or cold smaller jumps between its lowest and highest temperatures for a more curated temperature. If you’re not as picky, three settings can be plenty: Brown’s favored Beautyrest has just low, medium, and high settings and she uses it every night to warm up before falling asleep. Mushenheim says Bedsure’s six settings give her more room to dial things up or down when she’s using it for longer stretches.
Bed-size blankets have more reason to get granular. The Beautyrest Micro-Fleece has 20 settings, split between two controllers on queen and king sizes. “Twenty heat settings and a ten-hour auto shutoff mean I’m not thinking about the tech side at all, which is exactly the point,” Cloud says. Each person gets a side and a temperature, which saves one sleeper from roasting even if the other needs to crank it up because they’re always cold.
You’ll want a two-hour automatic shutoff if you’re using the blanket to warm up before falling asleep. Four hours can cover an evening of warming any couch potato. If you’re looking for even more tailoring of your experience, opt for an adjustable shutoff, such as Sealy’s that can be set for anywhere from two to ten hours.
Safety features
Look for UL and ETL ratings; these designations tell you that an independent testing organization found that the blanket — and all its electrical components — met defined safety standards. “Third-party online retailers often don’t do a good job policing whether sellers carry these marks,” Goranson says, so don’t assume a blanket is certified just because the listing looks legitimate.
You’ll also want to look for a blanket with automatic shutoff or overheat protection, which means the blanket has been designed with sensors that can read whether a section of the blanket is at risk of becoming a little furnace and can reduce or cut power in order to avoid a fire.
Sizing and control
You probably want a bigger blanket than you think you want. In the abstract, a throw that’s 50 by 60 inches may sound generous. In reality, it’s rather stingy. Sure, it’ll keep your toes toasty while lounging. But if you’re sharing, it’ll have you acting like Rose fromTitanic, pushing your partner off into the frigid cold. “If you’re planning to share it on the couch, size up,” Goranson says. So if you’re looking to keep you and your partner from freezing, you’re better off opting for a heated blanket that’s 50 by 70 or 60 by 70 inches.
If you’re planning to keep the blanket on the bed, skip throws altogether and just shop for the size of the mattress. Most of the blankets we look at below are available in a range of sizes to fit your bed. If you’re looking for a queen or king, dual controls are pretty much essential so each side can run at a different temperature.
Cords, for good reason, are a hot-button issue. They’re “essentially visual clutter,” saysKerrie Kelly, CEO and creative director ofKerrie Kelly Studio. But aside from the optics, cord placement can be a practical problem. Does the cord exit the blanket neatly at a corner, or oddly in the middle of one of the sides? Is there enough slack in the cord to prevent the controller sitting oddly out of reach at all times? Is there enough cable to make it to an outlet? For the cleanest look, opt for low-profile controls and cords, saysMichelle Squire, principal designer ofStudio Squire. And when it comes time to plug in, for looks and safety, route along furniture rather than making a diagonal path across the room.
The best heated blanket overall
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Material:Textured microfleece polyester; solid microfleece reverse |Heat settings and timer:20 heat settings; 10-hour automatic shutoff |Safety:Conforms to UL standards |Size and controls:Twin/twin XL, full, queen, and king; one controller on twin/full and two on queen/king
“If a heated blanket feels like something out of a hospital or a hotel gift shop, it doesn’t matter how warm it is, it’s not making it into a room I’ve styled,” says Cloud. “The one I actually reach for is the Beautyrest Micro Fleece,” she says.
The Beautyrest is not one of those blankets wrapped in acres of shiny plushness. Instead, its texture “reads closer to a woven blanket than the very plush versions,” Malitsky says. Add some more style bona fides: Its neutral colors don’t scream in a quietly styled room, a problem that befalls many a heated blanket. Cloud is particular to the solid microfleece reverse, which on milder nights can “fold over the end of the bed and reads like any other throw.” So you don’t have to condemn it to the closet once the plug comes out.
The 20 heat settings may sound excessive. But for the queen and king sizes, where two controllers divide the bed into separate zones, they offer a solution to the couple constantly squabbling over room temperature. One person can hover somewhere around gently warmed while the other goes full rotisserie. And it’s not a brief window of comfort, either, as the ten-hour automatic shutoff lasts through a full night’s sleep, as opposed to the two- or four-hour windows you get with smaller throws.
Sizing starts at 62 by 84 inches for twin/twin XL and stretches to 100 by 90 inches for king. Translation: There’s enough blanket to cover the entire mattress, so nobody ends up stuck out in the cold.
The most customizable heated blanket
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Bedsure Ribbed Heated Blanket
Material:240-GSM flannel with 200-GSM sherpa reverse |Heat settings and timer:Six heat settings; 10 timer settings; eight-hour default automatic shutoff |Safety:ETL certified |Size and controls:Throw, twin, full, queen, and king; one controller through full and two on queen/king
Pretty much every heated blanket gives you temperature options. Few give you much say in how long it stays that temperature, shutting off at one preset mark — two hours, four hours, maybe ten — whether you’re using it for a quick warm-up or settling in for the night. The Bedsure gives you ten timer options alongside its six heat settings, so you can match the run time to the occasion.
Mushenheim has had hers for two winters and says it’s “still going strong.” She also calls it “the softest flannel sherpa,” which tracks with its 240-GSM flannel face and 200-GSM sherpa reverse. That extra fabric gives the blanket some real body, and the ribbed top also gives it a little more texture than the usual flat expanse of fleece.
The blanket travels well, too. “The long cord to plug in is not bulky or an eyesore and allows me to use the blanket while laying in bed or cuddled on the couch,” Mushenheim says. The blanket comes in sizes from throw through king, with dual controllers on queen and king sizes.
The best heated throw
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Material:Polyester microlight plush with berber reverse |Heat settings and timer:Three heat settings; two-hour automatic shutoff |Safety:UL certified; overheat and hot-spot protection; Oeko-Tex Standard 100 |Size and controls:60 by 70 inches; one controller
On a cold evening, it’s only once the sheets have lost their frigid edge, you have the covers pulled up to your chin, and you’re not balled up defensively waiting for your body heat to do the work that you can easily drift off to dreamland. Brown uses the Beautyrest to get there faster. “I am cold natured and use a heated blanket every night to help me get cozy and fall asleep,” she says.
“The low, medium, and high temperature settings are great,” Brown says. Sure, three settings may seem measly compared to blankets boasting ten or 20. But when you’re looking to settle in for a good sleep, the less fiddling the better. With the Beautyrest, just pick a setting, burrow in, and let it do its job. It offers an additional ten inches over the usual 50-inch-by-60-inch throws, so there’s enough blanket to pull it up to the chin without worrying about toes sticking out — great for when you want to settle into your cocoon for the night.
Brown uses the blanket to get warm rather than keep the heat running until morning, so she wishes the two-hour timer were even shorter. Though by the time it switches itself off, ideally you’ve been asleep long enough not to care.
One side is smooth microlight plush and the other thicker berber, which gives the internal wires enough cushioning. There’s also overheat and hot-spot protection, plus a six-foot cord.
The best luxury heated throw
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Material:Polyesterfauxfur |Heat settings and timer:Four heat settings; four-hour automatic shutoff |Safety:Automatic shutoff |Size and controls:50 by 70 inches; controls built into the blanket
“The Brookstone’s controls are built into the blanket itself rather than on a cord, which is aesthetically much more pleasing,” says Malitsky. “It’s the most elevated-looking one I have found.”
A heated blanket tends to look its worst when all technology involved is on display. The Brookstone’s controller is built right into a corner of the throw, and thefaux-fur finish camouflages it all. The heating grid disappears into the longer pile, giving it enough body that the wires don’t dictate how the blanket falls over a sofa. And, for Malitsky, who sees a throw as a piece of the room, that’s especially important.
Like the Beautyrest, the Brookstone measures 50 inches by 70 inches, and the extra ten inches makes a difference if you want to share or if you find your shoulders and toes playing tug-of-war to stay out of the cold. The four settings offer enough heating options for lazing about on the couch, so you’re not choosing between defrosting and proper baking. The four-hour automatic shutoff runs long enough to get you through an evening of cozy reading — or losing several hours to binge-watching.
The best heated throw for one person
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Material:Polyester flannel with sherpa reverse |Heat settings and timer:Six heat settings; adjustable two- to 10-hour automatic shutoff |Safety:Overheat protection; ETL certified |Size and controls:50 by 60 inches; one controller
The best heated throw is the one you’ll always have at hand, not something you take out of the closet during the odd cold snap. And for that you want something that’s not going to clash with the rest of the room. Goranson found exactly that with the Sealy heated throw. “As a throw by the couch for evenings, it’s great,” he says. “Probably six months out of the year I’ve got it out.” It’s not as large as the Brookstone and Beautyrest throws our experts loved, but not everyone needs the extra length, and it’s perfect for keeping one person toasty.
The flannel-and-sherpa build — with its plush face and thicker reverse — doesn’t just look good on the couch. It keeps it from feeling flimsy, too. “You want some weight to it and a soft hand,” Goranson says. The heating grid is buried under enough fabric that it wraps around the body like an actual throw — not a warmed-up tarp.
Whether it’s respite from a brief chill or cocooning you’re looking for, one of the six heat settings will help you get the right temperature. You get a bit more range with the timer, which you can program to shut off anywhere from two to ten hours. Overheat protection and ETL certification mean you can feel comfortable about the less cozy business underneath.
Our experts
•Hallie Malitsky, founder and principal designer,Hallie Rose Design
•Marie Cloud, founder and creative director,Indigo Pruitt Design Studio
•Stephanie Parisi, founder and principal designer,Stephanie Parisi Studio
•Susan Petrie-Badertscher, principal,Petrie Interior Designs
•Michelle Squire, principal designer,Studio Squire
•Kerrie Kelly, CEO and creative director,Kerrie Kelly Studio
•Sophia deDomenico, principal designer,Et Sal Interiors
•Eric Goranson, certified kitchen designer and host,Around the House
•Niki McNeill Brown, founder and principal designer,McNeill Brown Interior Design
•Sarah Mushenheim, creator,Life With Lil Red
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