A steam cleaner or steam mop is a useful tool to have around the home, particularly if you have lots of hard floors to keep clean. Here is our pick of the best steam cleaners on the market right now.Every steam cleaner we featured has been comprehensively tested by us – we never include a product we haven’t put through its paces. Whether you want the best steam cleaner for tiled floors, a steam mop for laminate floors or even a steam cleaner for de-mucking grout, one of our selection of the best steam mops will get the job done.Hit the 'Next' arrow or select from the list below for more info on each model.Watch: First look at Dyson's new robot vacuum cleaner, the 360 Eye – A steam mop that lets you vacuum and steam simultaneously, and comes with built-in fragrance discs and an anti-calc filterVax Steam Fresh Combi S86-SF-C – A steam mop and handheld with 10 tools and a separate detergent tank that's good enough to clean a range of surfacesPolti Vaporetto GO – A compact, cylinder-style steam cleaner that's portable and cheap, yet powerful enough to easily lift dirt from floorsKärcher SC1 Steam Stick – A lightweight, versatile and practical steam cleaner, which can be used either as a steam mop or a handheldPolti Vaporetto Airplus – A compact, cylinder-style steam cleaner that comes with eight inbuilt tools and a deodorant tank, and won't leave your floors drenchedVax S6S Home Pro Compact – A cylinder-style steam cleaner that's powerful and ideal for cleaning any surface

, as well as hard-to-reach corners | samsung vacuum cleaner spare parts south africaNow £129Vax Steam Fresh Combi S86-SF-C at Amazon.co.uk | where to buy vacuum cleaners in dubaiNow £50Related: Best Vacuum Cleaners Round-upThis is the first decision you need to make, and it will largely depend on what you want to use your steam cleaner for.vax vacuum cleaner instruction manualBuy a steam mop if you just want to clean floorsThey’re best for hard floors, but some are useful for freshening up carpets and lifting stains from carpets, too. They’re generally cheaper than 2-in-1 steam mops, which can switch into a handheld mode for other tasks.Buy a 2-in-1 steam mop if you want to clean floors and other surfacesThese more versatile steam mops can be used as handhelds as well, and they normally come with a selection of tools suited to different jobs.

This means you can tackle the kitchen tops, bathroom tiles, curtains and plenty more besides, and all with one cleaner.Buy a cylinder steam cleaner if you find upright steam mops too heavyWhile some of the large cylinder steam cleaners are heavier overall, the fact that they’re on wheels means they’re easier to lug about. Most do all the same things a 2-in-1 steam mop will do, while very compact models exist that you can carry on your shoulder.The other key difference is that cylinder steam cleaners take longer to get ready – normally a few minutes – but the advantages are longer running times and less filling up. Some can even be topped up as you clean, so you don’t have to turn off the cleaner to keep going.Susie Homemaker I am not. I manage to do things like laundry and dishes pretty well, and the other chores that you have to do or you’ll run out of things. Floors, though, almost always get overlooked. I’ll sweep sometimes, or vacuum when the floor is clean enough to do so.

But I rarely get to any deeper floor cleaning. The process is usually messy with a lot of prep and clean up. I recently read about the new Shark Sonic Duo Carpet & Hard Floor Cleaner and thought I’d give it a try. I liked the fact that one machine could clean both hard floors and carpet, since my house has both. The packaging claims that it is good for wood, tile, linoleum, laminate, and stone, but my review only covers hard wood floors and no-pile carpet. My floors don’t receive too much heavy traffic, but did have some difficult-to-remove pet stains. I started with the hard floor cleaning setup, and was very pleased with how simple it was. The floor cleaner comes with several different floor pads, so I had to make sure the right one was on the machine. Then I mixed the cleaning fluid with cold water in the included mixing bottle (it includes one for hard floors and one for carpet), and started cleaning. It runs a lot like a vacuum. Plug it in, turn it on, lean it back, and run it over the floor.

You press a button to spray the cleaner out on the floor, which you can do more or less of, depending on your needs. You can also have the machine scrub parts of the floor more or less, since the bottom of the machine vibrates in place. On the hard floors the machine acted a bit like an electric, vibrating Swiffer Wet Jet. But after cleaning, our wood floors looked very clean and shiny. This is probably because it will do 1000 scrubs per minute, much more than my arms can handle. All of the fine dust that inevitably remains after you sweep was gone. You do have to sweep thoroughly before using this machine, though, because any stray dust bunnies will just get wet and ball up. Using the machine was smooth and easy, and felt a bit like a floor buffer. The floor dried very quickly, and didn’t require rinsing. Next I tried it on our carpet. It was equally simple. I started by vacuuming the area to pick up dirt and lint. Then I pre-treated the pet stains with the pre-treating spray, waiting about five minutes.

In the meantime, I mixed up the carpet shampoo. This was also mixed with cold water. Running the machine over the carpet did feel a lot like vacuuming, except the carpet was slightly damp afterward. It also didn’t require any kind of rinse. The carpet took longer to dry than the hard floor, probably because the carpet soaked up the cleaner. And the spots I had pre-treated took a few hours to dry because I had soaked them ahead of time. But the carpet looked great afterward, and once everything dried, it was clear that my tough pet stains were gone. These were stains that I had tried to remove previously with Spot Shot, which had always worked in the past. I guess the combination of the Shark cleaners and the scrubbing action did it better. What did I think overall? I liked the machine in general, but I think it’s more useful for carpet than hard floors. It works great for hard floors, but it is probably more machine than most people need. But if you have a house with just carpet, or mixed types of floors, this is a good machine to have.

Since you mix the cleaner with cold water, you can let the excess sit on your shelf and just use it whenever necessary—spot clean, or do whole rooms. The machine is light and has very little setup time. I also liked how there were two different reusable bottles, one for the hard floor cleaner, and one for the carpet shampoo. They are color coordinated with the scrubbing pads, which are labeled for their use. The machine came with two different pads for hard floors (one for cleaning and one for buffing) and two different pads for carpet (one for general cleaning, and one for stains). It also came with hard floor cleaner, pre-treater for carpet stains, and the no-rinse carpet shampoo. A tray was also included, to store the machine on when not in use. Since it has Velcro-type fasteners on the bottom, it’s better to elevate it off the floor, especially carpet. Also, there are two speeds for the machine, a low and a high, depending on your needs. When choosing what pads to use, read the labels on each one.