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By The Editors of GQ
All products featured on GQ are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
If you thought your relationship to home couldn’t get any more complicated than it has in the past two years, well, you thought wrong. Faced with the prospect of “getting back out there”—to the office, to that new taco spot down the street—you’ve reconsidered your style, your scent, even the way you think about the world. But you probably haven’t reconsidered your digs. After way too long pulling quadruple duty as the place where you eat, sleep, socialize, and work, it’s time for your home to retransition back to sacred space territory. And if you’re anything like us, choosing what does and does not deserve pride of place in your small slice of square footage feels more important than ever.
So to celebrate your home’s new role, we channeled every ounce of brain power we have into finding the best stuff for your pad. You might not be trawling the depths of the web for things like a waste basket with World War II history or a buzzy table lamp made by the designer of the 1992 Olympic torch…but maybe you should be.
In case you're looking for something specific:
It’s tempting to opt into the Instagram-approved bedroom setup every single person seems to share on main. Don’t do that. Instead, take a minute to investigate the parts of your soul that crave cool-to-the-touch linen sheets (hot sleepers, we’re looking at you) or a bed with weird hidden storage. In the market for not one, but two pairs of very different—but equally essential—slippers? Lean into it! Your bedroom should be so much more than a carbon copy of what you scroll through online—and chances are, it can be working a lot harder to satisfy your unique needs.
You might not have heard of Aviya, but you’ve probably slept on one of its mattresses, a perennial favorite of swanky five star resorts the world over. (The brand's middle-of-the-road hybrid mattresses are some of the best combination spring and foam options on the market.) Its luxury firm version offers the perfect Goldilocks feel, with three layers of plushy foam to prop you up. Soft and bouncy, it promises all the springy support necessary to ensure your spine sings when you wake up each morning.
Foam mattresses get a bad rap for being overly soft, but Leesa’s version—our top pick in the category for a few years running—gives them a good name. Three types of memory foam (from a dense hunk on the bottom to a thin, airy layer on top) combine to form a contouring mattress that’ll lull you to sleep without dragging you into its depths.
Floyd is best-known for its Instagram-baiting bed frames, but it also makes mattresses designed to nestle perfectly on top. They’re crowd-pleasing hybrid models, with a layer of breathable, open-cell memory foam and pocketed coils that provide stellar pressure relief. The foundation layer won’t slide off your bed frame no matter how much you toss and turn, but the real differentiator is the cooling Tencel cover that prevents you from burning up at night.
Forking over top-dollar for high quality bedding can add up quickly. But Helix’s Midnight Luxe mattress is a runaway hit among GQ staffers for a reason: its springy coil base and luxurious memory foam top work overtime to keep you comfortable, whether you sleep sandwiched on your stomach or sprawled out on your back. At a little under $2,000 it’s not cheap, but for the money you’re getting one of the most dependable hybrid mattresses in the biz. (And between us, you can almost always find it on sale.)
Determined to cloak your mattress in something ritzier than the sad sheets you’ve been sleeping on since college? Cloudten, the brand behind our favorite sateen sheets, also makes a percale set crafted in small batches from long-staple Egyptian cotton. As crisp as your favorite button-up but with a cooling surface and a luxe five-star feel, they’ll help you nod off mercifully sweat-free on hot summer nights.
Garnet Hills’ linen sheets look like they just woke up from an afternoon snooze in the backyard hammock—in the best way possible. Linen is always a wise pick for hot sleepers, but these are also garment-washed for extra softness. The result is an uber-cozy, pre-shrunk set in an irresistible array of sun-kissed colors.
10 Grove's luxe sheets are a treat, down to the sleek envelope they arrive in. Handmade in Texas out of extra-long staple Egyptian cotton—the longer the staple, the less prone to fraying—their breathable, cool-to-the-touch texture makes them worth every penny. But it's the tiny details, like the delicate hole-punched pattern on the flange edge of the pillowcases, that helps them live up to their name: A little something extra.
Sure, jersey sheets might remind you of dorm living, but that's exactly why we love them. Remember the sweet relief of passing out midday after exactly one (1) hour-long lecture? There's no rule saying you can't chase the same vibe as an adult. They’re not the most exciting choice, but the college version of you would be severely disappointed if you picked today to start prioritizing looks over comfort. And at $20 a pop, you can afford to stock up.
Japanese-style platform beds—minimal, low to the ground, barebones as a skeleton—are having a moment. So if you’re jonesing to try something different, CB2’s new Indio platform bed is one to bookmark. Its solid wood make is designed to fit your mattress like a glove, cutting out the wiggle room that frequently plagues flimsier metal versions. A headboard-less raised oak construction creates the illusion of floating in space, leaning into every marketing campaign centered around dozing off on a cloud.
In theory, bedroom storage isn’t all that exciting. But when you manage to turn an inconspicuous bed frame into the equivalent of an invisibility cloak, it warrants mention. Instead of utilizing built-in drawers, a section of the EQ3 Marcel Lift Bed houses a sprawling estate for all of the knick knacks you want hidden away. (Even better: It’s easy to access when you need to bring them out again.) Linens, that guitar you’ve played three times, winter clothes, video games, whatever—it’s like they’re not even there.
Every so often, there’s a piece of furniture with aesthetic appeal so far beyond its price tag, you have to wonder if it was a mistake. This bed frame is one of those. There are absolutely no bells or whistles, only a powder-coated finish, wooden slats, and three low-key color options. But there’s something about its curved corners—the simplest of design swerves—that rockets it far above your erstwhile IKEA mainstay.
Considering how much time we spend sleeping, shouldn’t our beds be the best things we own? Thuma thinks so, and with their mononymous Bed they might have landed on the form’s no-frills ideal. A low-slung platform frame built from handcrafted, repurposed wood, the Bed stays in place via pressure, and is as strong as it is inconspicuous. Less showy than purposeful, it’s robust and practical—with enough room below it for a whole lot of boxes, and an aesthetic that goes with pretty much everything.
Remember the slippers your dad used to wear trudging to the kitchen for his morning caffeine fix? These ain’t them. Lusso Cloud's Esto slippers are comfortable and sturdy, constructed with three layers of memory foam, a touch of latex, and a supportive durometer PEVA footbed. Those corduroy uppers and thick, bouncy soles mean no one will mistake you for your old man—no matter how much you’re starting to look like him. On the hunt for footwear with a tad more polish? Charvet's buttery-soft slippers are handmade out of Nappa leather in the brand’s French workshop, but it's the color that really got us: that soft shade of cornflower blue is so pretty you’ll want to show them off everywhere you can.
Your bedside table deserves so much better.
If you’re still waking up to an ear-blasting shriek from your phone, you’re doing yourself a grave disservice. Hatch’s sleep assistant does everything in its power to make your mornings as serene as possible, short of bringing you a cup of coffee. The design-forward workhorse also uses “pink noise” to drown out the sounds that keep you up at night: honking cars, the rager next door, your snoring partner. And all of it comes housed in a sleek orb that’ll look killer on your nightstand.
Diffusers aren’t always pretty. But Muji’s is charming enough to display front-and-center on your bookshelf and refreshing enough to earn a prized spot on your nightstand. With four timer settings and a delightful collection of just-subtle-enough essential oils, its scent won’t smack you in the face the moment you walk in the room.
Hermes’ Volt’H is a retro-looking take on a futuristic convenience: the charging pad you display, rather than hide. Good to juice up devices fairly quickly, it’s compatible with Qi-enabled phones (iPhones 8 and above; all manner of Android), runs on a discreet USB cord, and comes in the brand’s trademark rouge leather. Which feels like the difference: that plain, timeless vibe is an improvement over the cold, all-black trays that get called into duty for this type of thing.
You don't have to book a suite at the Four Seasons to feel like you're staying there.
The secret to recreating those blissful hours of Zs you rack up the second your weary body hits the hotel room bed? The right pillow. Layla’s adjustable Kapok model comes ensconced in a stylish geometric cover with hunks of shredded memory foam tucked away in a separate zip-up insert. The foam gives it plenty of loft for your neck, while its soft, moisture-absorbing fabric promises to keep your head cradled and cool when the humidity starts rising. Spending hours fumbling with a bunched-up duvet insert is a humbling ritual of adult life. Coyuchi’s solution? Hardworking wool ties that prevent its insert from migrating to the furthest corner of your bed. And thanks to wool’s natural ability to keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter, you can use it year-round—no room service necessary.
A one-two combo for uninterrupted shut-eye, from July to January and every month between.
The right comforter can be a game-changer—keeping you cool when you overheat and warming you up when you’re chilly. Sijo’s version is intentional about its goal: providing year-round relief instead of a single-season solution. (The fiber fill is aces when it comes to temperature control, but it’s also moisture-wicking—y’know, just in case.) But if you’ve already tried (and sweated through) a mountain of supposedly breathable linen or bamboo covers, the Eight Sleep Pod Pro cover is as teched-out as thermoregulation gets in 2022. This mattress pad cools—or warms!—your bed with a snaking hydro canal system hooked up to an external CPU. But manual cool settings are just the beginning: It’ll also learn your optimal sleep temperature, and supply you with more data about your sleep than you ever thought possible. It’s an investment, but you might just recoup the cost over a few summers of reduced nighttime AC usage and lower electricity bills.
Bathing Culture ripple check towels, $75.
It’s easy to overlook your bathroom, especially if it’s small, cramped, and a little bit dingy. But even if you have zero counter space, a total absence of natural light, and only one lonely towel rack, there’s plenty of ways to upgrade your setup.
The Instagram algorithm serves us plenty of eye-grabbing rugs, tiled floors, and Baggu prints. But one of our favorite discoveries was Baina, an upstart Australian label founded by two fashion industry vets turned towel specialists. (No, really.) The brand has since expanded its oeuvre to include lush, serene designs like this, that aim to mimic the kind of towels you’d find neatly folded in a country club locker room.
You know how some towels start out insanely plush and soft but end up, like, greasy and non-absorbent? Bathing Culture’s towels are the opposite—they only get better and softer the more you use them. But let’s be honest about the real appeal here: That wavy pattern looks insanely cool no matter how you hang it or wrap it around yourself. (Naturally, we're not the only ones who think so: as of right now, the version above is completely sold out. But Bathing Culture's groovy rainbow option—hand-loomed from deadstock Turkish cotton and imbued with a touch of Flower Power good vibes—is second to none.)
Onson’s distinct waffle-knit towels are the rare online favorite that actually over deliver on performance. That world where you hop out of the shower and grab a towel only to realize it’s damper and dirtier than you are? Forget it. And even though “basic” tends to be code for “boring shade of white”, Onsen’s set comes in nine different fetching colors, from striking ochre to rich forest green.
Make every day feel like a self-care day.
Europeans are a little different: they drink Coke Light, they enjoy free healthcare, they use bidets. You might not be able to mimic them on the big stuff, but you can approximate the villa experience by picking up Toto’s Washlet C5, the latest addition to the brand's fleet of bidets. Compatible with just about every standard-use throne, it’s full of cool features—a built-in dryer and deodorizer, a mister, memory settings—is painless to install, and looks shockingly normal.
If your bathroom skews less maximalist and more Noguchi, Tosaryu’s hinoki bath mat is an ideal landing pad for your wet bod. Its quick-drying, anti-slip and anti-mildew molded slats are the perfect place to park your feet after a relaxing onsen-style soak or a sinus-clearing shower, while its slight elevation keeps your clean toes squarely separate from the bathroom floor.
The place where you do your best thinking deserves an upgrade befitting its status.
Bathrooms, as far as design goes, are don’t ask, don’t tell spaces: We might upgrade our sinks, tubs, and mirrors, but mostly we’re resigned to what we can get at the hardware store. Brabantia’s MindSet butler is a bathroom storage solution that doesn’t even attempt to be invisible. The tall valet consists of a roll holder, a brush, and a shelf—for a diffuser, perhaps, or just a resting place for your phone—that’s sleek enough to blend into a nice W.C.'s surroundings, and the perfect amount of imposing.
When you find a good-looking trash can, keep it. And when said trash can boasts a surprisingly profound historical background? You’d be a fool to let it go. Isamu Saito worked with the Japanese army during World War II to explore making fuel tanks out of wood, before pivoting to focus on home decor. The result? Achingly beautiful interior goods like this molded plywood receptacle.
Glasses from Coming Soon, $28-$45.
Your kitchen is cluttered enough as is. So we pulled together the everyday workhorses that actually warrant a spot on your counter, and will look really good hanging out there long term.
Whatever your kitchen situation, rounding out your cabinets with Made In’s starter set is the quickest way to elevate your cooking. Each pan evenly conducts heat for chef-quality sears and sautées while the handle stays cool to prevent palm burns. This one focuses on a quartet of four real-deal kitchen workhorses, from a 10-inch non-stick perfect for scrambled eggs to an eight-quart stock pot that can store enough chili for your whole friend group. Best of all, the whole thing takes up shockingly little cabinet space.
Cast iron pans are ultra-sturdy, blessedly inexpensive, and can transition from the stovetop to the oven with ease—no melting plastic here. (You can even toss one directly on a grill or campfire coals for al fresco cooking.) What sets Field Company’s version apart from basic cast irons that you can pick up at a fraction of the price? It’s considerably lighter, which means you can actually pack it it on a camping trip, or transfer a piping hot shakshuka from oven to stove top with one oven-mitted hand instead of two.
Scrubbing burnt food off a pan isn’t the worst kitchen chore, but it sure feels like it. Enter DeBuyer’s non-stick pans, each coated with five layers of scratch-resistant teflon engineered to slough off clingy food remains. The 8-inch fry pan is the perfect size for cooking eggs for two or a solo stir-fry, and the primary-colored handles are a fun touch. If nothing else, they’ll look great on the stovetop when you “forget” to do the dishes at the end of the night.
Sheet pans are often inherited, not purchased. But a quality set is key to even, balanced cooking. Nordic Ware’s non-stick versions are a stalwart of restaurants across the country, making them a great long-term investment for your kitchen too. The pure pleasure of biting into a just-baked cookie is reason enough to keep a few on-hand, but you can use ‘em to roast vegetables and whole chickens, toast nuts, broil salmon, or keep your mise en place in place.
Whatever your proficiency level, these tools will have you navigating the kitchen like a pro—or at least looking like one.
The appropriately-named Beast B10 proves that powerful things can come in small packages. The compact 12 lb. device blends frozen bananas, ice, and other stodgy solids with ease. (It can even break down dry ingredients like oats and nuts for homemade flours and peanut butter.) Twelve “ribs” intersect the 750mL capacity blending chamber to keep ingredients moving, while a 100-watt motor powers up pulses or preprogrammed blending cycles to yield the perfect consistency in seconds.
When it comes to air fryers, the hype is real… as long as you pick the right model. Brevel’s is in a league of its own, and it does a lot more than just frying. With the touch of a button it can be a convection oven, slow cooker, dehydrator, toaster, and grill. Pop in your salmon, roast chicken, or potatoes and watch in awe as it seamlessly changes temperatures, sets timers, and switches on the broiler—while you stay sprawled on the couch.
You don’t need a million different kitchen tools: you just need one really sharp knife. Miyabi’s 8-inch chef’s knife—hand-honed from high-carbon stainless steel using a traditional three-step Honbazuke process—is an instrument of slicing, dicing precision. Its lightweight blade boasts a seriously sharp edge, it’s sturdy enough to stand up to daily use, and the birch handle is a joy to hold. Frankly, it just looks beautiful floating on a magnetic knife rack.
OXO’s near-miraculous, easy-to-use brewer asks very little of its user: give it water, give it grounds, and then select how many cups of java you’re fiending for—it doesn’t judge. Two simple taps stand between you and caffeinated bliss, and the handsome design means you won’t want to shove it into the darkest corner of your kitchen after you’ve satisfied your fix.
Fellow’s seriously powerful electric kettle is the McLaren of the genre, capable of going from room temp to scalding hot in a matter of seconds. Its wide-ranging temperature control features are designed to steep oolong or genmaicha tea down to the degree, but it’s sleek enough to warrant a permanent position on your counter no matter what you use it for.
The Osma Pro may be the most thoughtful cold brew machine on the market, but the science behind it is blessedly straightforward. In a nutshell: pressure pushes cold water through the grounds, extracts lots of flavor, and yields a pay-on-an-iPad quality cold brew in just a couple of minutes. (It doesn’t hurt that the eye-catching design veers into Dieter Rams-at-Braun territory.) A new age in coffee making? Maybe—it takes pods, and doesn’t discriminate—but a new look, for sure.
If you’re ready to transition from regular ol’ coffee drinker to certified Coffee Person, you need a proper pour-over setup. Yield Design’s sleek pour-over carafe is made from durable borosilicate for stress-free handling and top-notch heat retention, and it can make anywhere from one to six cups at a time. Each model comes with a lid to keep leftovers fresh in the fridge, making it easy to turn that leftover morning java into an afternoon iced latte.
Coffee connoisseurs might debate the merits of different single-origin beans and alt milks, but all of them will admit burr grinders are king. Where conventional blade grinders pulverize beans at random, burr mills grind each bean for an evenly extracted, ultra-aromatic brew. Fellow’s model boasts 31 (!) different settings and an automatic stop, features that make it ideal for every type of home brewer, from French press devotees to endlessly patient pour-over fanatics.
Glasses that say “I don't have a problem, I just have really good taste".
Technically speaking, any glass is a wine glass once it’s been filled with a generous pour of Gamay. But the best of the genre should actually make their contents taste better, promoting aeration to develop nuanced flavors. Josephinenhütte’s magnificent hand-blown wine glasses are ultra-thin and designed with a divot at the bottom, so you can skip the hours-long decanting. Saying it’s a difference you can taste sounds a little cheesy (mmm, wine and cheese!) but it’s true.
Save for filing your own taxes, does anything feel more adult than pouring a homemade cocktail into a handsome, borderline fancy glass? Mamo’s multipurpose, duotone cocktail glasses will help you embrace the upsides of aging with panache. More of a beer person? Sophie Lou Jacobsen’s jumbo-sized rippled borosilicate glass cups are as funky as your favorite dry-hopped IPA. Trying to cut back on alcohol altogether? Lateral Objects’ elegant glassware—hand-blown in Poland and individually tinted in a range of rainbow hues—makes upping your H2O intake fun. And all of them can be found at Coming Soon, New York's preeminent hotspot for kooky, artisanal home goods.
It's all about the presentation, baby.
If forks could talk, these would let out a low, dry chuckle. David Mellor’s sculptural flatware set bucks current trends (think: steel handles encased in boldly-colored plastic) in favor of vintage silhouettes inspired by Danish tabletops of the past—a retro homage with the perfect amount of modern flair.
The best way to elevate a random late night snack is through presentation, and the best way to present your microwaved nachos is on a Thomas Fuchs Melamine dinner plate. Fuchs’ 1/2 & 1/2 sits somewhere between rustic Spanish enamelware and Italian anti-design, a marriage of influences low and high. Stout like a camping plate and sunny like Massimo Vignelli’s ‘70s-era Heller dishes, this one is the most refined of the bunch—and the most exciting.
Remember the 1999 Disney film, Smart House? (Of course you do.) Those aren’t the type of gimmicky contraptions you’ll find here. From an actually helpful—laser-enhanced!—vacuum to a projector that makes squinting through movie night a headache of the past, each of these are designed to upgrade your living space—and keep it looking spick and span no matter what you put it through.
When it comes to home audio, Bang & Olufsen is as premium as it gets. B&O’s smart speakers don’t come cheap, but top-tier design, craftsmanship, and innovation rarely do. On their own, each piece in the brand’s connected three-room speaker set is fantastic to look at—and even better to listen to. And once you get accustomed to their clean lines, crisp sound, and show-stopping materials (think: wood, leather, and aluminum), you’ll never look at your cheap plastic speakers the same.
At a hair below 100 bucks, the HomePod mini is one of the most accessible Apple devices in the brand’s repertoire—and one of the most underrated options in the smart speaker category. Thanks to S5 chip-enabled computational audio and custom hardware design, it offers impressively clean, bright, 360-degree sound. If Siri is your go-to assistant or you’re looking to round out your Apple entertainment assortment, this is the smart speaker for you.
The Ray is Sonos’ most compact and least expensive soundbar to date, yet somehow manages to deliver on the distinct sound and sex appeal that make the brand an audiophile favorite. Pair it with your smart TV for streaming, laptop or PC for gaming, or use it on its own as a wireless speaker, and that mercifully low price will seem all the more inexplicable.
Designed with LG’s leading OLED evo panel technology (and new a9 Gen 5 AI processor), the G2 model offers the brand’s brightest, vividest screen yet, making for a noticeably enhanced entertainment or gaming experience. And because it’s specifically built to mount flush against the wall, it’ll look just as at home at Frieze as it will in your living room.
Samsung’s ludicrously lightweight Freestyle projector is the Gen Z-approved TV alternative you’ve been looking for. Automatic screen size optimization, razor sharp HD visuals, and built-in speakers mean you’re movie night-ready straight from the jump.
Dyson’s brand new handheld vacuum is smarter, cheaper, and more compact than last year’s winner, the V15, but still offers the kind of features you’ve come to expect from the first name in precise, powerful cleaning. At first glance, the laser can seem gimmicky, but it’ll prove its worth when it’s sucking up the tiny particles that riddle your space—evidence displayed in real time on an LCD screen you can show your skeptical roommates. And this time around, Dyson replaced the trigger with a single power button so you can give your hands a break.
Slab Formwork Decking System Pet owners will especially dig the cleaning capabilities of this cordless, LED-outfitted vacuum, but you don't have to be covered in stray fur to appreciate it—detail oriented is detail oriented, after all. And while it may be cheaper than the Dyson pick, Bissell’s smart handheld vac gives fancier models a solid run for their money.