Best Vacuums for Busy Families
When kids make messes, these hardworking vacs clean up
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Parenting can be messy: Pizza crumbs scattered across the kitchen floor. Cheerios swallowed between couch cushions. Arts-and-crafts glitter littering the living room carpet.
Not surprisingly, cleaning is a huge part of the daily lives of parents who have small children. My coworkers who have toddlers say they have to vacuum their homes multiple times a week. In the kitchen, they’re likely to pull out a vacuum at least once a day.
The parents I spoke to say they value a vacuum cleaner that’s effective, convenient, and time-saving. As CR home and appliances writer Daniel Wroclawski puts it,“It needs to work well and be able to easily get to the latest crime scene.”
Different types of vacuums fit that bill. A hand vacuum, for instance, can be useful for cleaning up mealtime messes on the spot. But if you have pets and a lot of carpeting in your home, you will want to back that up with an upright, which is better for deep cleanings.
In our labs, we test vacuums to see how well they clean carpets, bare floors, and the edges where the walls and the floor meet. Depending on the type of vacuum we’re testing, we scatter sand, cereal, peas, rice, and flour to see how much debris they can pick up.
Below, we’ve chosen eight highly rated models that are convenient to use and powerful at cleaning. For even more options, check our complete vacuum ratings.
Handheld Vacuums
Portable and easy to use, the parents I spoke with said they favor handheld vacuums for spot-cleaning, especially kitchen spills. “Mealtimes can be messy, which makes a hand vac a necessity,” says CR writer Lisa Fogarty.
While a hand vac won’t have the power and capacity of a full-sized vacuum, it can quickly clean up messes that fall from a high chair or into a car seat without you needing to drag out your primary vacuum.
They’re also a great tool for teaching your children to vacuum after themselves. “My daughter is now at the age when she can vacuum up her own messes, and she uses a hand vacuum for that,” says CR editor Ginger Cowles. “It’s a win-win: She’s learning about responsibility and feels like she’s contributing to the cleanliness of the household, and I, frankly, don’t have to clean it up.”
The Black+Decker Max+ DustBuster AdvancedClean+ HHVK515J00 was stellar at suctioning up Cheerios and rice from bare floors and edges in our tests. It also does a respectable job of picking up debris carpets. But one of its greatest strengths is its long run time. It can run for around 23 minutes in its highest-power mode (the longest of the hand vacs we tested), so you’re less likely to have to worry about the vacuum dying on you in the middle of your cleaning. (Assuming that as a busy parent you can even find 23 consecutive minutes to devote to cleaning.)
We found the Black+Decker CHV1410L to be excellent at cleaning bare floors and solid at cleaning carpets despite not having a power brush attachment. The vacuum comes with a crevice tool that can help you reach into hard-to-reach areas, whether in the folds of a child car seat or between your couch’s cushions. It’s worth noting that this vacuum is nosier than most of the other handheld vacs we tested.
Robotic Vacuums
No time to vacuum? That’s when a robotic vacuum can come in handy. “Sometimes I’ll rely on our robot vac for quick cleanups when I can’t clean something right away. A touch of the button and it’s done,” Cowles says. With a robotic vacuum, you can set it and forget it, leaving it to handle routine cleanups throughout the day. It’s ideal for touch-ups and light, ongoing cleaning, but before you turn it on, you should clear your floor of obstacles—never an easy thing when kids are involved.
Stick Vacuums
If you want to deal with spills as quickly as possible, consider a cordless stick vacuum. It’s less bulky and more lightweight than an upright, and it saves time because you don’t need to find a power outlet and maneuver a cord around the room.
In recent years, cordless stick vacuums have grown more powerful in their cleaning performance. However, one of the remaining issues with these vacuums is that their batteries might diminish or die completely the longer you own them.
Yes, this model is around $1,000, but its cleaning prowess makes it worth it for the beleaguered parent. It’s impressive at picking up debris from carpets. And if your family also has pets, know that the Samsung Bespoke Jet AI VS28C9762UK/AA edges out the other cordless stick vacs in our ratings in its capacity to remove pet hair. Another advantage it has over its competitors is its long run time. In our tests, it ran for about 97 minutes per charge on the low setting and 18 minutes on the high setting. However, it does take around 6 hours to recharge a fully discharged battery. One feature harried parents will appreciate is the multipurpose storage tower that can automatically empty the dustbin.
The LG CordZero All-in-One A949KTMS is another model with well-rounded cleaning abilities. It aced our tests on bare floors, edges, and pet hairs and does a respectable job cleaning carpets as well. Similar to the Samsung Bespoke Jet AI VS28C9762UK/AA, this model comes with a multipurpose storage tower that automatically empties the dust bin. There’s also a compressor lever in the bin to help pack in the debris and make room for more … and with kids around you know there’s always more to clean up.
Upright Vacuums
Sometimes a heavy hitter is required to keep your home clean. While a stick vacuum is well-suited to dealing with messes as soon as possible, it can’t match the cleaning power of an upright, especially when it comes to carpets and rugs. And compared to a canister, an upright takes up less storage space with its vertical design.
For a bagged upright model, we recommend the Kenmore Intuition BU4050. It’s inexpensive compared with many models (for comparison, the most expensive upright in our ratings is the $2,000 Kirby Avalir 2). For any parent who doesn’t want to lug around a heavy vacuum while juggling child care duties, it’s also worth noting that this vacuum is fairly lightweight at 15 pounds. As an added bonus, it has a lift-away feature that makes it easier for you to clean stairs. This model excels at removing debris from bare floors and does a very good at cleaning carpets. It also scored a top-notching rating in our pet hair tests, making it ideal for families with pets.
If you prefer a bagless model, the Shark Navigator Professional NV360 Vacuum Cleaner balances budget-friendliness with great cleaning performance. It’s one of the few models to earn an elusive top rating in our carpet tests. It similarly aced our pet hair and bare floor tests. At 14 pounds, it’s also one of the more lightweight uprights in our ratings. Its detachable pod makes it easier for users to clean their stairs or under furniture. Other features include suction control and a brush on/off switch that helps prevent debris from scattering when cleaning uncarpeted floors.
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