My hoose here in Kirkwall doesn’t have radiators. Or a furnace. What is has is in-floor radiant heat. Each room is controlled by a thermostat, and the heat rising out of the floor heats the whole room. It is the best thing ever! No fossil fuels, and when I get up in the morning, the floors, whether bare or carpeted, are warm to my feet. I love this.
Now, I have not yet unpacked. I bought one Ikea dresser and I will assemble it tomorrow. But it means that for the last fortnight (see how British I am? Huh? huh?) I have had my suitcases spread out on the guest room floor, with all my clothes (except those hanging in the closets) laid out in them. It’s not quite the disaster it sounds, as I have my summer wear tucked into 1/2 of one case, and all my sweaters ditto, and so on. But here’s what I’ve noticed. Even though I have the thermostat in that room set quite low, it is still on and all the clothes are warm. That means my underwear is warm, my socks are warm, sweaters, jeans, etc… whenever I put something on, all thanks to the in-floor radiant system. It’s the best feeling in world, especially on cold mornings. I’m actually not really looking forward to moving everything into the new furniture.
So here’s my question: why aren’t dressers heated? I don’t mean anything extreme, not like a curling iron or anything, but just a gentle element, maybe running up inside each leg of the dresser, that slowly generates just enough heat to warm our clothes. Someone should invent that.