@georgect - I'd be willing to bet the ranch that Elux iron is made by Rowenta. @dragonesse - The B&D Digital Advantage D2030, linked below, is a great iron for the money and has served me as well or better than any Rowenta I have ever owned. And I iron. A lot. I have tailored jackets with this iron and swear by it. Amazon.com sells it too, although the 20% BB&B coupon might be a better deal, so price shop. I am not all that keen on Rowenta irons anymore, as very few models are made in Europe anymore. The ones made in Mexico seem to not hold up or last long. 20 years ago, I had a TOL Rowenta and the water tank leaked, like everyone else's. After that, I refused to spend $$$ and only bought the $50 Rowenta models at JoAnn's when on sale or with a 40% coupon. They've been great irons, too. The Rowenta steam generator iron puts out an amazing amount of steam, but the iron itself doesn't get very hot. I'm not in love with mine. I'll take my B&D #D2030 any day, as it does well in the steam department. As for ironing boards, the Reliable brand is very good but overpriced for a family that does not iron very much. I cannot speak for the other brands at BB&B, as I have not seen them in person and the online ratings are not encouraging. Polder is a good brand, if you can find one. Here is a link that might be useful: B&D Digital Advantage D2030 steam iron

For years I made my own ironing board covers. For one thing, boughten ones don't always fit right. I just put on some old towels and blankets and then muslin or a sheet on top. Any fitting is confined to slapping the layers on the board and cutting a very rough outline of it so that the layers hang down for 4 or 5 inches all around. Then I use safety pins to shape it around both ends, and in the middle I use two or three of those elastic tape with clips or pincers on both ends to pull the sides of the layers towards each other. However, last time, I got lazy and was tempted by an ad, or maybe something I read online, that claimed a certain board cover would never get burned. I bought one. It truly doesn't get burned, but what I don't like about it is that it seems as slippery as if it were made of horsehair. DH's shirts and other things tend to fall off it. Pleated skirts are a nightmare. Probably it has some spun glass fibers in it. And at the slightest chance, the tip of the bottom blade of my fiscars catches in it and makes a slit. It cuts very easily. I think next time I'll go back to making my own cover.

Larsi : I am so happy for you, now your ironing will be so much easyer. 1 thing to have in mind is that you might want a nother layer of padding. I think it is to thin so I bought a second one and now its perfect. Before I did that I just placed a white towle between the padding and the cover. In the 18 years I have owned my ironingboard I only replaced the cover once. You have such a lovely home, I would be honored to visit one day.... //Björn

Totally concur on Brabantia ironing board. I have clone I bought years ago at Target so perhaps check there. Here's an ironing board link at Williams-Sonoma but I'd shop it around. There are a couple of styles -- with and without a bottom shelf. I do keep getting sales emails from WS so there may be buys this weekend. Here's the super Rowenta I showed Alex. I was told about it someone who does a lot of ironing and likes it enough to invest. It's $$$ but she had a coupon at BBB and got it at a great price. It's basically Larsi's iron on steriods-- 2 models at W-S the perfect" and the "compact" -- Here's a link to that one. Rowenta Perfect Steam Station Like mamapinky I have the B&D classic iron. Those last about 8 years. Mine is coming up on that so at some point it will be replaced with Rowenta.