I had high hopes for the Mind Reader 40-liter clothes basket, which has a sleek, contemporary design and is an interior designers’ favorite for photo shoots of gleaming new laundry rooms. However, the sharp plastic handles dug into my hands and made the basket unpleasant to carry when fully loaded.

The Sterilite 2-Bushel (71 L) Ultra Laundry Basket is the sibling of our two top picks but lacks the hip-hold or adjustable handle features. When filled to the brim, this 71-liter basket felt too wide and heavy for me to easily carry down stairs while maintaining my balance, though it might be fine for those with longer arms. The Sterilite 1.5 Bushel Ultra Square Laundry Basket came in a fun teal that could brighten up a dorm room, but the one we ordered arrived with busted handles that could not be fixed.

As far as tall, open hampers go, the Yamazaki Wood Handle Round Basket looks attractive, but the holes were too big to keep small items like baby socks or delicate lingerie from falling out when transported around the house. The Yamazaki Rolling Wire Basket Steel + Wood had wheels that were tricky to install and a fixed one-sided handle that made it difficult to lift, but we think it’s a good option if you plan on keeping it near the washing machine, since it can easily roll around.

The INDRESSME Large Cotton Rope Basket would make for adorable and ample toy storage, but it isn’t easy enough to clean to be a long-lasting laundry basket. It also arrived with a strong chemical smell that lingered.

The Organize It All Neu Home Foldable Freestanding Laundry Basket used to be an “also great” pick in a previous version of this guide, and it almost became a pick again due to its ample capacity (it can hold a large load of laundry), its attractive design, and the fact that it can be folded when not in use. However, after a third wash, the Velcro tabs that secure the bag to the hanging metal rods became less effective, causing the tabs to pop open and drop the bag askew the next time I was carrying a load of laundry to the washer.

As one of the pricier options tested, the West Elm Woven Seagrass Baskets Collection natural, large basket offered soothing day spa vibes with its appearance, but the material was so weak that one of the basket’s thin handles snapped off the first time I lifted it, and the included liner was cheap and transparent.

The West Elm Bamboo Storage Hamper checked all the boxes on paper—with its attractive minimalist design, divider for easy sorting, and ample volume. However, it was impossible to clean the fabric and the fabric-coated hamper top felt flimsy.

The Container Store Grey Montauk Round Hamper was beautiful to look at, concealed a week’s worth of laundry for one individual, offered excellent ventilation, and came with a liner. However, the liner quickly ripped and the woven polypropylene began to come undone after more than a month of daily use.

The Dalykate Laundry Backpack carried up to 44 pounds of laundry and doubled as a hanging hamper for the back of a door, but the outer stitches dissolved on the third wash.

The Rubbermaid Stack’N Sort laundry basket is a rectangular design, and like the Sterilite White Stackable Basket, it can be stacked. In person, it is hard to stack compared to our pick and the handles pop out of place easily. It also costs more than our pick and doesn’t perform as well.

As far as hampers go, the Seville Classics 3-Bag Laundry Sorter might look like a pretty good option, but the slightly smaller wheels and fewer long-term reviews made the Honey-Can-Do a better pick.

The Whitmor Chrome Laundry Sorter has mesh bags to help prevent mold and mildew on dirty clothes, but reviews indicate that the bags are weak and fall apart fast.

The Household Essentials Hanging Cotton Canvas Laundry Hamper Bag is sturdy and can hang out of the way, but it holds very little and doesn’t breathe particularly well. Wet washcloths our tester left in it were still wet days later. It’s also small—a grown adult would likely fill this up in just a few days.

The Rubbermaid Foldable Laundry Hamper was the top-selling hamper on Amazon at the time of testing, with a nice design and easy one-handed carrying. Unfortunately, it’s based around cardboard, and there are pictures of it failing if you happen to get it too wet. It also does not breathe well due to the design.

Smart Design Deluxe Mesh Pop Up Laundry Hamper (previously known as DAZZ Deluxe) has hundreds of reviews on Amazon, giving us a lot of reliability data to use. The overall design looks good, with a pocket for laundry soap and easy carry handles at the top. But more than 10% of the reviews report that it rips very easily after purchase and is cheaply made.

The Whitmor 18-inch Collapsible Hamper has far less data to go off of but also an overall good rating. There are still a lot of people reporting that it falls apart easily. Many of the positive reviews come from people using it for something other than laundry, such as a butterfly habitat or chameleon transporter.

We considered but ultimately did not test hampers from Target, Anthropologie, Wayfair, or Brabantia, because they were either not easily available or we had concerns that they would soon be discontinued or hard to find.

This article was edited by Daniela Gorny and Christine Ryan.

I had high hopes for the Mind Reader 40-liter clothes basket, which has a sleek, contemporary design and is an interior designers’ favorite for photo shoots of gleaming new laundry rooms. However, the sharp plastic handles dug into my hands and made the basket unpleasant to carry when fully loaded.

The Sterilite 2-Bushel (71 L) Ultra Laundry Basket is the sibling of our two top picks but lacks the hip-hold or adjustable handle features. When filled to the brim, this 71-liter basket felt too wide and heavy for me to easily carry down stairs while maintaining my balance, though it might be fine for those with longer arms. The Sterilite 1.5 Bushel Ultra Square Laundry Basket came in a fun teal that could brighten up a dorm room, but the one we ordered arrived with busted handles that could not be fixed.

As far as tall, open hampers go, the Yamazaki Wood Handle Round Basket looks attractive, but the holes were too big to keep small items like baby socks or delicate lingerie from falling out when transported around the house. The Yamazaki Rolling Wire Basket Steel + Wood had wheels that were tricky to install and a fixed one-sided handle that made it difficult to lift, but we think it’s a good option if you plan on keeping it near the washing machine, since it can easily roll around.

The INDRESSME Large Cotton Rope Basket would make for adorable and ample toy storage, but it isn’t easy enough to clean to be a long-lasting laundry basket. It also arrived with a strong chemical smell that lingered.

The Organize It All Neu Home Foldable Freestanding Laundry Basket used to be an “also great” pick in a previous version of this guide, and it almost became a pick again due to its ample capacity (it can hold a large load of laundry), its attractive design, and the fact that it can be folded when not in use. However, after a third wash, the Velcro tabs that secure the bag to the hanging metal rods became less effective, causing the tabs to pop open and drop the bag askew the next time I was carrying a load of laundry to the washer.

As one of the pricier options tested, the West Elm Woven Seagrass Baskets Collection natural, large basket offered soothing day spa vibes with its appearance, but the material was so weak that one of the basket’s thin handles snapped off the first time I lifted it, and the included liner was cheap and transparent.

The West Elm Bamboo Storage Hamper checked all the boxes on paper—with its attractive minimalist design, divider for easy sorting, and ample volume. However, it was impossible to clean the fabric and the fabric-coated hamper top felt flimsy.

The Container Store Grey Montauk Round Hamper was beautiful to look at, concealed a week’s worth of laundry for one individual, offered excellent ventilation, and came with a liner. However, the liner quickly ripped and the woven polypropylene began to come undone after more than a month of daily use.

The Dalykate Laundry Backpack carried up to 44 pounds of laundry and doubled as a hanging hamper for the back of a door, but the outer stitches dissolved on the third wash.

The Rubbermaid Stack’N Sort laundry basket is a rectangular design, and like the Sterilite White Stackable Basket, it can be stacked. In person, it is hard to stack compared to our pick and the handles pop out of place easily. It also costs more than our pick and doesn’t perform as well.

As far as hampers go, the Seville Classics 3-Bag Laundry Sorter might look like a pretty good option, but the slightly smaller wheels and fewer long-term reviews made the Honey-Can-Do a better pick.

The Whitmor Chrome Laundry Sorter has mesh bags to help prevent mold and mildew on dirty clothes, but reviews indicate that the bags are weak and fall apart fast.

The Household Essentials Hanging Cotton Canvas Laundry Hamper Bag is sturdy and can hang out of the way, but it holds very little and doesn’t breathe particularly well. Wet washcloths our tester left in it were still wet days later. It’s also small—a grown adult would likely fill this up in just a few days.

The Rubbermaid Foldable Laundry Hamper was the top-selling hamper on Amazon at the time of testing, with a nice design and easy one-handed carrying. Unfortunately, it’s based around cardboard, and there are pictures of it failing if you happen to get it too wet. It also does not breathe well due to the design.

Smart Design Deluxe Mesh Pop Up Laundry Hamper (previously known as DAZZ Deluxe) has hundreds of reviews on Amazon, giving us a lot of reliability data to use. The overall design looks good, with a pocket for laundry soap and easy carry handles at the top. But more than 10% of the reviews report that it rips very easily after purchase and is cheaply made.

The Whitmor 18-inch Collapsible Hamper has far less data to go off of but also an overall good rating. There are still a lot of people reporting that it falls apart easily. Many of the positive reviews come from people using it for something other than laundry, such as a butterfly habitat or chameleon transporter.

We considered but ultimately did not test hampers from Target, Anthropologie, Wayfair, or Brabantia, because they were either not easily available or we had concerns that they would soon be discontinued or hard to find.

This article was edited by Daniela Gorny and Christine Ryan.