Duvet v. Comforter
 

To break off from one of the threads about what European "thing" do you now continue to use at home: Is there really any difference between a duvet and a comforter? The duvets/comforters in hotels/B&Bs in Europe are quite nice, warm and comfortable, I can't imagine sleeping without a sheet and blanket with my comforter at home. Perhaps the fabric on my comforter is not conducive to sleep comfort. Any bedding help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks

A comforter is the poofy thing and the duvet is the cover fo it.

I use sheets with mine, because getting the comforter in and out of the duvet as often as I would want it laundered is a pain.

In my opinion, companystore.com sells the best comforters and duvets. The flannel duvetsa re super comfy.

Oh my gosh down comforters are WAY too hot with a blanket too!

Well that's what I thought. Company Store is the catalog I'm looking at right now! I agree with you taking the comforter in/out of the duvet every time to wash - especially queen size! Thanks.

I disagree with the definition above, duvet is the poofy thing too, and the 'envelopes' they go inside of are duvet covers. That's what they're called in the catalogs and stores I've seen, and you can google it and get entries.
The duvet covers are to have soft fabric next to your skin, and to keep the duvet clean. In Europe sometimes I've noticed a duvet is sandwiched in between two sheets. Presumably the sheets get washed between guests, but the duvet doesn't.
:)

Hi
here's one official definition

http://www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/duvet

Lo' and behold! Elaine is right! I just looked up duvet in the dictionary and it says, Comforter Ha, that's how much I know... :)

Comforter is not really a European term. Perhaps you mean eiderdown? These are feather filled lumpy old-fashioned things with no loose cover that you use with sheets/blankets. I associate them with my grandma.

The duvet is the padded warm thing and the duvet cover is the removable washable cover.

no, the duvet is not just the cover. The cover is a "duvet cover". The duvet is the actual envelope which has stuffing in it (usually down). I have a duvet with down I use in the winter and that term is used for the entire thing when it is filled. I then must have a duvet cover that I put on top of the duvet (which is another envelope) and has buttons. I have a couple duvet covers -- some with buttons, some with zippers -- to keep my duvet clean, which is a very fine white cotton stuffed with down. That is sewn shut.

I think you could call that a form of comforter, which is a stuffed bed covering of some kind, although people don't usually have comforter coverers as the comforter itself is mean to be decorative and the top layer.

I think you should do what you like. I know my taste differs from others on here regarding duvets. I certainly do not use mine in summer as it is too hot. I hate it when I get a duvet in Europe in the summer and no other blanket as it is too hot for me. I've had this in some hotels. I also personally dislike not having a sheet between me and the heavier comforter/duvet, blanket, whatever over me. I also do not want to wash duvet covers constantly. My duvet cover is meant to be decorative and to keep it clean, it is not a simple cotton sheet type thing, and costs a lot more than sheets. It's also just preference.

Some people on here have said they do this because it's so much trouble to make the bed in the morning, and that is easier. I don't understand that as it takes me only a couple seconds to sort of shake out the covers and straighten them over my bed so they look decent (I have a sheet, cotton blanket and quilt on my bed now).

but we both meant "poufy"
:)

At our house, we use down/feather duvets encased in 100% cotton duvet covers. That's in the cool months. On warm summer nights, we encase a thin blanket inside the duvet cover, or just use the duvet cover by itself.

Getting the cover stuffed is not difficult after a little practice -- not much tricker than putting a pillow in a pillowcase, I've found. As to frequency: we change the cover only every other week; after the first week's use, we just flip duvet and cover over to sleep under a 'fresh' side. The bottom sheet and pillow cases we change weekly.

Regardless, we make sure the duvet packages are loosely folded, plumped up during the day, then kept at the bottom of the bed so both cover and mattress can air out.

The only hard part for me: Is it "dew-vit", or "doo-vay"?

Fritzrl

For over 20 years, I've used a "comforter" encased in a changeable "comforter cover."

It differs from a duvet in that LL Bean, where I've bought all of mine, uses the old-fashioned, instead of the Europhile, terminology and calls it a "comforter."

Of course, this means that I'm forced to dream in English while sleeping under it.

I slept under a comforter or duvet long before I went to Europe. I always hated getting tangled up in flat sheets.

I've grown up in the UK, and many years ago when I was very young, we had a bottom sheet, top sheet, and blankets, topped with a quilt or eiderdown (a quilt stuffed with down from the eider duck). In the 70's duvets (pronounced doo-vay) started to become popular, as I recall imported in from Scandinavia.

These were extra fluffy pooffy quilts which in turn were inserted into cotton covers. The covers were regularly washed as per the owners preference, but the actual doo-vay/quilt itself needs to be sent to the cleaners on a yearly basis (or whatever... according to preference). Some people use a top sheet as well to avoid changing the duvet cover, but I think it's just more stuff to get tangled up in!

I change my duvet cover as often as I change my pillowcases and bottom sheet - at least once a week depending on how hot it is and how much energy I have! It doesn't actually take very long, maybe 5 minutes. If I get chilly I put a blanket on top.

BTW, I have 2 duvets, one with a 5 tog rating for summer and the other with a 13.5 tog rating for winter. I use the same covers all year round, because they match the bedroom decor!

I use a duvet/comforter encased in a duvet/comforter cover. Separate weights for summer and winter. Also use a top sheet. Yes, sometimes the duvet/comforter is decorative, but it is less expensive to change your decor with a duvet cover (and takes less storage, too), than to change the duvet cover. It is doo-vay, by the way. Company store has great duvets in different weights and also "supersized" ones that have a nice drop over the bed edge.

Well whether one calls it a duvet or a comforter I have used them for decades. I have a "designer" cover for it which matches the bed skirt and bed linenes. I also use a top sheet, as I find it impossible to get the duvet/comforter back into the cover. Also my cover requires dry cleaning so it would not be practical to not use the top flat sheet. Inside the cover there are clips at each of the four corners attached to the duvet/comforter that keeps the duvet/comforter from slipping around in the cover. My duvet/comforter is boxed stiched so the filling does not move around either.

I really do not like sleaping in a bed with blankets. They always seem too heavy to me.

jill_h, if you need to use a blanket along with your duvet/comforter it sounds like you need a winter weight one. Sweet dreams!!!

I suppose using "comforter" instead of "duvet" does resolve the pronounciation issue.

Besides, as my Nanny used to remind me as she escorted me through the portico of the manse to the drive, where the chauffeur awaited, holding open the freshly-burnished handle on the door of the Rolls, "Eschew pretension!" Of course, *she* said it in French.

(Yeah...as *if*...)

Fritzrl

Uhm jill_h, next time I will use the edit feature here and correct my typing, sorry about that!!!

When we stayed with a friend in England she called the comforter on the bed a duvet.

doo-vay

:)

I would say a duvet is normally feather-filled and needs a cover and a comforter has man-made filling, is patterned and therefore does not need a cover.

In the UK we chose duvets by their 'tog' number, the higher the tog the warmer the duvet - here in the US they are sold by weight. We bought the heaviest weight for use in MA :-)

My favorite duvet was actually sold as a pair - the lighter one to be used in Summer and the heavier one to use in Spring and the Fall, put them together and they make the warmest duvet for Winter use.

Whether you call it a comforter, a duvet, un édredon, une couette or ein Daunen Deckbett ... we're all talking about the same thing, either filled with genuine eiderdown or with synthetic fiber.
The 'thing' goes into a duvet cover and, as far as I know, it's not common in Europe to use a separate top flat sheet. It's just the duvet cover, preferably in a natural fabric.

A couple of weeks ago, we stayed at the City Hilton in Munich, and the bedding was unusual to me: On the double mattress were two twinsize duvets, each with a cover made of sheeting material. There were no other sheets at all! The only choice as the room got warm in the night was between remaining under the overly warm duvet, and trying to sleep with no cover at all.

The hotel was extremely nice overall, but this bugged me.

Hi alya, your set sounds wonderful. Mine (duvet/comforter) is winter weight. So in summer, as it can get real hot where I live, I just remove it at night and sleep under the top sheet. Having two and being able to combine them in winter is a big plus IMO.

I've just come back from London, France and Germany and I loved having a duvet with a sheet cover (Germany). I was not worried about who had used the blankets and when they were last washed. Even in the best hotels you just don't know. True some of them were too warm but I'd rather be warm than covered with something nasty.

Changing the duvet cover is really pretty easy and I have a king size. Just turn the cover inside out, match up the corners with the comforter and turn the cover right side out over the comforter. Don't know if I'm explaining it well enough. It IS easier with two people with the king size, but I CAN do myself if needed. It's so much easier than trying to stuff the comtorter into the duvet. I fell in love with the down comforter and duvet when I was in Switzerland and bought one as soon as I got home and have never looked back. Love 'em.

I always thought you "americans" weren't THAT different, but all this sounds like you were all born on mars. ;-) A welcome from the citizens of planet earth.

Hi logos, what are we doing or saying wrong, LOL?

We go back and forth. We have comforters (insider duvets) and don't use the flat sheet, then we decide we feel like a change and go with the flat sheet. At the moment, we're in the flat sheet mood. I like a tucked in flat sheet because I hate it when my feet stick out from under the covers. And with the cold weather coming on, I like the heavy feel of lots of blankets...both DH and I like being ensconced under a mountain of covers with the window open. Especially if it's raining hard (straight, not blowing in) so we can hear the sound of the rain as we fall asleep.

This subject is very strange. Using nothing but sheets and blankets is an absolutly freaky idea. Why would anybody do this. Don't you realize it could get cold a night... Freaks... ;-)

OK logos, got it!!! And I agree! Once one starts using a duvet/comforter the idea of blankets is terrible. They do not keep you warm enough and they get so heavy. I haven't used blankets in over 35 years unless I am not at home and that is all there is. Take care!

I have to post here again- to vent!

My local store that used to stock sheets, 350 count for a really good price (I don't want to use the word cheap - but I hope you know what I mean), have now stopped selling them individually - only sets, Arrgh!

We have a queen sized bed but a king sized duvet that we use a sheet under so when it's too warm for the duvet we still have something to sleep under :">

So, I need a queen fitted and a king flat - I guess I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and pay twice the price from now on!!!!

Thanks all, Strangely I do feel better now :-)

A good alternative to an eiderdown/duvet/comforter is a down-stuffed blanket: lighter and longer, can be tucked in at the end of the bed. Works nicely with just a light cover on top.

I hate blankets now, you can't tuck them round you properly - you either have to heave them out of place and end up cold cos part of them is untucked at the side, or you get a tent-pole effect with big gaps at the side of your body. Give me a snuggly duvet any day.
A hint for someone who is too hot: stick one foot out from beneath it and you will soon cool down.

Just remembered that when they were introduced to the UK everyone called them Continental Quilts and it gradually changed to duvet.

In Australia they were also called continental quilts but now we just call they quilts and quilt covers.

The trick to sleeping with a down duvet is to roll yourself in it like a pig in a blanket or if you are from So.Cal. a burrito.

LOL SeaUrchin, I haven't heard that one, but of course I am in N Ca!

Alya, can't you use a queen size flat sheet even though you have a king size duvet/comforter? If you are not using the comforter, and you have a queen size bed the queen size top flat sheet should work just fine.

logos--FWIW, I do use a comforter on my bed at home. But I also use a flat sheet underneath it. Just as it can get cold at night, it can also get swelteringly hot, and then it's nice to be able to push off the comforter and still have some light cover.

jill h--To return to the question with which you opened this thread, I understand the difference between a comforter and a duvet to be this: A comforter has a finished and unremovable cover of decorative fabric, while a duvet is just the flat "bag" of down with a cover of white fabric--it is put into a duvet cover from which it can be removed.

My duvet is long enough (2.40m x 2.20m) to be tucked in at the end of the bed. I hate it too, when my feet stick out.
That's why I have a duvet problem in Germany. Those duvets are usually way too short. On the other hand, sleeping under sheets and heavy blankets is no option either.
I-)

In Australia, I'm more familiar with calling the duvet, a doona and the collective name for sheets, pillow cases etc being called manchester.

Geordie

"Even in the best hotels you just don't know."

Of course you know. Those that people here call "a duvet cover" I call "an upper sheet". And that gets changed every week, and in every single hotel between peoples.

And it has one half open end to slide the feathery thing (OR a blanket) in, and on the other end it has an opening on each side so you can slip your hands in and pull the feathery thing (OR a blanket) in. Takes no more time than changing a sheet.