unfortunately the Fukasawa humidifiers have been unavailable for a few years now. pricey but beautiful!

We just bought one each of the Crane humidifiers for our boys. They are smaller than the big clunker in the master bedroom. Fit nicer in a kids bedroom. One boy got an orange one, the other went for blue and white. They are easy to fit under the tap too, don't have to fill in the bathtub. They work great too. They help a lot with dry coughs and other cold symptoms. Don't mean to sound like an advertisement, but these humidifiers rock!

We have a cutesy Crane one shaped like a frog for our kids' room, but I find it doesn't work all that well and it's much more difficult to refill than the freebie Kaz humidifier that we got from the hospital when our daughter was born almost 4 years ago. While not anything to look at, it works great you can fill it up while in use thanks to a hole in the lid and the main opening is really large, so you can fill it with ice and water for cold mist which is very helpful if a child has croupe and you are alternating steamy bathroom w/ cool mist.

I also have a Crane drop humidifier and love it. It has such a small footprint but can go for many hours without having to be refilled, far longer than 8hrs which is a plus! And cute colors to boot. Gotta love form and functionality in a small inexpensive package.

These are just what I've needed but didn't know they existed! Thanks for the enlightenment:)

I can't sleep in the winter without a humidifier running! Since I have bad allergies it is a total necessity for me. Tho maybe it IS time to upgrade to a nice-looking grown-up humidifier.

Why aren't there any pretty DEhumidifiers available? The humidifiers are so cute, but we have no need for them in our damp victorian in foggy San Francisco... but a cute, or not fugly dehumidifier I'd buy in an instant!

I live in the desert and have dry, sensitive skin and was thinking about getting a humidifier but my allergist recommends against them; he says they cause more problems than they solve because they increase mold, bacteria, and dust mites.

Some of the Crane humidifiers are easier to use than others...i.e., we like our penguin better than our frog, and the drop ones are nice. Definitely get the demineralization cartridge! We have ours going 24/7 and it seems like all of us get fewer colds now. My baby has eczema and I have sinus issues but this helps...though this winter it seems like the humidifier turned up all the way still can't keep up!

Humidifiers CAN cause allergies, like STH said, but not if you keep them clean. And of course, by not overdoing it so that your place starts breeding mold!

We had one that looked like an UFO when I was growing up.

(yes, my second comment on the subject, I checked back to see if anyone had any cute dehumidifier ideas...but no.)

I have a drop humidifier and love it. I am not sure what I am missing if I was to pay twice as much... ?

I wonder what the noise factor is. I'd like a humidifer but not if I have to listen to it all day.

I gave up on the whole house humidifier for our dry West Texas winters--hard to clean and didn't really do the job. For the last two winters, I've used a Crane drop humidifier in the en suite at night, or if the heater is running A LOT, in the daytime as well. It seems to do the job for my sinuses and skin. We have a lot of minerals in our water, but the cleanup is easy in a bathroom and I clean weekly with white vinegar as well. I like not having to worry about the mold problem. I'm just getting ready to begin using it again for the third winter. Great, easy to maintain product.

I have the Drop above and it is silent. Love it!