A drying cabinet is an electronic machine

Machine

A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...

 designed to expedite the drying of items - usually clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

 - that are unsuitable for a traditional clothes dryer

Clothes dryer

A clothes dryer or tumble dryer is a household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing and other textiles, generally shortly after they are cleaned in a washing machine....

. Such items may include delicate clothing designated as "hang dry, "dry flat", or "do not tumble dry" on their wash instructions, as well as items such as comforters, boots, and coats.

History

Since the 1980s, drying cabinets have been common in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an laundromats, especially in the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 Tvättstuga

Tvättstuga

Tvättstuga is a room in an apartment block in Sweden or Finland providing communal laundry facilities for the residents. Typically the room is located in the basement . In Finnish it's called pesutupa.-Facilities:...

 - a laundry room

Laundry room

A laundry room is a room where clothes are washed. In a modern home, a laundry room would be equipped with an automatic washing machine and clothes dryer,and often a large basin, called a laundry tub, for hand-washing delicate articles of clothing such as sweaters, and an ironing board...

 in Swedish housing cooperatives. With the large size of the drying cabinets and relatively small size of European homes, drying cabinets have been almost exclusively found in self-service laundry facilities.

History in the United States

With the steadily increasing size of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 homes over the past decades, the laundry room has increased in size and functionality as well. To meet the increasing demand

Demand

- Economics :*Demand , the desire to own something and the ability to pay for it*Demand curve, a graphic representation of a demand schedule*Demand deposit, the money in checking accounts...

 for luxury appliances in the US residential market, a handful of home appliance

Home appliance

Home appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooking or cleaning. Home appliances can be classified into:*Major appliances, or White goods*Small appliances, or Brown goods...

 manufacturers (including Asko and Staber

Staber Industries

Staber Industries, Inc. is a manufacturer of residential laundry home appliances, with a headquarteres in Groveport, Ohio. The products they currently manufacture include a washing machine, a clothes dryer, and a clothes drying cabinet.-History:...

) have begun to supply drying cabinets for the home within some few years. A typical residential drying cabinet is approximately the size of a narrow refrigerator

Refrigerator

A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...

, and is used to supplement traditional tumble dryers.

See also

• Clothes dryer
  Clothes dryer
  A clothes dryer or tumble dryer is a household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing and other textiles, generally shortly after they are cleaned in a washing machine....
  
  
• Clothes line
  Clothes line
  A clothes line or washing line is any type of rope, cord, or twine that has been stretched between two points , outside or indoors, above the level of the ground. Clothing that has recently been washed is hung along the line to dry, using clothes pegs or clothes pins...
  
  
• Drying rack
• Laundry
  Laundry
  Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...
  
  
• Washing machine
  Washing machine
  A washing machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets...