To me, mopping is like filing my taxes or changing my oil. A necessary evil that I dread, a task that I procrastinate until I have no other choice. Luckily, I’ve been testing steam mops, which means I stopped mopping entirely in order to assess how well each model cleans. The floors of my 250-square-foot high-traffic kitchen have been … how do I put this … really gross. But so far, the Shark Steam Pickup 3-in-1 has ticked every box in what I’m looking for when it comes to an effective steam mop that can bust through shoe-sticking grime.
Suck It UpPhotograph: Louryn Strampe
Putting the Shark Steam Pickup 3-in-1 together was easy. Slot in the handle and fill up the clean water tank, which holds 0.42 liters. Then plug the mop into a wall outlet (the cord is 25 feet long) and press the button to pick a steam level—there are Light, Medium, and Deep cleaning options. Tilt the floor cleaner head down to sit flush with your cleaning surface, and give it about 20 seconds to start generating steam. Then you’re ready to go.
As I mentioned earlier, I hadn’t mopped for a month in preparation to test this, and I was surprised at how efficiently the Steam Pickup 3-in-1 worked.
The built-in suction is probably my favorite feature of this mop, and it’s also what sets it apart from some other hard-floor cleaners. It vacuums as it mops, which means you don’t have to pre-sweep your floors beforehand. And it did this efficiently, too, picking up crumbs and stray hair with no issues. The head has two built-in lights that help illuminate anything you might’ve missed, which was really nice to have near the dark and scary corners near my fridge. And the steam it emits sanitizes your floors through the magic of high heat.
