Best roller blinds for the home: how the main options compare

Yes. Many cassette and mini roller blinds can be fitted without drilling, using adhesive strips or clamp-on brackets. Adhesive strips hold up to 5 kg, which is enough for a roller blind of standard size (up to 120 cm wide). Clamp-on brackets fix to the edge of an opening sash and leave no marks when they are taken off. This way of fitting is popular in rented homes, where drilling the window frame is not allowed. Windows wider than 150 cm, or heavy blackout fabric, need screw fixings, because the adhesive strip may not carry the load for long. The type of frame is assessed to choose the safest way of fitting. Fitting costs €15 per roller blind, and mechanisms carry a 24-month warranty.

A day and night roller blind uses a double-layer striped fabric that lets you adjust the light without raising or lowering the whole blind. The fabric is made of alternating sheer and solid stripes, which you slide against each other to go from fully open to almost fully darkened. An ordinary roller blind has only two positions: up or down. A day and night system gives any position in between. It suits living rooms and studies, where you want natural light by day but protection from direct sun. The mechanism works by chain or spring, and both are quiet.

Technically yes, but in practice it rarely pays, for a few reasons. First, replacing the fabric needs a tube of exactly the same diameter, and systems from different makers are not interchangeable. Second, after a few years of use the spring or chain system is worn and no longer runs as smoothly as a new one. Third, the labour for changing the fabric is a large share of the price of a new blind. So we recommend replacing the whole product, which comes with a new mechanism, a new fabric and a 24-month warranty on the mechanism. If the existing mechanism is in good condition and has a standard tube diameter (25 or 38 mm), replacing the fabric can be assessed case by case.

Cassette roller blinds with a fabric that resists damp and grease and wipes clean with a damp cloth suit a kitchen best. Polyester or glass-fibre fabrics suit it, because they do not take up smells and do not shrink in steam. Natural fabrics such as linen or cotton are best avoided in a kitchen, because they soon soak up cooking smells and damp. A cassette system protects the rolled-up fabric from grease deposits, so the blind stays clean longer than an open one.

They can reduce heat loss through a window. Cassette roller blinds with side channels create an extra layer of air between the fabric and the glass, which acts as insulation. Blackout fabrics with a thermal reflective layer are the most effective, because they reflect heat back into the room. In summer the same blinds work the other way, keeping heat out and reducing the need for air conditioning.