AFAIK, a quilt is a thinnish cover which is meant to be put directly on the bed on top of the sheets. A duvet is a thicker item which is meant to be put on a the bed inside of a washable cover, and serving as quilt, blanket, bedspread and top sheet all in one. A comforter is thicker, like a duvet, but has no cover and is also meant to go over the sheets.

I think I like a little more granularity in my heat maintenance in bed. I start with a sheet then end up under my quilt by morning--and partway through the night I often kick everything off when the sweats start. Another reason Hubby and I have separate sets of covers.

Yup, that's it as far as I know, Scrappy. My duvet is down, as well, although you can get down comforters. But because of that (down is difficult to clean), having the washable cover makes all the difference in the world in ease of use. And the bed can get all dirty and I can spiffy it up in a hurry. Whereas with a comforter, if it gets dirty it needs to be professionally cleaned.

Then I also have summer and winter covers. So in summer the duvet is nice and light and in winter it's flannel covered and so cozy.

I have a winter duvet and a spring duvet. Thin cotton blankets for hot weather because I can never be without a cover.

Is it because of a comforter's lack of cover that it requires a top sheet? (The idea of not having a top sheet squicks me something fierce, and I'm surprised by that reaction and I can't quite articulate why it squicks me so badly.)

Also, if a comforter has a cover, does that make it a duvet?

Is it because of a comforter's lack of cover that it requires a top sheet?

IMO, yes. You can take the cover off the duvet for easier washing and therefore a top sheet is not as necessary. The top sheet is to keep your comforter from getting dirtier.

Of course, I'm a total rebel and use a comforter with no top sheet. I don't like top sheets. I totally get tangled up in them. I usually end up throwing all my covers off me during the night anyway due to heat issues.

I use a duvet with a light cotton cover winter round; if it's really cold, I'll add flannel sheets, with top sheet.

apartmentherapy.com. It's a website for home decorations and solutions ideas, mainly for smaller homes.

In my head, duvets and comforters are synonymous, with the caveat that duvets look a little nekkid without a cover on them. Even with the clarification I'll probably mistake the one for the other most of the time.

I'll use a duvet cover (without the duvet) during the summer, without a top sheet. The master bedroom gets too hot for anything more than that. The duvet cover looks prettier than just a plain top sheet so the room looks more put together in case anyone wanders in.

That is, of course, assuming I sleep in the master bedroom. It's still the couch for me.

Happy birthday, bonny! Cagney is a handsome fellow, which makes me miss Coco.

Duvet is UKEnglish for AmEnglish Comforter. Which means it's also AmEnglish for "we can charge twice as much".