A room-by-room registry checklist for a PFAS-conscious home

This page is a planner. For the kitchen itself, start with our kitchen registry guide, then use this page for everything else on your list.

How to use the checklist

Each room has three parts: what to look at, the question to ask, and the proof you can reasonably expect. Our evidence labels are the same as everywhere on the site: test-documented (a lab result we could read), material-based expectation (what a material is made of), and claim only (what a brand says). If you can’t find proof, put the item on a “later” list rather than the registry.

Start with what the law tells you

Minnesota’s Amara’s Law prohibits selling products that contain intentionally added PFAS in 11 categories, beginning January 1, 2025: carpets or rugs, cleaning products, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, fabric treatments, juvenile products, menstruation products, textile furnishings, ski wax and upholstered furniture.^1,2

Three limits matter when you read that list:

• It covers intentionally added PFAS, defined as PFAS deliberately added during manufacture where the continued presence of PFAS is desired to perform a specific function.²
• It exempts the sale or resale of used products.² Hand-me-downs and thrifted items are outside it.
• It does not apply to a product with intentionally added PFAS only in electronic or internal components.^1,2

Consumer Reports adds a caution that holds for any claim: there are thousands of PFAS compounds, most tests look for fewer than a hundred, and “free” may mean below a limit rather than none.⁸

See the evidence: how Minnesota defines the categories on this checklist

Category	Statute definition (paraphrased where noted)	Source
Cookware	Durable houseware items used to prepare, dispense or store food or beverages, including pots, pans, skillets, grills, baking sheets, baking molds, trays, bowls and cooking utensils.2 MPCA says it considers cookware to include any product used to prepare, dispense or store food or beverages.1	Minn. Stat. § 116.943 subd. 1(h); MPCA
Textile furnishings	Textile goods customarily used in households and businesses, including draperies, floor coverings, furnishings, bedding, towels and tablecloths.2	Subd. 1(v)
Upholstered furniture	Furniture for sitting, resting or reclining that is wholly or partly stuffed or filled with any filling material.2	Subd. 1(w)
Carpets or rugs	A fabric marketed or intended for use as a floor covering.2	Subd. 1(e)
Cleaning products	Finished products used primarily for domestic, commercial or institutional cleaning, including air care products, general cleaning products and polish or floor maintenance products.2	Subd. 1(f)
Fabric treatments	Substances applied to fabric to give it characteristics such as stain resistance or water resistance.2	Subd. 1(k)
Juvenile products	Products designed or marketed for infants and children under 12, including a bassinet, changing pad, crib mattress, highchair, play mat and stroller.2	Subd. 1(n)

The statute page we read shows a 2026 amendment to subdivision 2 and 2025 amendments to subdivisions 1 and 5. We read the text as published on October 28, 2026, and have not tracked how it is being enforced.²

A law about intentionally added PFAS does not make any single product “PFAS-free.”

Room by room

Kitchen

• Pots, pans and bakeware. Ask what the cooking surface is. Our materials comparison and label decoder help. The Ecology Center found PTFE coatings on 11 of the 14 nonstick cooking pans it tested, and says “PFOA-free” doesn’t mean PFAS-free.⁷
• Stainless steel and cast iron. Read our stainless steel guide and enameled cast iron guide for what the research does and doesn’t say.
• Glass bakeware. Iowa State notes glass can shatter under thermal shock, and some modern brands use tempered soda-lime glass rather than borosilicate.⁹
• Cooking utensils and bowls. Minnesota’s cookware definition includes them.² Ask what they are made of, and ask the same question you ask about pans.

Dining and entertaining

• Tablecloths and napkins. Tablecloths are named in Minnesota’s textile furnishings definition.² Ask whether a stain-resistant or water-resistant finish has been applied, because that is the kind of fabric treatment the law covers.²
• Pottery and dinnerware. Clemson reports that lead is a common element in pottery glazes and decorations, advises against preparing food in pottery made in Mexico or Latin America, and says the FDA recommends avoiding some foreign pottery labeled “lead free” for food contact.⁶ Check the care and food-safety information on anything handmade or imported.

Bedroom and bath

• Bedding and towels. Both are named in Minnesota’s textile furnishings definition.² We did not find public PFAS test results for typical bedding or towels. Our expectation is based on whether the fabric has any water- or stain-resistant finish, not on a lab result.
• Mattress protectors and pillow covers. If an item is described as waterproof, water-resistant or stain-resistant, ask what the finish is, and whether the brand will say in writing whether it uses fluorinated chemicals.

Living room

• Upholstered furniture and rugs. Both categories are in Minnesota’s list.^1,2 If a brand sells a “stain-protected” sofa or rug, ask what the protection is.
• Curtains. Draperies are in the textile furnishings definition.²
• Treatment sprays. The Ecology Center lists waterproofing and stain-proofing sprays for furniture, clothing and shoes among the product types that may contain PFAS.⁷

The cleaning cupboard

• Cleaning and polish products. Cleaning products, including air care and floor polish, are in Minnesota’s list.^1,2 Registries often include cleaning kits; read the label and brand page before adding one.

A nursery, if you’re registering for a baby later

• Juvenile products. Minnesota’s definition includes items like changing pads, crib mattresses, play mats and strollers.² The same question applies: what materials, what finishes.

If you are given or inherit cookware

The FDA warns retailers and consumers not to sell or use certain imported aluminum, brass and “Hindalium/Indalium” cookware that has been shown to leach lead in testing, and says consumers should check their homes against its published table and not donate or refurbish those items.³ The FDA page says the list is not limited to the products it names. That matters for secondhand pieces, which Minnesota’s law does not cover.^2,3

How registry sites handle items from other stores

Not every product you want will be sold by the registry site itself. Zola’s Help Center says you can add gifts from other online stores with its “Add to Zola” Chrome extension, and that you can change the quantity, the photo, and add a note to the item for your guest.⁴ Here is how Zola describes the two ways to receive those gifts. This is the company’s own published description, not something we tested.

Zola also says items added individually are not updated regularly, so price or stock changes at the other store won’t show up automatically, and recommends checking them from time to time.⁴ That is a good habit for a PFAS-conscious list: if a brand changes a product, your note and your research may go out of date.

Use the item note for something plain and factual, such as the material and the care instructions. Skip health claims. For example: “Uncoated stainless steel, hand wash. We’ll use this every day.” Whether an item suits your household is your call, not the registry’s.

What we don’t know

• Whether most textile and furniture brands use fluorinated finishes. Public test results are scarce, and we found none for typical bedding or towels.
• How Minnesota’s law is being enforced, or how other states’ laws differ. We checked one state’s text.
• How Zola or other registry platforms list product materials. We read two Zola help pages and did not review the registry service itself.
• Whether any specific brand’s “PFAS-free” claim holds up. We describe claims; we don’t certify products.

Related: what PFAS-free cookware means, cookware care and the kitchen registry guide.