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6 Of The Best Bunk Beds 2021
One of my unfulfilled life’s ambitions is to sleep on the top layer of a bunk bed.
I’ll admit that’s not a very impressive bucket list, but I spent many years banished to the bottom bunk with my brother enjoying the views from the top bunk. Still, it gave ample opportunity to lie in bed and kick his mattress from underneath.
This guide will just focus on simple two layer bunk beds. You can also get futon bunks (a fold out sofa on the bottom layer), cabin beds (a desk or cupboard underneath), triple sleeper bunk beds (a double bed underneath or three singles) and other options but I like to keep things simple.
One thing to consider is that bunk beds don't usually come with mattresses. Most take a normal size single mattress, but they need to be on the thin side so that you don't end up rolling over the guard rail on the top. Some thin bunk bed mattresses to consider include:
Anyway, here are six bunk beds which we think offer good value for money, get positive reviews or have won awards.
I’ll admit that’s not a very impressive bucket list, but I spent many years banished to the bottom bunk with my brother enjoying the views from the top bunk. Still, it gave ample opportunity to lie in bed and kick his mattress from underneath.
This guide will just focus on simple two layer bunk beds. You can also get futon bunks (a fold out sofa on the bottom layer), cabin beds (a desk or cupboard underneath), triple sleeper bunk beds (a double bed underneath or three singles) and other options but I like to keep things simple.
One thing to consider is that bunk beds don't usually come with mattresses. Most take a normal size single mattress, but they need to be on the thin side so that you don't end up rolling over the guard rail on the top. Some thin bunk bed mattresses to consider include:
- the Silentnight 3 Zone Memory Foam Mattress (18cm deep, about £150 in single) has won awards from expert testers. Silentnight also has a foam mattress specifically designed for bunk beds (14cm deep, £149).
- Simba Sleep scores 4.5/5 as a brand on TrustPilot and offers a mattress designed for bunk beds (16cm deep, £199)
- Happy Beds has several budget bunk bed mattresses, including some with pocket springs (e.g. Theo mattress, 15cm deep, £129)
- John Lewis & Partners sell a mattress designed for bunk beds which uses pocket springs, which are the higher quality way of making a sprung mattress (15cm deep, £250)
Anyway, here are six bunk beds which we think offer good value for money, get positive reviews or have won awards.
1. Happy Beds American Solid Pine Bunk Bed - £199
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Happy Beds is a budget mattress and bed seller which has a big range of bunk beds for children. The one which stands out for me is the American which gets decent reviews on both Amazon (4.3/5) and the Happy Beds website (4.5/5).
The American is made with pine, which is a softwood which is the cheaper option when making a bunk bed from wood (a hardwood like oak is the posher option but it costs a lot more). The American bunk bed is big enough for a standard sized single mattress and it also has the big advantage of splitting into two single beds. That gives you more options if the bunk beds are causing too many sibling arguments over who has the top bunk. It comes in white or a natural wood colour and has a 5 year guarantee if you buy it from Happy Beds. If you want more colour options, you can choose from grey, pink, blue or green in other Happy Beds bunk bed models. When you’re picking a mattress to go with a bunk bed, I would go with a pocket sprung or memory foam mattress rather than a cheap sprung mattress if you can afford the modest upgrade. Pocket springs are far superior to open coil springs which wobble like jelly. Researchers in China found that stability is a key factor when you look at what causes 'deep sleep' and 'sleep efficiency' so I see it as a valuable upgrade (Shen, Chen et all, 2012) Memory foam is a popular alternative which has something of a hugging and sinking feeling but it offers a very good level of consistent support. However, there is evidence that it can make you feel warmer in bed (see work by Chiba, Yabi et al in 2018) and that its production methods are worse for the environment (see research by Lanoë, Simões et al in 2013). You can read our comparison of memory foam and pocket springs if you're very bored. According to the Happy Beds website, the maximum weight is 15 stone (95 kg) on the bottom bunk and 12 st (76 kg) on the top bunk. Some reviews comment that it has lots of parts and took quite a long time to put together, and required two people. The Happy Beds brand scored 4.4/5 overall on TrustPilot when we checked. Pros: solid wood rather than fibreboard, standard size mattresses, splits into two single beds, two colour choices, longer warranty than rivals Cons: time consuming self assembly, relatively low weight limit on the top bunk, softwood rather than hardwood Our Value Rating: ***** (see foot of page for explanation) |
The Happy Beds American bunk bed is available in white...
...or a light wood colour
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2. Dreams Willow Fabric Bunk Bed - £399
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I like the look of this Willow fabric bunk bed from Dreams and it gets very good reviews from customers (4.7/5 at the time of writing). Several reviews comment on how easy it is to put together.
As you'll have noticed from the picture, the bottom mattress is closer to the floor than on some bunk beds so it's not as tall overall. If you're interested, this one is 135cm high compared to 160cm for the Happy Beds American. However, according to my calculations it actually has a bigger gap between the bunks than the Happy Beds American (92.5cm, compared to 79cm). I realise this guide is getting a bit technical and boring but the gist of it is that you are less likely to bang your head whilst sat on the bed for storytime with the Dreams Willow bunk than with the Happy Beds American bunk bed. According to the website, the weight limit is 75kg per bunk, which is just under 12 stone. It only comes in one colour, although Happy Beds sell a similar bunk bed in 'oatmeal' which is a posh way of saying 'light brown'. On the downside, you can't split the Willow bunk bed into two single beds and you only get a one year warranty. Pros: not as high as some bunks, more grown up appearance, more headroom on the bottom bunk than most rival bunk beds Cons: shorter warranty than most rivals, can't be split into two, only one colour available, lower weight limit than the Happy Beds American, quite expensive Our Value Rating: *** |
The Dreams Willow bunk bed is closer to the floor than most and has lots of headroom
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3. John Lewis & Partners Wilton Bunk Bed - £249
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If you like the John Lewis & Partners brand then I would take a look at the Wilton Bunk Bed which comes in white, natural wood or grey. They also sell a version with mattresses included.
As with most of the bunk beds on this list, it is made from pine which is a softwood, although it certainly does the job. You'll find a few bunk beds made from hardwoods like oak, but not many. At the time of writing, reviews for the Wilton bunk bed were very good at 4.3/5. It's got a gap of 85cm between the bunks which seems to be quite standard for children's bunk beds. Parents/grandparents might need to crouch a little whilst sitting on the bed and reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar for the 314th time. John Lewis & Partners don't specify weight limits for this bunk bed, but it does comply with bunk bed safety legislation. Rather conveniently, you can split the Wilton bunk bed into two separate single beds. It uses standard sized single mattresses, although the maximum depth of the mattress on the top bunk is 17cm (see the top of this guide for some mattresses which will do the job). One factor that you might not have considered is the environmental and health aspects of the different materials used for bunk beds. On one hand, there is a strong argument that manufacturing a wooden bedframe produces a 'lower quantity of greenhouse gas emissions' compared to 'other "non-wood" materials' such as steel or plastic' (Junge, Buchenauer et al, 2021). Academics, Sathre and O'Connor said something similar when they found a 'clear climate rationale for increasing wood substitution in place of other products, provided that forests are sustainably managed and that wood residues are used responsibly’ (2010). However, on the other of the argument is the fact that wood naturally emits something called Volatile Organic Compounds. Pohleven, Bernard et al found that softwoods, such as pine which are used in most wooden bunk beds 'emit the highest concentrations of wood VOCs' and that they can be '50 times' lower in hardwoods such as oak (2011). This might sounds dramatic but researchers looked at the ‘effects of an exposure to multiple wood-related VOCs on asthma development’ in 2021 and found ‘wood products at levels commonly occurring in the living environment do not exert adverse effects concerning wheezing or asthma development’ (Junge, Buchenauer et al, 2021). Pros: solid wood rather than fibreboard, option to add mattresses, trusted brand, three colour choices, splits into two single beds, standard size mattresses Cons: softwood rather than hardwood, one year guarantee is shorter than some Our Value Rating: ***** |
The Wilton bunk bed comes with the John Lewis & Partners reputation
Colour options include white...
...and grey
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4. Julian Bowen/Happy Beds Domino Bunk Bed - £349
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This Julian Bowen bunk bed has a more modern look than the traditional bunk bed design and has the added advantage of some shelves.
From what I can tell, it is made from the same sort of wood boards that most flat pack furniture is made from rather than pine (the description calls it 'white effect foil'). It won't appeal to someone who likes the look and smell of a natural wood bunk bed but it will fit in well from most stuff from IKEA and similar places. The ladder glows in the dark to make it easier to find after a night-time toilet visit. It's got a gap of 80cm between the bunks, which is about the same as the Happy Beds American Bunk but 12cm less than the Dreams Willow Fabric Bunk. We've included it as it gets positive reviews of 4.5/5 on Amazon or 4.6/5 on Happy Beds (it seems to also go under the Happy Beds name but it uses the same image so is presumably identical). Julian Bowen has a good score on TrustPilot, with an average of 4.1/5 when we checked. It comes with a 5 year guarantee if you buy it from Happy Beds. The maximum weight on this one is 15 stone (95kg) on the bottom bunk and 11 stone (70kg) on the bottom bunk, according to the website. Pros: practical design with shelving, glow in the dark ladder, five year warranty Cons: fibreboard construction rather than solid wood, less headroom than the Dreams Willow Fabric bunk Our Value Rating: **** |
This bunk bed comes with shelves and glow in the dark steps. Teddy bear not included.
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5. Argos Home Josie Bunk Bed/Argos Home Detachable Bunk Bed - £155/£200
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These two Argos bunk beds are worth a mention as they are hugely popular, with hundreds of positive reviews between them. They're also amongst the cheapest children's bunk beds we've found and offer a lot for the price tag.
Both bunk beds are made from pine, which is the cheaper type of wood which is commonly used for bunk beds. The designs and colour options are slightly different but the main difference is that the more expensive of the two can be separated into two single beds with a bit of tweaking, whereas the Josie bunk bed can't be safely separated. Another notable difference is that the more expensive bunk bed has a weight limit of 120kg (just under 19 stone) per bunk according to the website, whilst the cheaper bunk bed has a weight limit of 100kg (about 15 stone). Having said that, I'm not sure I'd want to be on the top level of a bunk bed lying on a 16cm thick mattress if I weighed nearly 19 stone... When I checked, the Argos Home Josie bunk bed was scoring 4.6/5 from customers whilst the Argos Home Detachable bunk bed was scoring 4.5/5. Pros (of the detachable bunk): solid wood, option to split into two single beds, good weight limit compared to rivals, low price Cons: only two colour choices Our Value Rating: ***** |
The Josie bunk bed comes in white or pine. It's cheap, but it can't be split into two singles...
...whereas this Argos bunk bed comes in grey or white and can be split into two single beds.
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6. IKEA Svärta bunk bed - £150
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If you're after a cheap bunk bed, this IKEA Svärta bunk bed is one of the lowest priced options you'll find. It's got a metal frame and was getting reviews of 3.9/5 when we checked.
The weight limit is 100kg (15 stone). One plus side is that it recommends a mattress up to 22cm deep whereas some bunk beds limit you to a maximum of 15cm. Unfortunately, the mattress size is longer than a standard UK single mattress so there isn't much chance that you'll be able to use a mattress you've already got. Coincidentally, Svärta is what my brother used to call me when we shared bunk beds, although that wasn't quite how he pronounced it. Pros: big name brand, metal construction is easier to recycle, long lasting, longer mattress will suit taller people Cons: low price, awkward mattress size, metal rungs rather than wider slats, metal beds can be squeaky Our Value Rating: ***** |
The Svärta bunk bed is a good budget option
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Our Value Rating is our opinion of how good value each product is. We look at things such as rival products, specification, warranty length and brand customer service reputation versus the price at the time of searching. Five star products are ones we consider to be 'exceptionally good value'. Four star products are 'very good value'. Three star products are 'good value'. Two star and one star products are 'reasonably good value' and 'poor value' so they rarely make the grade.