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Definitions vary a bit, but a ‘chair bed’ is usually a single chair which turns into a single mattress. Some single sofa bed chairs involve you sleeping on the sofa’s cushions whilst other chairbeds have a hidden mattress which pops out from underneath.
It’s worth taking a look at the size of the mattress on a sofa chair bed. Most of them aren’t the same as a standard single sized mattress, so you might not be able to use your fitted sheets or your legs might hang off the end. Also take a look at the depth of the mattress, as that will give you an idea of how comfortable it is.
We picked our 5 best chair beds in the UK by looking at value for money, customer reviews, mattress size, design and brand reputation. We’ve also got a guide to standard size sofa beds, if that’s what you’re after.
Prices are correct at the time of typing.
1. Made.com Haru Chair Bed – £199 (6 colours)
This single chair bed from Made.com is hugely popular and is currently scoring 4.7/5 from 2000+ reviews. Overall, Made.com scores an impressive 4.4/5 at the time of typing.
As with a lot of stuff from Made.com, it looks a lot more expensive than it is and comes in a choice of (mostly) bold colours including ‘butter’ and ‘marshmallow’ which translates as ‘yellow’ or ‘grey’ to you or me.
Once it’s unfolded you end up with a mattress which is 182cm long and 77cm wide. That’s about 10 cm shorter and narrower than a standard single mattress so you could probably get away with using a fitted single sheet with a bit of an overhang. If your guests are particularly tall or wide than you might find it’s a bit cosy, but it’ll do the job nicely for a night or two.
As with most chair beds there are no springs, so you are sleeping on a fairly thick piece of foam. The total depth is 13cm, but that isn’t entirely foam. It’s got a maximum weight limit of 110kg which is about 17 stone.
As far as I can tell, you don’t get a warranty with this one. You can’t remove the covers, so it recommends ‘professional’ cleaning. I would also use a cover when you’re using it as a mattress.
Pros: cool colour choices, good value, affordable price
Cons: disappointing warranty, covers can’t be removed, too short for above average height sleepers
Our Value Rating: **** (out of five – see rating guide at the foot of the page)
2. Argos Roma Home Chair Bed – £169 (3 colours)
The Argos chair bed has a similar design and style to the Made.com Haru chair bed but it’s a little bit cheaper.
The good news is that this folding chair bed turns into a standard single size mattress when you unfold it. I’d say that’s a real advantage and there’s less chance of your guests complaining because their feet hang over the edge. It is 14cm deep, which is not exactly spectacular but is 1cm deeper than the Made.com chair bed featured above.
You also get a two year frame guarantee, which is not exactly enough to cause you to punch the air in delight but it’s certainly better than a lot of cheap chair beds.
The downside is that the choice of colours on this single sofa bed is a bit limited (grey, orange or teal). It also needs dry cleaning so you make sure you use a sheet and perhaps a mattress protector as well.
Customer reviews are glowing red hot at 4.8/5 at the time of writing.
Pros: great value, proper single sized mattress, longer guarantee than Made.com, wider size available
Cons: thin mattress, covers can’t be removed, not a designer label, entirely synthetic materials
Our Value Rating: *****
Your choice is grey, orange or teal with this Argos chair bed…
…which unfolds to a standard sized single mattress
3. Dreams Cork A-Frame Chair Bed – £549 (4 colours)
The Cork chair bed offered by Dreams comes in a few different sizes, including as a single sofa bed option (the photo shows the small double version but you get the idea).
It’s quite a lot more expensive than some similar designs but the customer reviews to date have been very positive. As with most chair beds, you sleep on the cushions but this one folds slightly differently and hides part of the mattress round the back.
As a mattress, it is close enough to a standard single size that you probably won’t notice (it’s actually about 6cm narrower if you want to be technical).
You can choose from cream, grey, plum or silver and you get a one year guarantee with this single sofa bed chair.
Pros: respected bed retailers, nearly full sized single mattress, more than one size, arrives ready built
Cons: colour choice is a little plain, expensive
Our Value Rating: ***
4. IKEA Lycksele Chair Bed – £230 (5 colours)
IKEA’s Lycksele chair bed is a popular option which hides the cushions underneath a cover. That means you can remove and wash the cover easily. The downside is that you end up with a cover to stuff somewhere once you’ve removed it, but they do sell a box where you can hide it.
Once you’ve unfolded it, you get a mattress which is pretty much the same length as a standard single bed. It’s 10cm narrower than a normal mattress but you can probably get away with using your fitted sheets.
The main reservation I have is that the foam mattress is 10cm thick, which is about half the depth of a standard mattress. As with most chair beds, it is fine for a night or two. I spent many nights on one of these lying next to a small child but was relieved to get back into my own bed.
You can choose from five different colours.
Pros: big seller, alternative colours available, solid frame
Cons: narrow for sleeping on, thin mattress, bulky cover needs storing when bed is in use
Our Value Rating: ****
IKEA’s Lycksele chair bed has a removable and washable cover…
Side to side – which chair bed has the deepest mattress?
Mattress depth isn’t everything, but it’s certainly a key consideration when you are weighing up which chair bed is best for you. The mattress you sleep on each night is probably 20-30cm deep whilst chair beds tend to be about half that range. A couple of centimetres extra can make a big difference.
From our selection, the Argos Roma sofa bed was the deepest, just about, and it was also the cheapest – which is one of the reasons we gave it a five star value rating. It also has a more generous warranty period than the Made.com Haru chair bed.
The thinnest chair bed we featured was the one from IKEA. We didn’t include the Dreams chair bed in our comparison as its design means that it is a different depth at different parts of the bed.
Another key consideration is the length of the sleeping area. In the UK, the average adult male is 175cm tall (5 foot 9 inches) and you really want a few extra centimetres to stop the feeling that you are falling off. Standard single and double mattresses are 190cm long for this reason and a king size is 200cm long. Our table below shows the length of the featured chair beds.
The IKEA Lycksele and Argos Roma are both very similar in length to a standard single which is particularly good as it means you can use a single fitted sheet. The Made.com Haru will be long enough for most people but taller guests might struggle with it. The Nicoletti Alcove is unusually long which is good news, although you’ll struggle to get your fitted sheets to stretch.
Our Value Ratings: we give products a rating based on how good value we think they are. We look at the price and compare it to what else is on the market and what specifications it offers. We try to take as much as possible into account, such as the length of the warranty, the materials it is made from and the reputation of the brand. Our ratings translate as:
***** = exceptionally good value
**** = very good value
*** = good value
** = reasonably good value
* = poor value
We rarely feature products with one star and two stars in our guides.