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5 Best Guest Beds 2021
A guest bed is a general name for any bed which can be dragged out when Aunt Maude unexpectedly appears with a suitcase at 9pm on a Friday night.
Guest beds come in various shapes and sizes, but your four main options are:
Besides the style of guest bed, there are other things that you might want to think about.
Guest beds come in various shapes and sizes, but your four main options are:
- A folding bed - a bit too lightweight for regular use but fine for occasional use. These can be put away altogether once you're finished with them. Also known as Z-beds.
- A sofa bed/futon - primarily a sofa but fine for occasionally sleeping on. If it's called a 'sofa bed' then the mattress is usually hidden underneath. If it's called a 'futon' than you usually sleep on the cushions. My rule of thumb is that a sofa bed or futon is a good choice if you're sitting on it 90% of the time and sleeping on it 10% of the time.
- A day bed - primarily a single sized bed but it has a back to it so it looks a bit like a sofa. Fine for sleeping on every night.
- A trundle bed - a single bed with guest bed which rolls out underneath. Some sit side by side to make something close to a king size bed whilst others are at different heights. Fine for regular use.
Besides the style of guest bed, there are other things that you might want to think about.
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For some shoppers, the environmental impact and the health effects of the furniture they buy is the number one issue. There's some debate about the merits and pitfalls of various materials but I'll attempt to give a useful summary of the academic research and information from reliable sources.
The greenhouse gas emissions from the production of a bed are one factor. According to research by Linkosalmi, Husgafvel et al in 2016, the main difference is what materials the bed is made from rather than how it reaches the consumer ('materials have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions of products (38–90 per cent)' whilst 'packaging and transportation have a minor role') A much publicised report by the United Nations in 2016 delivered some interesting findings, which was reported by Reuters as being that 'Furniture...made out of wood require less energy to produce than aluminium or plastic, and on top of that wood continues to store carbon for years'. On the other hand, the disposal of unwanted or worn out beds is a big burden on the planet and wood doesn't seem to score as highly as you might imagine in that regard. According to DEFRA (Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs in the UK), about three quarters of UK household waste steel was recycled in 2017 whilst less than a third of wood was recycled. Another can of worms which you may not want to open is the impact that different materials have on your health, or 'indoor pollution' as it's often called. The issue relates to Volatile Organic Compounds which are emitted by different materials to varying degrees. Higher concentrations are 'associated with negative effects on human health' (Adamová, Hradecký and Pánek). A similar view is put forwards by Tanaka-Kagawa, Furuta et al who found that 'VOC emissions from furniture may influence significantly indoor air quality'. Getting to the bottom of which types of bed are good or bad for your health is harder than you might imagine, but a report by a charity called Clean Air Day found that 'chipboard is a major source of formaldehyde' and that 'A fifth of homes showed more than double the amount of safe levels of formaldehyde'. They claim links between indoor air pollution exist with 'asthma, cardiovascular disorders, thyroid disease, diabetes, impaired cognition and cancer' (2019 report). If this is a concern to you, then one helpful blog written in 2018 says that you should 'avoid particle board, engineered wood, or pressed wood'. Similarly, a US government report highlights 'Cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products' as being particular sources of indoor pollution. Pressed wood is a general term for things like fibreboards which you find in a lot of flat packed furniture. Finally, it's worth realising that VOC levels vary between different types of the same material. For example Pohleven, Bernard et al wrote a paper which found an expensive hardwood such as oak has VOC levels which are 50 times lower than a cheaper softwood, such as pine. |
Covered chipboard is a popular way of making flatpack furniture
Softwoods such as pine release higher levels of Volatile Organic Compounds than hardwoods, according to researchers
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Anyway, let's move on to our top 5 guest beds in the UK:
1. Jay-Be Jubilee Folding Guest Bed - £111/£174
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Using folding beds as guest beds doesn't seem to be as popular as it was in my day, but it's still an option worth considering. During my childhood, visits to my grandparents involved my older brother being given the single bed and me being given the 'Z-bed' which had a mattress which was about the same thickness as a slice of bread.
Thankfully, things have moved on a bit so you won't have to experience my anguish. The main advantage is that you get your room back once the relatives have left but I'd say folding beds are best for occasional use. The main brand is Jay-Be which has the added credibility of a Manufacturing Guild Mark which is only given out to a small selection of brands. We've picked out this Jubilee folding guest bed which has got sprung slats which give a fairly bouncy feeling. It is mid-priced in the Jay-Be range (see our folding beds guide for more details on the differences between the different Jay-Be beds). You can either buy it as a small single sized guest bed or a small double sized guest bed (also known as a queen size bed). From what I can tell, the mattress is 10cm thick which is similar to one of those sofa beds where the mattress disappears underneath the cushions. As a rough guide, most standard mattresses are 20-30cm deep. Pros: leading brand for folding beds, compact design which can be hidden away, sprung slats for support Cons: thin mattress, small double size will be a squeeze for most couples Our Value Rating: **** (out of five, see notes at foot of page) |
A folding guest bed is useful for neatly hiding away once your visitors have left
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2. John Lewis & Partners Morgan Trundle Guest Bed - £550 (including mattresses)
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Some people looking for a guest bed decide that a 'trundle bed' is the best option for them. Trundle beds are particularly popular with grandparents who are shopping after being put on overnight duties with two grandchildren. You get two similar looking beds (which avoids siblings arguing) and you can hide one away most of the time so your spare room isn't forever cluttered.
This particular Morgan trundle guest bed is made by John Lewis & Partners. It's pricier than some trundle guest beds because it's made from oak which is a hardwood whereas most cheaper trundle guest beds are made with pine which is softer and less durable. There is some evidence that hardwoods emit lower levels of Volatile Organic Compounds than softwoods ('Softwoods give off more VOCs than hardwoods' according to this guide from OrganicChemicalFree). It is a little bit more complex than a straightforward split between the two types though, according to an academic study by Taiti and Mancuso in 2017 ('the discriminant capacity of VOCs emission to separate species and families rapidly decreases after the first cycles of moisture variation in wood'). This guest bed has solid rather than sprung slats. Solid slats feel a bit less bouncy than sprung slats and are usually a cheaper option than sprung slats. It comes with two mattresses which is a good option if you want a hassle free buying experience but it's worth realising that they are 'open coil' mattresses which are described as being for 'occasional' use. Any mattress seller will correctly tell you that 'pocket spring' mattresses are far superior to 'open coil' models which are wobblier and less supportive. However, if you're only using them for a few days at a time and they are mostly being used by children then they should do the job. Pros: respected brand, open coil sprung mattresses are easier to recycle, versatile and neat design, slats, solid hardwood is better than fibreboard and softwood models, mattresses included Cons: less supportive mattresses than pocket springs, mixed reviews Our Value Rating: *** |
This guest bed with a trundle is made from oak which is a harder wood than most beds
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3. Birlea Snug Guest Bed/Birlea Aurora Guest Bed - £279/£139
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A popular option for a guest bed is to go for a sofa bed. It gives you something you can use all year round and the better ones make for a reasonably comfy bed when guests turn up.
We've picked out these two budget sofa beds which are made by a company called Birlea which scores about 4/5 as a brand on TrustPilot. The Birlea Snug Sofa Bed is the pricier of the two but you get a thicker cushion/mattress with that one, so it's better if you'd like your guests to stay a bit longer. The Birlea Aurora Sofa Bed is half the price so it's a cheap guest bed and scores 4.1/5 on Amazon. Once you lay them flat they are similar to a single mattress size (10cm wider and shorter). They are a type of single guest bed called a 'click clack' sofa bed which means that the bit you sit against flattens down. Happy Beds offer a 5 year guarantee on the Aurora sofa bed or Snug sofa bed, whilst most cheap guest beds just come with a year's warranty. Pros: generous warranty, low price, simple design Cons: shorter than most guest beds so will be tight for anyone taller than 5 foot 8 inches, no arm rests, thin mattress on the cheaper model Our Value Rating: ***** |
The Birlea Snug guest bed starts as a sofa and goes flat to make a single bed (ish)
The Birlea Aurora guest bed is about half the price of the Birlea Snug but the cushion is thinner.
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4. Schubert Guest Bed at Wayfair - £389 (mattresses not included)
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Another option for a guest bed is a day bed, which tends to be more comfortable to sleep on than a sofa bed. The downside is that they don't look a lot like a sofa so they are usually put into spare rooms rather than lounges.
The big advantage with most day beds is that you can use standard size mattresses, which means they're nice to sleep on and don't need funny sized bedding. You can also choose the type of mattress you want and upgrade to a really high quality mattress if you find you're using it a lot (see our guide to the 10 best mattresses). Even better, this Schubert Day Bed from Wayfair actually offers space for two standard sized mattresses as there's a second one hidden underneath on a trundle. The second bed doesn't have its own legs so you can't use it as a king size bed unfortunately. The lower mattress also needs to be a lot thinner than the top mattress. If you choose the mattress which comes bundled with it, then it's a 12cm deep memory foam mattress which is about half the depth of a standard mattress. The mattresses sit on sprung slats which gives a bed a bit of a bouncy feeling compared to solid slats. It didn't have many reviews when we checked but it was getting a decent score of 4.1/5. Pros: space for second mattress, soft edges, attractive enough for a lounge Cons: second mattress is very thin, less well known brand, few reviews to go on Our Value Rating: *** |
This Schubert day bed does a good impression of a sofa...
...and it has another mattress hidden underneath
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5. House by John Lewis Oliver Guest bed - £1299 (including mattress)
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Finally, a more expensive option for a guest bed is a high quality sofa bed which hides the mattress underneath.
The obvious advantage is that it actually looks like a sofa and you wouldn't even know there's a mattress there. With a futon or day bed it's more obvious. The downside is that a good quality folding sofa bed is quite expensive and the mattresses are quite thin (usually about 10cm). You can use them for a few nights but heavier people tend to find them a bit less comfy after a while. We've picked out this House by John Lewis Oliver Guest Bed which comes in loads of different colours so you've got a good chance of matching it with your lounge. Once opened up it's as wide as a double mattress though not quite as long. The mattress has the big advantage of using pocket springs whereas cheaper options use 'open coil' mattresses. The mattress is supported by slats and it's got a hardwood frame whilst some sofa beds are not as sturdy as they use a soft wood such as pine. The frame's got a 15 year guarantee and it's made in the UK. Pros: hardwood frame, UK manufactured, long warranty, good colour choices, trusted brand, concealed mattress Cons: thin mattress, expensive Our Value Rating: *** |
You can choose from more than 200 colours with this sofa...
...which transforms into a guest bed with a pocket sprung mattress
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