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5 Best Metal Bed Frames 2020
Metal beds are one of the cheapest bedframe options and a good one can cope with considerable weight. They're stylish and they don't need cleaning like a divan base. On the downside, some cheap metal beds tend to squeak a bit and move around.
The jury is still out on whether it's more painful to walk into a metal bed or a wooden bed at 2am on the way to the toilet.
I reckon there are two main things to look out for when you're buying a metal bed:
We've picked out five of the best metal beds on the market in the UK. We've picked a range of prices including some very cheap metal beds, since I get irritated by buying guides which assume you want to remortgage the house to pay for a new bed.
We looked at customer reviews, awards, specification and anything else relevant for our top 5. Prices are for double metal beds and are correct at the time of writing.
The jury is still out on whether it's more painful to walk into a metal bed or a wooden bed at 2am on the way to the toilet.
I reckon there are two main things to look out for when you're buying a metal bed:
- Cheap metal beds have thin metal rungs for the mattress to sit on. They'll do the job but your mattress will get better support from the solid wooden slats or sprung wooden slats you get on posher metal beds. Whichever you choose, it's important the slats/rungs aren't too far apart. Most guides suggest a maximum of about 7cm between wooden slats is best. If all else fails, you could try putting a thin metal board over the rungs to spread the weight out.
- Cheaper metal beds tend to be a bit lightweight and might blow away with a light breeze. Take a look at the maximum weight limit to get an idea of how sturdy it is. If the maximum weight isn't listed, take a look at the actual weight of the bed - lighter beds won't usually be as solid. Most metal beds are made from steel but a few very posh ones are made from heavier materials.
We've picked out five of the best metal beds on the market in the UK. We've picked a range of prices including some very cheap metal beds, since I get irritated by buying guides which assume you want to remortgage the house to pay for a new bed.
We looked at customer reviews, awards, specification and anything else relevant for our top 5. Prices are for double metal beds and are correct at the time of writing.
1. John Lewis & Partners Alpha Metal Bed frame - £119
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This certainly isn't a swanky piece of furniture by John Lewis' usual standards, but the Alpha metal bed it is a good option if you want a simple design from a respected company.
The main advantage it has over some of the cheaper metal beds on the market is that it has sprung wooden slats. They'll give you a slightly softer and comfier feel than you get with solid slats and they're certainly preferable to thin metal rungs for supporting your mattress. It's a fairly lightweight piece of furniture. The double version weighs just 20kg whilst the more ornate Hugo metal bed from Dreams weighs more than 50kg (see #2). It comes in white or grey and has decent customer reviews, with an average of 4.4/5 from about 200 ratings. |
This John Lewis metal bed has a simple design, great reviews and it is good value.
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2. Dreams Hugo Metal bed frame - £599
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This metal bed from Dreams isn't the cheapest but it is much more substantial than most metal beds and it gets terrific reviews.
It also has the big advantage of allowing you to choose from sprung slats or solid slats. Sprung slats offer a bit of a softer feel whilst solid slats don't have as much flexibility so they feel firmer. This one weighs in at more than 50kg in a double size, almost three times as much as the John Lewis & Partners Alpha metal bed (admittedly the Hugo has a more complicated design which will add to the weight). According to the online Q&A, there is no weight limit to this metal bed which is a sign that it's well built. Please don't test it out by sharing a bed with an elephant. Customers rave about this one with a near perfect average of 4.8/5 from about 200 reviews. This metal bed is available in double, king size or super king size. Most metal beds don't seem to go up to super king size. On the downside, it only comes in one colour and it only has a one year guarantee. |
It costs more than most metal beds, but the Hugo bed has 'no weight limit'...
..and customers love it.
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3. Birlea Atlas Metal Bed frame - £149
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This Birlea Atlas metal bed is only available as a single bed or double bed but it has a few key advantages over similarly priced one.
Most significantly, it comes with a 5 year guarantee (that's if you buy it from Happy Beds, it is only 1 year from some other places). It's got a sprung slatted base to support the mattress, whereas most metal beds around this price have thinner metal rungs. It's also got a higher weight limit than some of the cheap metal beds we've found. The double bed version can cope with 250kg, whilst the Aingoo metal bed (see #4 below) is much less. To avoid you getting out a calculator, that means that the limit is two people weighing about 15-18 stone each (the exact figure varies depending on how much your mattress weighs). It's only available as a single metal bed or a double metal bed but you can pick between white and cream. This model was scoring close to 5/5 on Happy Beds when we checked, although that is only based on about a dozen reviews. On Amazon, it was scoring 4.2/5 at the time of typing. Overall, the Birlea brand was scoring 4.1/5 on TrustPilot when we checked. |
This Birlea metal bed has a long warranty and a good specification for the price.
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4. Aingoo metal bed frame - £75
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This Aingoo metal bed is definitely in the cheap and cheerful metal bed category, but let's not write it off. It's got 1000+ customer reviews with an average score of 4.3/5 which is a considerable number of satisfied customers.
So what's the difference between this metal bed and one which costs ten times as much? Firstly, it is light, with the double metal bed frame weighing about 20kg whilst some metal beds weigh about three times that. It's made from steel, which is the same material used in most other metal beds (you'll sometimes see iron and other materials, but not very often). One part of the listing says that the weight limit is 150kg whilst another says 200kg. Assuming the higher figure is accurate, that means it could cope with 23-28 stone once you've allowed for the weight of a double mattress. So, if you're sharing this bed then that would be a weight limit of about 11 - 14 stone each (well, that's my calculations anyway). Another difference is that the mattress is supported by metal rungs rather than flat wooden slats. Plenty of people use metal rungs without any problem but some guides I've read suggest that your mattress will be better supported by slats. If you're looking for something similar but don't want metal rungs, try this Westbrook Metal Bed Frame from Dreams which comes with a choice of solid slats (firmer) or sprung slats (softer and comfier). |
The Aingoo metal bed is cheap and lighter than most, but reviews are good.
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5. Wrought Iron And Brass Bed Co. Sophie Iron metal Bed Frame - £795
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The more financially astute amongst you will have noticed that this metal bed from the Wrought Iron and Brass Bed Company is about 10 times the price of the cheapest bed on this metal beds guide.
The main difference is that it's made in the UK from solid wrought iron. As a result it is really heavy. The double version weighs 55kg, which is nearly treble the weight of the John Lewis & Partners Alpha metal bed which is made from steel (admittedly it has a more complicated design which will contribute to the weight). It uses wooden slats instead of metal rungs to support the mattress, which means there's less chance of your pocket sprung mattress getting lumpy because some of the springs don't have anything underneath them. The slats are solid slats so they'll give a firmer feel than sprung flats would. If you really want to splash out, they also sell more expensive versions which are even heavier. It comes in black or ivory/white. |
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