Top Mattresses For Comfort and Style
You may not be ready to buy a new mattress or your old one might have lost its comfort. The right top mattress will breathe new life into your bed.
Pillow top mattresses are padded mattresses with extra padding sewn on top of the mattress cover. They’re typically comfortable but not suited for every sleeping style.
Support
A mattress topper is an inexpensive way to give your bed a comfortable makeover. It is placed directly on top of the mattress and is held in place with straps. They can range in thickness from an inch to eight inches. Thinner ones don’t usually offer much extra support or cushioning, but they can help hide lumps and bumps in your current mattress.
Memory foam conforms to the body, providing comfort and pressure point relief. It also provides good motion isolation, meaning partners won’t disturb each other as much when changing positions in bed.
This topper is available in six bed sizes and is made in the U.S. using natural latex that’s sustainably farmed. It’s breathable, helping to keep the sleep surface cool and dry. It is encased with a cotton cover which looks and feels luxurious. It is hypoallergenic and washable, and resists mildew and mites. It is backed by a generous warranty.
Comfort
This mattress is built with foams that create a plush feel and medium amount of body contouring. It provides a solid support that can promote spinal alignment and relieve back pain. It’s great for those who sleep on their backs, stomachs, or sides.
Flip it over to choose between the firm or soft side. It has a layer made of softer latex and a layer made of memory foam.
Comfort varies by person and can be hard to quantify, but this mattress has plenty of positive feedback from our team, including anecdotal evidence like waking up without back pain or never sweating through sheets. It’s also affordable and comes with a generous trial period. However, it doesn’t have the same cradling feel as an all-foam model and tends to compress around the edges more than some other mattresses. You’ll also need a deep fitted sheet to properly cover it.
Durability
A pillow top mattress is one with a thick, soft layer that is stitched or glued to the mattress’ outer cover. It’s usually between 2 and 4 inches thick and can be made of many different materials.
The cushioned top helps to reduce pressure at key points such as the hips and shoulders. It also evenly distributes weight for a better sleep. This is particularly important for those with shoulder, back or hip pain.
Pillow top mattresses tend to sag with time. This is often unavoidable, but rotating the mattress every few months can help prolong its life. Also, pillow top mattresses tend to be deeper than standard mattresses, so it’s important to select sheets that can accommodate the additional cushioning.
Value
The Allswell is the latest mattress-in-a-box from Walmart, and it offers great value at $699 for a queen. It’s a hybrid bed with layers of temperature-regulating foam and copper-gel-infused memory foam. It’s not as plush as top ten mattresses, but it is still comfortable for most people.
It has excellent edge support for a mattress made of foam. It is available in a wide range of sizes, including California king and a huge 80 x 76-inch king for heavyweight couples.
As Tom’s Guide’s mattress expert, Claire is responsible for all sleep product testing for the site. She has years of product-testing experience and is a certified sleep coach to help readers find the best beds for them. She formerly covered home and bedroom buys for Real Homes, and has also written for The Spruce, Apartment Therapy, and Livingetc. She loves helping readers solve their sleep problems and wind down well at night. Her favorite mattress is the Nest Bedding Alexander Medium Firm.