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 can bring a new life to 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 can be an inexpensive way to make your bed more comfortable. It sits right on top of your mattress, held in place by straps. They can vary in thickness from about an inch or two to as thick as eight inches or more. 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 offers good motion isolation so that partners will not be disturbed as much by each other 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’s encased in a cotton cover that looks and feels luxurious. It is hypoallergenic and washable, and resists mildew and mites. It comes with a generous warranty.
Comfort
This mattress is made with foams which create a plush feeling and a 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.
It’s also flippable, so you can choose between a soft or firm side of the bed. It’s made with a layer of softer memory foam and a layer of firmer latex, so it’s ideal for all types of sleepers.
It’s hard to quantify comfort, as it varies from person to person. However, our team has received many positive reviews about this mattress, including anecdotal feedback like never having back pain when waking up or never sweating through the sheets. It is also affordable and comes a generous 30-day 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 has a thick layer of soft material that is glued or stitched to the mattress cover. It is usually between 2 and four inches thick and made from a variety of materials.
The cushioned topper helps reduce pressure on key points like the hips, shoulders and back. It also evenly distributes weight for a better sleep. This is particularly important for those with shoulder, back or hip pain.
Unfortunately, pillow top mattresses have a tendency to sag over time. It is difficult to avoid this, but rotating your mattress every few months will help extend 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 isn’t as plush as the top ten mattresses but is still comfortable enough 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 experience in product testing and is a certified Sleep Coach to help readers find their perfect bed. She formerly covered home and bedroom buys for Real Homes, and has also written for The Spruce, Apartment Therapy, and Livingetc. She loves to help readers find solutions to their sleep issues and wind down at night. Her favorite mattress is the Nest Bedding Alexander Medium Firm.