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 is placed directly on top of the mattress and is held in place with straps. They can vary in thickness from about an inch or two to as thick as eight inches or more. The thinner ones are not as supportive or cushioning but can hide lumps and bumps on your mattress.
Memory foam conforms with the body and relieves pressure points. It also provides good motion isolation, meaning partners won’t disturb each other as much when changing positions in bed.
This topper comes in six sizes and is made from sustainably cultivated natural latex in the U.S. It is breathable and helps to keep the sleeping surface cool and moist. It is encased with a cotton cover which looks and feels luxurious. It’s washable and hypoallergenic, resisting mildew and dust mites. It is backed by 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 a great choice for back, stomach, or side sleepers.
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.
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 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’s usually between 2 and 4 inches thick and can be made of many different 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 especially important for people with back, shoulder 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 also has a very good edge support for a foam mattress. It is available in a wide range of sizes, including California king and a huge 80 x 76-inch king for heavyweight couples.
Claire is Tom’s Guide’s expert on mattresses. She is responsible for testing all sleep products for the website. She has years of product-testing experience and is a certified sleep coach to help readers find the best beds for them. She has written for The Spruce and Apartment Therapy as well as 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.