Pillow Top Mattresses Review Why Get a Pillow Top Mattress? If you find yourself dreading sleep each night, you might need a pillow top mattress. If lying in bed feels like you’re on a piece of wood, you might need a pillow top mattress. If you spend the night tossing and turning only to wake up with countless aches and pains, you probably need a pillow top mattress. Pillow top mattresses are the solution to solving the pains of a regular spring mattress, utilizing multiple layers of foam and pillow cushioning to give you that unmatched level of comfort needed to fall asleep and stay asleep. Three pillow top mattresses available are the Serta iSeries Ceremony, Sleeping Beauty and the Birchmere Plush Euro. Pillow Top Mattresses: What to Look For The best mattress is one suited to your body’s needs, and only you can determine that. Even the best mattress reviews and clinical studies will tell you how personalized mattress comfort is. If you have back or neck pain, you might prefer a healthy medium between firm and soft.
However, do your own primary research to find your optimal firmness level. Ask a doctor if necessary. And by all means, go to a mattress store to try out many mattress types. Pillow top mattresses offer many sleepers the perfect amount of firm support and soft body contouring, so be sure to try them out. As you examine these mattresses, keep in mind the following attributes. A pillow top bed contains an added layer of cushioning foam atop a traditional spring mattress. The density of the foam contributes to the mattress’s level of firmness, allowing even a pillow top to become quite firm. At the same time, the key selling point of a pillow top is how soft it can become. A soft top layer effectively alleviates pressure points and relieves the causes of pain that most often awake you from sleep. There's more to a mattress than springs. A quality pillow top mattress has high-grade memory foam that's odorless, layered for comfort and durable enough to go decades without losing its shape.
The best mattresses also have springs – or spring alternatives – that isolate movement and hold their form long after the warranty expires. The mattress frame and surrounding tacking should also be high quality as well as pleasing to the eye. Most people change positions while in bed at night, and a bed that proves too small will keep you from moving freely in your sleep. The standard dimensions of a mattress range from the king at 76 x 80 inches and the queen at 60 x 80 inches to the full at 53 x 75 inches and the twin at 38 x 75 inches. A king size pillow top mattress obviously offers the most room to stretch out, but since it also costs the most, other sizes are also smart considerations. A common issue faced by owners of pillow top mattresses is a gradual indentation or the loss of foam integrity. The presence of a dip in the mattress can become quite apparent and detract from a pleasant night’s rest, which means you need a warranty that will protect against common and uncommon problems alike.
And not just any warranty, a warranty that will protect it for years to come. Beds are significant investments, and as such they should be guaranteed to last. The pillow top mattress continues to prove popular due to the soft yet supportive surface it presents sleepers. After spending the night on one big pillow, you’ll never want to go back to spring top mattresses.See our for our list of comped products and affiliate programs. ContentsMy Top 4 Reviewed Innerspring MattressesTop Innerspring Mattresses ComparedWinkBedsSaatvaAviyaBrentwood HomeBest for Back PainBest for Stomach SleepersBest for Side SleepersWhat Makes A Good Innerspring Mattress?Comparison Shopping Can Be DifficultCoil Count and GaugeCoil TypeTop Layer Above The SpringsGetting Good ValueFinal Recommendation Though innerspring mattresses account for about half of the mattress market, there are because they are more difficult to manufacture and ship. Because of these constraints, end up with an innerspring option.
That will probably change over time, but it is just much easier logistically to have a foam mattress if you are selling online. Fortunately, the online-only companies that do choose innerspring tend to be more advanced in their mattress knowledge, and deliver a quality product (generally) at a really good value. These reviews cover my personal experience with a number of the leading innerspring brands. I plan on reviewing a lot more over time, including a lot of the ones that you can’t buy online. I’d love to hear from you. Everyone is looking for something a little different with their innerspring mattresses, but I’ve chosen my four favorites across some general categories: overall, side-sleeper, budget, and high-end. These are not only some of my favorite innerspring mattresses, but they hold top spots in my overall mattress reviews list. WinkBeds is a relatively new company, but it comes with a great design and specs. This tops the comfort list because it has an extra 2 inches of foam on top, making it a bit more cushiony than other options (and very pressure relieving).
To me, the construction is extra adept for side sleepers. The mattress is not as well known as Saatva, but it has a cult following that loves it. See more details about the mattress on their website. To learn more about my personal experience with WinkBeds check out my full WinkBeds review. Saatva is a quality online-only mattress that (in my opinion) offers great value (learn more HERE). The specs will compare to a higher-end Beautyrest, but the price tag is significantly less (Saatva tops the best mattress under $1000 list as well). The mattress has a layer of memory foam on top, and comes in three firmness settings. The company has been around for a number of years, and thus has many more reviews than the average online mattress company. Saatva is an innerspring mattress I often recommend, but see what type of sleeper I recommend it for most frequently in my Saatva mattress review. Aviya is a small company, but they have managed to deliver a solid innerspring option at a pretty phenomenal price (get best deal HERE).
This is by far the lowest priced option on the list, though the dropoff from WinkBeds and Saatva is only a slight one. Good specs and good durability, but again the story with Aviya is it’s just a great value. Read about my experience with the mattress in my full Aviya review. Brentwood Home has a number of different types of mattresses, but for me their innerspring line really impresses. They have three mattresses that vary in price and construction, the Oceano, Del Mar, and the Avalon (Oceano is my favorite, though it is the priciest as well). Brentwood Home has a really quality brand and team, and even has their own factory located in Los Angeles. The mattress also has great specs, I predict the mattress will be very durable and last a long time. If you go with Brentwood Home, make sure to use my exclusive Brentwood Home coupon ($75 off). If you have back pain, you’re going to really want to focus on great support. All of these options can address the issue, and it might depend most on your sleeping position – but personally I would head for Saatva if I was having lower or mid back pain.
If you are a stomach sleeper, you should go with a firmer mattress to get the right feel and support. Of these options, Saatva and Aviya offer firm options. You may consider some of the firmer Simmons Beautyrest options as well. Read our best mattresses for side sleepers options for other mattress types. If you are a side sleeper, you are going to want a slightly softer mattress to deal well with the pressure points on your hips and shoulders. I would start with WinkBeds, but maybe consider the soft Saatva as well. One big frustration with the mattress industry is how hard it is to objectively compare different models and brands. That is especially true with innerspring mattresses. For one, certain brands will be called different things at different stores, even if they are the exact same mattress. That alone creates a ton of confusion. Similarly, even if you can compare across more objective measures, like coil count or gauge, there are many other factors that will affect the quality of the mattress.
For example, there are plenty of mattresses with a higher coil count that are less quality than those with a lower coil count. As a result, you have to take these levels of comparison with a grain of salt. If you are in a store or on a website, you might see a lot of talk about how a certain innerspring mattress has a certain number of coils, a certain gauge (thickness of the steel wire), etc. These types of stats have the potential to be pretty misleading for a couple of reasons. For example, a lot of people think more coil equals a better quality mattress. However, you can have a higher coil count but use lower quality steel. There are many different factors that go into the quality of the innerspring unit. I would therefore recommend being a little cautious in thinking more coils equals a better mattress. An innerspring mattress can be made more or less firm in a number of different ways, and a lot of it depends on what the top layer above the coils is. Therefore, saying a blanket statement like “thicker gauge means firmer mattress” isn’t always true, because it depends on a few other factors too.
The overall piece of advice is to use these stats as a point of reference, but don’t put too much stock in statements like “because it has a higher coil count, it….” or “because it has a higher gauge, it…” You will also probably hear a lot about the type of coil being used in a mattress’s construction. There are differences between the types. “Pocket” coils are individually wrapped and tend to be better overall at contouring to your body, all things else being equal. However, the type of coil matters more or less depending on the rest of the components of the mattress, so I would take statements like “it has pocket coils, so it’s better” with a grain of salt. If you have a thick layer of memory foam on top of the mattress, the fact that the innerspring unit has pocket coils doesn’t really matter as much, because the memory foam does the contouring. Overall, the type of coil does matter, but its importance is dependent on the rest of the mattress.
Not all innerspring mattresses are made equal, and a big reason why is the comfort layer used on top of the springs. There is a wide range that can be used to add comfort to the springs, and that makes the feel of the mattress different. For example, an innerspring with a thin layer of latex on top will feel much different from one with a very thick layer of memory foam. As a result, you need to understand the differences between the different types of comfort layers. Know the difference between poly foam, memory foam, and latex foam, and decide which feel you like better. Also, understand that the thickness of the comfort layer matters a lot too. If the mattress has a thick layer of memory foam, then it is more of a hybrid and will feel more like a memory foam mattress, which tends to be quite a different feel from the traditional feel associated with innerspring mattresses. I’m a big fan of getting the best value possible. If you are going to shop at a chain store, then I would wait until they have a sale to get the best value.
Sales happen somewhat frequently and predictably, so just be on the lookout for them. You can also occasionally find a gem through local manufacturers, depending on where you live. Lastly, buying online represents a create value because you cut out the middleman of the business model. Currently, that way of doing business is generally filled more with “bed in a box” foam mattress providers, although I have reviewed two, Saatva and Winkbeds, which I like a lot and think provide a great value given their very reasonable price. Finding the best innerspring mattress can be tough, because there are so many different models and brands, and the characteristics that might make them good or bad are tough to understand and compare. As you narrow down your choices, read as many reviews as possible, because ultimately owner experiences will help you get a clearer idea of how good a mattress will end up being. Keep in mind, however, that just because some people like a mattress doesn’t mean you will definitely like it too.