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You don’t have to spend a fortune to update the look of your bedroom—adding a simple platform bed frame can make all the difference.
A platform bed frame is a simple and affordable way to support your mattress, increase bed comfort, and prevent mold from growing under your bed.
We spent weeks researching and testing bed frames to find our favorites—each one is easy to assemble, durable, stylish, and under $300.
Gregory Hahn is a home decor writer who has written for a number of design publications, including Apartment Therapy, Design Milk, and Dwell, helping readers transform their homes into cozy abode. Before that, he worked as an industrial designer for children’s toys and furniture. At Wirecutter, he tests and recommends everything from table and floor lamps to patio furniture and alarm clocks.
Dori Shevlen is a staff writer who covers all things home and decor. She has written for the site on topics as diverse as bath mats, Jewish menorahs, and blackout curtains.
This hardwood platform bed can support up to 600 pounds, and it’s the only bed we recommend that can be stained or custom finished.
Who it’s for: This bed frame will appeal to those who want a sturdy bed frame, as well as DIY enthusiasts who want to customize the logs to fit any style.
It’s exceptionally durable. KD Frames’ popular Nomad hardwood platform bed is one of the sturdiest wooden beds we’ve ever seen, rated to support up to 600 pounds. That’s probably an understatement, considering the Nomad has two sets of slats that form a ribbed shape. No other bed frame we tested had a similar support structure, though the Zinus hardwood bed frame we recommend below is rated to support up to 500 pounds.
It won’t wobble or sway when you lie down. The KD Frames bed has two more slats than most other bed frames, for a total of 16 sturdy 2 x 1-inch hardwood planks. There’s a small 2.8-inch gap between each slat, which helps add to the bed’s sturdiness. Add these features together, and you get a 68-pound platform bed that one tester says can confidently withstand “the sudden drops and impacts of a 190-pound body.”
You can personalize it by painting the wood. For DIYers who want to give their home a personalized look, Nomad is a great choice. The light wood is beautiful on its own, but it can also be easily painted or stained, giving you the opportunity to personalize your frame. The simple silhouette will also work well with any creative design you come up with. Without any treatment, the frame will develop a light patina over time when exposed to direct sunlight.
There’s plenty of storage space under the bed. This bed frame is taller than any other bed frame we recommend, with a height of 15 inches and a clearance of 11.5 inches. That means there’s more storage space under the bed than the other beds we recommend here, and KD Frames also sells a set of 18-inch replacement legs (about $30) that increase the clearance to 14.5 inches. At any height, you’ll have plenty of room for storage drawers, which is a bonus for those who want to use the space under the bed.
In addition to under-bed storage, KD Frames offers drawers with wheels for easy access (and is compatible with Nomad). If you regularly host guests and occasionally need to sleep more than one person, the Roll-Away Trundle Bed frame can be complemented with a hidden bed underneath.
One of our regular testers reported that the bed still holds up well after several years of use, and she especially noted that since it only has four legs, the under-bed storage compartment can be easily pushed in and out.
This simple and stylish platform bed is the lightest of all the traditional models we recommend, making it easy for one person to assemble and move it themselves, but we found that its base can be shaky.
Who it’s for: This bed frame is great for people on a budget or those who have to move furniture up steep stairs, down long hallways or through narrow doorways.
Easy to assemble and disassemble. If you move frequently, the Zinus Moiz wooden platform bed is a great and practical choice. Zinus designed this bed frame with ease of assembly in mind: although the Moiz bed frame requires more parts to assemble than other models we tested, it comes with the simplest step-by-step instructions of all the beds we recommend, which is rare in most DIY furniture builds. Plus, each major component comes with identification stickers. It took us 40 minutes to disassemble and assemble the Moiz bed, and we were pleasantly surprised by a few small details that you don’t often see at this price, such as individually sealed packaging of hardware, extra parts, ratchet wrenches, and pre-drilled holes.
It comes in two different flavors. Zinus makes two versions of the bed: a standard and a deluxe. They’re nearly identical in design, but the standard has narrower rails (3.5 inches versus 5.75 inches on the deluxe) and is slightly less expensive. We decided to test the deluxe model, but we think most people will be just as happy with the standard. Both frames are light enough for one person to move (the standard Moiz large weighs 58 pounds, the deluxe weighs 65 pounds).
It’s lightweight and durable. Despite its lightweight, the Moiz bed frame is very sturdy. The bed sits on thick 8-inch legs that raise the bed frame by 14 inches (an inch shorter than the Nomad bed), and it also features a three-legged steel center rail for added stability in the middle. The support slats are spaced 3 inches apart, which is the range we wanted. Velcro secures the slats to the side rails of the frame.
A platform bed frame should be compatible with most foam, hybrid, and innerspring mattresses. But even a cursory search online will reveal a plethora of these options, many of which are made of cheap cork or poorly positioned slats that can creak, crack, or even sag over time.
We were looking for a platform bed frame that was affordable, durable, beautiful, and that we could assemble ourselves using only the tools included in the kit. With that in mind, we looked for the following features:
Why do you need slats? They allow air circulation and help prevent mold from growing under your mattress—as we learned the hard way during an unplanned science experiment in college.
The “no more than 3-inch spacing” rule is especially important because many mattress manufacturers (including Leesa, Casper, and Purple) will not honor warranties if your bed frame doesn’t provide adequate support. According to Casper co-founder Jeff Chapin, the 3-inch specification isn’t a hard-and-fast rule because the size of the slats themselves (especially their thickness) is more important to the overall firmness and support of the mattress’s foundation. However, Chapin notes that “3-inch spacing” is easier for shoppers to remember than more complex thickness specifications.
Why do you need slats? They allow air circulation and help prevent mold from growing under your mattress—as we learned the hard way during an unplanned science experiment in college.
Our previous choice was the Mellow 9-Inch Metal Platform Bed, but after months of testing, our experience didn’t match the thousands of positive reviews this bed has received from customers. Our testers found it to be too noisy, even after making several adjustments and re-tightening the hardware a few times (which we initially thought was unnecessary). Testers said that no matter how many times they adjusted the bed frame, they heard a loud creaking sound every time they walked or sat on it. It also scratches wood floors.
The Ollie metal bed frame from LexMod is affordable, provides good support (weight limit is 1,300 pounds), and has slats that (according to the company’s Q&A) are 3 inches wide and 3.5 inches apart. But when ordering online, it often turned out to be out of stock, as were other models from the brand we reviewed.
The Zinus Justina Quick Snap Mattress Base is easy to assemble into a great-looking upholstered base. No tools or fasteners are required, as each of the 16 frame components snaps into place with a rubber mallet (included). However, the 6-inch gaps between the 11 support beams meant we had to rule this option out of our list. We didn’t notice these wide gaps when our test mattress was placed on the frame, but a Leesa representative warned us that large gaps will void Leesa’s warranty, as the mattress can fall through the gaps and lose its shape over time.
Previously available were the CB2 Minimalist Black Metal Bed Base and CB2 Alchemy Matte Black Bed, but are no longer available.
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Gregory Hahn is a design, travel, and lifestyle writer and co-author of Creative Spaces: The People, Homes, and Studios That Inspire. His work can be found on Design Milk, Dwell, Domino, Apartment Therapy, and Airbnb.
I’m responsible for home decor, but I’m rarely indoors. I also frequently write about outdoor gear, personal tech, and health products for Wirecutter.
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Wirecutter is the product recommendation service of The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (sometimes) additional testing so you can make buying decisions quickly and confidently. Whether you’re looking for great products or helpful advice, we’re here to help you make the right choice (the first time).