All About Pillow Top Mattresses

What's A Pillow Top Mattress?

Pillow top mattresses, mostly found in innerspring beds and air beds, come with several inches of additional padding foam sewn into the top. This foam can consist of different materials including regular foam, memory foam, latex, cotton, wool, and fiberfill.

Pillow tops are most often found on Innerspring beds and Air beds. In most cases, pillow tops of innerspring beds cannot be replaced or repaired separately, while pillow tops of air beds are removable because it's not permanently attached to the mattress.

What To Consider Before Buying A Pillow Top Mattress?

Firmness

A pillow top mattress contains an additional layer of padding foam stitched on top of the mattress to provide extra softness and conformity. The density of the padding foam contributes to the firmness. The key selling point of a pillow top mattress is how soft it can become.

Material

A quality pillow top is made of high-grade memory foam with less initial odor, extra comfort, and superior durability. Pillow tops made of other materials like latex, cotton or wool can provide additional comfort too.

Size

The most common to see dimensions of a mattress range from the twin at 38 x 75 inches and the full at 53 x 75 inches to the queen at 60 x 80 inches and the king at 76 x 80 inches. For people who tend to toss around on the mattress during sleeping, a king size pillow top mattress can offer the most room to stretch out if you don't mind the price.

Warranty

The most common issue complained by pillow top mattresses owners is the loss of foam integrity or the indentation deepened with everyday use. Before purchasing a mattress, you need to look carefully at its warranty terms to make sure the warranty length and what kind of problems it covers.

Innerspring Pillow Top VS. Air Pillow Top

Innerspring bed

Most innerspring pillow top mattresses are permanently attached as a whole which leads to the result that if the pillow top itself lost its comfort, the entire mattress would need to be replaced or fixed by a professional. The cost of repairing or replacing the mattress could be enormous if the warranty terms do not cover it.

Air bed

Unlike the case with innerspring beds, any part of an airbed can be replaced, including the pillow top because it's not permanently attached to the airbed. Also, the lifespan of the pillow top can be extended by rotating or flipping it. But the cost of the replacement pillow top may not be covered under warranty in some cases.