The Best Murphy Bed Brands

What each brand publishes, side by side

Every one of those brands publishes enough to plan a room. That is not a given in furniture and it is the main reason these six are the six we cover. What separates them is which figures they omit: Lori and Night & Day state no overall weight capacity for the bed, and Costway states a capacity but is a cot-size product wearing a Murphy bed name.

The number almost nobody outside Bestar publishes is the recommended clearance around the open bed. Bestar says 30 to 36 inches of clear movement space. That is on top of the extension, so a Cielo wants roughly 93 inches of bed plus a yard of walkway — about ten and a half feet of room measured from the anchored wall. Buy from a brand that does not say it and you are deriving it yourself.

Bestar — the documentation benchmark, if you can drill

Bestar’s queen wall beds are dual-mount: anchored to both the wall and the floor. That is why they are stable, why they carry 1,000 lb including the mattress, and why most leases make them a conversation with the landlord rather than a purchase.

The range is also the only one we cover with genuinely different configurations rather than finishes. The Cielo 66W is the plain queen at 23.5 inches deep closed, 93.1 inches of extension and an 88.9-inch minimum ceiling. The Pur 78W puts a sofa in front of the bed that does not have to be moved, at a 91.1-inch ceiling. The Orion 97W folds a pneumatic desk out of the same wall, at 90.4 inches. The Versatile 65W is the budget sibling and wants 92 inches — the highest of the four, which in an older apartment with eight-foot ceilings is the difference between fits and does not fit.

The Orion is also where Bestar publishes a figure other brands would leave out: the fold-out desk holds 50 lb and each shelf 25 lb. That is a laptop and a monitor, not a workstation with two screens and a printer. Stating it is the behavior that earns the brand its position here.

Night & Day, Arason and Costway — the three that touch no wall

If you rent, this is your shortlist, and the ranking within it is about weight and honesty about size.

Night & Day Furniture makes the Murphy Cube: a queen inside a solid rubberwood credenza that is 26.4 inches deep closed, about ten square feet of floor, and bolts to nothing at all. It opens to 80.3 inches and carries a 10-year limited warranty. The catch is 170 lb assembled, and it does not come apart again — getting it into a third-floor walk-up is the entire problem with this format.

Arason Enterprises makes the Creden-ZzZ, the original cabinet bed: 25 inches deep closed, opens to 81, supports 500 lb, includes its tri-fold mattress and has an 11-inch drawer for the bedding. Arason explicitly states that it needs no bolting to floor or wall. The honest caveat is naming: Arason calls it a queen and the included mattress is 53 by 75 inches, which is nearer a full, and queen sheets will swim on it.

Costway is the answer when the lease forbids any drilling at all and the room is small. Its cot-size Murphy bed is a folding bed in a cabinet on four castors — 34 by 17.5 inches folded, 485 lb rated, with a 4-inch mattress included. Calling it a Murphy bed flatters it: 34 inches wide is a genuine one-person occasional bed. But it needs no wall, no anchor and no permission, and you can push it into a corner with one hand.

Lori Beds and Murphy Bed Depot — the two that make you do some of the work

Lori Beds sits between the two camps. A Lori vertical queen is 23 inches deep closed and has no hydraulics at all — a manual-fold panel bed you assemble flat-packed with ordinary tools in a few hours. Lori is clear that the bed must be anchored to the wall for safety and supplies screws for wood and metal studs. That is a lighter touch on a lease than a dual-mount cabinet system, and it is still not drill-free.

The horizontal version is the same bed turned sideways: 64 inches tall instead of 83, which is what fits under a sloped ceiling or a window. Sideways means wide, though — 84 inches of uninterrupted wall, and most small rooms have exactly one wall like that. The full case is in the best horizontal Murphy beds.

Murphy Bed Depot sells you the hardware and a steel frame rated to 600 lb evenly distributed, installable vertical or horizontal, and you build the cabinet. That is the right answer for an awkward alcove where no manufactured cabinet will fit, and the wrong answer if you cannot build a square box to within a quarter of an inch — a kit will cost you more in wasted plywood than a finished bed would have. Covered properly in the best DIY Murphy bed kits.

Which brand, in one line each

You own the place, or the landlord has said yes: Bestar. Best documentation, 1,000 lb, and real configurations rather than finishes.

You rent and want a true queen: Night & Day. Nothing anchored, 26.4 inches deep closed, and it is actually a queen.

You rent and want the mattress included: Arason, accepting that the sleeping surface is 53 by 75 inches rather than a queen.

Your lease forbids every fixing and the room is small: Costway, accepting cot size.

You will drill a few screws but not install a cabinet system: Lori.

The wall is an odd shape: Murphy Bed Depot, and budget for your own carpentry. If you are still deciding whether to be in this category at all, is a Murphy bed worth it does the arithmetic, and how much weight a Murphy bed holds collects every published capacity figure in one place.