26,000 People Swear By Amazon's Most Popular Bed Frame, So I Tested it Myself
Last month, I moved in to a new apartment—and with it, I treated myself to a new—this time queen-sized—mattress (if you're curious, I got the Allswell Luxe Hybrid because I wanted something firm but not too firm) which meant I had to add a new bed frame to the top of my apartment shopping list. I wanted something affordable, sturdy, headboard compatible, and most important, high enough to store tons of stuff underneath (I was moving into a studio, after all!). After some research, I ultimately decided to go with the Zinus SmartBase 14-inch platform bed frame because it met all of my requirements, and I just couldn't ignore the fact that it had more than 26,000 reviews on Amazon—with a 4.5 out of 5 star rating.
According to the product listing, this particular bed frame is 14 inches high with a 13-inch clearance for storage underneath, replaces a box spring, and assembles in mere minutes with no tools required. It is also designed to fold up easily, making moving a lot less stressful. And it retails for just $74.99 for a queen. Now that I've personally moved this bed frame (well, the box containing it) from one apartment to another, assembled it, and slept on it for the past month, I can personally tell you that it does, in fact, live up to the hype.
Assembly was, as promised, a breeze. It comes out of the box looking essentially like two smaller, twin-like frames with legs that fold out, and those two pieces get bolted together in the middle. You can assemble the frame by yourself, and you'll be done in less than 10 minutes. Post-assembly, I fit two large suitcases, several boxes and storage bins, four pairs of shoes, and a folding beach chair underneath the bed, and there's still room to spare. Thanks to the plastic caps on the legs, not only does it not scratch up the floors, it also doesn't slide around at all. And as a bonus, it doesn't make any of those annoying creaky noises when you move around.
Of course, I'm being honest here, so I won't say this mattress is perfect. I have two issues with it, both of which are easily solved. The first is that, since the mattress rests on top of the frame and there's nowhere for it to settle into, it would slide forward several inches while I was sleeping, (which would be fine if it didn't also make my pillow slide right into the crevice between the wall and the mattress.) I solved that by buying $17 this slip-resistant mattress gripper pad from Gorilla Grip—think of it like a rug pad for underneath your mattress. While the mattress doesn't perfectly stay put every night, it never slides more than an inch or so now, which is totally tolerable.
My other issue? It's not automatically headboard compatible on its own. In order to attach a headboard, you have to buy separate headboard brackets from Zinus, which is not ideal, but considering they're only $10, it's also not the end of the world. I haven't bought a headboard yet, so I haven't attempted to install the brackets, but given how easy the bed assembly was, I have hope that when I do, it'll be a cinch.
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