13
votes
In need of new bedding
I’m looking for some new king size sheets, and likely a new duvet cover as one of the ties inside is ripped. My wife is intrigued by Brooklinen and other brands marketed on social media, but I’ve read that those are terrible. Do any of you have brand recommendations that aren’t thousands of dollars?
I have a set from IKEA that was about $80 and they're great. Nothing special, but they aren't scratchy, survive the washer and dryer... not sure what else is required of them.
Do you remember what it was called? I bought one sheet and it was super rough to lay on
They have a lot of different sheets at various price points, so it can be useful to go in-person to IKEA to feel which ones you prefer. I have some IKEA sheets I love and others I hate. Unfortunately I do not remember the names 😅
I've had good success with IKEA duvets/duvet covers/bed sheets but yeah have always found wandering the halls to see how they all feel is needed. Their duvets aren't too pricy either for how well they last.
Oh yeah I love their duvet covers! The quality is very consistent, especially the ones for twin-sized beds have a lot of options for cute colors and patterns. My wife and I have a larger bed but get smaller duvets so we can each have our own, and we love mix and matching the covers.
i think it’s the AROMATISK set. they aren’t anything special. you might like bamboo sheets more. Bamboo is naturally antibacterial and 4x more absorbent than cotton — pretty good if you sleep warm.
You could try repairing your duvet cover. All you need is a strip of fabric to sew in there. You could even use an old shoelace.
You can also just keep using it without the tie. This might surprise you, but many duvet covers don’t even have those ties. They are convenient, but they are far from required.
Yeah that threw me for a loop — duvet covers have ties on the inside? I’ve never come across it and assumed maybe it’s something that only makes sense at king size? I know sometimes the duvet desynchronising from the cover is annoying, but for me I just grab the corners and give it a shake and it’s back how I want it.
No help on duvet stuff, but these are my two favorite sets of sheets:
JCPenney Wrinkle Guard Sateen Sheets - Wirecutter recommends these, and I agree.
Pact Organic Favorite Tee Jersey Sheets - haven’t bought a King set yet for this winter, but we loved the Queen ones on our last bed.
If it’s cold where you are, I highly recommend a set of flannel sheets. I love mine, the bed doesn’t feel freezing cold when I get in.
I have the LL Bean ones. They did produce a lot of fuzz the first couple of times were dried them, they don’t anymore.
Seconding the company store. I got a duvet cover there that is awesome. And it's super soft and has held up well.
No input on the duvet cover, but if you can find raw linen cloth wide enough it's often both better quality and less expensive than things sold explicitly as linen sheets. We had linen sheets and they only lasted a year or two before they had worn out. We then bought plain linen fabric and it's held up for 4 years so far without any fuss. We do make sure to line dry it to keep it in good shape, as dryers add a lot of wear to the fabric as they get bundled around, but good linen cloth can be very durable.
I have and love linen sheets from Cultiver. We tried Brooklinen first but the durability was frankly trash. The seams degraded in less than a month. Our Cultiver sheets are going strong for more than 2 years now with no issue.
Just make sure to wash warm/cool with a medium spin, tumble dry low. Don’t destroy your stuff with bad washing settings.
When I needed new sheets with deep pockets (to fit a fairly tall mattress + topper), I was frustrated that basically every sheet set says it has deep pockets, and had no way to figure out which ones were true. I found the reviews at https://www.mattressclarity.com/ helpful because they gave actual measurements, and was able to use their reviews to find a brand that was inexpensive but comfy and actually stays on my mattress.
Their other sheet reviews may be helpful as well. I only paid attention to their Deep Pocket page, but they have lists for a few different aspects.
I really really like these bamboo sheets: https://a.co/d/4VEKkqk
More of a side note, but if you share a bed with someone, consider two sets of sheets. A king bed is effectively the width of 2 Twin XL beds.
It can just make sleep more comfortable if someone is prone to hogging sheets, which is definitely not something I have ever done...
I think you may not be using "sheets" the way the word is commonly used. Sheets are more often than not fitted to the mattress and need to be the right size or larger to actually cover it. Unless you have two adjacent mattresses rather than one large one, you can't just buy two smaller ones. There are top-sheets that are flat and not fitted, but in my experience the places that use these sell them together with the fitted sheets since you usually want them to match.
Now when it comes to blankets/quilts/comforters (the differences don't matter here), I absolutely agree getting two smaller ones instead of one huge one is better. The amount of nighttime conflict it saved is insane.
Back when I lived in the States, “sheets” almost never referred to just the fitted sheet. It was always either the full set (fitted, flat, and pillowcases) as in “change the sheets”, or in the more specific context of “hogging”, just the flats.
Some other countries, like where I am now, rarely use flats at all, which took some getting used to.
Edit: Also, many places I’ve found in the states sold both full sets and individual pieces.
Growing up in the States I agree that "sheets" typically refers to the combination of fitted sheets, top-sheet, and pillowcase(s), but the fitted sheets were always included whereas the other two were more peripheral. If my mom asked me to change the sheets and I only changed the fitted sheet, I would be able to get away with being "technically correct", whereas I could not do the same if I only changed the pillowcase and/or top-sheet. I think we pretty much only ever bought fitted sheets and top-sheet in sets, though I think pillowcases sometimes were separate. Obviously this doesn't prevent you from using multiple top-sheets on the bed in practice, but you obviously do still need to buy the correct size of fitted sheet.
Living in Germany now, I haven't seen a top-sheet anywhere, so the distinction is easier to make. What is more common here is to actually have two smaller mattresses side-by-side rather than one big mattress (though we didn't opt for that ourselves).
EDIT: I also never encountered duvets with duvet covers until I left the States, though, so if I were a gambler I'd be betting on them not being American.
If you tend to be very hot while sleeping and want some bedding that is very cooling, try rest.com , they have some proprietary evercool thing. It works very well, but 2x pillowcases, comforter, and a fitted sheet is around $300 (this is queen size, prices go up for larger pieces). Also, the comforter is heavier than it looks.
If you're in the US, Threshold (Target's "upscale" brand) is a pretty good budget option. Fairly decent quality for a low price.
I'll second this. I've bought a lot of Target's bedding from the medium and higher point brands (full and king). I really like the quality and price ratio. For comforters, I guess it really depends on what you want. I like a quilt and have some simple quilts from Target that I like. We've also bought various down/synthetic down from Amazon and they're fine for the price.
I've been pretty happy with Bedsure bamboo rayon sheets. For a comforter, it might be worth checking a second hand shop. I keep seeing comforters at Goodwill and Savers from decent brands that are 100% cotton and under $15. I know it varies regionally but you might as well look before dropping a hundred + dollars on one.