Strictly speaking, a bunkie board, also spelled as bunky, is a flat-shaped piece of board which sits in between your mattress and your bed’s surface. Today, however, we even can see metal and wood “boards” with slats, which serve the same purpose. A bunkie board is typically one to three inches in thickness, and its objective is to offer support for the mattress while taking up less space than those box springs do. This means it can work to increase the life span of your mattress while preventing it from sagging to ensure a better spinal alignment all-round.
This review looks at six of these fantastic products. Here we concentrate our efforts on those areas such as the type of materials used, their height and sizes available, and the board’s durability. We also consider any other details of features we believe are worth the mention here. These include, wherever applicable, their warranties and ease of assembling.
Taking a closer look at the marketplace for you, we’ve been able to identify those best-rated bunky boards and compiled all our findings into a fantastic practical table. Here you’ll find our own ratings for each product as well as their well-deserved nominations. Providing a thoroughly in-depth review on each of these five boards, we end with a top three list. Included with our research is also a detailed buying guide to help you further when making your own purchasing decision here. When combined, we aim to ensure you make the best bunkie board purchasing decision to match your own bedding and indeed sleeping requirements.
More features: non-slip tape on the wooden slats
Top of our list here and our Editor’s choice nomination, this is the Zinus Deepak Bunkie Board. Claimed to offer fast and easy assembly, this is a most sturdy and robust product offering a 1.6-inch profile height for wood slat mattress support. The idea here is to provide that most optimal of support for all types such as hybrids, spring, and memory foam mattresses in full. With non-slip tape placed over each wooden slats, your mattress will remain secure and in place throughout, despite however many times you toss and turn during the night.
Available in a range of sizes from Twin, Full, Queen and King, the board material used throughout here is a combination of wood and metal. Weighing a mere 24 pounds, this offers measurements of 74 x 38 x 1.6 inches in total. For further increased confidence when using this bunky board, the makers at Zinus offer a fantastic worry-free five-year limited warranty. With the intentions of providing the most ideal of all mattress support with this item, Zinus have designed this with the idea of ensuring a longer-lasting board to encourage all-round support and increased durability of the mattress placed over it. What’s more, comfort is their overall aim and they work to innovatively incorporate this into all of the bedding products they supply throughout their business.
Customers of the Zinus Deepak Bunkie Board claim this fits perfectly onto existing bed frames and is one of the more straightforward products to use. The supportive results are also considered very pleasant overall.
More features: Quick Lock Construction, foam padded tape
Our budget pick nomination, and indeed other Zinus product, is that of the Zinus Gulzar Bunkie Board. This also gets our nod here for the best bunkie board for bunk bed as this model is recommended as the most ideal for use with bunk beds, day beds, and those recessed sit-in-platform bed frames only.
A strong durable and most sturdy of steel frame makeups, this offers a height of 1.6 inches and is available in a good selection of sizes from Twin, Full, and Queen to King. Once again, this is a lightweight model weighing in at just 26 pounds, and its overall measurements are 74 x 53 x 1.6 inches. There is an abundance of foam padded tape added to the steel frame here. This ensures it remains noise-free throughout use. It also has plentiful, non-slip tape inserted over the slats here to prevent your mattress from moving at all. Offering the most additional of support, this is great for those spring, memory foam, and a hybrid of mattress types. What’s more, it has a quick lock construction available, which is perfect for a faster and easier assembly process all around. Alongside its fabulous low price, you’ll also find the standard five-year Zinus warranty attached here.
Customers of the Zinus Gulzar Bunkie Board find this one of the most perfect of replacement boards that ensure no collapsing and a more improved bed structure overall. Claimed to be a quality board, it receives a fantastic five-star rating and is very highly recommended.
More features: can be used with any mattress; can be disassembled in half
The Signature Sleep Ultra Steel Bunkie Board is our choice on the list here for the best bunkie board for memory foam mattress as this offers a most comforting solution when used in conjunction with this mattress type. In addition to memory foam mattress types, it can also work correctly with almost any other mattress type if you prefer.
Available in just two sizes included Town and Full, this provides an increase of one inch in height and has a metal material throughout. Better still, this product actually offers a quilted fabric cover made up of polyester! Used as an ideal way of providing additional support throughout the bed, this board even allows you to dismantle it in half for ensured practicality all round. This means that it takes a mere four steps in total to assemble it ready for immediate use. An extremely lightweight model at just 18 inches, its measurements offer 74.5 x 38 x 1 inch in total. With a design that is said to be of premium build and design, the result here is a slim but solid foundation sleeping surface which provides the most extreme of support to the mattress above it. Further still, the company claim this will ensure ongoing durability and colossal comfort to encourage that perfect night’s sleep every time!
Customers of the Signature Sleep Ultra Steel Bunkie Board highly rate its fitting and finishing, claiming it to be of outstanding high quality and definitely worth recommending.
More features: meets federal standards 1632 and 1633 fire code
The Spinal Solution Bunkie Board has our vote here for the best bunkie board for a bunk bed or a platform bed. Constructed using wood material, this offers a height of 1.5 inches and overall measurements of 74 x 38 x 1.5 inches with a total weight of a very lightweight 10 pounds. This bunkie board also offers a strong cover which is stitch-bonded with non-woven fabric. This means that overall, it works to support the heavier of weights while providing consistent support that does not shift as you move around the bed. In turn, this equals a better night’s sleep overall with less stiffness in the back and joints upon waking.
This board aims to ensure that whatever bed type it’s placed on, the correct spinal alignment is encouraged, and so is the blood flow. With an emphasis on extending the life of your mattress all it requires is for you slide this board under your mattress and the firmness is instant, likening it to an almost new and more supportive bed all round as a result. This works ideally with not just platform beds but also day beds and bunk beds as well.
Customers of the Spinal Solution Bunkie Board love the sheer difference this makes to their overall posture and find that it really does hold up to its claims. It also offers a fabulous firmness all-round but all the while being a most lightweight of products to assemble and place on the bed.
More features: split design, meets federal standards 1632 and 1633 fire code
The Zayton Wood Split Bunkie Board is fabric covered for a nice finish and it comes split in two halves. This makes it easy to carry, store and travel. You simply need to put the two boards together and it is ready to be used. This adds firm support to any type of bed to improve your back support and spine position for a deeper night’s sleep and fatigue reduction.
The stitch bonded fabric can support heavy weight and it provides consistent support under your mattress without moving around. You can use two boards side by side to fit a standard mattress. This product can extend the lifespan of your mattress, working with your mattress to provide renewed support and a firm, fresh feeling. It can be used with platform beds, bunk beds or even daybeds that have a supporting slat system.
With the Zayton Wood Split Bunkie Board, you don’t need to go to the expense of upgrading your box spring and mattress as you can immediately enjoy a better night’s sleep. They feel sturdy and provide an excellent fit, whether you want to protect your new mattress or breathe new life into your existing bed.
More features: comes split in two pieces, 100-pound weight limit
Last but not least, on the list here, is another exceptional product in the shape of the Wolf Split Bunkie Board. Gaining our vote for the best split bunkie board, this may be at the top end of the price range, but its overall support and enhanced features more than make up this extra cost. This comes complete in two separate pieces. Therefore, both assembling and dismantling are made all the easier here. Offering a fantastic wood-based frame, it also gives an additional height of 1.5 inches but does suggest a total weight limit of 100 pounds when in use here. With further overall dimensions of 75 x 39 x 1.5 inches, this weighs 25 pounds in total and is available in sizes twin and full. In addition to the board itself, included with your purchase here is a fabric made up of grey cloth, further ensuring added durability and practicality. Designed with the aim of offering a stable base this most durable of items can indeed be used on those bed types such as bunk bed platforms and day beds.
Customers of the Wolf Split Bunkie Board find this an almost perfect solution which ensures no sagging when in use. The fact that it comes in two parts makes it not just simple to attach to the beds base but also provides a more functional delivery overall! Better still, many customers find that these two separate pieces ensure that it is easier to carry around and therefore simpler when placing beneath any mattress type.
Now you’ve had a read through the five reviews of our best-rated bunkie boards, you may have a clear idea of the better model for you. However, before you part with your money, why not take a few minutes to look at our brief but extremely informative buying guide below? This is where we take a little time to elaborate on those features we mentioned above, explaining in a bit more detail why we consider them the most important elements you should be looking at here. Then, with this guide alongside our detailed reviews, you should be in a perfect position to select the right type of bunkie board which will satisfy your exact sleeping requirements.
If you aren’t ready to purchase a bunkie board just yet or aren’t too sure about them overall, some people do instead used pieces of boards cut and fitted by themselves to achieve a similar effect. However, a proper bunkie board has many advantages, including:
We believe there are a couple of essential elements that you should always look out for before you consider purchasing a bunkie board. These include the board and cover materials, the height of the board, the range of sizes available, the durability offered, its ease of assembly, and last but not least, its cost.
The materials of your board may be a personal preference, and some can offer two types in its makeup. We’ve reviewed the most two common types of board material here in that of metal and wood board choices, with the Zinus Deepak offering a combination of the two.
In addition to the board type, you may notice that some bunkie boards are also finished with a covering. This is usually a specific type of fabric which just offers a more visually benefit and perhaps a little more comfort than bare wood or metal surfaces, for example.
Bunkie boards should not be extremely high in construction as their sole purpose is to offer a good level of support, not increase your bed’s overall height! For this reason, you’ll find that most of the bunkies you come across offer a height of around one inch to one and a half inches as standard.
All the boards reviewed here range from one inch to 1.6 inches in total, and we recommend ensuring your chosen model isn’t any higher than this.
When selecting your ideal bunkie board, you need to ensure that the chosen size works to the measurement of your bed base. The best way to do this is by removing the mattress from the bed and measuring both the length and the width of your bed surface.
We have made sure to include those boards which offer a good range of sizes here, and most models will cover Full, Twin, King and Queen as standard.
However, we do note that you should also account for any fabric or padding here in your measurements, especially if you intend on adding such additionals to your bed later on. If you have a little extra clearance, you can indeed pad your bunkie board up as appropriate.
Whatever size you end up choosing, you will most certainly need it to be big enough in its surface area to completely cover the slats beneath it.
Many people will tell you that a bunkie board preserves the life of their mattress as it keeps it from sagging. However, this will only work if the bunkie board itself works to offer such durability, therefore meaning it will last you for a good couple of years at least.
The best way to derive whether your board offers full durability is to read the product details in full, whereby it should mention how durable the board is. All these boards have been chosen for their high durability levels. However, we also think it’s a good idea to take a look at the level of warranty offered here as this may give you an additional sense of the company’s confidence in the longevity of their products.
Two great examples here are the Zinus Deepak and the Zinus Gulzar, which both offer a fabulous five-year limited warranty on their bunky boards.
A good quality bunkie board should not cost the earth. After all, it is not offering to replace your bed base, nor your mattress. It is merely to provide additional support in between. Therefore, you should ideally be looking to spend under the $100 mark here.
The Zinus Gulzar is our budget pick here and perfectly highlights how easy it is to get a thoroughly useful highly rated bunky board for a smaller and lower cost of around the $50 mark.
With the highest model on the list here ever so slightly tipping the $100 mark, we’re sure you’ll find these prices perfectly adequate.
The great thing about bunkie boards is their minimal installation requirements! With almost nothing for you to piece together, for many it’s merely a case of taking the board from out of the box or packaging you receive it in and then laying it over your bed’s foundations, placing the mattress straight down over the top!
The Wolf Split Bunkie Board comes in two separate pieces whereby you simply piece them together to complete the board, whereas the Zinus Gulzar allows a quick lock construction to make assembly as straight forward as possible, with the Signature Sleep Ultra Steel Bunkie Board taking a mere four easy steps to fully assemble!
We hope by now, you have a better idea of what a bunkie board can do for you, alongside what factors of these fantastic features will apply the most to your individual needs.
Our top choice here is the Zinus Deepak. What we like most here is the combination of both a metal and wood board material combined together with non-slip tape that is featured on the wooden slats.
Second place goes to the Zinus Gulzar, which we believe offers an astonishing number of features and benefits but with one of the lowest of price tags attached! In third place, we’ve selected the Signature Sleep Ultra Steel Bunkie Board because we love how well this works with all mattress types but especially those foam and memory mattresses, which so many of us have these days.
Overall, we believe that all the five bunkie boards reviewed here are thoroughly effective at offering an all-around complete sleeping solution, ensuring a better quality of bed and indeed improved sleeping surface for a good number of years to come.
