Are Loft Beds Better than Bunk Beds?

The bunk beds are popular among children as well as adults. However, some people choose a loft bed over a bunk bed for some specific reasons. Both the bunk beds and loft beds fulfill your need for a twin or full size bed with a space saving design. So, it is up to you which one is more suitable for your kids. Not just for kids, you can get the best bunk beds or loft beds for adults too.

A bunk bed is a set of two beds stacked as one bed over the other bed. On the other hand, a loft bed is a bit different, it has a bed on top and an empty space underneath. Some bunk bed brands provide a desk or futon or storage shelves under the loft bed to make it more useful for the families with small rooms. So, you need to decide to get a bunk bed or a loft bed based on your needs.

Are Loft Beds Better than Bunk Beds?

The need of a bunk bed arises when you have multiple kids/people and small rooms. Not just for children, the bunk beds are also useful for guests, so you can add it to your guest room. Sometimes, the loft beds provide more features than the best bunk beds available in market. This situation can confuse you between bunk beds and loft beds, so are loft beds better than bunk beds? Which one from a bunk bed and a loft bed is safer for kids? Just keep reading ahead to get answers for all these queries.

What is a bunk bed?

A bunk bed is made of wood or metal and it contains two or three beds in a stack. It is available as twin bunk beds, full size bunk beds, queen/king size bunk beds and hybrid models. The hybrid models contains two different sized beds on top and bottom e.g. a twin over full bunk bed or a twin over queen/king bunk bed. Some bunk beds come with a slide or drawers or storage shelves or all of them. You can choose the bunk bed that meets your needs and fits in your room.

What is a loft bed?

A loft bed is made of wood or metal with a bed on top and nothing under the bed. It can be a twin loft bed or a full size loft bed as offered by most bunk bed brands in United States. Some brands provide high quality loft beds with a desk under the bed, some loft beds also have drawers or storage shelves along with the desk. The loft beds with free space underneath are useful for toddlers and young kids to play there, you can also add curtains to make a personal play area for your little ones.

Age Criteria for Bunk Beds and Loft Beds

According to AAP (American Association of Pediatricians), any child under the age of 6 years should not sleep on the upper bunk of a bunk bed. The loft beds don’t have a lower bunk, so a child under 6 years should not sleep on a loft bed. It means the ideal age for bunk beds and loft beds is 6 years.

Some families ignore this guideline but it is quite dangerous to allow a toddler or young child to access a loft bed or an upper bunk bed. For your children’s safety, you should remember the ideal age for bunk beds in mind and never allow your little prince or princess to sleep on the loft bed or bunk bed until s/he hits the age of 6.

Age Limit for Lower Bunk

We have explained that the minimum age to use an upper bunk and a loft bed is six years, but what about the lower bunk. As we know that a bunk bed has an upper bunk and a lower bunk, so can children under 6 years sleep on the lower bunk bed? We have talked to a team of child psychologists and they said, “It is okay to allow a toddler or a child under 6 years to sleep on the lower bunk of a bunk bed if the lower bunk is not too tall for the child and the child is not overactive. An adult’s supervision is highly recommended when the child is sleeping on the lower bunk.”

Are loft beds better than bunk beds?

Both the bunk beds and loft beds are made from high quality materials. So, you will get the same quality and performance in both of them. The bunk beds offer more sleeper capacity, while the loft beds offer more storage and other functions. You may find a bit difference between the cost of a bunk bed and a loft bed otherwise everything is same.

At the end, we can clearly say that none of the bunk beds and loft beds is better than the other. Both the bed types have their own benefits and drawbacks, that’s why both of them are equally popular in market. If we consider customers’ viewpoint, a family with one/two school kids may find a loft bed with desk more useful than a bunk bed. On the other hand, a family with three kids may find a bunk bed more suitable than a loft bed. So, it depends on your needs which you should check at the time of purchase.

Wrapping Up:

The bunk beds and loft beds are different than each other but people still compare them to make their purchase best value for money. We suggest you to consider your needs and priorities and buy a high quality bunk or a loft bed with desk/storage accordingly.