Best California King Mattress
Last Updated: March, 2021
For taller sleepers, a California King mattress might beat a standard King mattress. You get to enjoy more leg space to stretch out in. It does come with a narrower width, which makes it great for couples who love to lay closer together for a snuggle. Finding a comfortable mattress can be tough enough, but shopping for a best california king bed is that much more challenging.
We tested the most popular ones in the market and here are our top picks that we recommend you try out.
According to our tests, the best California King mattress is the Idle Hybrid. This flippable mattress is an amazing deal for how high quality it is. It comes in a medium or a luxury firm and provides great pressure relief.
Expand Table of Contents
7 Best California King Mattresses
1. Idle Hybrid
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
This Idle Hybrid california king wowed us beyond our expectations. We were hesitant about its price at first but we are glad to report back that it won us over. Beyond the promotions that do help to get that price down, this IDLE Hybrid mattress is made with two sides, which means that you can flip it over for an entirely different sleeping experience. On either side, there are seven layers to your mattress. The top three layers and the bottom three layers are the same, with an inch of quilting foam for softness, and inch of Air Flow Response Foam, and two inches of Cooling Buoyancy Foam.
All of this together means that we were able to enjoy sleeping on something ultra soft and cooling, and the best mattress overall if you're looking for a California king. That cooling foam will ensure that you feel pressure relief underneath you for the entire night. Sit on the bed to feel the buoyancy and the response in the foam, but sometimes, foam tends to get bunched up underneath you. That’s why you’ll love the edge-to-edge pocketed coils too, which will support you and prevent you from falling off the bed. They feel pretty good on your back too.
With all the support of this mattress, you should be able to flip the mattress and use it for longer. Instead of buying a new mattress after a little while, you can save a little money in the long run.
Many mattress companies give a 10 year warranty or less, but Idle stands behind their products, and offers a lifetime warranty on their products.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
The type of latex foam in this california king mattress is specifically made to feel bouncy, which we felt right away as we took a seat and laid down. It was a light, not dense kind of mattress, and it’s even better that it’s made to be completely eco-friendly.
The cotton is organic, there are no glue or toxins, and the entire mattress is made to be anti-microbial. If you happen to have allergies, this Idle Talalay Latex option is great for you. It helps that it’s dust-mite resistant as well, keeping you healthy and safe in the long run.
We loved the buoyancy foam, which has a lot of support compared to regular memory foam options. Of course, this is a hybrid mattress as well, so there are coils inside it. Not just a few coils either, but 1,000 coils that support you throughout the entire night.
A highlight is that there are two sides to those coils and to your foam. It’s just great knowing that if one side of the mattress starts to sag, you can easily flip the mattress to get a fresh start. We definitely think it’s better to spend a little more money in the beginning to have a mattress that lasts for as long as possible.
Many mattress companies give a 10 year warranty or less, but Idle stands behind their products, and offers a lifetime warranty on their products.
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3. Puffy Lux
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
We were looking for a truly soft california king mattress that we could really just sink into, this is the best mattress for that. The Puffy Lux sure didn’t disappoint. This mattress was great to lie on with the Puffy Original added layer of comfort, not to mention the internal foam layers that keep you supported throughout the night.
These layers will keep you comfortable and help relieve some of your pain and pressure points. No matter what kind of sleeper you are, this is a great mattress option.
This mattress doesn’t feel too hot either, unlike other foam options and it's one of the best memory foam style beds out there. We slept on this mattress comfortably and felt cool throughout the night. The support of this foam is meant to relieve the pressure on your hips and spine, cradling your body well. This is because the Puffy Lux is made with four foam layers that provide different benefits.
First, there’s the cover.
This cover will help air flow easily off of the mattress. Then there’s the comfort layer of 2 inches of gel memory foam, which includes microbeads that trap less heat and let you sink into the mattress. Don’t forget about the contour layer with another 2 inches of memory foam, along with the transition layer of a firmer poly foam that will prevent you from sinking too far. All in all, this will give you lots of support and comfort all through the night.
Puffy also has a great selection of mattress toppers, sheets, pillows, foundations and more so you can bundle and get everything you need in one place.
This mattress is currently $300 off and comes with a free king size pillow!
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What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
This Diamond california king mattress has some of the best edge support of the mattresses we’ve tested. Since it has a hybrid construction that merges the qualities of memory foam with inner spring, you get the best of both worlds. While you can choose between three different firmness levels of support (plush, medium firm, and firm), they all feel like a good representation of the firmness level.
What really stood out to us was how cool this mattress sleeps. Yes, ‘it sleeps cool’ is a common claim for hybrid mattresses. Unfortunately, the foam in most mattresses still retains a lot of heat. While a lot of other mattresses use a special layer of foam to create a cooling feel, the Diamond mattress has a special cover to do that. The Faith mattress does have a special layer to regulate temperature, but the CoolTouch cover is what really takes the cake.
When it comes to motion isolation, this mattress impressed us. We couldn’t feel any motion transfer throughout the night. That said, it’s still responsive enough to roll over when you need to. Here’s another thing we really liked: the edge support. Nobody likes feeling like they’re about to roll off the bed, and that was a non-issue.
This mattress is also backed by a 20 year warranty, which is about twice the industry average.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
If you love a soft, plush california king mattress, you’ll want to check out the Keetsa Tea Leaf Dream. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of support you can feel. We found that the support is a lot more noticeable around the hips and shoulders, which is a refreshing balance. Some soft mattresses sink too much, which can really negate the support they should have. Thankfully, that isn’t the case with this mattress. It has wrapped coils in between layers of memory foam. It felt like there was some push back, in a good way.
You definitely get a cradling feeling, and the foam starts contouring to your body pretty quickly too. While memory foam mattresses are known to have good motion isolation, we found that this one does even better than most. Considering that it’s a hybrid mattress and not just a memory foam mattress, that’s pretty impressive. You could try (and try hard) to get motion to transfer across the mattress, but the other side still won’t move.
It’s not the coolest mattress of those we tested, but it still kept a fairly neutral temperature throughout the night. The coils let plenty of air through, which also helps keep too much heat from building up. Another nice thing about the coil and foam combination is that there’s better support.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
As far as sleep positions go, this Cool Bliss california king mattress was one of the best we tested for side sleepers. If you like to switch up sleep positions though, don’t worry. Even when moving to the back or stomach sleeping positions there’s an even amount of support. Another nice thing is that it doesn’t seem to sink or sag, even when you’re sitting in bed.
We were definitely fans of the latex material. Since it’s combined with foam, you get the contour of memory foam, with the support and responsiveness of latex. It gives you the feel of being held on cushions, without sinking in. A bonus for people that really struggle with back pain is the different foundations you can choose from, to tailor your support.
As you might guess from the name, this mattress is designed to keep you cool, even if you’re a really hot sleeper. The foam has a special gel inside that keeps body heat away, and moving out of the mattress.
We realized that keeping cool is one of the best ways to get a good night’s sleep. Beyond the gel infused foam, there’s also a special cooling cover. This was one of the more impressive parts, since it was obviously cooling the mattress and wicking away moisture.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
Choosing a mattress when you’re part of a couple is certainly harder than choosing one for just yourself. The idea is that you get proper support no matter what position you sleep in, with a ton of cooling layers. Even if you’re not a hot sleeper, if your partner is, it’s important to have a mattress that keeps you both from burning up. Naturally, that was one of the things we had to check out.
The Luff california king mattress does a great job of staying cool, which was a relief. The other nice thing is that there are separate layers that provide targeted support to all the different pressure points. It does still have a higher firmness level and feel than your typical plush mattress, but we chalk that up to the targeted support. That makes it ideal for couples that can’t choose between a firm and soft mattress.
We noticed the contouring feel pretty much right away, which is a signature trait of any memory foam mattress. Unlike other foam mattresses that stay ‘contoured’ for a while even after you move, this mattress adapts quickly. It’s also easy to move around or switch positions without the feeling of getting stuck. While we’d say it’s best for side and back sleepers, it was still comfortable enough to roll on your stomach too.
Factors to Consider For Larger Mattresses
Level of Support
A lot of times, the firmness level you prefer is just up to what you like, and the best mattress for you is up to your personal preferences. However, you should also consider your primary sleeping position. People that sleep on their backs and stomach usually do best with firmer mattresses, because they provide more support. If you like to sleep mostly on your side, try a softer mattress.
Related Content: Best mattress for heavy people
Type and Material
The material of your California King size bed has a big impact on how it feels, and how it moves with you, especially with things like bed frames that move. Memory foam contours, but on its own, it can feel a bit like it’s sinking. Hybrid mattresses often combine memory foam or latex with coils. They give you the cushion of foam, with the support a coil mattress delivers.
Spring or coil mattresses are often also called innerspring mattresses. They’re one of the most typical types of mattress, and they’ve been around much longer too. Innersprings are much firmer, but also somewhat bouncy.
Latex mattresses provide more support than an all foam mattress, but not as much as an innerspring. Some mattresses have latex in upper layers for comfort, or lower layers for support. It’s more responsive than foam, but still contour to your body, and allow enough bounce to move.
Temperature
If you sleep cool, temperature may not be your top concern when looking for the best mattress for you. If you’re a hot sleeper though, a cool cal king mattress is essential to good sleep. Foam mattresses tend to trap more heat. If you’re a hot sleeper, but like the feel of foam, a hybrid mattress stays cooler than foam only.
Innerspring mattresses provide more ventilation, but hybrid mattresses with coils add a cooling effect. Some mattresses also have cooling gel, or special layers to dissipate body heat.
Cushion and Contour
Memory foam is one of those materials known for contouring to your body. While it gives you a nice cradling feel, some people feel it sinks too much. Keep in mind how much of a contouring feel you want. A mattress that contours a lot can help many people get a better sleep, but some people find it harder to move around.
Sleep Trial
A mattress isn't a small investment. Having a solid sleep trial is essential for peace of mind. Just because we say a mattress is comfortable, you may not feel the same way. The standard is a 90 night sleep trial, with some companies offering much longer sleep trials. Idle, for example offers an 18 month (500+ night sleep trial). Companies that are this confident in their products should catch your eye. A California king size mattress is a big bed, and the longer the trial, the more comfortable you should feel buying a California king size mattress online.
Conclusion
Depending on what kind of sleeper you are, you’ll gravitate to different mattresses. The best California King size bed is ideal for you if you enjoy a bit of extra length compared to a standard King mattress or enjoy sleeping closer to your partner, thanks to its narrower width. The basics of finding a good mattress still applies: ensure it’s the right amount of firmness level that you enjoy and choose the right materials.
Gabe is the newest member of The Sleep Shop team. If you like the design of The Sleep Shop, give Gabe a thumbs up. He’s a digital marketing and design guru and the brains behind the design and SEO of The Sleep Shop. He also won’t say no to testing a ton of mattresses either, and helps on almost every mattress review.