I’ve been looking at getting a new bed and noticed that very many of them do not accommodate a box spring. Is this a necessary component anymore? Has mattress technology changed as to make it redundant? Almost all of the high-design beds in Design-Within-Reach and similar catalogs ask for just a mattress. I even went to a high-end store and saw some beautiful (and very expensive) stuff by B&B Italia. Again, just the mattress.
Does anyone know how much comfort(?) is sacrificed without the box spring, if any? By the way, what does the boxspring do anyway?
My understanding was that the box spring only supported the mattress so that it didn’t sag on bed frames that didn’t have adequate support. A lot of new bed frames are those “platform” beds, which is what I have (although I didn’t pay 2k for it, my carpenter ex built it for me). So my bed is really sturdy, with good support and a flat piece of wood that the mattress sits on. It looks like a small stage.
So no box spring, and it works just fine, although the crappy mattress needs a little help (it’s got a dip in the middle, but it was like that before the fancy platform bed).
It’s very hard to find a true box spring mattress any more. Most of the mattress that pass for Box springs are actually just a foundation. It looks like a box spring but is just a frame that supports your mattress. Foundations are cheaper than traditional box springs , and because todays mattresses can be a lot better quality, a box spring is not always the preferred purchase it once was.
The box-spring serves three main purposes: To help raise the mattress’s height, making it easier to get in and out of bed; to help absorb shock and reduce wear to the mattress; and to help create a perfectly flat and firm structure for the mattress to lay upon.
So it seems it’s not so much comfort as to reduce wear and tear on the mattress. Hmm, never knew that.